bamboo is an ideal material for longboards (and a lot of other stuff) because:
- it's strong. bamboo is technically not wood, it's actually a type of grass. so what? in my experience, it's more durable than so-called hardwoods like maple or oak.
- it's flexible. seriously, ask anyone who's used a bamboo fly fishing rod. you can bend this stuff in a 360 - try that with a chunk of maple.
- it's gorgeous. from almost white to a dark brown, when bamboo is finished up nicely, it's got texture, colour and variation. no, it doesn't have to look like your uncle larry's tiki bar.
- it's sustainable. bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world, and it grows just about anywhere. cut up a maple tree, and fifty years of growth ends up as sawdust, so enjoy the syrup instead. the bamboo used in sugar longboards will grow back before you wear out a set of wheels.
why the exotic hardwoods?
well, it comes down to aesthetics. there are some beautiful exotic woods out there, but we use them as contrasting accents. in the quest for authenticity, we feel it would be cheating to stain up some bamboo and pass it off as something else.
also, these exotic woods usually have some physical property that is quite useful, like resistance to bending. so combining bamboo and the exotics can result in the best of both worlds - light, strong, rigid.
why the drop-through flush-mount trucks?
in two words or less, ride quality. it may not seem like such a big deal, but the change in pivot geometry is so radical that it really becomes a different board. think of it like the difference between standing on the ground and standing on a barrel that's trying to roll out from under you. we will, of course, build a ride with a conventional truck mount, but even then, we will recess it into the bottom of the board just for fun.
it does cost more in labour and tooling to do the drop-through flush-mount thing, but the results are undeniable.
why the hole in the end?
for us, it helps create a distinctive sugar look, along with the crescent tail shape. it also shaves a few grams off the weight of the deck, but that's not the big deal, really.
more importantly, for you, it can be anything you want:
- a convenient grab hole for towing it back up the hill for another sick ride down.
- attach a trailer for cross-country camping trip.
- install a flagpole.
- look at people across the street and pretend they are in a really long tunnel.