Review on 🛹 Maple Longboard Cruiser - VOLADOR 40 Inch by David Alvarado

A first cruiser board full of potential. The only real disappointment are the bearings; None of them were great on my board, but some were better than others. That said, $15 for a pair of decent bearings improved glide significantly, but if you're doing really short rides on a small college campus, you might not notice. Middle of the road probably isn't worth the upgrade unless you're really into longboarding. When you loosen them up they offer enough flex for decent carving without being noisy, which is about what you could want. The wheels are fine too; fairly soft but still fast enough and well suited to ride over most rocks, cracks and seams you'll find in pavement or concrete. The hallmark is the soundboard, which is a decent ply of maple with a good combination of flex and stiffness. . Its slightly concave shape is neither too flat nor too deep, just enough to offer a comfortable grip. The choice of geometric patterns and solid colors looks good (I chose teal and salmon with a lowrider inspired by chevron and pinstripes), and the screen printing is well done. After a few months the design has held up well and I'm sure it will age well too. The grip tape is good and it's good to have a white outline on the top, although I'm not sure why it's a whale. However, it looks good, doesn't hold dirt too badly, and serves its purpose. The 40" length is a good compromise for most turns and the feeling of not jerking while cruising. To be honest if they just sold the deck I'd be thrilled. One thing I don't like is that they installed the carriages when the board was still covered in plastic shrink wrap.Not much, and while saving the plastic does protect the printed design during shipping, it means you have to remove the carriages, to get absolutely all the plastic pull out that's stuck between the truck and the deck. I've been riding like this for a while but it bothered me - most probably don't care. don't mind sourcing your board from China (Volador is a nice sounding brand name , but it's still owned by Shanghai Biog Industrial, Ltd., ooh).