Cruiser/penny board or standard skateboard?

Practical arguments to help you choose

Photo by Fachy Marín on Unsplash

As a skateboarding-illiterate overthinker tempted by skating as transport for small distances, I went through a great deal of research to choose the right board. Here are some practical observations that may help you if you’re in a similar context.

Skate isn’t the easy way

First, from a purely empirical point of view, skating may not be the best option among the different non-motorized means of transport :

• The skill entry cost is very high compared to a bike or scooter, for instance.
• The vast majority of boards are not waterproof, so you must not skate when it rains. Depending on where you live, this can have big implications (I live in Belgium…). “Penny” board plastic decks may resist water better than wood decks; however, water can still damage trucks/bearings/nuts (I saw many “Penny” boards with very clean decks but rusty parts on second-hand sales).
• Unless you live in an airport hall or a vast playground, 70% of your city’s ground will just be “unskatable”, even with big soft wheels. Walk around your potential itineraries and check for irregular cobblestone-paved areas, street works, etc. — those are your enemies, and you’ll notice that the enemy is everywhere.
• Many surfaces are “skatable” but not perfectly smooth — on those, you’ll feel unpleasant vibrations in the knees.
• You’ll regularly face big obstacles that will require you to stop and manually grab your board, thus interrupting your ride.
• You can’t skate properly with any pair of shoes :

> If the soles are too big, for instance, you won’t feel anything and have poor control of your board.

> If your deck is covered with grip tape, you risk damaging fragile shoes, even without doing tricks. If you train for ollies with non-skateboarding canvas shoes, expect to tear a hole in your front foot shoe in less than 30 minutes.

• It is quite difficult to manoeuvre and even harder to brake, which makes it quite dangerous, especially in crowded areas. Expect to fall. Small note on braking:

> Powerslide, as stylish as it is, isn’t an option for beginners — it requires some space, and the result is quite unpredictable (it highly depends on the type of ground you’re riding and your speed).

> Braking with the tail is a barbaric, yet efficient way to stop, but if used too much, your board won’t live a long life.

> Side scrape appears to be the simplest option but requires some balance to brake without stopping totally. See this video for an illustration of the last two points.

• As a beginner, you’ll presumably only ride on your “strong” side (depends on whether you’re “goofy” or “regular”); therefore, your overall body stimulation will be asymmetrical.
• Because you’re on a skateboard, some people will see you as a disrespectful delinquent and will frown at you for no reason (others will find you super cool, though).

Skating isn’t the easy way.

Yet, if you’re reading this article, I don’t need to convince you that skating isn’t primarily utilitarian. It’s also about style, feeling — it’s about lifestyle.

Skateboarding has a timeless elegance, unleashes unmatched vibes and has a unique feeling.

In that respect, it is incomparable to other means of transport, and some hardcore skaters would rather die than use a booster (see a snapshot of this love story).

Assuming you’re not discouraged by this first section, let’s get to the board choice.

Cruiser or standard skateboard ?

I don’t consider longboards (way too bulky to be candidates in the context we’re in) or electric skateboards (very different price ranges and philosophies), although I think they may be fun to use.

My conclusion is that you can’t find a set-up that can be used efficiently for both tricks and city cruising. Here are my arguments:

• With a “tricks” set-up (involving quite small and hard wheels and quite a long deck), city cruising will be painful because you’ll be destabilized by gravel, leaves, twigs, ground features made for blind people, etc. — obstacles that are already quite disturbing with big soft wheels. Moreover, you’ll carry a rather bulky board (around 31 inches long) compared to competitors from the cruiser family.
• With a pure cruiser, your board’s length and the weight/softness of the wheels will make tricks incredibly difficult (for a beginner), if not impossible.
• With a hybrid set-up (for instance, a 31-inch deck with big and soft wheels), you will struggle with tricks anyway (see this video for an illustration) and find that you may be better off with a more portable board for cruising…

Therefore, in my opinion, tricking and cruising must be treated independently. If you want to do both, I would recommend buying two boards.

For both cruisers and standard skateboards, I would recommend buying your board in a local skate shop because vendors have valuable expertise and will normally offer you a cleaning/maintenance service.

If you main purpose is doing tricks

If you can’t see yourself skating without trying to land a kickflip, go for a standard skateboard. There are already many resources on the Web (see here or there for instance) on how to compose the best customized board according to your height/shoe size/skateboarding style (street/skatepark), and skate shop salesmen can provide very good advice too.

Complete “ready to ride” boards trade at around 100€, while customized set-ups will cost around 160 €. If I had to choose, I would go for the customized set-up because I think the value-added is worth the price difference.

I won’t expand more on that part and focus on the cruising part.

If you main purpose is going from A to B (with style)

I see two main options.

Option 1: Focus on portability — 22-inch plastic Penny board, if:

• You need to potentially carry the board on a backpack for hours, so weight is of primary importance
• You have a small locker at work/school/at the gym, where you could store the board
• You care about your shoes and don’t want to carry a second pair, so the fact that there’s no grip is a plus
• You need to take crowded public transport (bus, subway), so deck length is a critical factor
• You only plan to use the cruiser on straight lines without obstacles, so the lack of stability/difficulty to clear small obstacles isn’t really problematic

In this category, Penny Australia seems to be the leader (see here for their 22-inch selection), but their boards are quite expensive (around 120€). Ridge boards seem to be a good alternative if you have a lower budget (around 50€).

Option 2: Focus on comfort — 26+ inches wood (+grip) cruiser board:

• Wood is more noble, provides a better feeling, will gradually adapt to your weight/riding style and won’t bend with time.
• A longer deck will have a decent tail and at least a small nose, features that will be priceless to get up a curb or small obstacle (you can even try manuals). Indeed, I think ollies aren’t really an option to do that for beginners with a cruiser, a backpack with fragile objects and in a crowded urban context — it requires too much skill and coordination. To me, the simplest and most secure way to do that without getting off the board is to use the “nose and tail” technique (like this).
• A longer/wider deck with grip will provide more stability and manoeuvrability.
• If you need to free both hands to enter a shop, for instance, you’ll have to attach your board to your backpack anyway, so having a 22-inch deck instead of a 29-inch one wouldn’t save you much trouble. Note on the backpack: if you intend to use your board regularly, you’ll need to buy a specific backpack, if you don’t already have one. I opted for the Nike SB RPM (26 L), and I am satisfied with it so far. The Element Mohave (30 L) was also on my shortlist and seems to have good reviews.

This category is less standardized, and shapes/lengths depend on brands. An example could be the Impala Cherub (the one I bought) or the Globe Blazer. Because of the size and the material used, this category will be a bit more expensive (around 130€).

Conclusion

If you intend to do tricks at some point, then go directly for a standard skateboard. You’ll still be able to skate “clean” urban grounds and won’t be frustrated. If the ground is too damaged, you wouldn’t skate it with a cruiser anyway.

If your main purpose is to cruise the city in the most effective and comfortable way, then big and soft wheels, combined with a shorter deck, would undoubtedly be the best solution. If you opt for a cruiser, be aware that you risk being very limited with a 22-inch deck, so only consider it if portability and weight are your critical factors. Otherwise, I think longer cruisers around 26–30 inches provide the best portability/riding possibilities trade-off.