It’s certainly not the first gratuitous use of the word “longboard” as a qualifier. It really should be titled a “Downhill Skatepark” shouldn’t it? Does a board length under 3 feet preclude you from using this? Wasn’t this style of riding invented on “short boards?” When is someone going to build a Pigboarding park? You know, a skatepark built specifically for people riding Indy 215’s. Complaints about a stupid name aside, it’s cool concept. Don’t blame Landyachtz for naming it a longboard park, blame the city of Kamloops in British Columbia.

I thought Bahne relaunched it’s brand for the serious downhill competitor, at least that’s what I remember from a previous decade when when I was an irregular contributor and advertising connoisseur of Concrete Wave magazine. I guess it didn’t pan out because Bahne seems to be engaged in the role of toy store supplier, or at best, close out items for sale at Costco. – Thanks to Stephen B for the tip.

This year’s entry into the next great skateboard fabrication method comes from N2R Skate, which is a side venture from a company that has been making boat hulls using a sandwiched composite technology from a Swedish company named DIAB. It’s apparently used in private jets, boats, skis, trains, submerged water vehicles, and now skateboards. The main advantage they are pushing is that this would be the last longboard you’d ever need to buy, since it’s virtually indestructible and is 25% lighter than standard longboards. To be sure, they show these boards taking some incredible abuse with the implied assumption that the performance would not be effected as a result. They drive a car over the board, which is not that big of a deal considering I’ve seen an Uncle Wiggley wood/fiberglass composite board survive an encounter like that during the 80’s. However, some of the other puncture tests are pretty impressive. Of course this technology comes with a price tag. Remember, this is for yachts and race cars. During the kickstarter phase they are offering a “strongly discouted price” of 179€ or 242$ for the deck alone. Pictures and videos after the jump.

Tesseract from Loaded Boards. Laminated to the bottom of the board is a layer of cork which provides vibration damping and (as we learned to our surprise during testing) a significant level of durability. The granular, non-directional structure of the cork helps prevent abrasive damage from propagating (in contrast to a traditional wood or bamboo veneer with long, oriented fibers). I’ve got cork floors in my kitchen, which ended up being a very poor choice. It’s just not durable to abrasion or water. I can’t imagine why Loaded added cork in the first place, and how they quantify the accidentally discovery of damage resistant properties, but I am highly skeptical. (Big surprise, right?) It seems like the first curb you bottom out on is going to shred the bottom of that thing. There’s also going to be a lot of tear and pinch potential where the trucks mount. I hope Loaded did more thorough testing with cork than Powell did with Bonite™ construction. Aesthetically though, it looks sharp, like something out of Metropolis magazine.

Apparently, the longboard stroller, although not actually in production yet, is also not meant to be a joke. In some shots you can see what might be a braking device or two, possibly a sponge. Test dummies are a nice touch. This is a joke. Is this a joke? Quinny is a real company. UPDATE: Added another video. – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

The Brake Board is about a year old, actually, and was to be made somewhere in the Seattle area. I can’t find a web site for it, so it may not have actually gone into production. It’s a Fred Flintstone simple idea. One that nobody is likely to want if they actually have a little skill or gumption. Still, I could see a bunch of Mom’s out there thinking it was a good idea for junior’s daily ride to school. I’m seeing more and more grade school kids skating to school on longboards these days, even in the rain, which would be “core” were it not for the fact that I also see kids in shorts and t-shirts in the rain too. You know, this board reminds me of something. – Thanks to Matthijs for the tip.

As seen on Boing Boing, thanks to Mark Pendergrass.

From Caliber Trucks, Blue Dream and Blackout addition, plus a little White Gold for the ladies, sort of. Bigger versions in the gallery at Caliber.

Why not make a simple longboard? It might do you some good to broaden your horizons a little. How’s yours coming MC? [Source: Make Projects]

This one actually looks pretty good too, able to go uphill, but certainly not as powerful as a Gnarboard. This is probably the nicest looking electric skateboard to date, it doesn’t look like a longboard with a brick strapped to it. It’s the first ever to use regenerative breaking too. Breaking recharges the batteries a little bit. Hella expensive (Yes, I said “hella”) though. Boosted Boards has raised $297,763 do date on Kickstarter. Their promo video is heavily biased towards green transportation vs. skateboarding fun.