Part 2 of 3 in the Surfskate Series
- How to Pump
- Waterborne Surf Adapter Review (You Are Here)
- Recommended Surf Skate Setups
This one’s been a long time coming. Back in September of last year, I bought a pintail, the Bamboo Pinner from Landyachtz. I actually got it for the purpose of using it as a surfskate. However, I ended up wanting a nice long setup for cruising. I’ve since gotten a dancer, so at this point, my Pinner could become what it was always meant to to be: a surfskate.
Don’t get me wrong, I tried other setups before now. I’d throw the surf adapter on one of my decks at random and try it out for a bit. None of them felt right. Perhaps that was just my excuse for not giving it the time. See, the learning curve is steep for a swivel-style surf skate like this, and I just never made time for it. While working from home, I’d take breaks to get some quick freeriding in. I’m now unemployed (thanks, COVID), and have plenty of time during the day, when fewer people are out.
It’s the perfect time to go out and be a total noob at something.
So I set out to perfect my surfskating. A few weeks of pumping later and I’ve gotten the hang of it. This may be the longest I’ve had a piece of equipment without reviewing it, but I just didn’t feel I spent enough time consistently on the surfskate to review it. Now that I have, I love it.
Table of Contents
Setups I Tested With
Bustin Bonsai
- Wheelbase W/O Adapter: 16.5″
- Length: 29.1″
- Width: 9.1″
- Trucks: Bennett-Vector
- Wheels: Bustin 66mm, 80A
The Bonsai’s short wheelbase makes for rapid carves, but not a lot of pumping power. I found I just had trouble maintaining speed and balance on this setup without pushing. I didn’t leave the adapter on here for long.
Landyachtz Dugout
- Wheelbase W/O Adapter: 17.25″
- Length: 31.5″
- Width: 8.5″
- Trucks: Independent Stage 11 129mm
- Wheels: Chubby Hawgs 60mm, 78A
This was the more fun of the two shorter setups I tried. The combination of using less turny trucks and a longer wheelbase made all the difference. Still, it’s tough to build speed on this, and I’d still prefer to push.
Loaded Vanguard (Flex 4)
- Wheelbase W/O Adapter: 31.5″
- Length: 38″
- Width: 8.5″
- Trucks: Bear Gen 6 Grizzlies, Thunder 5″ Street Trucks
- Wheels: Sector 9 70mm, 78A wheels, Powell Peralta 66mm Snakes, Landyachts Fatty Hawgs 63mm
I haven’t tested the Vanguard without the surf adapter yet. However, with the surf adapter, I quickly realized that it was not the right setup for a surf adapter. Unfortunately, that’s what I bought it for! I found it a bit too narrow up front and I didn’t like the camber for pumping. I struggled to get enough momentum, and the narrow platform made balancing more difficult than it should be.
Landyachtz Bamboo Pinner (Top Pick!)
- Wheelbase W/O Adapter: 34.5″
- Length: 44″
- Width: 10″
- Trucks: Bear Gen 6 Grizzlies
- Wheels: Sector 9 70mm, 78A wheels, Powell Peralta 66mm Snakes
This was my favorite surf setup, and the one I based most of my opinions on. The new Bear trucks eliminated wheel bite enough that I could use 70mm wheels without the adapter hitting the middle of the board. The mellow W-concave of the deck along with the narrow area in the back was great for pumping and pushing off with my back foot, while the large 10″ wide area in the front was perfect for keeping my front foot in place as I swept it from side to side to make energy from there. The pintail shape finally makes sense now!
Pumping with the Waterborne Adapter
This adapter feels perfect for huge pumping motions. This was my first surfskate, but I’ve tried another now (Landyachtz RKP-based surfskate), and can honestly say the Waterborne is the better of the two for pumping. It’s smooth and frictionless, and you can get a lot of power out of each pump.
The front portion feels like it’s just a caster wheel (like those on an office chair). Just push it laterally and the front moves. It’s incredible. You can actually feel the wheels clawing at the ground to pull you along as you complete the motion.
With the rail adapter in the back, there’s a lot of leanand not much turning. It’s perfect for pushing off from. The Waterborne is designed for intense pumping, and it feels absolutely perfect for the task. You don’t have to think about waiting for the adapter to catch up or spring back, it’s just ready for the next pump.
Front Balance and “Tripod” Feel
The drawback to that amazing pumping action is that this is very unbalanced up front. It feels like you have a tripod skateboard, just one wheel in the front. Pushing, therefore, is definitely trickier. I found that, on the Vanguard I lost my balance pushing more often than I did on the Bamboo Pinner. The more narrow, cambered deck didn’t help here.
Once you learn to pump, this isn’t a huge problem. You’ll always be in motion. You can go many miles before needing to push or slow down, until you get to a steep hill. However, you’ll have to keep in mind when you’re going slower, footbraking, or pushing off, that balance is going to be trickier.
Height and Pushing
This adapter is like adding a huge riser to your setup. If you’re already using RKP trucks, it’s even taller. Whenever you have a taller setup, it’s going to be harder to push. Add in the fact that it’s harder to balance on the deck because the front wheels move so freely, and you have a tricky platform for pushing. This isn’t something you want to push for any length of time.
Skating at Speed
At speed, however, it’s quite obvious that you have four wheels. Movement kind of pulls the trucks into place, keeping you pointed forward until you lean. Lean too much, and you’ll turn steeply. If you’re not prepared for it, it’ll toss you. Also, even a tiny mistake can send you into wobbles far more massive than you’d even get with a TKP truck. This really doesn’t inspire confidence for hills.
So I took it down hills.
Smaller ones, at first. But eventually I went down a few hills in my area. Nothing too steep, but enough to get around the 15mph mark. It felt surprisingly stable. I didn’t fall once, but I had a few close calls where I’d cut back too hard and have to correct quickly, but nothing too life-threatening. If you have a hill in front of you, you can safely make it down it if you keep your motion going and don’t hold steady in a straight line. The wobbles on this thing would be enough to break your ankle, so be sure to keep some side to side motion to prevent them and keep your weight forward.
Skating Fakie
Do not skate fakie. You’ll have all your turning on a swivel in the rear. It’s like trying to push an office char one way and keep the wheels facing the wrong way. It’s just not easy to maintain balance. Avoid fakie.
Get the Rail Adapter?
The rail adapter is like a flexible riser for your rear truck. It matches the height of the surf adapter and gives your rear trucks more lean. It uses bushings and two kingpins to create a flexible platform for your rear trucks.
I highly recommend spending the extra money and getting the rail adapter. I even recommend it over using a tall wedged riser instead. The rail adapter allows you to lean without turning. The surf adapter itself makes your setup turn and lean a lot more. Unless you want your rear trucks going up on one wheel, you’ll want something like a rail adapter to increase the amount your trucks can lean. By keeping those rear wheels on the ground, you’ll have more control and can pump more easily, even through turns.
RKP vs TKP?
I personally preferred using the larger setup with RKP trucks. However, a TKP setup worked well on the smaller deck. You turn in much more rapidly with TKP trucks though, and that’s magnified substantially by the surf adapter. My recommendation would be to learn on a RKP, and perhaps set it up with TKP trucks on a cruiser once you’re good at surfskating. But if you want to just jump right in, the TKP setup on a smaller board was a lot of fun, even if it’s a bit more difficult. I think you should still stick to keeping a TKP setup on a shorter board when you want that quick and snappy feel, and the RKP on a longer setup for the flowing and powerful pumping.
Also, a word of caution about trucks. Some early models of the Waterborne, like those from their Kickstarter, may not work with Paris trucks without a riser. This is because Paris trucks have a pivot that goes past the mounting holes a significant amount. Bear Gen 6 trucks worked perfectly, as would Caliber trucks. Something to keep in mind if you’re not buying new, though the new ones work with Paris trucks.
Baseplate mounting holes are adjustable, so you can use just about any truck, old or new hole patterns. The front truck has 8 holes, the rear truck has two, but one is a slot for adjusting between the two patterns.
Wheels
Usually for cruisers or freeride decks, I go for the stoneground wheels with nice, strong, round lips. However, for a surfskate, I’m going to recommend something a bit more grippy. When trying to get leverage to push off with the back, wheels with less grip are going to let go. All the energy you put into your pump will be wasted on a speed check instead. You’ll lose speed instead of gaining it. I had this happen a few times when testing the Dugout. The shorter wheelbase meant I was really pushing to get enough power, especially when going up hills. But I had to be careful not to pump until I had my full weight in the back, otherwise it would kick out. While that’s normally a blast, it’s not what you want when you’re pumping for momentum.
Go with grippy wheels. These will have squared off wheel lips and smooth surfaces, along with soft durometers (≤80A). This will help you get up to speed far more quickly.
Moving Parts and Maintenance
One of the coolest parts of the Waterborne adapter is the lack of springs. Most other swivel-style surf adapters use springs to control the tension and rebound. Instead, the Waterborne adapter uses a square bushing. This provides rebound, smooth motion, and reduces the number of parts that require maintenance. In fact, Waterborne says not to take the adapter apart, that the items inside are not user-serviceable. You can if you absolutely need to though, but make sure you’re careful and keep track of every part.
There is a downside here. Because this is bushing-based, you don’t get as much snap back to center. In fact, it seems like the adapter can stay a little off-center if you let it, like an over-tightened truck. When you’re riding, you’re defining the motion, so it goes where you tell you to without much effort. However, the spring-based systems will have a faster return to center. I haven’t had a chance to compare them, but that spring may help you return some energy on your next pump.
Rattling and a “Fix”
I found there was an awful rattling noise from the rail adapter when I would skate these. I had everything tightened well, I didn’t know where it could be coming from. Turns out at least part of it it was coming from the connection between the rail adapter and the deck. The rail adapter kingpins could press into the deck, vibrating and creating a rattling noise. Because the provided screws are so short—and have to be so the baseplate won’t be too high—you have to tighten them down hard without a soft riser or pad. I ended up taking a few strips of my handy waterproof duct tape (the same that holds my rain commuter setup together) to add some cushion on these spots. That helped, and it protects the deck from damage, but there still exists the problem that the kingpins themselves are pressed into an oval area, that allows them to move a little.
Vs. Others
I can’t tell you if this is better than a Yow, Carver C7, a SmoothStar, or any of the other adapters that work by swiveling the entire truck. However, I’ll say this: if you already have trucks and a deck, it’s likely cheaper. You can get the front swivel adapter for $59.99 and the package with the rail is $79.99. In comparison, the SmoothStar, just the swivel adapter, is €95.00 (that’s about $113 USD). The Carver C7 is $112 for a front and rear truck. The Yow is also €94.95, and it doesn’t include a rear tuck, just a riser.
The Waterborne also doesn’t use a spring. It uses a square busing inside the mechanism, which deforms and pulls you back in line. It feels natural, and reduces the number of moving parts or parts that could rust. You could have to replace the bushing, potentially, but it shouldn’t wear down much as the range of the truck is already controlled and it’s sealed inside the adapter. It’s simple, cheaper, accounts for leaning and keeping the rear wheels on the ground, and moves smoothly. It really may be both the best and the cheapest option.
Overall
So often, we find projects on Kickstarter or elsewhere on the web for longboarding or skateboarding technologies that are going to “revolutionize” the sport. Usually they’re gimmicks. Often they add little to the experience, or fix a problem we don’t actually have (for the last time, we don’t need longboard brakes). The Waterborne struck me as one of those gimmicks at first glance. A slick website, good marketing materials, and little else. Search for it and you find just one or two legitimate reviews. The rest are videos from the company, pushed to the front through excellent SEO. There was far too much marketing fluff and not enough legitimate hype.
But I took that risk anyway. Now I’m here to add some legitimate hype.
It’s not a gimmick. Surfskating is fun. The Waterborne Surf Adapter is a great and relatively inexpensive way to do it.
There’s a steep learning curve. Likely not as steep as surfing itself, but certainly more steep than skating, dancing, freeriding, or even doing tricks. You can figure out an ollie in under a day. But surfskating? It’s going to take some time to “click.” That could take a minute or weeks. But it will. And once it does, you’ll feel like you’ve been doing it your whole life. Then it’ll just take lots of practice to get better and stronger.
Do I recommend the Waterborne Surf Adapter? Absolutely. Perhaps not to beginners, but to those with a bit more experience looking to try an entirely different form of skating. It’s a lot of fun, a great workout, and it’s the closest you can get to hitting the waves if you never got over your fear of sharks and jellyfish.
What? Jellyfish are scary.
You can grab the Waterborne and rail adapter on Waterborne’s website. I highly recommend getting them together.
