The great Brad Edwards. One of the best and most humble skaters I’ve ever met.
Since he would never say it, I will. Brad is hands-down the best, most stylish all-around skater who typically rides a longboard. He doesn’t go in for gimmicks, and is always the first to be stoked for someone else.
If Brad did the level of self-promotion that so many do, more people would recognize this, but then he wouldn’t be Brad.
Two pretty much “stock” setups that rip.
These are the two longboards I tend to ride the most, my Gravity Kalai and Gravity 42″ Spoon. Both are now discontinued models. What a shame. The longboarding world simply wasn’t smart enough to recognize how great these two decks were.
Both boards are laminates of bamboo and maple. Both kick ass. I have 2 other drop-through downhill boards, and the Kalai is simply a better board for carving. You can still get the Gravity Makai, which is the same deck except all maple (no bamboo). The Spoon, with its kicktail, is a fantastic all-around board. Long enough for great stability, it can take many different truck/wheel combinations. You can ride it anywhere. I think it’s a shame that more skaters don’t appreciate a longboard with a traditional skateboard shape and a functional kicktail.
The truth, I think, is that most skaters of longboards would be much better served by riding a board like the spoon – a traditional shape with a kicktail. Granted, you really can’t run some of the giant wheels available today on such a board without lots of riser pads, but you can easily run 65mm – 70mm wheels on them. For most skating that more than sufficient.