As soon as riders get used to longboarding, they want to ride the longboard with more speed than their initial rides. However, this goal is achievable if you already have a fast longboard or know how to make a longboard faster. Most importantly, faster rides are only recommended for advanced-level riders. Also, wearing helmets, knee pads, gloves, and other essentials are must for those who like faster rides.

The maximum speed that a traditional longboard can go with is 50-60mph that too when you are riding down the hill. On a flat surface, you will nearly achieve around 25mph. To help you roll over with more speed, your longboard needs to be faster. We suggest and apply some changes on our board to make it go faster than usual. You will need a few accessories in this procedure of fastening a longboard.

How to make Longboard Faster | Tips & Tricks

Recently, our team was finding the most beneficial ways of fastening a longboard. During that procedure, we found multiple easy ways that make your longboard faster than before. Afterwards, when we applied all those techniques practically, five tricks worked exceptionally well in making our board roll quicker.

Moreover, all of these methods require different accessories such as skate tools, lubricant oil, etc. So, let’s discuss each way of making a longboard faster. Go through each one and finalize the one you find easier to implement.

1. Lubricate and Clean the Bearings

The bearings are located inside all four wheels of your longboard. Ultimately, the wheels’ bearings impact the performance in manners of speed and gripping the ground. Hence, it is beneficial to maximize your riding speed by cleaning and lubricating the bearings. Unfortunately, after consistent rides on uneven surfaces, wet conditions, and rough roads, the bearings’ quality goes down and results in slowing down the longboard.

You will need to have the bearings’ oil to apply this technique. Secondly, there is a cleaning procedure, which we have mentioned below. Follow all the steps, and you are good to ride faster on your longboard.

Unscrewing Steps:

• First of all, you need to unscrew the bearings properly. A skate tool is the best to dispatch the bearings from wheels to perform this action. 
• Try to loosen the rollers a bit. Make sure the wheels don’t come entirely out of the Axle. 
• Twitching the wheels on the Axle will make you feel that the bearings have started loosening their tightness. 
• The next step is to take the rollers out wholly while the bearings are still inside the Axle. 
• Perform the previous actions again to pull out the remaining bearings in one wheel.
• Just like that, you will re-perform all these steps on all the remaining rollers to dispatch the bearings.

Bearings Cleaning Steps:

Our next goal is to clean the bearings we dispatched in the previous steps.

• Use an old piece of cloth to clean the dirt that appears on the bearings and inside their holes. 
• After a quicker cleaning purpose, now sink the bearings into some cleaning liquid for a while. 
• As the washing process continues, execute the shield from all the bearings and soak them in that liquid.
• The process should not be longer than 10-15 minutes, and drop some cleaning liquids during this duration.
• In the end, take the bearings out and place them on a dry cloth. Clean them with paper or cloth, and you are done.

If our mentioned procedure looks challenging to you, watch the video below for another easy method.

Lubricating Steps:

It is a simple process as you just need to buy a lubricant that has a needle attached. Otherwise, you will have to buy one separately. This particular needle helps you lubricate the bearing with one or two drops of oil. Make sure that the oil goes as inside the bearings as possible. Now reposition the bearings to the wheels, and you are good to go.

By following and implementing all these methods, you will notice your wheels rolling faster over all kinds of surfaces. Furthermore, you can go through this procedure every time you feel your longboard slowing down.

2. Loosening the Longboard’s Axle Nut

If you find the process of cleaning and lubrication boring or challenging, try changing the tightness of Axle nuts. Unlike the previous way of making longboard faster, this only requires a skate tool.

Interestingly, this way is comparatively easy to implement. However, in the default setting of some longboards, the Axle comes with more tightness than expected, which slows down the longboard.

Axle Tightness to make Longboard Faster:

The Axle nuts are found in the center of the longboard wheels. You use a skating tool to lose their tightness. Most importantly, set them on an average stiffness after trying a few rides before. Using them on too loose settings will bring wobbles to your rides. Therefore, change the tightness and give it a try. Then, move on with the one that improves your riding speed.

Trucks’ Setting to make Longboard Faster:

There is a possibility that your longboard trucks are slowing down your rides. Therefore, you may need to make some changes in the trucks’ settings. Whenever you struggle in generating pace due to the speed wobbles, you should loosen the trucks a bit and then give it a try. Most of the time, the wobbles during rides become the reason for slowing down the longboard. You can use the same skating tool to perform this action.

3. Enhance the Longboard Bearings

To keep the riders safe, the longboard brands structure the wheels’ bearings in a way that helps rollers in grabbing the uneven surface well. But, ultimately, it decreases the speed, and bearings don’t help rollers cover longer distances with more little pushes. So the best way to tackle this problem and improve the riding speed is to replace the bearings.

You need some excuses for replacement as the speed only can not be a valid reason. Also, notice if you hear weird noises, speed wobbles, or struggle to take turns. If the bearings perform well in all the scenarios mentioned above, you should try any other way of fastening the longboard’s speed.

With the exact steps of cleaning the bearings, you can easily replace newer ones. But there are a few crucial factors you need to keep in mind while you buy them. So here is what you should find in the bearings of a longboard.

What to Look for in Longboard Bearings:

• Firstly, the bearings need to be plastic cage and curvature. If you find removable rubber seals in them, it would be the cherry on top.
• ABEC ratings of the bearing should be seven or above. Rating less than seven assures you safety and helps rollers grasp the ground well. In short, if you are fond of riding at higher speeds on a longboard, bring bearings with ABEC-7 ratings for extraordinary results.
• Find a set of bearings with built-in spaces as they are considered high-quality and helpful in generating pace.

So, if you don’t want to buy a new longboard just to find better ABEC ratings in bearings, invest in the bearings only and replace them with the older ones.

4. Upgrade the Wheels

It is obvious that the wheels play the most vital role in slow and fast rides. We notices that sometimes our longboarding speed is low due to the wheels. The manufacturers build two types of rollers: stiff and soft. The stiffer ones are suitable for bearing the rider’s weight and rolling at higher speeds. The softer pair of wheels have a smaller size and roll over the different surfaces with the exact grip and smoothness. If you feel secure while riding the board but struggle in generating pace, you need to upgrade the wheels.

How to remove wheels:

Get help from a skate tool and place it on the Axle placed in the middle of the roller. Rotating it a few times will dispatch it from the trucks. Apply this step four times on four wheels to dispatch all of them from the trucks. Most of all, don’t if the newer pair has different dimensions than the older one as the Axle will automatically fit in the trucks. So what to look for when you buy a fresh pair of rollers.

Durometer:

Wheels with 75-78A hardness tend to be softer, while durometers of 82A or more will be considered more rigid rollers. A stiff pair of wheels will perform exceptionally well to generate a higher speed level. But, when you are going through rough roads, your speed will slow down due to bumps.

On the other hand, you can choose 75A rollers for safety and good gripping. This is because the smaller size does not get affected by the cracks on roads and keeps moving with the same smoothness. For a better understanding, go through the diagram given below.

Diameter:

The diameter of the wheels works with the principal as the durometer. Therefore, wheels of considerable size will be a suitable option for keeping the same pace throughout the ride. Moreover, they also don’t struggle too much when the bearings’ friction happens.

Speaking of small diameter rollers, they help you create pace quickly but slow down as soon as your ride comes in momentum. Moreover, when you achieve maximum speed but have to roll over uneven surfaces, smaller wheels will not perform better, and the whole generated pace will end. As a result, you will have to push again to reach the speed track.

So, these two factors are enough to help you understand what diameter and durometer you will need to achieve higher speeds on a longboard. The wheels’ core does not play a huge role in deciding the speed levels. So, you can go with the larger core to make it a perfect match with hardness and diameter.

Practice Fast Longboard Rides

Last but not least, nothing will improve the pace of your rides but yourself. It will help if you practice longboarding at higher speeds. Once you have polished your riding and stopping skills, your upgraded board will make the faster rides look easier.

While practicing any step on the board, the fear of falling off is always in mind. So you can keep the mishaps away from you by protecting your sensitive body parts with safety equipment. Moreover, when you are fully protected, it gives you tremendous confidence to believe in your skills of riding down the hill at a higher speed. A hill going downwards will be a fantastic place to improve the techniques for quicker rides.

People Also Ask

Below are some of the most relevant queries regarding how to make longboard faster. Read each one if you have also any question like that in your mind.

How to go faster on a longboard?

There are multiple steps you can follow for going faster on a longboard. For example, trying out different tightnesses on axles, lubricating and upgrading wheels and bearings, changes in trucks’ settings, and polishing the skills of going down the hill. So, you can try out any of these methods to go faster.

How fast can you go on a longboard?

The maximum speed you can reach while riding a longboard is around 55mph. And it is also possible only when you are going down the hill. While riding the board on a flat surface, you will hardly achieve 30mph if you are an advanced-level longboard rider with a suitable longboard under your feet.

How to make longboard wheels spin longer?

You might be struggling in covering longer distances due to smaller wheels. You don’t need to push continuously when the rollers have a bigger diameter and hardness. Most importantly, you can replace the wheels easily with the help of a skate tool.

How to loosen longboard trucks?

A skate tool with different socket sizes helps you tighten and loosen different longboard parts, and trucks are one of them. Place the tool in the middle of trucks, adjust the size and make the changes you want. This is how you can easily loosen and set your perfect riding style by trying out different settings.

How tight should longboard wheels be?

Mostly, the default settings of the rollers in a longboard are acceptable unless you notice some errors in your rides. The errors can be wobbles, cracks, slow speeds, etc. So if you face these issues, start by loosening the wheels from the Axle, and keep riding to decide which tightness supports your riding style.

Conclusion

There are countless skaters who want to enjoy the adventure of going faster on a longboard. To achieve this goal, riders must understand how to make longboard faster if they have not one already. There are five straightforward methods you can put your trust in for riding at higher speeds. First, try out different tightnesses in wheels, bearings, and trucks. Next, upgrade the accessories that impact the pace during longboarding. In the end, you can enjoy this adventure by polishing your riding skills regularly.