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I freeline skate and have recently gotten into surfskating as well. They're good fun and nice leg workouts. Don't ask me to do any tricks though, I say "I prefer to cruise around", but really I'm just too pleb for that stuff.
Haha freeline skates are quite amusing. Never have witnessed them in real life yet though.
Could always start learning them yourself? Then you'd get to see them in action first hand 😉.
It's quite cheap to buy an off-brand pair on eBay. I got a pair (they're branded "Drift Skates") for £12 and have been using them for almost a year now. I also have JMKRIDE skates, but haven't used them yet. If you do go for off-brand skates, you should probably also get higher-quality bearings and grip tape. The stock bearings didn't last long for me and I wear down the Jessup Ultragrip I use so quickly that I have to replace it about once every 2 months.
For actually learning to ride, JMKRIDE has a great tutorial playlist for beginners.
Surfskating looks like tons of fun, I'd love to give it a shot. Would you have any recommendations on gear & research for anyone looking to get into it?
I've only been surfskating for about a month and had been skateboarding for about another month before that, so maybe take my advice with a dash of soy sauce.
Personally, I currently only have one surfskate. My set up consists of the Waterborne Surf Adapter with their Fin system, with the Fin set to "Super Carver" mode. This was the most expensive part of my set up and cost me ~£90. I'm using a blank, 8.5" popsicle-stick deck I got from Venom for ~£27 and the rest of my set up I got from aliexpress, i.e., the longboard trucks, wheels and hardware as a ~£35 package, and an off-brand Rail adapter (the counterpart to the Surf adapter) for ~£12. The grip tape I already had, as I had been freeline skating prior and go through grip quite quickly because of it (I bought a 60' roll of Jessup Ultragrip for ~£85).
Regarding research, I mostly watched YT videos to see them in action:
There's also an app you can to help you choose a surfskate, but I personally haven't tried it.
Obviously I can't attest to other setups, but regarding mine, I'd say the biggest issues I have with it are:
- It's really heavy to lug around. It weighs ~5kg, mostly from the adapters and trucks, so if you're also hoping to learn tricks with it, it's likely going to be more difficult.
- It's a bit tall. I've gotten used to it by now, but don't expect it to feel the same as riding a skateboard. On the other hand, the extra height does aid with making tighter carves.
Aside from the Waterborne, the other surfskate that caught my eye was the Curfboard. I like that its design seems to use something akin to an Ackermann steering system, which apparently is more stable than "turntable" systems used by most other surfskates. Here's an interesting blog post on it I read which talks about the geometry/physics behind it.
Ultimately, I went for the Waterborne, as I liked that I could use it with whatever trucks I want and because its Fin system provides some adjustability to the truck angle, which allows me to experiment and decide which setting I liked best.