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Penny High-Line Surfskate Review

by | Dec 12, 2021 | Reviews

Since 1983, Penny has been creating unique skateboards with plastic and fiberglass decks. Now they’ve partnered with Waterborne to create the Penny surfskate with Waterborne surf adapter. But is it good?

Bottom Line Up Front

The Penny High-Line surfskate with Waterborne Surf Adapter is small, cute, nimble, zippy, and fun. I call it the “Volkswagen Beetle” of surfskates.

However, because it’s so small, it’s limited to children and short riders. It also has very small and hard wheels, which limits its use.

All things considered, I think you’re probably better off getting a complete model from one of the top surfskate companies.

Watch My Penny Surfskate Review on YouTube

Penny was smart. To enter the surfskate market, instead of creating their own surfskate truck like everybody else is doing, they just teamed up with Waterborne, slapped a Waterborne surf adapter on their own custom-built deck, and they got a surfskate.

Priced at $199 US, the Penny surfskate is among the cheaper complete surfskates on the market.

I call the Penny surfskate the Volkswagen Bug of surfskates. It’s small, zippy, fun, amd cute, and it’s great for kids and college students.

What I like most about this board is that it’s nimble and zippy. Because of its short deck length and narrow wheelbase, it really has an amazing turning radius, and you can really have a lot of fun on it in urban environments that require a lot of weaving in and out of obstacles.

You have a lot of control over this board in really tight spaces, and you can also accelerate this board really quickly.

But let’s take a closer look at the Penny board surfskate to see if it’s a good fit for you.

For more help with choosing the right surfskate for you, get my Ultimate Surfskate Selector now.

Penny Surfskate Component Parts

 

Let’s first take a look at all the component parts on the Penny board surfskate.

Penny Surfskate Deck

 

The Penny surfskate deck itself is 29 inches long and 10 inches wide and has a 14-inch wheelbase measured between inner bolt holes. It fits riders who have a stance width of between 13 and 16 inches, and it’s ideal for small riders with a stance width of 14 or 15 inches.

Like all Penny boards, the deck made completely of plastic and it’s really quite a unique and interesting curvy shape, which actually fits your feet quite well and makes it nimble and responsive.

The deck does not have grip tape on it, but that is really not a problem because of the design of it and the shape, the way that it really kind of hugs your foot. A lot of people like to ride the Penny surfskate in bare feet, although the texture of the deck can irritate your feet after a while.

Penny Surfskate Wheels

 

At just 59mm in diameter and 83a durometer, the wheels on the Penny surfskate are smaller and harder than typical surfskate wheels, which are usually between 68-70mm in diameter and about 78a durometer.

What this means is that the Penny surfskate can only be ridden on smooth surfaces and for short distances. The small wheels don’t work well on cracks and pebbles and you don’t get a lot of speed out of them.

However, they do work well for tight maneuvers in small spaces. They also work very well for sliding.

Waterborne Surf Adapter

 

The Waterborne Surf Adapter is a bushing-based surfskate truck that lets you turn any skateboard or longboard into a surfskate.

It is typically sold separately. However, the Penny surfskate was designed to fit well with the Waterborne Surf Adapter.

Penny Board Surfskate Pros and Cons

 

The Penny High-Line surfskate is not something that I really take out very much. It’s just something I’ll take out for quick little spins. It’s like having a little novelty convertible car or something in your garage that you take out every once in a while and have a fun little joyride.

What I don’t like about this board is that, first of all, for me it’s way too small. I’m 6’2″ and a 29-inch deck just is not a good wide enough stance for me.

And with its short length and narrow wheelbase, it means that this board can actually squirrel out of control on me a lot if I don’t keep the balance just right. So I can ride it and I can have fun on it, but I have to ride it gingerly and I have to always make sure that I’m positioned and balanced just perfectly on the board.

One thing to note about this board is that my kids really love it. Its size makes it perfect for kids and they can really zip around on it and it’s actually quite easy to learn. It’s easy to stand on, it’s easy to pump, so kids will have a lot of fun with this.

So I would recommend it for kids and small riders who can ride a 29-inch length deck. Or it would work well for college students because it’s small, compact, and portable.

So overall, like the Volkswagen Bug, the Penny High-Line surfskate has a certain appeal. It’s cute, it’s fun, it’s zippy, but it really is not an all-around vehicle at all. And I really honestly wouldn’t even call it a surfskate at all.

In terms of a surfskate, it really doesn’t give you that full complete surfy feel at all. The way that it’s built, it really just has a tight turning radius. But it doesn’t have that surfy feel and flow like you’re going to get on on a higher end surfskate like a Carver, YOW, or Smoothstar.

I would not recommend it at all to be a beginning surfskate. If you’re a serious surfskater, I would only recommend it if you have a lot of other surfskates and you just are curious about the experience.

But if you want just a small, cute, portable little street surfer that you can zip around on with a really tight turning radius and have a lot of fun on in urban environments, as long as you’re on smooth pavement, then you might have fun on the Penny surfskate.

For more help with choosing the right surfskate for you, get my free Surfskate Selector app now.

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