If your main focus is on pumping & carving then the Symtail or the Vanguard can be a good fit. If you don't plan to do any tricks and don't need the kicks then the Vanguard will give you the ultimate pumping experience with a large wheelbase for stability at speed. If on the other hand you want kicks, the Symtai is your guy. Now for your 15-25% of pushing, these two boards are not the best due to their camber profile and ride height. For efficient pushing, a drop-through like the Icarus is a good fit - it's also design for high-energy carving. Pumping requires a bit more skills though. In summary, if you want mostly pumping with kick turns and curb hopping, get the Symtail. High rebound pumping without tricks, the Vanguard. Easy pushing with good carving and some pumping ability, the Icarus. The latter is the closest to the Battle Axe albeit with better pumping (especially if you get the Flex 2). My 2c! HTH

@@RidingBoards Brilliant, thank you! followup newbie question if that's okay, I'm looking into the vanguard vs Symtail, but I'm not sure yet how I decide what flex to take. I'm seeing the recommended weight classes for each flex but at 70kg I fit all of them. What would you recommend for long distance carving and pumping?

@@SirensLament for pumping and carving you want lively energetic response from the board in your turns. More flex generally means more energy and speed boost in deep carves once you learn to dig deep into those turns. I would go for max flex i.e. Flex 2 for the Symtail or Flex 3 for the Vanguard (I think they're out of Flex 4). At 70 kg you should be good with a soft flex whereas a 90kg rider might wonder if it might be too bouncy and perhaps bottom out, but in your case it should be great. Just know there will be a bit of a learning curve for getting your weight shifting right and making the most of the flex for picking up and maintaining momentum and speed.

@@RidingBoards Thank you so much for all the effort answering my questions. based on this I'm leaning towards buying a Vanguard Flex 3. Have a great weekend!!

@@SirensLament Sure thing, you can also check out my review of the Vanguard here: www.ridingboards.com/loaded-vanguard-review/ - I have a video update planned in the next days. Ride on!

Thanks bro! ride on!

As an added note I think all points on flex are correct but it's also highly personal. I'm about 160 pounds and usually prefer the stiffer flex options even tho I mainly cross step and carve. I also love a dancer for shorter commutes but I live in a pretty small town in Sweden and from what I gather we have way more and way better bike paths than many other places.

The Flow is a lot easier than the Swell Tech. The ST is more surf focused, looks and feels more like a surfboard. It's longer and the surf truck is a lot less stable. I love the ST for surf training, really emulates surfing well. You can do 360s and easy backslides. But it takes a bit of getting used to, plus it rides pretty high. The ST truck is pretty massive. The newer version is a bit more stable than the previous one, but it still feels closer to the YOW than the Carver. The Flow is nice and stable, if you want to jump on a board and start pumping right away it's a good choice. It's mellow but turns quite well compared to a regular cruiser. Sort of like a Carver CX, but the great thing about the Flow is that it has a low ride, which keeps you more confidence and stability, and you can also push on it without too much effort if you need to. See my full review here www.ridingboards.com/flow-skateboards-review . HTH

Driveways definitely and small curbs. The flex lets you unweight/spring up too. Super safe feel

Thanks for the reply! I was set on getting the Ballona with the dad bods, but now I’m heavily considering this instead. I’m just concerned that the fathom doesn’t have a tail, and what the size difference is. I’m primarily going to use it to get around faster, I’m not using either for tricks.

@vu3088 they're very different, I ride both for commuting depending on my needs. If there are quite a few obstacles or if I need to carry the board around a lot, e.g. for stores or bus/train, I usually take the Ballona for the portability and the kick. If there are extensive bike paths and open roads I use the Fathom for the high speed and easy pushing. You can check out my review posts www.ridingboards.com/loaded-ballona-review and www.ridingboards.com/loaded-fathom-review-distance-commuting-bracket-setup

Nope not for me. Pretty high off the gound

It pumps a little however, in a symmetrical way, like a mini-vanguard... if it makes sense!

Sure this is for a different use case, closer to bike commuting where you travel long distances on decent paths/roads and for skate fitness

You havent seen LDP yet, we regularly push faster than casual cyclists. I dont even have a push setup like this fathom and you can still get like 10-11 mph casually

I'm a size 12 too and 6'1 (1.87m) and I find the ride quite comfortable for LDP

The Landyachtz Tony Danza 40" with Bear 155mm Gen 6 trucks, and 60 mm wheels, 78a to 80a for hardness. I have 6 dancers, including the Danza, which is light, agile, and functional.

hey, of course you can carve with this setup, you won't get wheelbite if you use appropriate risers, you can check out my post here for details www.ridingboards.com/orangatang-dad-bod-review/

I asked Loaded regarding the more pump-oriented brackets, no specific news just yet but they are in the process of exploring some ideas.

If you don't have terrible roads, I would go with the 80mm Kegels, needing less risers (3 or 4 black carver riders are enough), the dad bods would require 2 or 3 more 😅

Same, running 150mm Paris + McFlys on my trip with no issues. Even more, I've fitted 90mm eskate wheels + 150 paris on my Pranayama easily. Fitting 105mm Dad bods, however, might be too risky.

Hum I haven't really checked. when I get a chance, I'll set them both up with Caguamas again, measure the height and let you guys know

Not OP, but The Trip was always advertised as having 1.3" (about 33mm) drop, and I just measured my spare Zee bracket having a 34mm drop, so pretty even as far as it goes. What I CAN tell you is that I have a Trip, and I'm using the Zee bracket on the front of a different bracket deck. The Trip still rolls a few mm (maybe 5mm or so - ¼" ish) lower to the road when the two are set side-by-side , both fitted with the same trucks [55º Poppys] and 90mm wheels. Bear in mind there are other factors to ride height, eg: the Trip also has a Rocker/camber/rocker profile to the deck, and I haven't held a Fathom deck in my hands but I believe it has a slight camber , and has an extra ply or two in it's layup (?). .

The DB are sooo fast and smooth and roll over everything, curbs cracks and bumps are a non-issue. On the other hand if you're going to meet sidewalks or back alleys on your path, the Caguamas are more nimble and they're still very fast (and higher acceleration). So all in all it depends if you just want to push straight as fast as possible for hours on bike lanes and roads (Dad Bods), or if you ride across narrower areas as well and do lots of tighter turns and/or carving (Caguamas).

@@RidingBoardsthank you

lol

As explained in the video, the default Paris 150mm work great, the narrow width leads to higher responsiveness, without wheelbite (with the Dad Bods) thanks to the brackets.

You sure can. It'll be harder to slide for shedding speed if you're running the Dad Bods though as they're super grippy (unless you're good). A bit easier with the Caguamas. You can definitely carve nicely though - assuming the street isn't super narrow.

@@RidingBoards I agree with that! I've been enjoying carving the road in the countryside, awesome feels. Wouldn't dare to attempt to slide with it though :D

I'm a size 12 and it's definitely wide enough for me. When I ride I rarely have my feet at a 90º angle to the deck though. Especially when pushing distance your supporting foot tends to face forward.

@@RidingBoardscheers, thanks. Think I’ll be picking one up this week

Are you using the dad bods? Do you have another longboard to compare too? Thx!

@@tally2312 I'm using it with dad bods. I also have a pranayama with 85mm wheels. Bigger wheels means higher board, so it's def harder to push. But places where I'd usually scrape my board are not an issue with the dad bods which is fun :) Board itself is very comfy and an enjoyable ride. If you don't have a board with 85mm wheels I'd recommend that to start, then try out the bigger ones if you feel like it.

@@QuentinLeonettido the dad boss carve decently well?

@@juniorss8333 They are really big so don't expect the same as a 70mm but it's still fun!

@@QuentinLeonetti thanks for the reply! I have a zenit maze and drop cat 38 both with 85mm wheels. Which I love. Do you see any reason to add one of these? Is there any real benefit to the 105s? Or do you feel this is redundant to your other boards? I will say, another reason to potentially purchase is these would travel nicely in a suitcase taking the brackets off.

Hey, not as aggressive as say the YOW or the Bolsa (not in the video but here's my review www.ridingboards.com/loaded-carver-bolsa-review) due to the longer wheelbase. Great stability for bigger riders, learners, and distance pumping though

@@RidingBoards Thanks a lot! Might get a smaller board for skate surf, though Omakase with CX might do for the meantime.

@@nujdimanahan2704 yeah you can do some good surf training already on it, including driveways or a mellow skate pool. Once you master the CX you'll be ready to scale down your deck size

Loaded Tarab II: 47" x 9.5" with wheelbase 30" to 31.25" (see the link in description)