Longboarding 101 Classes through Portland Community College are back after a two year hiatus! We have been steadily teaching Private Lessons all throughout this time and even a Longboarding 201 small group class last Fall for past students. So this will be the first time offering our instruction for new students in a class setting since the Summer of 2019. We are so excited to meet and help new riders wanting to get started having fun in a permitted setting on their longboard skateboards!
Here is all the Information and Direct Link to registering for these four classes we are offering through PCC –
Longboarding 101 – Spring Term 2022: 5 week classes on Wednesdays from 12-2pm.
Class 1: April 6 – May 11.
Class 2: May 18 – June 15.
Longboarding 101 – Summer Term 2022: 5 week classes on Wednesdays from 12-2pm.
Class 1: June 29 – July 27.
Class 2: August 3 – 31.
Registration Link will appear live here TBA.
Class Description:
Learn the basics of longboard skateboarding: How to ride with control and safely slow down and stop. Focus on downhill and sliding in a permitted group setting. 10 Student max per class. All levels welcome. Rain or Shine.
Required gear: Longboard, Helmet, Slide Gloves. Recommended gear: Knee and elbow pads, old pants and sweatshirt, skate shoes or shoes with flat flexible bottom.
And here is our latest LONGBOARDING 101 Video featuring clips from the last few years of lessons and classes. Enjoy!
Longboarding 101 Lessons at Mt.Tabor Park in Portland, Oregon.
Yes it’s finally back!!! And with a few updates, here goes…
DK DropKick with Caliber Trucks and Eastside H20 Clear Wheels.
We redid the mold to the same specs as the original model released in 2015 but added 1/16″ more concave lift everywhere. This includes the rocker, wheel-flairs, and concave depth. All together making it even more responsive and durable. Also updated is the original graphic now made full size across the board with the updated Eastside logo at the bottom. We also did a dark black stain on top and bottom leaving the rails their natural color and triple sealing them. We like the new look with the updated design and hope you do too! We didn’t want to mess with much else and definitely not the tried and true specs that made this model so popular in the first place. The size and shape offer so many ways to ride this longboard. In our minds, and to many who’ve owned one before, it offers the best of what a longboard can do. By being drop-thru it allows you to push with ease and learn to slide. The concave keeps your feet gripping and locked in when going fast and doing slides. And at the same time not too aggressive or constrictive when just cruising and riding around town. Plus the most obvious feature of the double kicks on this drop-thru are shaped big enough to actually make functional use of them when riding. And designed in a way to be durable and last for years. If you had to pick just one board to do it all, this baby is it!
We have an all new graphic for this celebrated model we absolutely love! Features a 3 color silk screen design over a new smoke grey stain. The design was created by Eastside owner Robin McGuirk and his graphics partner Eric Hovey. Eric designed this original graphic for the Relic and all of the current Eastside graphics. The original design for the Relic played upon a unique triangle design with photo images of the PNW nature placed inside the triangles. Very cool and well used for 5 years but we wanted to freshen up this model because it is one we plan to continue making for years to come!
Relic Deck Shot by Muir Skate showing concave.
We wanted to play on the old graphic using triangles but instead wanted to have a stain on the board as a base. Then simplify it using a silk screen ink design versus the more complicated heat transfer we used prior. This made for a much cleaner look with more contrast that can be noticed from far away. Using a similar design with the triangles being placed in an unpatterned way is an artistic play on the eye that leads it to continue looking around for such a pattern. Since it doesn’t have a pattern like a checkerboard, it keeps the eye looking around longer until it sees the balance of colors and weight of the design (which we think we achieved). As with all art its up to the viewer to interpret and find that satisfaction or not for themselves.
Relic deck with new grey stain and silk screen graphic.
The Relic has some killer bathtub style concave that creates an aggressive locked in feel. It also has a mellow hump or “W” running down the center to help keep this 8ply maple board stiff for stability and speed. That also provides the arches of your front foot to stay in contact with the board and your back foot and toes to stay inside the concave instead of having to hang off the edge for grip. The large wheel-wells and concave allow for lots of wheel clearance for bigger wheels up to 80mm for the whole wheel base range of 24-28″. This eliminates wheel-bite with loose trucks and no risers. If looking to get into downhill and freeriding this deck is a great choice and one you won’t regret!
The Mach 3 was originally released in 2013 during the beginning of the “Skate Everything” era in longboarding. This single kick design has been our specialty since the beginning of our brand ten years prior with our first model The Tabor. The Mach 3 is basically a bigger beefier version of the Tabor with a whole lot more features aimed at being an a versatile downhill freeride board. It can handle both speed and maneuverability with some very cool “Next Level” features provided by the mold and the shaping. The Mach 3 has a deep radial concave with a touch of belly rocker and a super sweet fish tail shape tail. Carefully placed gas pedals edges are set for the back foot to leverage with a smaller to medium stance. And the scoop side of the kick tail is another leverage spot for digging in with the back foot for a wider stance, which comes in handy for stand up slides. The board in general is a fun all around longboard featuring a really useful kicktail for dropping of curbs, ollies over cracks and off drops, and just plain old kicking your board up to your hand (instead of having to reach down to pick up your board). It also provides another reference point for your back foot to push up against when tucking or sliding.
Mach 3 Concave featuring the “Gas Pedal” edges and side scoop of the tail.
We haven’t made a run of these for over a year so by popular demand we decided to put them back into production. Instead of re-releasing with a new graphic we thought it was so killer (sonic sound wave) that we kept it. The only change is adding slightly bigger wheel-wells for more wheel clearance. And we featured them by leaving them uncovered with natural wood sealed like the rest of the board is.
Now available on our website again and over a Daddies Board Shop and Muir Skate.
It’s been a struggle to keep boards in stock during these times. However good news is we have another run of these finishing up this week! And they will be live on the website starting Monday June 29th here – TABOR LONGBOARD COMPLETE.
Tabor Complete with Caliber Trucks and Eastside Clear Wheels.
The Eastside Relic will be available again next week! UPDATED 5/17/20 – SOLD OUT
36” L | 9.75” W | 24-28” WB
Introduced 5 years ago and still going strong as an affordable downhill deck with many “next level” features: Deep bathtub concave in combo with mellow rocker and “w” plus ample wheel clearance with wheel wells and flairs. Graphic designed by photographer Eric Hovey with photos taken of the PNW natural scenery.
This will most likely be our last run of these boards with this graphic, so don’t hesitate if you want one. Now Live on the Site!
The New DK DropKick is NOW AVAILABLE – Go HERE to check it out and PRE ORDERyours today!
For this new updated DK DropKick version we decided not to change what our fans love about this board. Instead we upgraded the construction to make the board even better. The design of the DK DropKick has a lot of next level longboard deck features; Rockered Concave with Foot Flairs and mellow “W” in a drop-through design with useful sturdy kick tails. It has been out of stock for several months now while we tested some other laminating adhesives in this model.
DK DropKick deck. 5/8″ radial concave with 0.75″ rocker, foot flairs, and slight “W”.
Our goals were to:
1.) Improve the durability and increase the life of the board, but still weigh the same at just under 4 lbs.
2.) Not add composites to the board which are costly and are bad for the environment.
3.) Keep the price reasonable at $125 for this new DK DropKick deck.
After quite of bit of testing over time we landed on a resin we had used before in the older version of this board called the Carbon DropKick. It has some really nice properties that makes a better bonded all maple board versus one with just regular wood glue. This Special Resin is more Eco-Friendly than other resins and has some other killer properties we found work great with maple veneer lamination. When pressed it goes through the pours of the wood in a way that bonds the plies of maple together a lot better. The resin becomes part of the wood in and around it holding it all together in a superior way instead of just sitting between the plies like wood glue does.
New DK DropKick made with our Special Eco-Friendly Resin.
The goal for the design we kept for this updated model DK DropKick was to make one board worthy for downhill, freeride, and long distance pushing while having two functional kick tails to use for urban transportation. It was originally released in late 2016 after our original models the DropKick and Carbon DropKick from 2006-2014. Those prior models both had single kick tails on a drop-through design. During the time those earlier models were in production, we had many requests from our fans for a double kick version. Thus we took almost two years to design the DK DropKick with an all new mold. We made the dimensions the size most riders would want at 39″ x 9.75″ with a 26.75″ wheelbase. This allowed for all these types of longboarding to be achieved effectively including stand-up slides at speed, downhill stability and grip, and easy and light enough to push for miles on end. And now over the almost three years it has been out, our fans have let us know how much they love this model and have learned all these types of longboarding on it. It’s a do it all design that many rely on as their everyday board to go out and shred whatever they feel like that day!
This special resin we are using for this new version has a flexible strength to it allowing it to dampen the ride, much like wood glue does. Most resins others use are chosen for use with fiberglass and carbon and end up being too brittle which makes the ride rougher. The contours of the DK DropKick with the particular dimensions and shape of the concave features like rocker, W, and the kick tail angles are actually what make the board so strong and durable. Basically the design prevents the kick tails from breaking on this drop-through design. However with so much going on in terms of radial bends in the mold, we did have too many boards warping after they had cured. This was mainly due to the traditional non-toxic wood glue we were using. It added a lot of moisture to the wood and sometimes would not allow the deck to cure properly. Since this was a problem we stopped production for a while until now. And by now making this same board with this special resin we eliminated waste with defective boards. And didn’t have to use fiberglass or carbon to secure the board and eliminate warping.
The Special Resin locks down every board we make with it, never allowing it to change shape over time no matter what environmental conditions it’s in. How we know this is because of extensive testing making many new samples with this new resin. We did all kinds of testing over time to ensure every board never warped. One of the main tests was throwing it in a super hot attic right after it came out of the press. And leaving it there for over two weeks. Any other board out there made with maple and wood glue would definitely warp and crack if thrown up there before it cured outside the press in a stable environment like it’s supposed to. The new DK DropKick decks we tried this with did not, which proved to us they will stay true their whole life no matter where they are in the world. We kinda already new this about this special resin because for each and every Carbon DropKick we made we also used this resin. And they never had any warping issues during it’s long production life of over six years.
We wanted to keep the same sweet design of the DK DropKick but now make it way more durable with no chance of defects. We could of made it overkill with carbon but like said it doesn’t need it like the Carbon DropKick needed it to prevent the kick tails from breaking. The DK DropKick design, even with the old wood glue, never allowed the kick tails to break. Also we wanted to keep the price reasonable at the new price of $124.99 for the resin deck versus $109.99 for the old wood glue deck. If we added carbon too, it would have to be closer to $200 for this deck. In our opinion adding composites really isn’t the best way to make a deck because you can still achieve strength and durability without adding those expensive materials. Plus those materials do not decompose well which is not good for the environment.
We here at Eastside enjoy letting you know the process of how our boards are made and what thoughts and ideas go into them. We know not everyone will read this or care that much about that but some do and for those who read this, thanks for hearing us out! We assume you are probable a fan who has supported us one way other another over the years. So we thank you for trusting us and our products, and hopefully they serve you well for what ever joys of longboarding gives you!
The New DK DropKick is NOW AVAILABLE – Go HERE to check it out and PRE ORDER yours today!
New DK DropKick made with our Special Resin Ships by Nov.27th.
If you’re looking for a do it all board that will last a very long time, then we encourage you to give this one a try. Everyone we know who steps on it instantly loves how comfortable the concave is. It’s deeper than most other drop-through boards yet not too aggressive. It locks your feet in completely at speed but still easy and comfortable to push. Many become total fans of this well thought out concave after they try a slide on it, bomb a hill on it, or push around town on it. And for those who love to use a kick-tail and even ollie, they also enjoy the DK DropKick for that. Those riders love being able to jib around on it, drop off curbs, get over cracks, and use the kick tails to get creative with their slides by having their foot on it while sliding. Plus everyone loves to just plain old be able to kick their board up to their hand after they step off. You don’t have to bend over and pick up your board, and it looks cool!
Concave shot of the DK DropKick setup with Caliber trucks and Orangatang Kegels.
