The Board
The ultimate freestyle carving machine is back! Designed specifically to emulate the feeling of deep powder turns on a snowboard or cranked bottom turns on a surfboard, the Lush Samba has a legendary cult following (you’ll find quite a few in the “Riders Rides” Lush Owners Gallery). We’re stoked to bring you a re-imagined version for 2017.
Snowboard the Streets
The Samba is a skateboard for surfers and snowboarders who like to carve. It’s not really like other longboards – the deck is designed to alter the truck geometry in such a radical way that the board just doesn’t skate like anything else with wheels.
By lowering the trucks into the deck and mounting them at an angle on the very nose and tail, we have created a very turny, very leany ride which really does feel just like smashing some powder or the lip of a wave.
The unique ride feeling is really the reason for the Samba’s cult following, and is the product of many years of noodling about with trucks, bushings, angles and decks.
Shape and Profile
The latest incarnation of this legendary setup has a little more concave than the original carving versions to give you a little more grip for your feet, but not too much – it’s still comfortable as a pusher/commuting setup.
The shorter overall length contributes to the overall maneuverability, and makes the deck easier to carry around and sling under your desk/in your locker. We’ve tweaked the standing platform and shape to avoid wheelbite even at maximum lean.
Construction
We use our X-Flex Composite construction in this board. It’s thinner and lighter than the original Samba, with better energy return from every carve.
As every veneer is soaked in epoxy prior to pressing, the deck resists rail impacts better, too.
The Trucks
Fans of the original Samba will know that it was all about the super loose low angle Seismic trucks, mounted on the kicks. We weren’t happy with Seismics for a number of reasons, but since those days we haven’t found anything else that works as well. After trying countless setups over the years, we had pretty much given up, and consigned the Samba to the “heroic failures” section of the workshop.
Following increased demand for this board over the last year, we had another go, and discovered that flush-mounted low-angle Sabre Forged Baseplates with super-soft bushings not only re-created the crazy carving feeling of the original – but they actually improved it!
We found that Sabres mounted in this way had a smoother, more fluid turn, but without the various kingpin-and-spring-falling-out issues that we’d found with the Seismics. A few prototypes later, we’d steepened up the kicks a few degrees and shortened the wheelbase a touch, and hey presto, the Samba was back: turnier, leanier and carvier than ever!
Check out this page on the Samba Flushmount System for more info.
Carve it up!
The Samba is made for carving addicts everywhere. No tricks, stunts or speed required… this board just loves to turn like crazy.
If you can’t get enough of the snow or waves, and you want the same feeling you get riding your snowboard or surfboard, this is where to get your carving fix!
