Carve Board - The Ultimate Surfing Cross-Trainer

Watch the CarveBoard Video

The Carve Board is larger than life in every possible way. It provides an extreme riding experience at every level - there is no limit to how hard this thing can carve... forget the waves, this is surfing on land, baby!

Our first impression of the carve board was simply an amazement over the size of the actual board - it's huge! Even though we had seen it several times before on the official website and other locations, in real life it seemed alot bigger than we had expected. We wondered how such a massive (and heavy) board could possible maneuver the way it was supposed to, as a surfing cross-trainer.

We were, of course, completely wrong in our assumption. On our first session out, myself and others were actually thrown from the board because of how tight the Carve Board can turn - while maintaining an uncanny amount of traction with the pavement.

From this point on, we realized that we were no longer dealing with just another average hybrid or hyped up invention. This thing was literally capable of doing what we had never thought possible on 4 wheels. It carves like no other board that we have ever seen.

Technical Info - Specifications

The Carve Board consists of a high-quality maple deck (plies vary depending on load rating), and their patented, USA-made trucks, wheels and suspension system. The tires are inflatable, and various PSI (pounds of pressure per square inch) pressures will affect how well they grip the pavement.

A higher PSI will result in a faster ride, while a lower PSI will provide more traction for intense carving, and will help to regulate the speed a bit more on a steeper grade.

The board and all of its components are all top-notch quality, and it feels rock solid while riding.

Assembly and maintenance are very simple, and the board even comes with it's own "Carve Tool", which is a custom allen wrench that fits every fitting that might need adjustment at some point throughout your session(s).

It's this sort of simplicity about the Carve Board that makes it so ingenious. The more complicated something is made, the more unreliable it becomes.

The Carve board is not complicated - it's a simple, yet intense carving simulator that thrives on performance. The Carve Board is the metaphorical muscle car of longboarding.

The up-turned angles at either end of the board create a highly optimized turning angle for the simple "see-saw" truck design.

The trucks themselves have built-in shocks (springs) that give the board its rebound in and out of turns - which is actually quite subtle and unobtrusive. The board turns very freely, but is not in any way unstable. The return-to-center factor of the Carve Board is not noticeable, but it is certainly active. Without it, the board would be a death-trap.

The Carve Board is very well designed, and there is no possibility of wheel bite, or scraping out the edge on pavement under normal riding conditions (even during the most extreme turning maneuvers).

It's obvious the production team behind the Carve Board are firm believers in the KISS theory:

Keep It Simple, Stupid

This is where the Carve Board shines, and where so many others fall...

The Ride - The Unbelieavable, Ultimate Carving Experience

The Carve Board is sort of a heroic comic-book character in the "book" of longboarding.

This board does what we've all been daydreaming about at work, at school or in church. Let's admit it. We've all spent countless hours dreaming about carving unbelievable lines on some perfect stretch of pavement.

Well, it's no longer a pipe dream; this is for real. The Carve Board has a 4-foot turning radius (or less), and the deck itself can be tilted close to 65 degrees (or more) when pulling extreme maneuvers.

This in itself is not impressive - but what is impressive is that the rider can remain in complete control of the board while performing such an intense level of carving.

One of the first issues we had with the Carve Board was something completely unexpected - of course, I was the fall guy in this instance, as usual. I was just about to push off for the very first time on the Carve Board, when I suddenly caught the back wheel on my heel, fell ON the board while it was moving, and skidded to a stop on my back - much to the enjoyment of passer-bys and other riders.

Following this event, we concluded that the Carve Board has a massive axle width, coupled with 4 enormous wheels - meaning that you need to kick a fair distance to the side of the board while propelling your self on flat ground.

The only other issue we encountered was when the inside wheels actually dug into one of our riders shoes on a tighter turn. This is not an issue if your feet are centered properly (shoulder-width apart), and centered respectively on the deck of the Carve Board.

The Carve Board excels at carving (as you could probably guess), and that is its primary purpose. It really has no other purpose than to carve, really hard.

It's not a longboard - you can't take it for a leisurely "cruise", because it's too heavy, and therefore slow on the flats. It's not a downhill board - the Carve Board will induce speed wobbles if it exceeds about 20 mph, regardless of rider confidence or balance.

And it's certainly not a method of transportation or a campus cruiser. In other words, this board is not an "all-around good board to have for just about everything".

Remember, the Carve Board is a "muscle car", not a "mini-van".

However, this is what the Carve Board is:

- The Carve Board IS the closest thing to surfing on land. Nothing else comes close, plain and simple. Don't waste your money on anything else.

- The Carve Board IS an extreme carving vehicle. It has no rivals whatsoever in terms of carving ability, agility, turning radius, responsiveness and turning angle.

and

- The Carve Board IS the muscle car of the longboarding car-lot. It's tough, it's heavy, it's big, and it's a mean, lean, American-made carving machine.

To sum it all up, the Carve Board kicks some serious butt. We can't get enough of it. I've had to resort to locking it in the trunk of my car to prevent random "borrowings" from a few of my fellow riders.

Final Verdict:

The Carve Board is the Holy Grail for surfers in need of a rush when the waves are down - as well as anyone else who wants to experience a completely unique and extreme style of carving.

We were blown away by the unbelievable handling abilities and carving dynamic available on the Carve Board.

It may not be everything to everyone, but we've had to adjust our daydreaming habits lately, because now we can actually do most of the stuff we've dreamt about doing on a longboard.

We highly reccomend this board to anyone wanting to experience the limits of carving on land. It's well worth the price tag.

 

-Chris Rempel, Editor, LongboardDirectory

See the Carve Board in Action - VIDEO

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Check out these related websites for more information on the Carve Board:

Carve Board official Site

 

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