Santa Cruz Skateboards is one of the oldest most influential and most prestigious skateboard companies in the world.
Founded in 1973 by three surfer friends in Santa Cruz, California, initially as a surfboard manufacturer, the company has been producing high-quality skateboards, apparel, and accessories for over 40 years.
Santa Cruz Skateboards is known for its skateboarding lifestyle and iconic graphics such as the Screaming Hand, the Dot, and the Roskopp face, designed by legendary artist Jim Phillips.
NHS Inc., the distribution company created by the 3 Santa Cruz boys, also distributes many other brands – Santa Cruz Snowboards, Santa Cruz Surfboards, Creature Skateboards, Independent Trucks, Bronson Speed, Krux Trucks, Ricta Wheels, Mob Grip, OJ Wheels, Road Rider, Slimeballs, Bullet, and Nor Cal Clothing.
Santa Cruz Skateboards also sponsors a team of high-profile professional skaters including Eric Dressen, Tom Asta, and Emmanuel Guzman, who push the boundaries of skateboarding with their style and skill.
The Santa Cruz lineup includes over 40 cruiser models, all with unique looks and a classic riding feel. However, each board has a long name and not-so-easy-to-find specs, which can make it quite hard to compare and choose your cruiser. This post highlights SC’s main shapes with their variants.
If you’d like to see the full list in a Google sheet, click on the capture below:
Breaking down the cruiser lineup in a clearer way will help you choose the slasher that best meets your needs and tastes. Let’s go over the cruiser types and variants in more detail.
Also check out:
Best Santa Cruz Longboards – comparison guide
Best Santa Cruz Surf Skates (Carver) – comparison guide
How To Choose The Best Cruiser Longboard
16 Awesome Mini-Cruiser Skateboards
Cruiser Skateboards: What Are They Good For?
1. Santa Cruz Street (29″)
The Santa Cruz Street Cruiser is a mini-cruiser shape with length 29″ length and width 8.8″. It’s a relatively wide (for its size) and comfortable slasher with a big 6.6″ kicktail and small (3.5″) nose kick for nimble and fun city maneuvering, slashing, and tricks.
The shape offers a comfortable wide squash tail and a slightly narrower rounded nose. The completes come fitted with super high-rebound 60mm wheels with a soft duro for optimal grip when cruising.
| Size | 29″ x 8.8″ (WB 14.75″) |
| Kicks | Kicktail, nose kick |
| Concave | Medium |
| Construction | 7-ply North American Maple |
| Trucks | Krux 9″ TKP trucks |
| Wheels | 60mm 78a |
| Price | $145 |
Here are the variants for the Street Cruiser shape:
Classic Dot Street
The Classic Dot Street has an attractive black and red color scheme with a big red dot on the bottom.
Eclipse Dot Street
The Eclipse Dot has spot gloss graphics with soothing green tones, with matching color 60mm soft wheels.
Tonal Fade Street
The Tonal Fade version of the 8.8″ Street cruiser has a beautiful blue and turquoise gradient with the Santa Cruz name printed across the deck in blue over white lettering.
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Street Skate
This variant has a fun brown and cream striped background with the Santa Cruz name in big green and red letters on a black background.
Rainbow Tie Dye Street
The Santa Cruz Skateboards Rainbow Tie Dye Street cruiser features flashy multi-color (red, green, blue, yellow, pink) tie-dye graphics, with matching pink wheels.
Serape Street
The Serape version of the Santa Cruz Street cruiser could be named “Rasta” (see next section) for its sunny yellow, red, and green color graphics. Matching green wheels.
Rasta Tie Dye Street
The Rasta Tie Dye Street cruiser features the Santa Cruz name in fire-like colors with soothing green and yellow stains surrounding it.
Infinite Ringed Dot Street
The Infinite Ringed cruiser has intricate graphics on the bottom side, with successive circles around the Santa Cruz with alternating checker and solid color patterns.
2. Santa Cruz Street Cruiser (29.4″)
This mini shape is similar to the above but slightly longer and narrower, although with the same wheelbase. This results in a slightly slimmer deck with a bigger (4″) and “blunter” nose kick for easier manuals and a more trick-focused riding style.
| Size | 29.4″ x 8.4″ (WB 14.75″) |
| Kicks | Dual kicks |
| Concave | Medium |
| Construction | 7-ply North American Maple |
| Trucks | Krux 9″ TKP trucks |
| Wheels | 60mm 78a |
| Price | $145 |
Here are the different designs for this cruiser style:
Amoeba Street Skate
The art theme on this cruiser features a really cool “amoeba” worm-like pattern on the bottom side. The Santa Cruz name is displayed in huge letters on a red diagonally positioned middle section.
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Beach Bum Hand Street
The beach bum has gorgeous artwork on the bottom including a surf wave on a sky-blue background with white palms, and the legendary screaming hand (blue as well) walking on the sand. The top side also has a white graphic with the hand, the wave, and the palm tree in the middle of the grip tape.
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Fast Lane Street
Elegant looks. The Santa Cruz name in big yellow letters on an orange background layered on top of a black and dark grey checkered pattern.
Screaming Hand Street
This variant features the iconic Santa Cruz Skateboards Screaming Hand in blue color on a dark purple background, with blue wheels matching the hand’s color.
Flier Collage Street
The Flier Collage has a sober and elegant design with a flashy Santa Cruz name patch on a patterned blue background, while the rest of the deck bottom features a glossy dark background. The red wheels match the border color of the brand patch.
Floral Stripe Street Skate
The Floral is a very attractive theme with a pink dominant color (including the wheels) around the Santa Cruz brand. The brand patch is surrounded by 3 beautiful yellow, green, and red flowers laid out on a cream and Khaki striped background. A piece of art really.
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3. Santa Cruz Shaped Cruiser (32.3″)
The Shaped cruiser has a dual-kick but directional shape. This is an early-90s-styled, 7-ply North American maple construction. It’s a hybrid shape designed for a mix of street riding and comfortable urban cruising.
The 58mm medium duro OJ Keyframe round-lipped wheels are well-suited for street tricks, jumps, kickflips, and tech slides. The Krux 9″ trucks are rock solid and able to withstand all kinds of tricks
This is a regular-size cruiser (as opposed to a mini) ideal for distance riding around town as well as for larger riders with big shoe sizes. The 14.75″ wheelbase is relatively short for the deck length due to the generous kicks, which makes this cruiser both very responsive and trick-able.
| Size | 32.3″ x 9.5″ (WB 14.75″) |
| Kicks | Dual kicks |
| Concave | Medium |
| Construction | 7-ply North American Maple |
| Trucks | Krux 9″ TKP trucks |
| Wheels | 58mm 87a OJ Keyframe |
| Price | $145 |
Here are the different designs for this cruiser style:
Street Creep “Framed” Shaped
Awesome spooky graphics featuring a skull on a dark veneered background. The Santa Cruz name is printed in smaller letters under the framed skull – a rare feat for a SC board.
Decoder Hand Shaped
The Santa Cruz Decoder Hand-Shaped cruiser features transformative decoder spot gloss graphics on blue, red, black, and natural veneers. The printed graphics change when viewing through the included decoder lens hangtag. The screaming hand is Santa Cruz Skateboard’s most iconic and representative artwork.
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Phase Dot Shaped
The Phase Dot is a cool graphic theme on the bottom side with the Santa Cruz dot in the middle (Orange on black) on an elegantly patterned dark background. Khaki trucks and black wheels.
4. Santa Cruz Retro-Shaped Cruiser
Iridescent Hand Shaped
This is a late 80s styled, super wide pool shape build with a 7-ply North American maple deck. This shape features a short and wide 6.7″ kicktail and a significant 5.8″ nose kick for bowl riding and park tricks.
The Iridescent comes stock with smaller, harder, and round-lipped street-capable 58mm 87a Keyframe wheels.
The artwork on the deck bottom shows a big see-through Screaming Hand (in the place of the traditional Santa Cruz dot) traversed by an incredible spectrum of colors. The overall graphics are simply amazing.
| Size | 31.7″ x 9.7″ (15″) |
| Kicks | Kicktail + nose kick |
| Concave | Medium |
| Construction | 7-ply North American Maple |
| Trucks | Krux 9″ TKP trucks |
| Wheels | 58mm 87a OJ Keyframe |
| Price | $182 |
Classic Dot 80s
The Classic Dot is also an 80s-style pool shape although slightly narrower than the Iridescent Shaped (above). It has a shorter kick (6.25″) and larger nose (5.95″), and a wheelbase slightly longer (1/4″).
While the two boards have the same length and general shape, they have a slightly different feel. The Classic Dot is more focused on cruising and less on tricks – as shown by the larger and softer wheels.
| Size | 31.7″ x 9.35″ (15.25″) |
| Kicks | Kicktail + nose kick |
| Concave | Medium |
| Construction | 7-ply North American Maple |
| Trucks | Krux 9″ TKP trucks |
| Wheels | 60mm 78a wheels |
| Price | $182 |
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5. Santa Cruz Shark Cruiser
The Shark is a tiny, surfboard-inspired 27.7″ mini-cruiser shape with a stylish swallow tail and a widened outline towards the nose. It’s an uber-portable and stowable, a very stylish mini with a small kick (4.3″) and minimal nose (2.7″).
The narrow 140mm Bullet trucks make for a super-nimble feel. The complete comes with very large soft wheels (65mm) for the deck size resulting in an ultra-smooth ride – the angled risers ensure you get no wheelbite when turning and carving.
| Size | 27.7″ x 8.8″ (16.5″) |
| Kicks | Small kicktail |
| Concave | Low |
| Construction | 7-ply North American Maple |
| Trucks | 140mm Bullet trucks |
| Wheels | 65mm 78a wheels |
| Price | $173 – 175 |
Here are the different designs for the Shark cruiser style:
Holo Wave Dot Shark
The Holo Wave Dot Shark features beautiful prismatic foil graphics with a bright gradient-colored inner contour on the bottom side of the deck. In the middle is a surf wave-themed Santa Cruz Dot with golden letters on a black background.
The top side of the deck also features white and golden contour lines outlining the dark grip tape.
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Crane Dot Shark
The Crane Dot Shark cruiser has impressive art by Mako (@makoyamaki) based on the original artwork by Jim Phillips. The stunning graphics and Santa Cruz dot feature a paradise-like white bird. They are surrounded by white and pastel green flowers, on a red and black backdrop.
Here again, the top side of the deck has graphic elements that mirror the red and gold color theme found on the bottom. A scaled-down version of the dot also shows through the grip tape.
Inferno Dot Shark
Another stunning-looking Santa Cruz Shark cruiser, the graphics on this board are in pink and blue shades with stains of green (and matching green wheels). The top side is also fully colored with the same tones (albeit reversed), with Asian.like characters printed along the center line.
Yin Yang Dot Shark
The Yin Yang is simply mind-boggling with its green backdrop patterned with the Yin-Yang symbol and pink and yellow rails and inner contour lines. The Santa Cruz dot is also Yin-Yang-themed. The same theme and colors are used on the top side as well. The pink wheels match nicely with the art colors.
Prismatic Dot Shark
This stunning-looking Shark cruiser version has spot gloss and silver rainbow prismatic foil print on blue, pink, and natural veneers. The pink Santa Cruz dot letters are matched by the wheels’ color. The top side design reflects the beautiful colors of the bottom.
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Toxic Dot Shark
The Toxic has an impressive aspect with spooky style graphics in green, yellow, and blue shades on a black background. The top side art is also gorgeous with the rails covered with the same ebullient green and yellow pattern that surrounds the Santa Cruz dot on the bottom side.
The Santa Cruz lettering in the black dot has an awesome green, blue, and yellow melting aspect.
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Classic Wave Shark
The Classic Wave graphics have an intricate dual-colored Santa Cruz dot with one half featuring a massive surf wave. The Dot is positioned between two background patterns filled with fine stripes and surrounded by a blue contour line.
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Rad Dot Shark
The Rad features a horror movie-style Santa Cruz dot, on a green checkered background with a gradient-shaded inner contour. The graphics on the top side of the deck mirror the bottom side with a smaller version of the dot.
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Mandala Hand Shark
The Mandala has outright gorgeous artwork on both sides of the deck, basically a Screaming Hand invasion with flashy red and orange colors on a brown background. The Santa Cruz dot itself has more screaming hands on a pink/purple backdrop with white letters on top. Overall brilliant and astonishing graphics.
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Iridescent Dot Shark
The Iridescent Dot Shark features an incredible color spectrum on the bottom side, both inside the Santa Cruz dot and around it, with color gradients transitioning between blue, pink, orange, green, and more. The top side reflects the bottom art through subtle contouring lines and a tiny version of the dot.
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Flier Collage Dot Shark
The Flier Collage features beautiful green, black, and white comic-like graphics, as well as black, green, and natural veneers. The Santa Cruz dot shows green letters on a white background, The pale green wheels and top-side contour lines match the beautiful overall color theme.
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6. Santa Cruz Retro Cruiser
Kicktail Retro
| Size | 27″ x 7.5″ (13.25″) |
| Kicks | Kicktail |
| Concave | Flat |
| Construction | 5-ply North American Maple |
| Trucks | Indy 109mm |
| Wheels | 59mm 78a Road Rider |
| Price | $218 |
The Kicktail Retro is the smallest cruiser in the Santa Cruz lineup, even slightly smaller than the Shark at 27″. It’s also significantly narrower (7.5″ vs 8.8″) with a much shorter wheelbase (13.5″ bs 16.5″).
As a result, this mini rides very differently than the Shark despite the small difference in length. It’s extremely nimble and great for crowded urban and sidewalk navigation.
Unlike the swallow-tail Shark though, it has a classic surfboard shape with a true kicktail for quick turns and easy curb hopping.
It’s worth noting the Kicktail Retro is not nearly as stable as the Shark. It’s best suited for smaller riders or riders with good balance and more advanced street skills.
The kicktail Retro has a very lightweight 5-ply construction (thinner than the Shark) so you simply forget about it when carrying it around in school, in a shop, on the bus, etc.
This mini has a flashy, sunny orange and yellow color theme that makes you want to put on sunglasses! The bottom side features a hand-stained faded veneer, debossed nose, and cool logos under the tail and nose.
The narrow grip tape strip on the top side allows the colors to shine around the rails, yet provides enough grip for nice and comfy city rides.
