At Longboard Living, we have a lot of experience shredding local Ontario hills. While there certainly are some pristine locals ready to shred, a lot of what the province has to offer is chunder heavy. In the words of Max Dubler, “The thing about skateboarding on the east coast is that it totally sucks; but the very things that make it suck also make it great. [...] You have to want it,” (Skate Slate, 2011). Longboard Living is here to get you the gear that you need to make the most of the Toronto sunshine, and hopefully to keep you skating through the winter.

 

Decks

Quiver Killers

Toronto spots are typically short, straight, and littered with street obstacles. This sounds like a challenge, and for those who want it, they offer a haven for tight technical maneuvers that seamlessly blend skate styles. For these spots, we have our Quiver Killers. These boards can get a little bit of everything done excellently, even if they aren’t the most specialized at any one discipline. A series of double kick boards, these decks offer riders the options to slip flat ground tricks into their freeride lines, or skate every curb on the way to the hill.

 

• Zenit Mini Marble DK (38”): A house favorite, Zenit’s construction offers a lighter weight, snappy, and durable maple and fiberglass sandwich with some delicious wheel wells and concave to keep your feet locked in. Pick RKP or TKP trucks to specialize into freestyle or freeride. 

 

 

 

• Moonshine Elixir (40”): A beefier board featuring Moonshine’s resin poured construction, these decks are water proof (until you shred them to expose the maple core) and can withstand season after season of hard skating without sacrificing performance

 

 

 

• Arbor Axel Serrat Crosscut (37”): The Cross cut is a gorgeous deck that highlights the lightweight Maple Constructions natural wood grain. The deck offers a more freestyle oriented setup that you can easily tear down some hills as you encounter them.

 

 

 

 

 

• Loaded Omakase (33.5”): The shortest of our quiver killers, this cruiser offers premium Loaded construction that has the stiffness to hold up to speed while featuring an extremely functional kicktail that can help you unlock some flip tricks on the way to the slide sesh. If you need a compact quiver killer, this is a solid option. 

Drop Decks

One other feature of Ontario is the urban sprawl. With carlined, semi-suburban streets stretching as far as the eye can see, many of the cities best slopes are tucked behind lengthy commutes and distance skates. Besides getting to spots, often skaters find themselves hopping between the hills, seeking different features to drill new slides and speeds. Regardless of your transport needs, if you want to be able to skate the same board to the session that you ride down the hill, our drop through boards offer a stable hillbomb and an easy push. 

 

• Longboard Living Double Drop (38”): The house double drop is a push oriented board that was built to be able to freeride with ease. With a drop through, drop deck construction, the board keeps riders low and stable for high speeds, while leveraging a wide wheelbase to keep sliding steezy.

 

 

 

• Rayne Demonseed (39”/42”): The Demonseed is a freeride classic, one of the original drop through favorites for tearing down hills. Designed by rider Mike Benda for downhill shenanigans, the boards gained fame with Paul Kent’s Long treks on skate decks series for loaded. Kent would push across entire countries in South America on this deck, which means you no longer have an excuse for not pushing to your sessions.

 

• Landyachtz Fixed Blade (38”): The Landy Fixed blade is a fairly unique deck. While offering the steep drop deck construction of the classic drop through Switchblade, the Fixed Blade instead has a top mount orientation that offers extra leverage for slides and an extra fiberglass ply for stiffness at speed. 

 

 

• Arbor Axis Flagship (37”): The Axis Flagship is an old reliable drop through deck, offering beginners with a gorgeous option for a deck that is comfortable to cruise on and master your first hills.

 

 

 

Downhill

Finally, we come to the skaters that don’t care about any of that. For everyone trying to cope with the pavement and the weather and the distance in the scene, there are those riders who only care about the speed. They will push to the session on a downhill deck, send the hill, and then lead the pack to the next. If that’s the menace you aspire to be, then the Zenit Mini Rocket (33”) is the pick for you. Set up with some narrow trucks and big wheels, this deck brings Zenit’s industry leading construction to a downhill format that will have riders feeling locked in and ready to shred. 

Wheels

Freeride

Longboard Living has a wide range of roundlipped wheels that can help make your steeziest freeride lines a reality. From the slippiest of Powell Snakes (66-69mm) to big, grippy Venom Harlots (71mm), if you’re looking to get down the hill in style, we can find the wheel for you.

• Powell Snakes (66-69mm)
• Powell Pasters (69mm)
• Powell Dragons (54-64mm)
• Seismic Tantrums (68mm)
• Seismic Urchins (70mm)
• Hawgs Lil Ez Slides (63mm)
• 88 Wheel Co Moonwalkers (65mm)
• 88 Wheel Co Viper Pro (70mm)
• Cloud Ride Slusheez (62mm)

Downhill

If you’re here to set records and win races, our selection of large square lip wheels can help you dial in the perfect amount of grip you need to rip fast lines. If you need to win a no paws down race, the 88 Wheel Co Maverick Pros (80mm) will have to rolling at speed while offering you tight, reliable slip for stand up checks. If you need to speed down the hill without shedding speed, the Powell Kevin Reimer Pros (72mm) are a tried and tested urethane formula that has helped countless riders refine their lines. With plenty of options in between, Longboard Living is here to help dial your setup as you dial your skills. 

• Powell Kevin Reimer (72mm)
• 88 Wheel Co Maverick (80mm)
• Seismic Alpha (75.5-85.5mm)
• Orangatang Kegels (80mm)

Safety

Arguably the most important part of any downhill skater’s gear is their safety equipment. Whether it comes to supporting you when you bail, giving you the confidence you need to send a run, or helping your slide technique by unlocking new ways to distribute your weight, safety gear is make or break for downhill mentality. Making sure you’re kitted up is important for making sure that when you hit the hills, they don’t hit back.

Gloves

• Seismic Freeride Glove
• Slide Gloves by LL

Pucks

• Bozo Slide Pucks
• Beefcake Slide Pucks

Pads

• Killer 187 Pro Pad
• Protec Street Pad
• Longboard Living Soft Pads
• Triple 8 Street Pads