Hamboards Surskate Review: Classic For Land Surfing

Hamboards are very special longboard skateboards with a classic surfboard look and feel. Hamboards are much bigger than regular skateboards and longboards and with a very unique retro style reminiscent of the 50’s and 60’s surf scene.

Hamboards was founded in 2003 by the Pete Hamborg and his 5 lifeguard sons in Huntington Beach, California. The brand really took off after the family made a successful pitch on ABC’s famous TV show Shark Tank.

The Hamboard skateboards aim to offer a true surfing feel through large, classic surf-shaped boards and a new patented spring torsion truck engineered to provide the closest carving experience to surfing when mounted on the massive, classic-looking Hamboard decks.

So why would you choose a Hamboard longboard skateboard? A Hamboard is for you if:

• You want to feel the ocean surfing experience on land
• You want a bigger longboard for board walking and stylish riding
• You’re looking for a surfskate type of carving experience
• You value retro style and high craftsmanship
• You like looking different and carrying a surfboard with wheels!

In this post, I’ll review the following Hamboard skateboards:

• Hamboards Pescadito: for surfskate pumping performance
• Hamboards Huntington Hop: for mellow surf-style carving
• Hamboards Biscuit: wide mini-cruiser for radical turns
• Hamboards Logger: for nose riding and longboard cruising

I’ll then zoom in on the new HST surfskate truck that has brought astonishing new levels of performance to the Hamboard longboards.

But first, let’s briefly discuss what sets Hamboards apart and how to select the best Hamboard for you.

What’s special about Hamboards?

Hamboards have a very different feel compared to regular longboards as they are much closer to surfing. Riding a Hamboard is also quite different from riding most normal surf skateboards (Carver, Yow, Slide etc) although these skateboards also seek to emulate the surf feeling on land. Most Hamboards are much bigger and provide more of a unique classic surf flow experience – e.g. down the line carving, nose riding, board walking.

It’s important to note than although the Hamboard skateboards look a lot like surfboards through their shape, paint, and finish, in reality they are high-performing skateboards carefully engineered to strike the right balance between a surf-like feel and an efficient skating and pleasant skating experience on pavement.

The Hamboards team is at its core a passionate family of surfers with a focus on craftsmanship, quality manufacturing, and beautiful art design. Hamboards use top quality materials and hand finished hand painted. The components on these boards are also top notch including wheels and trucks – see the last section of this post for more on the HST truck.

How to choose your Hamboard

Choosing a Hamboard involves selecting the right size and the right riding style for you. The skateboards range from the 24″ Biscuit all the way to a 6″ classic longboard.

Each Hamboard has a different shape and a primary focus on carving (Pescadito, Logger), surf-style mellow cruising (Huntington Hop), board walking (Logger), surfskate-style pumping (Biscuit, Pescadito), or street SUP/land paddling with a stick (Logger).

Let’s deep dive into the specific Hamboard models.

Hamboards Pescadito review

The Hamboards Pescadito longboard skateboard is 43″ (3’7) long by 14″ wide with a classic fishtail shortboard surf shape. It’s relatively compact and portable compared to the rest of the Hamboard lineup. It’s priced around $250 – see the exact price here on Amazon.

The Pescadito is designed for pure surf-skate performance and comes with the uber-carving HST trucks. It’s a highly responsive board built for making deep carves, flowy turns, and snappy cutbacks. It’s also one of the best pumping boards in the Hamboards lineup.

The Pescadito is primarily geared at experienced skaters and surfers, although it can easily be handled by more novice riders due to its manageable size.

The Pescadito’s has either an 8-ply maple/birch wood or 3-ply bamboo construction. This deck is known for being highly durable and impact resistant deck. The clear grip coating on top of it allows you to comfortably ride barefoot like on a surfboard. The slight flex in deck, particularly the bamboo version, adds to the comfort and carving responsiveness.

The HST spring torsion carving truck on the Pescadito comes by default with a medium stability spring (red colored), but you can switch to a stiffer or softer spring for more or less resistance when carving.

The Pescadito comes fitted with Hamboards “Milk Chocolate” wheels which are designed for carving and slashing with a larger 66mm diameter and a soft duro (80A). The Chocolates are quite wide at 46mm for optimal carving traction, yet offer a relatively small 35mm contact patch which makes them very slideable for surfskate-style riding.

Given the sheer width of the Pescadito, the 25mm wood risers fitted between deck and trucks help to avoid wheelbite and rail scrub with the ground when performing deep carves and tight cutbacks.

The risers and the HST trucks combine to making the Pescadito a relatively high rider (5.875″ height) which adds to the responsiveness in turns and the leverage on the trucks. On the flip side, ride height makes the board not best-suited for high speeds and for distance kick pushing.

Overall, the Pescadito skateboard gives you a very smooth flow thanks to the combination of a surf-like shape, intense carving trucks, and big soft grippy wheels that still let get sideways.

The Pescadito comes in a couple of designs, including the beautiful red and blue Dart version (above picture) or the black and yellow Black Tail version. It’s reasonably priced given its size and the quality of the deck and components.

Hamboards Huntington Hop review

At 45″ (3’9″) long by 10.6″ wide, the Huntington Hop has a long and narrow shape inspired from classic single fin longboard surfboards. It’s primarily designed for relaxed cruising and mellow surf-style carving on the pavement. If you’re looking to chill and cruise along the beach, or if you’re newer to longboarding and are looking for a close surfing feel, the Huntington Hop is your guy.

The Hamboards Hop is about the size of a regular full-sized freeride longboard or of a smaller dancer board – e.g. the Landyachtz Stratus – so it’s quite easy to come to grips with for a non-rookie longboarder.

The Hop’s deck is made from durable 8-ply maple wood with beautiful artwork on top and natural wood finish on the bottom. Like most Hamboards deck, a resistant barefoot-friendly grip coating allows you to ride this longboard skateboard as if it were a surfboard.

The Huntington Hop also comes with the HST surfskate trucks and 66mm Hamboards 80A wheels. This combination gives it a strong glide-oriented and stylish riding style.

Compared to the much wider and slightly shorter Pescadito, the Hamboards Huntington Hop is more of a cruising board – vs a performance carving board. It’s focused on easy, relaxed riding and stylish surf-style flow. It’s also a very nice board for a beginner rider who wants to start land surfing.

Check out the price and reviews for the Hamboard Huntington Hop Comp Stripes version, Checkers version, or Laminated Birch & Maple version on Amazon.

Hamboards Biscuit review

The Biscuit is Hamboards’ intriguing mini surf skateboard, 24″ short (shorter than a traditional street deck) and 13.75″ wid – almost as wide as the 43″ Pescadito! Needless to say, the Biscuit offers a LOT of deck room for its length.

Its shape makes the Biscuit the most turny and pumpable (when combined with the HST) board in the lineup – it probably has more turn than most mini-cruisers on the market. It’s a great board for practicing surf turns as it’s designed for deep carves and flowy turns without wheel bite.

The Hamboads Biscuit is a great board for cruising around campus. It’s very nimble for short distance transportation and weaving around people and obstacles on crowded sidewalks and practicing flowy surf turns and carves in corners.

It’s also well-suited for younger/lighter riders who immediately feel comfortable deep carving on this deck.

Like other Hamboards, the Biscuit deck is ultra-durable and made either from strong laminated birch wood or hard bamboo. It’s hand painted and also boasts a top coating for barefoot riding. Thanks to its short length and light 6lb weight, it’s the most portable of all Hamboards and can easily be carried in a backpack or fit inside a school locker.

The Biscuit comes with custom 150mm RKP (50º) trucks and 62mm soft and grippy (80A) Hamboards wheels with biltin-type bearings. This setup makes the Biscuit a very carvey and flowy board that can also be pumped vey efficiently.

Overall a very nice mini-cruiser for nimble sidewalks surfing, shortboard surf training, campus commuting, and energetic pumping. The Biscuit is affordably priced at slightly over $150.

See pricing and review for the Hamboards Biscuit on Amazon.

Hamboards Logger review

The 5-foot long Hamboard Logger is what you can call a true “longboard” skateboard (exact dimensions: 59.25″ x 11.25″). It’s long and narrow shape provides tons of space deep leans and classic surf-style footwork. The Logger is an authentic longboard on wheels for relaxed cruising, cross-stepping and nose riding, as well as down the line land carving and flowing.

The Logger is also a perfect board for learning to street SUP (land paddle) thanks to its ample foot platform and responsive turns. Check out this post on land paddling for beginners for more about this awesome longboarding style.

The logger has a flexy 9-ply maple and birch wood construction – it’s the Hamboard deck that has the most flex of all. The deck length, the flex, and the deck height (6.25″) combine to create that distinctive classic surf carving feeling you get on the Logger.

The HST surfskate trucks which come with the Logger also play a major role in the flow and carve the board offers. The flexy deck combines with the surfy trucks to create a great carving experience when pumping or cross-stepping on this deck. The Logger comes with huge 83mm soft Hamboards Milk Chocolate wheels that provide good speed and adequate grip when carving on this massive 5-foot and 15lb longboard.

The Logger is astonishingly supple and flowy for its massive size, providing an amazing surfing experience on the road. It’s also a beautiful board with the craftsmanship level we’ve come to expect from a Hamboard.

Check out the Hamboards Logger’s price on Amazon.

Hamboards HST truck

In the past, Hamboards were fitted with Original S8 spring torsion trucks which worked well but had some compressive set issues with the massive Hamboard decks – the spring was getting smaller over time so the truck were losing their snappiness.

Hamboards called upon a team of international engineers, including a NASA engineer – who’s also part of the Hamboards’ family and management. They created the HST truck, a robust surf skate truck that solves the S8 issues and supports the radical and versatile surf skating style the Hamboards are built for.

The HST is designed for extreme surf skate carving, a bit like Carver and other surf trucks but with a different design. The truck is specifically designed to work in lockstep with the large Hamboard decks. To achieve this, the team redesigned most parts of the initial trucks, including:

• Hanger: beefed up
• Baseplate: more robust
• Pivot cup: now thicker
• Springs: no more wearing out
• Kingpin: no more overtightening, no more need for tuning
• Locktab: more robust

The HST fits all Hamboards and many other longboards in the market. It’s a 200mm, 50º reverse kingpin trucks with 28º turn on both sides. The HST allows maximum deck lean and extreme carving. It’s super lightweight yet very strong with a highly robust spring torsion mechanism. Check out this page for more in-depth technical details about the HST.

If you’re running OS8 or regular longboard RKP trucks on your current deck, changing for the HST will convert your longboard into a surf skateboard. You should also consider doing a Hamboard update for your older HST truck’s springs, wave cams, and risers.

By switching to the Hamboards HST trucks, you’ll take your carving to the next level as you can lean hard into turns while shifting your weight onto the back wheels for deeper carves. Unlike most surf trucks, you can use the same HST for both front and back, making your 4 wheels carve really hard.

Final words

Hamboards (Amazon store) has created a unique concept of longboard skateboards that take surf skating one step further. Their big and stylish boards really look and feel like classic surfboards, but the best part is they also flow, turn and carve like actual ocean surfboards, letting you feel the stoke of walking, shredding, or pumping your longboard on wheels even when the waves are flat!

***
Photo credits:
Photos courtesy of Hamboards