Teknikmagasinet’s “Talawa” longboard. A review.

A few weeks back I bought two longboards from teknikmagasinet. These longboards are hyped asa “new classic” and being great a great all round longboard.

As per usual I did not really buy in to the market-speak but bought them solely to use the cheap truck and wheels on the longboards I make for my kids. Since Tova already have “big wheels” on her I put them on Lukas longboard. Before I did that though, I took it for a ride, these are my conclusions.

When searching for Talawa longboard on the internets you only get references to Teknikmagasinet, no product page.

1: There is no flex in the board, not at all. It could have been made from metal instead. No affordance at all for anything but super smooth asphalt.

2: The trucks are mounted on big ass riserpads, these and the shape makes the trucks work like ploughs. no affordance for gravel or twigs where you ride. I have no clue why you would design your board like that.

3: The wheels that had been facing the window in the store where miscoloured. to much exposure to sunlight I guess, the felt about the same though so I guess it’s just cosmetical.

4: I tried to turn, but failed. The bushings are hard, like superhard. I wigh 86kg and I was unable to make the board tilt more then a few degrees. This is the opposite of my usual problem. Releasing the bushings does not help much. They where very hard anyways. Needless to say, Lukas had to have new bushings (he’s really lightweight, as a 6-year old should be)

Apparently these are the trucks and wheels:

Wheels: Ape Venom PU 65×51 mm/85A
Bearings: ABEC-7 Carbon
Trucks: Seagull 6″ (15 cm)

Hope you have better luck in finding information on these on the internet.

In conclusion, if you want cheap trucks and wheels, you can get this. Expect to have to grease up the bearings, and change the bushings. Just dont expect to be able to ride the thing from the store to your home.

11 thoughts on “Teknikmagasinet’s “Talawa” longboard. A review.

  1. Om man byter till mjukare bussningar, så ær Talawan mycket prisværd før en nybørjare. Den funkar dessutom fint att modifiera til dropmount.

  2. AXA, där har du fel, den är inte prisvärd tillräckligt, men jag är mycket intresserad av att se hur du lade till dropmount på den. Har du en bild eller liknande? Kanske tom en video?

  3. I have this longboard and i have to say that it works pretty good for me, the bushings aint to hard not the deck eighter. but i weight 108kg and im pretty tall to. only thing i dont like are bearings.those are big fucked up failure.

  4. Making a dropmount is easy, just drill/saw out the hole, and put some paint or epoxy on the naked wood. The board is stiff and trucks are narrow. I’ve ordered new trucks and wheels, next season it will be a proper deck as well;-)

  5. Huh!! This review cannot be seriously? The board in soft and would not tolerate a heavy person (90kg+) stepping to roughly on the board without it breaking. Im 60kg and it flexes a lot when i apply pressure by bouncing (not jumping) on it while riding or standing on it.. The board gets really soft after a week with everyday use.. Well balanced and overall good CHEAP board for the rookies!

  6. AHH!! The board is stiff to begin with, but gets very loose and turns really well after a week with every day use 🙂 *

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