In need of a little advice

Not sure about the Bing Elevator, but Bing Surfboards are second to none. If I ever had to go out and buy a longboard it would probably be a Bing.

 

9'6 x 18 3/4 x 23 x 15 X 3 1/8

 

Jon Ashton does custom board building, give him a call. http://www.ashtonsurfdesigns.com/
He does everything from shortboards, to longboards, to even SUPs.

 

I'd say try to get someone to let you test-ride the Bing board you want to buy. You'll know right away: magic board or slug board.
Or, purchase 2 or 3 diff boards for cheap-cheap on CL to try out before you chunk out cash for new. Whatever you do, don't buy a gnome plank.

 

You should really go talk to a shaper and have him knock one out for ya. With certain boards its just best to tell the guy what you want from it and what you think you want.

Dont make it a high performance lb if you want to longboard.

I believe that Bing you're lookin at would be a "pig" style lb. As the tail is wider than the front. Better for stylish turns, a little more squirrelly when you get to noseriding it. Its more of an old school kind of shape, classic i guess would be the word.

A proper longboard should be built to last a while, thick glass, dense foam, single fin. (Leash plug optional)

 

My first and only LB, which I love, is a challenger I believe. It's 9'0, 2+1 but I ride it as a single. I don't know if it would be considered a HPLB, seems like a simple shape to me. Pulled in a little in the tail, square tail.

Like you I'm not much of a nose rider but I do enjoy getting some nose time here and there. I'm only 145 lbs though. I honestly think almost any LB would be fine for you. Go with a basic shape at a good size for you. Used if your looking to save money. Then once you spend more time on a LB and you get a better idea of what you want out of it, go custom. But until then if your just looking for a LB to cruise and do some stylish turns on, just about anything will do

 

+1 for Jon Ashton.

My first personal board was a 9'4" HPLB shaped by Tim Nolte (OBX) -- I found it via craigslist. I liked it so much that when I moved on I had him make me a new one, in 9' length. I does everything. Catches ripples, but also handles head high east coast surf. it is a 2+1 but I ride it as a single also.

 

try a 7/2 firewire advance.
i think this decade the longboard is going to be re-buried.

 

what? as long a there are small gutless waves, there will be longboards.

 

take a 7/2 firewire addvance out on gutless waves and then post back to me why - exactly - you need
2.5 ft of extra board….cause you don't. its a new and exciting time.

 

Ahh funboarding.... Riding a wave and not doing much on it.

 

I don't doubt your positive report on the firewire.... But I will bet you any amount of money that in 10 years from now you will continue to see longboards in the lineup and you will continue to see shapers making longboards.

 

One can only hope. +2 on Ashton.

 

hahaha...ha.
i had to add the extra 'ha' to reach the minimum post requirement.

 

might take that bet…its a quirky sport and a technology-driven one at that…how bout 2/1 on $50 payable
7/24/24?? don't forget its been chased out of town before by (presumably) angry villagers….in the 80's...

 

so people can surf ugly and donkey? longboard much more stylish with more glide. nothing more pathetic (besides blaster's sister) than grown men hopping on knee hi mush

 

Separate but equal.

Longboards are here to stay. I feel bad for you that the stigma of riding a longboard has prevented you from appreciating and enjoying what they have to offer. Your loss BTP. I hope Levy drops in on you one day.

 

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$.02

Gotta go with the longboards on this one. I for one, spent 6-7 years, NEVER riding a long board. Literally, never. And most of that time I was in the water every day. In retrospect, I wish I had not been foolish, and sometimes just had fun and better style on those knee high days. Like Fitz said, there is NOTHING uglier than a grown man hopping along a knee high wave. All volume aside, this is a length issue as well.

So, longboards are never going to go anywhere. I was closed minded about it for a long time, and lots of waves were wasted in doing so, and I don't care who you are, kelly slater included, if its not at least waist to chest and punchy, riding a shortboard looks pretty silly. It just does, unless you are 12 years old, weight 95 pounds and that makes it shoulder high....

I think technology has come a long way, and there are TONS of different ideas now, but all in all, its just more foam. It's people trading in flashy boards that don't work well unless you live in a wave rich area and going back to volume and design that translates into mediocre waves.

Cause unless you live on the west coast, or HI or OZ etc, where you can literally not surf when its small, and still train in waves all year that are world class, YOU NEED A LONGBOARD....

If you don't want to use one. Fine, but I would slap $100 on some bad style and bad surfing, regardless of your skill level. And I also would bet more times than not on those super small waves, guys with longboards just don't surf....

There is a place for long board and shortboards. We are not the first guys doing this. Guys were doing most of the sh** we were doing in the 50s on LBs, 70s and 80s got fish and SBs.... You shouldn't be longboarding at overhead Pipeline, but you SHOULDNT be shortboarding in knee high east coast mush, cause that is just f'in silly.