Have you ever looked up at a grassy hill and think that’d be perfect to board down? Or do you ever simply get tired of staying on the sidewalk and roads with a traditional skateboard? Enter the mountain board.

Overview of Mountain Boarding

Mountain boards are designed to allow riders to conquer all types of terrains. Using a mountainboard, riders can go down grass hills, gravel tracks, mountain bike trails and more. The sky is the limit with a mountain board.

Mountain boarding originated from snowboarders looking for a way to shred during the summer. # snowboarders in particular, Jason Lee, Patrick Mcconnell, and Joel Lee, took action and created a company called MBS or MountainBoardSports in 1993.

Today MBS is still around in the market and produces some of the top mountain boards in the market.

The Mountainboard Examined: Part by Part

The Deck

Mountain board decks are made out of two main types of materials mostly depending on price and quality. High quality decks are made out of composite carbon and plastic with a wooden board, much the same material that snowboards are made out of.

However, this material and manufacturing process can create larger prices for mountainboards. Usually entry level boards, priced around $100-120 are made out of laminated wood similar to a longboard deck.

One important thing to note about mountainboards is the size of the deck. You want a size that fits your body. The main way to determine if a board will fit you is your height.

For kids, a deck length of around 31-33 inches is perfect. A 6’ adult on the other hand most likely needs a deck length around 39 – 41 inches.

The Trucks

There are two main types of trucks: skate and channel. Each of these trucks have their individual advantages and disadvantages. Channel trucks are generally more expensive but also higher quality

Do you own a longboard or a skateboard already? Look at the truck. The only difference between skateboard  trucks and skate trucks on a mountainboard is that the trucks on the mountainboard are longer and more robust. This is because these trucks have to take way more stress than the average skateboard.

Channel trucks feature a channel in the middle of the truck(hence the name) which allows the axle more flexibility during turning.

Typically these trucks are more responsive than skate trucks. These trucks also feature springs inside of them that can be switched out to affect the stiffness of the board during turns.

Bindings

While everything else we have discussed so far has more or less been seen on longboards and skateboards, this has not. Bindings on a board you say? Why?

Well, with skateboards you can expect a reasonably flat surface to ride on. With mountainboarding you can’t do that at all. One second you could be riding fast down a mountain when you go over a root. Without those bindings you would be thrown instantly off the board!

Below shows a picture of the various types of bindings. They range from typical stiff snowboard bindings, to simple loops in the board that you can stick your feet into easily.

Wheels/Tires

The wheels are another big difference between longboards and mountainboards. While most longboard wheels are made out of polyurethane, most wheels on mountainboards are actually inflatable pneumatic tires.

The wheel hub is mainly the only thing that changes and the two main materials for it are plastic and metal.

There a number of wheel sizes ranging from 8” to 13”. The 8” wheel is most useful to the majority of riders as it provides the right mix between carving capability and speed.

For riders who want to go down mountains and go really fast, the 9” and 10” wheels may be better as the bigger wheel sizes will give you more stability and allow you to traverse over bigger obstacles.

Brakes

But wait you say. When going down a mountain, I can’t footbrake or slide to slow down. Have no fear because companies have already come up with a very popular solution to this common problem.

Brakes are installed on almost all mountainboards sold now a days and are mostly a simple system which involves pressing a hand held lever in order to slow down. They are usually super simple to operate and help out greatly when going down hills.

On any of MBS’ mountainboards, the x in MBS Atom 90x indicates that the board comes with brakes.

Types of Mountain boarding:

There are a number of different types of mountain boarding and competitions to enter in. If you are considering buying a board, look into each of these types and see if you would be interested. The type that you choose will greatly influence your search for a board.

Downhill Mountain boarding

Downhill mountainboarding, also called big mountain, is exactly what it sounds like. It usually involves long courses( >1/2 mile) down a big mountain. The objective is to get to the bottom the quickest. One person rides at a time.

Brakes are essential in this category to allow you to control your board and prevent you from tumbling down a mountain.

Boardercross

Remember how earlier I stated that mountainboarding was created from some snowboarders. This is essentially the same as Snowboard cross except with mountainboards.

Typically 2-4 riders go at the same time and race to get to the finish line over a variety of specifically designed obstacles.

Free Riding

Despite these competitions available for mountain boarding, often times the most fun thing to do is simply cruise around and test out your mountain board’s capabilities.  Free riding just describes riding your mountainboard around without any specific purpose.

You would be very surprised at the number of tricks that you can do with a mountainboard versus a regular skateboard. The bindings that keep your feet on the board allow you to throw some insane tricks.

Some examples to get your excited about grabbing your first mountainboard are shown below in the video.  Look for 8 to 9 inch wheels for this category. Braking is not essential.