The first mountainboards were developed in the 1990s by winter sports enthusiasts in the US to do a similar summer sport as snowboarding. On Mountain Board is actually something like a cross between snowboard and Longboardwith big thick wheels. A little bit of a kite is also available. With a Mountain Board you can not only go downhill in rough terrain. With a steering mat or a kite sail you can also on the Mountain Board let off steam in any terrain

The differences between longboard and Mountain Board

A longboard is equipped with 4 relatively small, profile-less and hard wheels, which are mounted under the board. The longboard wheels are only suitable for driving on hard and largely flat surfaces. In contrast, the wheels of the Mountain Board large, air-filled and, depending on the design, more or less profiled. In addition, the wheels are located to the side of the board and protrude fore and aft beyond the end of the board. This positioning is important on the one hand to achieve greater stability through the wider track and to be able to drive over obstacles where a longboard would hit the deck. In addition, a mountainboard like a snowboard is equipped with a binding that keeps the board on its feet when jumping.

The Zebra Board Mountainboard by Zebrakites is a good mountain board for beginners, kids and teens. With a weight of 6.9 kg, the board is relatively light and can carry riders weighing up to 85 kg. The flexible deck is around 90 cm long, 24 cm wide and is made of multiple glued maple wood. The wheels of the board have a diameter of 20 cm and are about 5 cm wide.

Mountainboard – deck, binding and safety line

In addition to the wheels, the deck and the binding of a mountain board are the two most important components. The deck is usually made of multi-ply laminated wood. The use of plywood makes the deck flexible and yet very robust. The shape is very similar to that of a longboard deck. The length of the deck is not much shorter than on a longboard. The binding is especially important on a mountainboard. The binding ensures that the driver and the board always stay connected. Otherwise jumps would not be possible. The binding usually consists of two loops with Velcro. A safety line, which is attached to the driver’s leg with a wide loop at the level of the ankle, ensures that the mountainboard, for example, does not continue on its own in a fall and may possibly endanger others.

Mountainboard with electric motor

If you would like to ride a mountain bike through the terrain without any effort, then a mountain bike with electric drive is just right for you. Like Longborads, electric mountain bikes are now available. Motor powers of up to 2,000 watts ensure fast acceleration and speeds of up to 35 km / h. The battery, usually a lithium-ion battery, is mounted under the deck of these boards. High-performance brushless motors are used as motors. The range of this mountainboard is around 25 km.

Riding styles with the mountainboard

The classic driving style of the mountainboard are the so-called downhill rides. So just downhill. This style of driving is very similar to snowboarding. Either in nature or on groomed tracks jumps are skipped and driven uphill. A real competition between two riders is the „Boarder-X“. The two drivers measure their driving skills as in downhill downhill. Similar to skateboarding, a course with halfpipes and jumps will be run through at „Freestyle“. Kiteboarding works like kitesurfing. Here, the rider, including the mountain bike, can be pulled by a steering mat or a kite and, depending on the strength of the wind, can make wide and high jumps.