Longboard, Tumblr, an Ykra bag, an Aarion T-shirt, triangles, Ray Ban or Lennon sunglasses, tattooed signs in italics on the wrist or on the arm, Instagram – these are the inevitable things for the youngsters of Budapest who are in their 20s and who are quite cool. (We deliberately tried to avoid using the word ‘hipster’). In our latest article we will tell you all about the latest and greatest new craze – the longboard. We’ll let you know where you can buy one, we’ll tell you where can you get it all pimped out and we’ll also going to give you a few tips for the first rides – in case you’d like to avoid ending up at the hospital.
The brief history of longboardingIn the 1960s blond California guys (some say Hawaiian boys) started to experiment with rolling surf boards. After the first functioning prototypes were made the new craze started to spread: the market started to expand, a new subculture was emerging, new tricks were invented, a whole new music genre and a new clothing style was also introduced and last but not least the slang words and expressions started to gain popularity. These are interesting processes and exciting changes but let’s just focus on the longboard itself. The first longboard users were not really interested in special stunts; they just wanted to enjoy the high-speed. They wanted to get from one point to another and they probably wanted to feel like they were riding the waves of the ocean. Skateboarders and longboarders by the way were never really close – they represent two completely different subcultures.
Hungary doesn’t really have a history as far as longboarding is concerned. Zsófi Fenyvesi, who is the board designer of the Faun Project for example, bought her first longboard in 2003. Back in the days she was one of the first proud owners of a real longboard. Ever since, especially in the last 1-2 or let’s just say last 3 years, longboards were gaining popularity.
What makes a board a longboard?It’s a tough question. According to the most common definition a longboard is a board that has the length of 84-150 centimetres and that’s rolling on 4 wheels. Its wheels are usually bigger and softer than those of skateboards.Where can we get one?There are only a few places in Budapest where longboards are available. If you would like to take a good look at them, touch them and get to know them better you should visit Store 13 on Karolina Street; they sell skateboards and longboards as well. If you are already an expert and you are more comfortable with online shopping you should check wakeshop.hu – they have the widest range of boards. The price of a fully equipped longboard starts at 30 000 HUF but it can easily go up to 80 000 HUF. Besides the webshop they have an actual shop as well, on Perc Street. Right after the explosion of the longboard craze another webshop came to life as well called longboards.hu. Don’t be surprised by the way if you come across longboards in the shopwindows of sport equipment stores – these are usually on display for one simple reason, they want to create a cool image. The salesmen usually hardly know anything about these boards.
Home-grown longboardsThere’s only a couple of longboard manufactures in the world – good news is that one of them is in Budapest. It’s called the Faun Project – they manufacture custom-made boards from maple and bamboo and they decorate them with unique designs. The prices move between 55 and 100 thousand forints. It usually takes at least 4 or 5 days for one board to be made. They must be doing something very well by the way; that’s why the local agency of Puma asked them for a special collaboration, so the brand new designs of the Puma-Faun longboard editions will be available soon. A campaign and a series of programmes titled ‘Az Éjszaka Bajnokai’ (The Champions of the Night) will also be introduced as a part of the collaboration. Faun Project for Puma Social - Teaser from Urbanplayer.hu on Vimeo.If you already happen to have a longboard and you’d like to pimp it out with a one-of-a-kind design you should check out K. You’ll find basically everything from Darth Vader to Buddha – all sorts of griptapes are available.Do you have your own? Well use it then!If you were willing to sacrifice loads of money on your longboard you should use it all the time. Don’t save it for the rainy days! But of course before you ride it you should know how it works and you should be aware of the abilities of your own body. First of all there are no breaks on a longboard so if you are trying it for the first time you should look for a deserted area with flat surfaces and with safe streets. Try to avoid steep hills, cars and baby buggies – just for safety. The most common longboard catastrophe is falling under a car and breaking the board. Experts by the way suggest trying to make the first small steps with the board on grass. The grass is soft enough, so you don’t have to worry about falling and hitting yourself and you can experiment with the balance at the same time.
Wearing a safety gear is not that cool but experts suggest wearing it anyway, especially for the first rides. After a few weeks of practicing with a helmet on in the deserted outskirts you should try the more hilly streets but try to find peaceful, quiet areas. If you happen to go out in the dark you should wear light-resistant safety gear too. One more thing: longboards are very, very cool but they are not the best means of transportation if you want to go to the pub for a few drinks for example. If you’d like to show off your brand new board and you’d like to impress your friends with your talent you should go to Telep in the afternoons for example – don’t try to ride under the influence of alcohol at night.If you need maintenanceSometimes longboards break down – wheels loosen up, the board cracks or breaks and sometimes things cannot be repaired by us. If you Google ‘longboard service Budapest’ you probably won’t find any useful information but we tell you, the shops and the people we already told you about will be at your help if you have problems with your board.Official longboardingThere is no such thing as being an official or professional longboarder and there’s no such thing as a National Association of Longboarders either. The local audience is probably too diverse to form a unified, formal, official association. However, we have our own national longboard talent called Gábor Csutar, a.k.a. Csuti Lush who is supported by official sponsors. You can check him out on this video.Longboard courseThere are no professional longboard courses. If you don’t want to learn to ride the longboard on your own you should find longboarder friends who will guide you and help you to learn the first steps. If you can’t find anyone you should try the Faun Project, The I love longboarding, the Longboard Girls Crew or the Hilldancerst. They will definitely help you.
Our longboard experts were Zsófi Fenyvesi and Ádám Juhász.
Thank you for your help guys!
