In a longboard, its deck is the most prominent and crucial part at which you place your feet during the rides. It helps you in maintaining balance and also the looks leave the spectators very tempted. Usually, most of the longboards are made with two material types which are wood. But one is bamboo and the other one is maple wood.
There has been a huge debate on these materials whether are bamboo longboard good or maple. We’ll let you know about both the materials in this article just to set it out very clearly once and for.
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Are Bamboo Longboard Good Or Maple Ones?
So this is clear since almost all the big brands of longboards and skateboards use both of these materials in their decks. And this is because their customers prefer both because of their different choices.
Hence, we’ve decided to explain both materials thoroughly in this article so let’s start with bamboo and then move to maple and their differences.
Bamboo Longboards
Bamboo longboards have a separate fan base because of their unique features. Some of them are lightweight, flexible, swift, and agile. These features make the rides smoother and faster as well and you enjoy them more than the maple wood longboards.
Also, bamboo grows in tropical areas of the world which makes them more flexible because of excessive water intake.
Maple Longboards
Maple longboard decks are made with maple tree woods found in colder areas. This wood is considered best for longboard decks because of multiple reasons. Some of those reasons are durability, stringent stability, and long-lasting ability.
These characteristics of this wood make it the best for longboard decks. All the riders that have a specific amount in their pocket to buy a longboard prefer maple wood longboards because of these qualities.
If you are confused and don’t know which one suits you the best, we can make a comparison between these two. And then you can easily decide which one you should buy.
Bamboo longboards vs. Maple longboards
To make it clear to you which longboard is best for you, we are going to compare these two materials. We’ll tell you some of their differences and commonalities, where possible, and leave the decision to you with our best advice.
Strength
Strength is one of the key factors of the maple wood but this is not so prominently found in the bamboo longboards. Maple wood is strong in this matter and the flexibility of the bamboo makes it a little bit less strong.
However, the amount of strength you get in maple wood is amazing which is why half of the riders prefer to get a maple deck longboard.
Flexibility
As we have already told you earlier maple wood is not so flexible in comparison with bamboo longboards. The bamboo longboard is very flexible which provides the best opportunity for the rider to commute through rough and rocky terrains.
On bumpy roads, you can easily navigate your way through the path while with the maple wood longboards, this is not possible. Or at least it is not as convenient as the bamboo longboards because you don’t even get to absorb the shocks from the bumpy road that smoothly.
The main reason for the bamboo longboard to be flexible is that it is usually very thin, and lightweight. So your board deck bends a little when you run your longboard in such areas.
Environment Friendliness
Both the materials are somewhat environment friendly if you just look at their characteristics. But since, we are having a comparison between both; therefore, we’d say bamboo is more environmentally friendly than maple wood. It’s because bamboo just takes only 3 – 5 years to fully grow and its decomposition is faster than maple tree wood.
However, the maple tree wood takes a little more time to decay and even 7 – 10 years straight to grow fully. Till its complete decay, the wood stays in the environment because of so many reasons.
Weight
Weight-wise, the bamboo longboard decks win it very clearly. It’s because maple wood is used to make longboard decks when it’s fully grown. Since it is fully grown, the maple wood becomes heavy and difficult to carry and push to start your ride.
On the other hand, the bamboo deck is very lightweight and easy to carry anywhere. It is because bamboos are hollow and airy so they don’t weigh a lot. Hence, they are very easy to push for the ride and can go a long way down the road.
Durability
If we are to compare them both for their durability, obviously maple wood is way more durable than bamboo longboards. It’s because maple wood is formed after so many years and therefore it becomes very solid. However, bamboo wood is usually thin and flexible which makes it prone to getting broken very easily.
Bamboo is still very durable because they don’t break that easily but compared to maple, it does. Maple also stops and shows resilience to the wear and tear problems with the longboards which again because of flexibility the bamboo does not.
Best For Doing Longboard Tricks
There are several tricks that people perform on the longboards and some of those are cruising, stunting, curving, and freestyle riding. Although, all of these tricks are longboard tricks not all of them can be performed with both of these boards. You need to be sure which one does what best.
You can only perform curving and stunting with the bamboo longboard because of its lightweight and flexibility. But for freestyle riding and cruising, you need to have a maple wood longboard because this is what helps the most in this matter.
Weight Capacity
The weight capacity of the maple wood longboard deck is straightforward more than the bamboo longboard deck. It’s because the bamboo longboard is flexible and can carry 220 lbs. readily or 100 Kg.
But on the other hand, the maple wood longboard can carry around 150 Kg or 330 pounds easily. This is because maple wood is very strong and thick and will not break until it gets too old and worn off over time.
Cost
Well, in terms of cost, some brands sell both of them at very high prices while some brands just sell them at low prices. It’s because of their construction type and the artwork they used to make it look attractive.
However, most of the time, bamboo deck longboards are cheaper than maple wood longboards because of their lightweight, thin, and non-durable construction.
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Conclusion
So, if you’ve got the whole point of this article, you must be very clear about your question is bamboo longboard good? Now you can decide pretty easily about which one you want to get and how much should it be worth as compared to the other.
But if you still have any questions, you can ask them in the comment section below. Finally, we’d say both are good but it is best to buy a long-lasting longboard as compared to some cool or good-looking longboard.
Are bamboo longboards good?
Well, after all that discussion above, it is up to you which one you select to be good for you. But since we value our hard-earned money; we’ll buy maple longboards rather than bamboo. However, if you have enough money in your pocket that you can spend multiple times, then bamboo is the best option because it is pocket-friendly as well.
Are bamboo longboards durable?
Yes, bamboo longboards are very durable, lightweight, flexible, and sustainable. The most important benefit of bamboo boards is that they are affordable.
What are the advantages of bamboo longboards?
Downhill riding and fast-paced cruising become easy peasy when you have a bamboo longboard. This is because of its lightweight, flexibility, and durability. It provides you with more speed and shock absorbance than the maple one.
How strong are bamboo Longboards?
Bamboo longboards are very strong in their skin because of the very long and strong fibers in their wood. They become like flexible rock not easy to break and tear apart.
What is the most stable Longboard?
The most stable longboard material condition complies with both the wood types; bamboo and maple wood. So, you can trust both of them and buy after deciding on other characteristics.