A pintail longboard is a longboard design that is quite popular with beginners. The name pintail is given to a board that travels towards a single “pin point” on the tail. It is a classic form of longboard that has been around since the beginning of the sport.
What are the benefits of a Pintail longboard?
The tail shape is popular with beginners for two main reasons: stability and cost. Its wheelbase is very long and therefore very stable. To learn to push and navigate, a pintail is optimal. Its potential beyond that is quite limited, but for people who just want a board for travel, it’s a comfortable and suitable design.
Graffiti are much cheaper designs to create due to their simplicity and similarity. Any design that is mass-produced will be cheaper to produce from a profitability perspective. A pintail does not contain any bell or whistle shapes like other longboard shapes do and is therefore easy to make.
Other benefits include complete immunity to wheel bite. Any configuration will do with a pintail longboard, as the narrow end will not bite with any truck and wheel combination.
The downsides of a Pintail longboard
The longer wheelbase (distance between trucks) in a tail-tail design will result in less “jitter” and more stability. Freestyle tricks are much more difficult with a tail tail design due to the lack of kicks, and gliding is arguably more difficult as well.
Pintails longboards are obviously not bi-directional. Any kind of 180 degree maneuver, like a coleman, will make you drive the wrong way. Not all decks are bi-directional anyway, but a pintail certainly doesn’t hide that it’s meant to ride one-way.
Pintail Longboard Recommendations
Motion bigfish
Subsonic dart
Pintail Fibreflex
Or whatever seems right to you. There isn’t a lot of fancy design work with the pintails, so get what suits your posture / height / weight / preferences.
Conclution
Pintails are excellent beginner longboards due to their affordability and stability. You can save $ 100 by purchasing a pintail design, and they will forgive you as you learn the basics of skating. After mastering it, if you want to be a little more dynamic with your longboard, you may need to buy a different board. While they are extremely comfortable to ride, most pintail longboards aren’t stiff enough for downhill, they’re too long to glide really well, and they’re hard to fool. If you have no aspirations to do any of the above, then a pintail longboard design for beginners is recommended.