Wondering which Board: chinook/switch

**longboardfan101** · 11-09-2009 08:47 PM

Hey everyone, Iv been longboarding for a couple months now on my cousins longboard(he lent me his). Anyway i decided i should get my own. I did some research and I narrowed it down to pretty much the Landy Chinook or the Switch. My main purpose is commuting from my house to my school. I live in a really hilly reigon so i thought i could have some fun bombing the hills along the way. the hills arn't to aggressive but id like something stable that i can use to bomb steeper hills on my free time. I also want to be able to slide easily. (im going with the 75mm otang durains(83a). im 5"10" so i was hoping the switch wouldn't be too small.

Second question:Im thinking the bear grizzly trucks, should i Go with the 40 or the 52 degrees baseplate? i want stabillity but I still want to be able to turn. I dont want trucks that are so stable that turning becomes ridicously slow.

Thanks for your help

**Fortune** · 11-10-2009 12:24 AM

Originally Posted by longboardfan101

Hey everyone, Iv been longboarding for a couple months now on my cousins longboard(he lent me his). Anyway i decided i should get my own. I did some research and I narrowed it down to pretty much the Landy Chinook or the Switch. My main purpose is commuting from my house to my school. I live in a really hilly reigon so i thought i could have some fun bombing the hills along the way. the hills arn't to aggressive but id like something stable that i can use to bomb steeper hills on my free time. I also want to be able to slide easily. (im going with the 75mm otang durains(83a). im 5"10" so i was hoping the switch wouldn't be too small.

Second question:Im thinking the bear grizzly trucks, should i Go with the 40 or the 52 degrees baseplate? i want stabillity but I still want to be able to turn. I dont want trucks that are so stable that turning becomes ridicously slow.

Thanks for your help

The Switch should handle 75mm wheels fine, and it's fine for your height.

I'd go with the 52* BPs. You can flip the hangars to reduce the angle a bit and make them more stable.

**skater101** · 11-10-2009 12:36 AM

Originally Posted by longboardfan101

Hey everyone, Iv been longboarding for a couple months now on my cousins longboard(he lent me his). Anyway i decided i should get my own. I did some research and I narrowed it down to pretty much the Landy Chinook or the Switch. My main purpose is commuting from my house to my school. I live in a really hilly reigon so i thought i could have some fun bombing the hills along the way. the hills arn't to aggressive but id like something stable that i can use to bomb steeper hills on my free time. I also want to be able to slide easily. (im going with the 75mm otang durains(83a). im 5"10" so i was hoping the switch wouldn't be too small.

Second question:Im thinking the bear grizzly trucks, should i Go with the 40 or the 52 degrees baseplate? i want stabillity but I still want to be able to turn. I dont want trucks that are so stable that turning becomes ridicously slow.

Thanks for your help

I have a Landy Switch with 52 degree Bears. I use it for dh and freeriding in general. It's really stable; I also have some hard double barrel bushings on them. I haven't tried flipping the hangers yet, since I feel very stable with them unflipped already. I've gone roughly 35-38 mph on it, and have yet to try even faster. I'm sure you'd be fine with the 52 degree baseplates though; just flip them if you want more stability, or even switch to harder or softer bushings depending on the style of riding you'd like to do.

**longboardfan101** · 11-10-2009 05:38 AM

Are the 75mm otang Durains (83a) a good wheel for all around purpose and sliding?

**gavmck** · 11-10-2009 05:42 AM

Yes, yes they are.

One tip on the chinook, DO NOT GET 50 or 50+ DEGREE TRUCKS ON THE FRONT because it will suck due to over wedging. If you do get the chinook, get the 40 degree baseplates.

Both boards are excellent, the chinook is great for directional freeride, but sucks going backwards, the swtich goes both ways!

Pick yer favourite. I rode a chinook for the majority of spring/summer and was utterly stoked on it, amazing board! Only reason I stopped is because I wanted a bidirectional board to ride switch more.

**enrique60033** · 11-10-2009 06:01 AM

I have a chinook with 215 indys and some 83a 76 mm blank wheels,its super fun!! I tried randals ,paris and bears on it and they didn't feel right,the only thing its with indys needs a hard angled raiser to dewedge a lil and a flat 1/4 raiser coz without raisers gets rail bite on the front.

**longboardfan101** · 11-10-2009 06:45 AM

sounds sweet, how is the chinook for downhill? does the wedged up nose make it get speed wobble really bad? Most of the hills arnt the steep, but there are a couple that are a pretty good size and i would like to be able to go down them. If i get the chinook will i not be able to go down steep hills easily?

If i get the chinook i will go with the 40 degrees baseplate, if i go with the switch ill get the 52 degrees baseplate?

**gavmck** · 11-10-2009 07:16 AM

That sounds like a great idea.

The chinook is GNAR for downhill, it eats hills. It's designed to be s super fun drifty downhill board and that's what it does best. I've had mine up to 45mph very comfortably. When you do get speedwobble, due to the front wedge it dissappears quite quickly as long as you remain unshaken. I used to really like the way you;d get to a certain speed, wobble a lil bit and laugh and then it would go away and you carry on getting more gnar speed. GNARRRR>

**loadedlandyz09** · 11-10-2009 08:04 AM

both boards are great but i really like the switch since i got a demo for a friend and i actually decided to get one. it is an awesome board, stable and its symetrical. just find a good setup. both boards are awesome boards!

**8ftbed** · 11-10-2009 08:35 AM

I keep the Chinook tight with it's stock grizzlies and pumpkins. I can loosen it up where I can turn just cruising around. The Switch is running soft, loose sabres on bear 852's. Carve it up like a Christmas Turkey. If I had to cull something from the quiver for emergency cash, neither of these would going anywhere.

/period

**enrique60033** · 11-10-2009 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by 8ftbed

I keep the Chinook tight with it's stock grizzlies and pumpkins. I can loosen it up where I can turn just cruising around. The Switch is running soft, loose sabres on bear 852's. Carve it up like a Christmas Turkey. If I had to cull something from the quiver for emergency cash, neither of these would going anywhere.

/period

Try indys with soft bushings on that chinook ,you will love it.

by the way can I go to your place on of this days to try some boards and get ya sideways?

Larry did his first slides saturday

**8ftbed** · 11-10-2009 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by enrique60033

Try indys with soft bushings on that chinook ,you will love it.

by the way can I go to your place on of this days to try some boards and get ya sideways?

Larry did his first slides saturday

Absolutely!

**longboardfan101** · 11-10-2009 12:27 PM

cant wait to get my own longboard.

It sounds like both boards are preety sweet, i still can't decide between the Chinook or the switch.

**Adamn21** · 11-10-2009 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by longboardfan101

cant wait to get my own longboard.

It sounds like both boards are preety sweet, i still can't decide between the Chinook or the switch.

i would go with the switch. because the Chinook has a wedge in the front and if your sliding and it ends up in the back your more likely going to get speed wobbles. the trucks u want are great. i would go with 852`s so u can play around with bearings better. Also it`s like 40 dollars to get two of the lower degree base plates. Hope this helps....

**Janderson** · 11-10-2009 03:29 PM

Another one for the Chinook right here. I got mine a few months ago, and I LOVE it. I've had it up to 41 mph downhill, and any little wobble I got almost immediately disappeared. I've got 180mm Randals on it, and until yesterday, was running 70mm Retro BigZigs, but I picked up a set of 75mm 86a Durians yesterday, because I want to start learning to slide. They're still VERY grippy and VERY fast, but made to be able to slide, I really like them.

**longboardfan101** · 11-11-2009 05:13 AM

what happens if you ride the chinook switch? IE. if your riding it the right way, the you slide in into riding switch. what happens if the raised nose is in the back?
Another thing, is it harder to slide it back into normal position? Because the forward rake would be a bak\ckward rake instead. How would this affect the riding?

**gavmck** · 11-11-2009 05:26 AM

what happens if the raised nose is in the back?

It sucks, so you try and turn back to facing the right way. Makes your back oversteer. On the other hand, that makes it quite easy to switch 'er back to regular.

**longboardfan101** · 11-11-2009 06:46 AM

thanks, it's good that it is easy to switch back,

I think i might go with the chinook, it sounds like it fits my purpose better than the switch.
I like the fact that everyone says the chinook is really good for sliding. I also read alot of reviews where it had storyies of it bombing great down hills

**gavmck** · 11-11-2009 07:08 AM

Good stuff dude, the chinook is killa!

I like bombing hills on it.

Hot tip, run super soft bushings up front, harder in the back because of the split angle your trucks end up at. Makes them feel better. I highly recommend Randal 42s all round with green sabres in back, purple up front for a 200lb rider.

**longboardfan101** · 11-11-2009 11:26 AM

Sweetness, i think im going to order it from pipelinesurf.com If anyone knows a better/cheaper place to get it please let me know (i live in ontario so only canadian sites).