A pintail longboard is a longboard design that is quite popular with beginners. The name pintail is given to a board that sweeps towards a single ‘pinpoint’ on the tail. It is a classic form of longboarding that has been around since the beginning of the sport.
What are the benefits of a Pintail longboard?
The pintail form is popular with beginners for two main reasons: stability and cost. Its wheelbase is very long and therefore very stable. For learning to push and navigate, a pintail is optimal. Its potential beyond that is pretty limited, but for people who just want a board to power up, it’s a convenient and adequate design.
Pintails 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 long board shapes and is therefore easy to make.
Other benefits include complete immunity to wheel bite. Either setup will work with a pintail longboard, as the narrow end doesn’t bite with any truck and wheel combination.
The Disadvantages of a Pintail Longboard
The longer wheelbase (distance between the trucks) on a ponytail layout will result in less ‘jerking’ and more stability. Freestyle tricks are much more difficult with a ponytail layout due to the lack of kicks, and gliding is arguably more difficult as well.
Pintails longboards are obviously not bidirectional. Any kind of 180 degree maneuver, like a coleman, will cause you to drive in the wrong direction. Not all decks are bi-directional anyway, but a pintail certainly makes no secret of the fact that it is designed to ride in one direction only.
Longboard Pintail Recommendations
motion big shot
subsonic dart
Fibreflex Ducktail
Or whatever seems right to you. There isn’t a lot of fancy design work going on with pintails, so choose what suits your posture/height/weight/preferences.
conclusion
Pintails are great beginner longboards due to their affordability and stability. You can save $100 buying a ponytail design, and they’ll forgive you while you learn the basics of skating. Once you’ve mastered that, if you want to be a little more dynamic with your longboard, you may need to buy a different board. While extremely comfortable to ride, most pintail longboards aren’t stiff enough for descending, they’re too long to slide very well, and they’re hard to trick. If you have no aspirations to do any of the above, a beginner pintail longboard layout is recommended.