When it comes to longboards and the longest time, longboards have dominated the streets as the top selection for skateboarding compared to penny boards for many good reasons. However, skates are now opting for longboards due to their classic design, incredible performance, and well construction in the game.
So if you are thinking about what a faster penny board or a longboard is, there is no denying that penny boards are much slower than longboards. The components made it cheap and light at the cost of speed, stability, and control.
Therefore without waiting, let’s jump into those factors that make a longboard faster than a penny board.
Factors that Contribute to the Longboard Speed
There are a lot of factors that make longboards faster than penny boards and play an important role in their performance. These include wheel durometer, pavement quality, pavement type, bearing component, and quality.
So if you looking to learn beginner tips and tricks to ride faster, it s a good idea to jump into the factors.
Component made
Due to the construction of longboards, they usually go faster than penny boards when ridden downhill and carving. Even more importantly, because of stability, longboards are faster than penny boards, thus allowing the best control at higher speeds, making them incredibly safer for downhill riding.
On the other, there are some places where penny boards are faster than longboards, which are those where you cover short distances. So stopping to pick the board to run for a bit before throwing the board back down the skate.
Wider Wheel Base
Some longboards are made for riding especially downhill racing and simple carving. All the models of longboards come with more expansive decks and wheelbase, which helps to retain control at higher speeds when you experience riding downhill.
Due to the larger wheelbase, it allows you to stand on a longboard with comfort with both your feet further apart. Therefore, smaller size causes huge riders to squash their stance shape to place their feet slightly close together, making it impossible to balance faster.
Standing Deck
All the models of longboards are featured with standing deck platforms bigger in size as compared to penny boards.
So the distance between the front and back truck, known as wheelbase on longer boards, becomes more stable and comfortable, making them faster carving down the road.
Faster Bearings
Another factor that makes longboard faster is the bearings, which differ slightly from industrial bearings. Because they are constructed and used in factories, machines are specially designed to spin incredibly quickly in longboards.
However, if you want to make your longboard faster, you can get clean bearings to get a speedy ride.
Easy to Control Speed
Because of control on speed, longboards run faster than penny boards. These boards are made with low-quality urethane, so they cannot go faster and do not slide well. However, the best penny boards are constructed with narrow shapes, so it is difficult to handle and control the board and its speed while going downhill.
On the other hand, longboards are characterized by good-quality urethane, so they slide smoothly and well. Its size and good wheel grips are easy to control, making its speed faster.
Trucks make turning easier
Trucks play an important role in the faster speed of longboards; if they are more comprehensive, the longboard will be stable to run faster. Compared to penny boards, the trucks of longboards are wider, and their kingpin design makes longboard turns easier at high speed.
In penny boards, the trucks are narrow in shape and similar to the narrow width of boards, making them slower, unstable, and sketchy.
FAQs
Is a longboard faster than a penny board?
Pennyboards are slower than longboards due to many reasons. The components, speed, lightweight, control, and stability make the longboards faster than penny boards.
Is pennyboarding harder than longboarding?
Most regular-size riders consider longboarding easier than penny boarding, especially if you have never stepped on skateboards.
How fast does a penny board go?
If you plan to use a relatively slow speed of up to 15 to 20 mph and the places where you will need portability, I recommend using a penny board.
Conclusion
So by analyzing the factors discussed above, no matter how many upgrades you make into penny boards to make them faster, the deck size makes it an inferior addition to the downhill option. So if you apply it on a penny board, you will have a worse time.
