Traveling on a longboard is becoming popular among young and aged skaters because it is quite fast than moving on a skateboard or foot. Longboards usually have a greater wheelbase than skateboards, which collaborates with bigger wheels to generate a higher pace than the skateboards. But, the question we have is, “How fast can you go on a longboard?”. The speed depends on the riding style, i.e., cruising can usually generate speeds up to 5 miles an hour. On the other hand, if you go for a downhill race, longboards can install a pace of more than 60 miles an hour.

Various factors directly impact the pace of a moving longboard, and the most impactful one is what style you prefer to ride. Your physical power and intensity of pushes also define how much pace you can achieve. If there is a slope on your riding track, the longboard will naturally get pacy. Moreover, the rider’s weight can vary the speed too. For the speed lovers, we always suggest to have the remote control electric longboards. Lastly, the wheelbase and the wheels used in the longboard are essential factors to manipulate the pace generated.

Longboard Speed

As described earlier, cruising is the slowest riding style in longboarding because skaters who love to cruise want to go slow and enjoy the basics of longboarding. The lowest speed while cruising generally touches 5 miles an hour, while the highest you can go is 13mph. Similarly, commuting long distances on a longboard allows you to speed up the longboard up to 25mph. People who commute regularly and use their longboards as transportation usually want to go faster than a moving bus.

The riding style that generates the highest pace with a longboard has to be a downhill race. Due to the slope going downwards, the longboard quickly catches the pace and can go up to 50 miles an hour within seconds. Skaters with immense control of the longboard can pace a little higher than 50mph, touching 70mph. It feels scary to move on a wooden deck at such a high pace, but the adventure is something skaters always crave while riding a longboard.

Riders’ Weight & Weight of Longboard

Both the riders’ and longboards’ weight directly impact the speed generated by longboarding. A heavy rider usually gets an edge by speeding up higher than the skater with lighter weight. A skater with a higher weight can make a difference in speed up to 15 miles an hour. For example, two riders are riding on the same type of longboard, having a weight difference of about 40lbs, on the same riding terrain, you’ll see the heavy rider will get more pace than the skinny one.

This unusual difference in pace happens because of air resistance countered by heavy-weight people. When going straight, the weighty people have an edge, but skinny people get more speedy when there are curves in the track. Chubby riders need to slide on curves; otherwise, it will become impossible for them to cover the curves safely at a higher pace. Usually, the longboards’ weight doesn’t have a higher effect on longboards’ speed. But, thin professional skaters go for a heavy longboard to neutralize the weight ratio for a better speed.

Pace Boarding Tuck

Another factor that can speed up or slow you down is your tucking position. This position usually neglects air resistance because it depends on your longboarding stance. The Tuck of a rider is the deciding feature of how fast you can go on a longboard. The most suitable position to gain maximum speed is to let your back knee kiss the front knee. Lean a little towards to thigh at the front and tuck your hands behind the back. 

There are some other techniques widely used by skaters around the globe. 

Bend a little down from the back to touch the backfoot knee to the ankle of the front foot. It is a difficult stance to hold for a long time but instantly generates pace.

A slightly easier stance to get a higher pace is to kiss the back leg’s knee with the calf of your front leg.

Whatever the position you like, you need to be a master in it if you want to go faster and take part in a downhill race.

How to get speed on a flat track

How fast can you go on a longboard while riding on flat ground? In this case, two factors come into play; how good you are at pushing or pumping the longboard. If you think, pushing is easier than pumping to gain initial pace, your stance on the longboard matters a lot. The body position should be stable when you push. When you plan to push the longboard with your front or back foot, the other parts of your body should stay stable.

Pumping is another technique that can be used to speed up a moving longboard. It is a leisurely way of speeding up in which you have to shift your weight from one end to another end continuously. The longer you pump, the higher pace your longboard will achieve. People who grip pumping the longboard can go faster and more flawless than skaters who only depend on pushing the longboard.

How to Brake on a moving longboard

Going faster is directly related to slowing down quickly. You need to be good at doing both things if you want to be enlisted as a professional skater. The most usual way to stop a moving longboard is Foot Braking. In this technique, you need to put any of your feet onto the ground to increase resistance and stop within seconds. But this technique is only useful when you are riding at a pace slower than 20 miles an hour. Even at this pace, you need to have the best longboard shoes to break efficiently without ruining the soul of your shoes.

The most efficient way to stop or reduce the speed of a speedy longboard is to slide. If you are good at sliding, you will feel more comfortable on a longboard at any pace. It isn’t easy at the start to learn how to slide, but everyone having the basics of longboarding can learn sliding by practicing.

There are multiple styles of sliding too. You can go for any of them once you learn the basic understanding of how to slide. It would help if you pushed your longboard on any side, keeping the longboard at 90 degrees to the downhill slope. When you slide this way, the wheels lose their original grip, and they start sliding to minimize the pace or eventually stop. 

How to deal with Speed Wobbles

There are many skaters who love to ride at high speed but then stop due to the speed wobbles. It is one of the most common issues in longboarding. All those riding styles that need high speed are the reason of wobbling.  Secondly, the reason behind wobbling can be the cracks and bumps on the road. Moreover, there are three major shapes in decks, top-mount, drop-through, and drop-deck. In the case of longboard speed wobbles, top-mount longboards make wobbles more apparent than the other two shapes.

Solution for Speed Wobbles:

The first solution in our list is adjustment in trucks settings. The default settings of trucks is usually  not too much harder. With such settings, you can take turns responsively, accurately, and slide professionally. You will have to tighten (not too much) your trucks first to avoid wobbles. The tightness should allow turns as well as decrease the wobbles. The tip is simple, try out different tightnesses and ride with the suitable one.

Secondly, we have the angles of the trucks. Higher angles usually cause wobbling. This is another way of reducing the quick turns. In short, when the trucks angles are higher, it results in quick turns and automatic turns sometime. All you need is a high-quality skate tool in different sizes to get the job done.

Longboard riders themselves sometime allow wobbles to ruin their rides. This happens when the feet placement is not correct when moving on at higher speed. Therefore, whenever you want to gain more speed, try out these things. Try to lower central gravity by leaning forward and put your weight slightly on the front trucks.

Best Longboard for Speed

All the wobbling issues and solutions can be disappeared by investing in a good longboard. You will be able to ride faster without noticing too much wobbles in the ride. It is all possible with the best and a suitable longboard for speeds. We focus on stability and to the point turns whenever the goal is to buy a longboard for high speeds.

Now for the stability purpose, we can deal with it by choosing the right deck shape such drop-through. Stability aside, such deck provides more room than usual to stay safe on the board even when the speed is high. If you wish to keep stability and pace alive on drop through longboard, it asks you to keep the central gravity as lower as possible. Most importantly, you get a chance to replace the wheels easily for cleaning and other purposes. Another useful tip here is to use big wheels (around 80mm) under your deck if you really want to achieve maximum speed.

If you notice professional skaters using smaller top-mount boards, don’t be surprised as they have experience and they can manage wobbles easily. It has nothing to do with how fast can you go on a longboard due to their vast longboarding techniques and skills. Our best longboard for speed is mentioned below.

Windrunner 41inch Downhill Longboard

Frequently Asked Questions

What is average longboard speed?

It completely depends on the riding style. For example if you are cruising, you will hardly achieve 8-10mph. On the other hand if you are going down the hill with your longboard, you can’t ride below 35mph even if you want to because the boards keeps going down without pushes.

What is downhill longboarding speed?

Your skating adventure is incomplete without downhill longboarding and it demands maximum confidence of the rider and his skills. Talking about downhill longboarding speed, you will achieve around 50-60mph when the ride is at its peak. Going without longboard protective gear is never suggested not a good idea.

Are longboards faster than skateboards?

Yes, longboards travel faster than skateboards and it has been verified several times before. The major difference between the pace of longboards and skateboards is their wheelbase. Longboards have lengthy wheelbase that allow you to replace bigger wheels to your board. As a result, larger rollers are perfect for achieving maximum speeds.

Conclusion

Some of the intermediate longboard riders ask how fast can you go on a longboard. Achieving maximum speed levels with the longboard is a remarkable experience and ask for several skills. We have shed light on everything that relates to longboard speed. You will get to know about different speeds with different riding styles. Also, the tips have been added to ride faster such as, making longboard faster, body positioning, and feet placement. In the end, a tested and verified longboard for speed is also mentioned above. Get it done, start practicing, and include another remarkable riding style to your list.