Before skateboarding became mainstream and an official Olympic sport, skaters were considered outcasts. Connected to punk rock and hip-hop, most skateboarders back then often looked down on many things, including longboarders.
To this day, many skateboarders still presume that skateboarding is the superior sport. If you look at it closely though, it is simply not true.
While not all skateboarders hate longboarders, some do for reasons like they can’t ollie, they are posers, or they only ride on flat land. Some skaters hate longboarders simply because they represent mainstream culture.
However, some of the reasons for hating all longboarders are simply not valid. Longboarding, predominantly downhill longboarding, can be pretty extreme. Even though longboarders aren’t deeply connected to the skateboarding counterculture, the discipline is no joke.
See also: skateboard or longboard: which to choose
Skateboarders are obsessed with image
Skateboarders take their image seriously, from the way they dress to their attitude when skating and doing tricks.
Skaters love their sport, and they don’t appreciate the “posers” or “kooks” who only hit the skatepark to take pictures and hang out with the “real skaters.”
Some believe skateboarder hate against longboarders originates from insecurity, herd mentality, and the need to be “cool” and unique. These things make skaters look down on people who call themselves skaters just because they own a skateboard.
What is considered a real skater?
For skateboarders, a real skater is a person who skates streets, parks, and bowls. They also consider a person a real skater if they dress like one.
Longboarding, on the other hand, is not part of what they consider actual skateboarding. Some skaters even refer to them as “wrong boarders.”
Some skateboarders dislike riders who own a longboard but hardly ever go out to skate. They also consider as posers those who use a longboard for transport while calling themselves skaters.
The skateboard lifestyle involves skating all day, every day. That is often not the case for older longboarders who have jobs and kids.
The video below by Vice shows longboarding is a technical and even scary sport. Many skateboarders tend to ignore true downhill longboarding and only look at longboarders who commute on their longboard and don’t do any tricks.
The video also explains that skateboarders’ perception of longboarders is dictated by skateboard magazines.
Some hardcore longboarders who bomb down hills at 65 to 70 mph defend their scene and speak out what they think about skaters (“shortboarders”).
“Real” longboarders vs. “posers”
Elitist skaters who diss longboarders often only dismiss the average longboard owner but tend to ignore those who truly skate on their longboard.
Real longboarders have their own scene, and their skating discipline is pretty extreme. Some longboard tricks involve going 30 to 40 miles an hour and doing power slides on open roads.
Skaters often ride skateparks while longboarders generally have to ride and perform their slide tricks on open roads along steep hills and canyons, with traffic as an obstacle.
“Real longboarders” will typically do a lot more than cruising on a pintail or commuting on a cruiser – you might find them freeriding or bombing down a hill at high speed, or doing technical freestyle and/or dancing tricks.
See also: Should beginners go to skatepark?
Pool & vert skaters vs. street skaters
It’s worth remembering that In the past, even street skating was not considered real skateboarding as skaters only recognized pools and vert as true skate spots.
Street skaters who would only grind rails, pop kickflips, and skate ledges were not really considered real skateboarders.
Nowadays, as long as you can ride rails and ledges, pop ollies and do kickflips, ride bowls and transitions, you can legitimately call yourself a real skater.
See also: Is bowl and pool skating hard?
Skateboarders are highly technical
Skateboard tricks are difficult. Whether it is doing a simple ollie, kickflip, or any other basic trick, the execution isn’t easy.
Another reason why some skateboarders do not consider longboarders real skaters is that they believe that longboarding isn’t very technical.
Elitist skateboarders generally think longboarders ride longboards instead of skateboards because they don’t want to spend time learning tricks. Some say a longboarder is a skater who can’t ollie.
See also: street vs park skateboarding
Skaters put their time and effort into learning
Many skaters put a lot of time and effort into learning new tricks. Because of this, many skaters think that being called a “skater” should be earned by putting in all the hard work, not just buying a skateboard.
Many skaters don’t like being in the same category as a poser longboarder.
See also: can you teach yourself skateboarding?
Is longboarding technical?
Downhill longboarding, freeriding, and freestyle riding are actually very technical. When going over 40 miles per hour on a longboard, one wrong move will take you right into the hospital.
One of the most technical aspects of longboarding is bombing down steep and winding hills. To do this safely, you will need to master very technical pre-drifts and precise power slides, which are not common tricks when skateboarding.
Some skaters see themselves as fearless because they can ride big bowls or drop-down large stairways, and look down upon longboarders. However, the above longboarding styles also require fearlessness and fast reflexes.
Bombing hills on a skateboard vs. longboard
Another reason why skaters think that they are better than longboarders is that they sometimes bomb hills on a smaller board. Longboards are longer and more stable than short skateboards.
Because most skateboarders don’t wear helmets and some can ride up to 40 mph on a much shorter and narrower board, it makes them feel superior.
See also: 5 top longboards for speed
Skateboarders make fun of longboard dancing
Longboard dancing is another longboarding discipline that many skaters make fun of for not being “manly” enough. Because skateboard dancing is literally like dancing on top of a moving longboard, many skaters think it is lame.
However, for longboarders, dancing on their longboard is like an art that requires a lot of balance and learning technical moves.
For one thing, you need to move your feet around the longboard in perfect rhythm without losing balance. And while you are doing tricks such as cross-stepping and pirouetting, you must continuously carve on your longboard.
Longboarders are older men and women
Many longboarders are older people who want to try something new – although some are younger first-time skaters who just happened to pick up a longboard as their hobby instead of traditional skateboarding.
Aside from older people or people who bought a longboard as a form of transportation, longboarders also include many women.
This adds to skateboarder resentment towards longboarders due to the macho culture in skateboarding – which should not exist in this modern age.
See also: Am I too old to longboard?
Skateboarding and longboarding are different cultures
Skateboarding and longboarding may seem similar to non-skaters, but the cultures are like polar opposites. These deep differences can sometimes lead to animosity between the two groups.
If the skateboarding culture is a counterculture punk-rock lifestyle, longboarders are more mainstream and ride for fitness or convenience, sometimes with the whole family.
Skateboarding culture
The culture of skateboarders from the beginning of times has always been influenced by the punk and rebel lifestyle.
From fashion to attitude, skateboarders are rebellious. Even though they are stereotyped as outcasts, however, it is not true for all skateboarders, especially nowadays.
One thing is for sure, skateboarders are always skating. They hardly ever not skate, especially younger ones.
While some people who stopped skating see the sport as a youth thing, some skaters well into their 50s still ride regularly.
Longboarding culture
The longboarding culture is different. Most longboarders are not as active as skateboarders and mostly ride for commuting or cruising on weekends.
Many downhill longboarders are only able to bomb hills on weekends as they have to make the trip to the canyon roads.
That said, longboarders who live nearby hilly areas can also ride and practice every day. Likewise, longboard freestylers and dancers simply need a flat parking lot to go riding, so some are very active.
Most skateboarders tend to skate every day as there have street spots accessible to them close to where they live.
Longboarders who didn’t skateboard when they were younger often don’t understand the skateboarding culture, which is one of the reasons they don’t really get each other.
Longboarders don’t understand what it feels like getting kicked out of street spots, or getting searched by the cops just because of the way they look etc.
That said, there are longboarders who do embrace the skate rat culture. Some longboarders hop fences to skate down parking garages very late at night, just like skateboarders do to access backyard pools.
Do skateboarders hate scooters and other types of riders ?
Scooter riders who are also known as “Scooter Kids” at the skatepark among skateboarders’ worst enemies.
Skateboarders might hate longboarders, but they probably hate scooter kids more because they share the same parks — unlike longboarders who have their own spots away from skaters.
Here are some of the main reasons why skateboarders hate scooter kids:
- Scooters are unpredictable and they will sometimes snake your run
- Skaters think scooters are simply not as cool as skateboarding
- Skaters always bump into scooter kids at the skatepark because they don’t go with the flow of the park, and generally just don’t care.
However, that is not always the case. Some scooter riders share the same skatepark etiquette, which makes skating at the park a lot easier.
See also: skateboard vs scooter
Do skaters hate BMX, quad skates, and inline skaters?
Just like scooters, these riders are also unpredictable. However, while some skateboarders might hate them, it is safe to say not all of them do.
In general, skatepark goers mostly hate kooks who don’t respect skatepark etiquette. Only elitist skateboarders hate on other sports which are not skateboarding just because they’re not cool enough.