The Landyachtz Ripper is for sure, one of the funnest longboards I have ever skated … but there is a catch. It’s super fun but it doesn’t do some things right. Check out my Landyachtz Ripper review to find out more.
Specs
- Deck
- Length: 36.9″
- Width: 9″
- Wheelbase: 24.9
- Construction: 8plys Canadian Maple
- Stiffness: Flexible
- Max weight: Not sure but hold about 250lbs comfortably
- Shape: Single kick top mount
- Components
- Wheels: 63mm Eazy or Fatty Hawgs.
- Trucks: Polar Bear trucks. 150mm or 130mm.
- Bearings: Bear Space Balls Abec 7 bearings.
Landyachtz Ripper Review
Summary
If you’re looking to chill, mess around, maybe do some tricks and enjoy the feeling of cruising? The Ripper is a great option.
It’s so fun to mess around on. I haven’t had this much fun on a board since I first started skating – I found myself trying to learn old skate tricks, trying new ones, and mixing it all up.
I could do ollies, kickflips, dance a little, slide, and carve confidently on this board.
Truly one of the funnest I’ve skated.
But there is a catch.
The Ripper isn’t functional in a “traditional way”. Don’t get me wrong, the board is fun and rides well. But it doesn’t execute tasks like commuting, distance pushing, and doing serious tricks particularly well.
Apart from being super fun, the board isn’t really useful.
It isn’t nimble enough to weave in and out of crowds and tightly placed obstacles, it isn’t small enough to easily be carried around, it doesn’t have wheels big enough for pushing far, and it isn’t great for any “serious” skill progression.
That said, it can cover short distances pretty alright. Not bad to get to and from college classes or down to the corner shop.
This isn’t to say the board is bad. No, it is great. It’s just to highlight its best use case.
So do keep this in mind when buying it. Buy it for the right reasons – which are purely to have fun and mess around.
And make sure you get the 130mm versions. The 150mm version was quite disappointing in my experience.
How is the deck?
The deck has quite a bit of flex and rocker.
The flex absorbs a lot of road vibration and lets you dig into carves.
The rocker lowers the platform down making it easier to push and footbrake and giving you a more stable ride too.
They are an awesome combination together.
Paired with the mellow concave, you have a board that is super comfortable to stand on.
You have a lot of standing room
With the long 36.9inch length and 9inch width, you are quite accommodated on this board. It will work great for riders of all sizes and all stances.
Does the board turn good? (150mm vs 130mm trucks)
My biggest issue with this board is that it doesn’t turn enough.
The 150mm version doesn’t turn enough
With the 150mm trucks, the board simply didn’t turn enough for my liking. It felt far too rigid.
To get enough turning, I had to flip the roadside cupped washer (essentially making it work as a flat washer). And I also had to loosen the front trucks to the point the washer was a tiny bit loose and free to move and rattle.
This livened up the ride, made it more responsive and the board felt better to me.
But it still wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. It was still a tiny bit slow to turn. I also didn’t like having to have my front washer that loose.
The 130mm version are way better and turn good
With the 130mm trucks, this board turned a lot better and felt more responsive to my inputs.
I also did the same thing of flipping the roadside washer and it made the ride feel more responsive, lively, and exciting.
I was able to make some tighter turns and carve hard on the board.
This is the best version of this board and it was really enjoyable to skate. I had a lot of fun on it.
If you’re picking this board, do go for the 130mm version.
Turning may not be an issue if …
The turning may not be an issue when you’re just messing around.
If you are just vibing and messing around in an empty parking lot you aren’t going to miss or be affected by the poor turning too much.
However, when you need to weave in and out of crowds, in between objects, or simply want your trucks to respond quickly, it does become an issue.
When the lack of turning sucks
So if you choose to use this board to commute or simply want to traverse a modern environment where there are all sorts of obstacles, this turning does hold you back.
But as I did say, if you’re just messing around, it isn’t that big of a deal.
But it makes it beginner-friendly …
But also not turning much makes this board easy to skate and easy to keep in a straight line. It makes it feel quite stable.
For a beginner, this could be quite useful. If you’re someone who isn’t very confident about your riding and want something stable that will help make the learning curve a bit friendlier, the Ripper as is would be a solid choice.
TKPS on a 24inch wb …
I think the issue of turning stems from the use of Traditional Kingpin (TKP) trucks on the long 24inch wheelbase.
TKP trucks are commonly used on wheelbases lower than 20inches.
For wheelbases greater than 20inches, you’ll typically find Reverse Kingpin (RKP) trucks being used.
This is because of how TKP trucks turn.
They turn quickly but quickly tap out of that turning. On a small wheelbase, this is great. You get quick turning (and a smaller turning circle cause of the smaller wheelbase), but the turning remains controllable as you don’t have access to too much of it.
RKPs on smaller wheelbases feel quite twitchy and uncontrollable to most. With their deep turning, you have access to WAY too much turning and it can be uncomfortable.
But on long wheelbases, TKPs tap out of that turning too quickly and you end up with a ride that feels sluggish, slow, and unresponsive.
I think Landyachtz should have included wedge risers on both the front and rear trucks. Positively wedging them would give a slight increase to how much they turn and this would make the board more responsive and lively.
Wedges would have been a great solution without really affecting how the Ripper feels too much I think. Though I didn’t try this, it would be a worthwhile attempt.
RKP trucks may have been a nice option
Reverse Kingpin (RKP) trucks would have been better suited on the Ripper.
They would have been turnier and more stable than the TKPs.
You would have been able to ride better in urban environments, confidently weaving between obstacles, without seeing any loss in stability.
You could even pair the complete with bigger wheels without worry of wheelbite and push for longer distances.
I do understand that this could ruin the Ripper formula … but just something to think about if you want to make the Ripper more functional in a “traditional” way.
Is it easy to push? (Are the wheels good?)
The tiny Ez Hawgs (or Chubby Hawgs wheels) accelerate quickly but don’t hold on to their speed the best.
They’re pretty awesome for their small size but suffer from being small.
Because of this, I wouldn’t use the Ripper to do any serious distance pushing.
The small size of the wheels means they don’t hold on to their speed super well. You have to keep pushing and pushing to keep their speed up. Pair that with the weight of a big board, this gets tiring when you have to push a considerable distance.
That said, the deck itself is great for pushing. The lower standing platform does make it slightly easier. If only it was paired with bigger wheels …
Does the board slide easily?
Yes, surprisingly. It doesn’t take much to powerslide this board at all.
That said, it isn’t easy to hold out slides which makes doing any serious sliding on this board not very easy.
So you could do a small powerslide or even do a 180 on this board. But it is quite hard to do a long-drawn-out speed check.
Can you learn to slide on the Ripper?
I do think you could comfortably learn to slide on this board, and quite easily too!
And that goes for both stand-up and hands-down slides too.
The wheels are quite skinny and have radiused lips. Paired with the trucks that don’t turn much, you have a board that goes sideways without too much effort.
If you want to get a feel for sliding, the Ripper isn’t a bad choice.
That said, if you want to seriously progress your sliding skills you will have to eventually move on to a more sliding-focused complete.
Is it easy to do tricks on this board? (can you learn to do tricks?)
I found this board surprisingly easy to ollie. I was also able to do some tricks like a kickflip, a pop-shuvit, and a No-comply 180.
It took some effort but I was able to do the tricks.
I think people could learn to do tricks on this board … but with some effort.
The Ripper is much heavier than a normal skateboard and this makes learning tricks a bit harder. If you’re up for the challenge, it may not be that much of an issue, but it will hold some riders back.
Can you dance and freestyle on the Landyachtz Ripper?
You have a ton of room on this board. Paired with the mellow concave, stable trucks, and fine griptape, you can do a couple of dance and freestyle moves on this deck.
I found myself getting some dance steps in pretty easily … I was genuinely surprised haha.
So yes, you can learn to dance on this board.
Are the components high-quality?
As with any Landyachtz product, the Ripper comes paired with high-quality Hawgs wheels and Bear trucks.
All the components are great and work well. They perform great out of the box, you won’t need to replace anything.
Is it beginner-friendly?
The Ripper is super beginner-friendly, really one of the most beginner-friendly boards I’ve used.
You have a large comfortable standing platform, stable trucks, and wheels that are easy to push. It’s really difficult to feel uncomfortable on it as a beginner.
What I didn’t like about the Landyachtz Ripper
If I was to step away from the perspective that this board should be used for fun and messing around, there is a lot I could say that I don’t like.
But keeping that perspective, this board works great.
That said, I do think Landyachtz could make this board slightly better by simply pairing it with some wedge riders.
Where to buy the Landyachtz Ripper?
You can buy the Landyachtz Ripper here on Amazon.com.
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