Is the Penny board a good cruiser for you? Find out here!

Imagine this. It’s your first year of college. You live in a dorm building on the school campus. Each morning just before 8am, students start filling the sidewalks on their way to class in all the buildings nearby. 

As you wake up with a hangover and your roommate snoring loudly, you grab your phone and realize it’s 7:53am! Your class starts at 8 and it’s at least 10 minutes away by foot. The teacher already told you twice that if you’re late again, you’ll fail the class! There are 25,000 students at your school, so the sidewalks are packed. How could you possibly make it in time?!

Now imagine this, you live on the third floor of an apartment building and work 8 blocks away. You could walk to work, but it takes 8-10 minutes, precious time that you could spend drinking coffee in the morning before leaving. 

The next best idea to get to work would be a bike. The only problem is, a bike will cost you at least $200, a big chunk out of your wallet, especially when your job is working at a café to help pay for school. Your apartment doesn’t have a place to park the bike, so you have to carry the heavy thing up and down the stairs every day. If only there was another way…

The answer to these scenarios is quite simple – a beloved little skateboard designed in Australia! 

The Penny board is not for everyone. The scenarios above were explained the way they were for a reason.

Specifically, we didn’t write a scenario about someone who lives at the top of a hill in San Francisco and wants to race down the hill as fast as possible. We also didn’t write about someone who wants to learn how to skate the 12” deep concrete bowl at their local skatepark.


The truth is – the iconic 22” and 27” Penny boards are seriously awesome for some things, and not so good for others. It’s not a typical skateboard, it’s not a longboard, it’s a Penny board!

Penny boards are agile

Picture from the video ” Skate Fresh with the new Fresh Prints collection” by Penny Skateboards

Think back to our first scenario of a college student who needs to get to class in 7 minutes.

The important point of this story was how the sidewalks of his school are very busy with people. In this case, walking takes too long and a bike would suck (nobody likes a person riding a bike down a crowded sidewalk). More so, a traditional skateboard is loud, heavy, and not as easy to maneuver as a nimble 22” Penny board. 

Here, the Penny board is truly the most economical option.

The short Penny design gives it responsive control and makes it easy (and fun!) to travel through areas with other people or obstacles. You don’t necessarily have to skate a Penny board very fast, making it safer to ride around people than a full-size skateboard, but it will still be much faster than walking.

In addition, the high-quality Penny wheels made specifically for the board are super smooth and quiet, causing much less of a disturbance as you cruise. For all these reasons, it’s no surprise that the Penny board has become a staple of life on college campuses around the world!

and great for commuting!

Now remember our scenario of a person who lives 8 blocks from work, the Penny board has huge advantages over walking or biking

As you would expect, the Penny board will be faster than walking. Especially if it’s mainly flat between your destinations, a Penny cruiser is capable of getting from point A to B in a similar amount of time as a bike.

However, remember that a bike has two negative factors: cost and storage. 

The cost of Penny boards at Cruisin City is generally half the price or less of buying a low-quality bike. In addition, the small and lightweight design of the Penny is literally made for situations where you need to switch between riding, carrying, and storing it (such as up the stairs to your apartment or storing it in the back room at work). 

In this situation, a Penny board is truly the best option for commuting.

If you will use your Penny to travel longer distances (or if you’re just a bigger person) perhaps the slightly bigger 27” long Penny board is ideal.

If you plan to get on and off the board often or you want to store it in small places, the 22” model is awesome.

When compared to a standard skateboard or cruiser skateboard, 22″ and 27” Pennys are both more compact, making them the most practical choice for skate transportation.

Picture from the video ” Skate Fresh with the new Fresh Prints collection” by Penny Skateboards

WHY CHOOSE A REAL PENNY BOARD?

If you’re sold on the idea of a Penny board but wondering why you shouldn’t just go buy some cheap plastic garbage cruiser at a department store for $40, the answer is incredibly simple – “you get what you pay for”

The biggest difference you’ll notice in an authentic Penny is the quality of the components

Fake Pennys are slow

Simply put, fake Penny boards will be really slow and hard to push. The bearings inside the wheels are super low quality and will likely break after a short time. All authentic Pennys come with original Penny brand ABEC 7 stainless steel bearings. You’ll easily coast down the street at any speed with confidence. Bearings are just the beginning, but we’ll keep it short.

Fake Pennys don’t turn correctly

Authentic Pennys always have original Penny brand trucks. These durable metal trucks are designed by Penny, specifically for the board they’re on. They have premium bushings that make it steer with the surf-like feel that Pennys are famous for. Surf’s up, dude!

Fake Pennys don’t grip the pavement 

Original Penny wheels have a special formula with a specific hardness. This gives them the exact amount of grip needed for the amazing carving performance of the board.

Fake Penny boards will just break!

A real Penny deck is made from a special plastic compound, giving it the perfect combination of flexibility and durability for long-lasting performance. You’ll quickly see the importance of this as your knock-off Penny fades in the sun, cracks, and flakes away into sharp little plastic bits after just a few rides.

We’re not going to stop you from buying a cheap, knock-off plastic cruiser from a department store

All we’re saying is, when the bearings on your cheap cruiser are terribly slow and the tail randomly snaps off when you step on it, we’ll be here to say, “We told you so”!

SO, IS A PENNY BOARD RIGHT FOR YOU?

What can we learn from all this? It’s that Penny boards are freaking amazing!

However, they have a time and place. They’re not made for tricks, skateparks, or bombing down huge hills in San Francisco. 

They are super awesome for commuting, traveling through more crowded areas, and having tons of fun carving around on a skateboard that really resembles the first skateboards of the 1960’s and 70’s!

The most popular Penny models are 22” and 27” long. These models are suitable for practically any skater, depending on their riding style and body size.

The smaller model is agile and easy to store (especially if you want to bring it on vacation!). The larger model is better for skating longer distances and more stable for bigger skaters. If you’re not sure what’s best for you, contact Cruisin City and we can help!

You can also check out the Penny Surfskate, 32” Penny skateboard, and even the Penny longboard

Whether you’re buying a Penny to commute to work, school, or just to enjoy the amazing feeling of sidewalk surfing on an authentic Penny, one thing is for sure – You’re gonna have A LOT of FUN!

Text by Skatetexter

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