Choosing your skateboard is all about how you want to ride.
Here’s a quick guide to help choose your ride like a pro. During the checkout process you’ll need to make choices in four different categories: skateboard shape, board graphics, trucks, and wheels. Below, you’ll find the answers to most of your questions. Let us know if we can provide any more help as you pick a new Ashland: service@ashlandskateboards.com
It all comes down to how you want to ride. We offer four different board shapes. They’re all made in Huntington Beach, CA. Each shape is made for a different style of riding.
Strand Cruiser 48:
If you’re looking for a smooth ride, this is the board for you. It is long and flat for chasing the summer sun down the coastline on a Saturday afternoon. It measures four-feet long with nice flex and gives that stretch limo luxury ride. This board is perfect for practicing your longboard technique during a lull in the surf. Noseriding is optional but highly encouraged. If your Saturday cruise includes steep hills and demanding performance, then skip this one, and keep reading. This board’s equivalent surf spot is a lazy day at San Onofre.
Dimensions: 48” long, 9.5” wide, all Birch construction.
Carver 39:
The perfect balance of speed and performance with a concave deck, camber from nose to tail, and a kick tail for control. The board is just like that 8-foot egg shaped surfboard you have in the garage. Perfect for linking smooth turns and forgiving for when you need it. This skate is in the performance longboard family and perfect for the journey. Riding this board is like surfing a fast day at Malibu.
Dimensions: 39” long, 9” wide, Birch deck with a Maple bottom.
Mini Carver 32:
This board is the smaller, wider, more agile brother of the Carver 39. This deck has a sweet camber from tip to tail, and no kick tail, so it’s all about flow. With the skills that pay the bills, this skate can take on can take the hills with agile precision. As far as your longboarding tricks the best you can do is probably a cheater five. This board is small enough to stow in small places without being a nuisance to the rest of your life. The Carver is like surfing Rincon on an overhead-plus day.
Dimensions: 32” long, 9.25” wide, all Birch construction.
Combi 30:
This board’s style is inspired by the pool boards of the 1980’s. It’s name is derived from the legendary pool at the Upland Pipeline Skatepark that is now gone. It’s been almost thirty years since this board came on the scene, and we continually see riders in our crew returning to this retro shape. This board is making a belated resurgence. The Combi pays homage to the roots of freestyle, bowl, and half-pipe riding with medium concave and a kick tail/nose. Built as the perfect weapon for the skate park it is also a great all-around board if you can only have one. When the neighborhood crew shows up at your local park on their new school flip stick, say “hello” and then drop in on this. The Combi shape has been ridden by countless skate legends and still meets the demand of current skate design. This board’s equivalent surf spot is the 56th street jetty on a hammering day.
Dimensions: 30” long, 10.5” wide, all Maple construction.
Ashland board graphics introduce something fresh in the saturated surf and skate culture. Expect updates often. And just like classic art, all graphics will have a limited release. That way every skater and their mom doesn’t have the same board you do. We love our moms (and yours), we just don’t want you to skate the same boards they do.
Every board requires two trucks. To keep everyone safe they are attached to the bottom of the deck with bolts. We also encourage adding four wheels, otherwise what fun is a plain deck. The bushing (rubber grommet) provides stability and stiffness between the base plate and the axle. The bushing is held on the board with a major bolt called the kingpin. By tightening or loosening the kingpin, trucks can be adjusted; looser for ease of turning or tighter for more control. Longboard specific trucks have a kingpin held at a more acute angle to the deck allowing riders to go much faster while still maintaining stability and control. Here at Ashland we offer two options:
Paris Trucks:
The new standard in trucks. We proudly offer Paris Trucks as our top of the line. These trucks are made with three things in mind: carving control, durability and design. Three things we can get behind. Paris trucks are poured with 356.2 virgin aluminum. Unlike many other trucks out there, no left over aluminum is poured back into the melting pot. Each Paris Truck is made with brand new pure metal and then gravity molded. This results in a stronger more dense molecular bond. An extra heat treatment is applied to add strength and durability to the final product. With a lifetime guarantee you can rest assured they’ll be on your board for years to come. Paris Trucks rock.
- 356.2 virgin aluminum gravity molded baseplate and hanger
- Grade 8 steel axles and kingpin
- Special urethane bushing formula for ultimate rebound and vibration dampening
- Kingpins set at 50 degrees
Victory Trucks:
These trucks have a stylish look and are great for groms and beginners. Let’s just say they’re the perfect starter truck. They are a polished silver color and will give you a great ride, wherever you end up cruising.
Wheels come in an array of sizes, hardness, styles and colors. Lucky you, we’ve hand picked wheel options for your Ashland Skate. Each has it’s own pluses, so here’s the scoop:
Smooth Ride Wheels:
Entry level wheels feature a hard plastic hub/core center, 78a durometer (read about this below), and are 62mm in diameter, the smallest of our wheel offerings. Great for any of our board styles.
Madrid Swinger Wheels:
These wheels are proudly made in the United States and feature a hard plastic core center, a 78a durometer measurement, and are 65mm in diameter. Great for your long boarding, street surfing, or any of your downhill cruising needs.
Cadillac Wheels:
The first urethane skateboard production wheel was made by Cadillac, back in 1973. The recipe has been adjusted only slightly to offer an updated version of the same wheel with modern day precision bearings. They’ve got a diameter of 65mm. Remember the bigger the wheel the faster cruising speed. They rate a 78A durometer measurement, with a rigid core for stability and precision bearing placement.
Durometer Measurements: Pronounced “Duro – Meter,” measures the hardness or softness of a skate wheel. The higher the number the harder the wheel. All skate wheels range from 75A to 105A. All of our wheels measure 78A, which is the industry standard for longboarding and street carving.
