How to choose your first cruiser board

What’s a cruiser board?

From left to right: Our Tahiti Cruiser, a skateboard, and our Nahoa Longboard

Think of the cruiser as the love child of the longboard and the skateboard. It has the longboard’s element of a smooth buttery ride, and the portability of a skateboard. You can see the size comparison between the 3 kinds of boards in the photo above. (Ps: take a look at how well our boards age! They've been in use for over 3 years!)

Cruiser boards, like their name suggests, are perfect for cruising and commuting around Singapore. For example, cruiser boards are awesome for getting around campus or your neighborhood. You can even take it out for a ride by the beach and the park! 

So, if you’re looking for a board that’s light and portable, provides a comfortable ride, and gets you from point A to B, you’re in luck. We’ve summarized a list of things you should look out for when getting your first cruiser board.

What should you look out for?

Does size matter?

There are many board sizes for you to choose from. The first of them are mini-cruisers which can start from as small as the well-known 22” penny boards! The downside of these extremely small boards is the instability and difficulty in getting used to them. Cruiser skateboards, however, are most commonly within the 28”-30” range. We find this size the most ideal as it has the perfect balance of portability and comfort.

What shape should I be going for?

Most cruiser boards have a pointy shape in the front and slightly raised tails. Tails are the extended edge over the back wheels, giving you extra leverage to pop your cruiser if you need to get over some low curbs! 

Side profile of our Tahiti Cruiser

While most cruisers have a tail (and even a nose), some of them are completely flat. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend flat decks as you definitely need a raised tail so you can pop your deck or kickturn properly.

Doing a kickturn requires a kicktail

Should your deck have flex?

Again, we’re not talking about flexing your new cruiser board to your friends. You might if you got one of our cruisers, though. No kidding!

Source: GIPHY

Flex is how much your board bends when you put your weight on it. It helps you absorb more shock, giving a comfy ride - but it compromises stability at higher speeds. Longboards have the luxury of their larger size to incorporate more flex. But given that cruiser boards are much smaller than longboards, we’d suggest you avoid getting cruiser boards which are too flexible.

What material should your deck be? 

Deck materials range from cheap plastic to high quality, durable maple wood or Grade-A plastic which is almost as durable. Of course, we want to tell you to avoid cheap plastic boards at all costs! 

It’s not just about the quality, but your safety too. It’s simply not worth getting a $30-$50 cruiser board which falls apart during your ride, and you end up getting hurt badly. Definitely, cruiser boards get more expensive with the higher quality materials - but you shouldn’t be overpaying for them too. Some of these boards are only expensive because of markups from the middleman.

Wheel you be mine?

Stability is the name of the game, given the purpose of a cruiser board is to get you through obstacles between you and your destination. Thus, you should look for bigger and softer wheels. Wheel hardness is measured by the Durometer scale - the lower it is, the softer your wheels are. 

Why softer wheels? Definitely because they’re great for rough roads and nasty pebbles or cracks on pavements. I’m sure you don’t want to feel like you’re convulsing violently whenever you’re on rough terrains!

Larger wheels also provide a wider contact point with the ground - that means more grip and less sliding on slippery surfaces.

Trucks and bushings 

Trucks are the components of your cruiser board which connects your wheels to your deck and allows you to carve. Getting the right size is essential; you should get trucks as close as possible to your deck width (usually a 0.25” range). Overly-narrow trucks throw you off balance (think high heels!) and overly-wide trucks give too high a turning radius. 

Source: GIPHY

Bushings allow your board to turn smoothly. They are the rubbery rings which fit around the kingpin of your trucks and are typically made out of polyurethane. The bushings for cruiser boards are generally cone-shaped. If you’re a heavier rider, you’ll want stiffer bushings for them to maintain their shape better over time!

Getting started today

For those who TLDR-ed their way through this article, here's a gif we made just for you to summarize what to avoid when getting a cruiser board.

Source: GIPHY, Roy Purdy

We hope you roughly know what you need in a cruiser board after reading our guide. Take this new knowledge with you, and explore the many options out there! 

Of course, if you’re interested in our aesthetic, we’d like to recommend to you our Tahiti Cruiser. This 28” deck provides comfortable foot room, and is pressed with 7 layers of maple to give a sturdy ride. Our cruiser has already gone through several design iterations to get the best shape for its users. Every aspect of this cruiser board is handpicked and crafted by us - this means no unnecessary markups by the middleman.

Ultimately, we’ve considered all the factors which will give you the best skateboarding experience available, and jam-packed them into this portable cruiser board.

Let’s get started! 🤙