Steve here with Surfskate Love and today I'm reviewing the Penny High-Line
with the Waterborne surf adapter.
So 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 on their
own custom-built deck, and they got a surfskate. The deck itself is 29 inches long and 10 inches
wide. And for some reason they list on the website that the wheelbase is 14 inches, but I measure 17
inches at the axle and 15 inches between the inner wheels. Like all Penny boards, it's 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. Another advantage to it is the cost. It's only $179, which I've seen a lot of other kind
of more basic beginner boards that are in more of a $199 range, so I think that it's priced well.
So overall, I like the High-Line, but only for really specific purposes. I call it
the Volkswagen Bug of surfskates. I's small, it's zippy, it's fun, it's cute, and it's great for like
kids and college students, things like that. 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. The board is a nice shape and it feels
nice on your feet. And in fact, you'll see a lot of people riding the High-Line with bare feet,
although the texture on the top can irritate your feet after a while. So as you can see, I
have quite a few surfskates. So the High-Line 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
fairly delicately and I have to always make sure that I'm positioned just perfectly on the board
and balanced just perfectly. Another thing I don't like about this board is that the wheels are very
small. I don't know the exact diameter, doesn't list it on the website, but they're much smaller
than traditional surfskate wheels. They're also a little bit harder. They're 83A durometer and your
typical surfskate wheel is around 78A, a little bit softer to get that grip. So as a result,
they don't like rocks and pebbles, they don't like cracks in the sidewalk. So they really require just
smooth pavement. Another thing to note about them is that they do squeak. You'll see debate online
about it, some people say they don't, a lot of people say they do. Well, mine certainly does.
So overall, like the Volkswagen Bug, the High-Line 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 Smoothstar or a YOW or even, say, a Carver C7.
One thing to note about this board is that my kids really love it. It's 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 really well,
or it would work well for say college students because it's small and it's compact, very portable. That's another big advantage of it.
But in terms of a surfskate itself, 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 stuff and you just are curious about the experience.
If you're looking for more of a traditional surfskate, you're going to want a Carver C7, a YOW, or a Smoothstar in my opinion.
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, so long as there's smooth pavement, then you might have fun on the Penny High-Line.