Loaded Vanguard Carver Review

Loaded makes several innovative carving skateboards, along with snowboards. When Loaded Carving Systems designs a board, they engineer their decks and trucks together so that they compliment each other and form one unique, effective carver. The Loaded Vanguard is designed to be a balanced all-around carver, good for tackling most things you'll want to ride. It's not a regular skateboard, and not so much a longboard as it is a pure carving machine.

The Loaded Vanguard is a fine board to ride. The springy response from the board gave it a more visceral, intuitive feeling - meaning, I felt a stronger connection to the board than with most other boards I've ridden. You can really throw yourself into riding the Vanguard - it's stronger than it looks. At first glance the board seemed too thin to really put up with much, but the unique vert lam design gives the rider a lot of freedom while not sacrificing strength. I tried jumping up and down on it, to see if I could strain it, and the board took my 185 pounds without complaint. In fact, the brochure that came with the Vanguard showed a car with its tire rolled right over the center of the board, and the board is flexed to the ground and not broken. I was tempted to try this out myself, but I liked the board too much to break it on purpose!

It looks weak and feels light, but the board performs great - you have to try it out to see for yourself. I couldn't pull off much in the way of tricks, but that's not what the Vanguard is designed for. The lack of tail and nose, along with the flexibility of the board make the Loaded Vanguard a dedicated carver. Though, when I recently watched the Make You Smile DVD, I had my ideas of what can be done on these things blown away ...)

The Loaded Vanguard is designed around Randal 180 mm reverse pinned trucks and a Loaded deck. The deck is built from Tan Oak vertical laminates and sandwiched between fiberglass. The whole board has a very natural look and feel to it. The deck is cut without a nose or a rail, and with sidecuts which give it a slight hourglass shape. The side cuts enable the board to be twisted a little, letting the rider use his or her weight for added control. The deck is built with a strong convex camber lengthwise and a shallow concave camber from side to side. The Loaded Vanguard comes in two lengths, either 42" with a 37" wheel base for a wider stance or 38" with a 33.5" wheel base for a medium stance. It's up to you and your own size and riding style as to which you'll like. The Vanguard also comes in five different flexibilities, for riders of different weights.

Vanguards come with Krypto Classic 70mm wheels, and a Premium version of any size Vanguard is available with grippier Gumball wheels and higher ABEC bearings, making the board 6mm taller, faster and smoother, but worse for sliding. When you get a Loaded Vanguard, you really get the feeling that you are getting a carving skateboard built just for you.

It's hard to come up with strong complaints about this board, but here are a few things that you might want to know before buying one. First off, the Loaded Vanguard doesn't feel like a regular skateboard. This is something a little different, but you can do a whole lot with it! If you've never ridden a longboard or a carver before, you might want to read How to Longboard - Basic Beginner Instructions to get an idea of the basics of what you're getting into. But, that's only the start! There's a huge untapped world out there for longboarders who want to push themselves, get creative, and see what they can do!

The Loaded Vanguard is flat out a great carving skateboard. The wide trucks, awesome flex deck, sweet reverse pin trucks - everything combines to make a great carving board. It's fairly specific in application, but if carving is your passion then I think you'll love the Vanguard. And to top it all off, the Loaded Carving Systems company stands firmly behind their products. If you buy a Loaded board and have any problem with it, they promise to trade out the board. That's not a promise you get from most skate companies! And as an added bonus to you shop owners reading this, Loaded also has a policy to give a free demo board to each shop and pro deals to all shop staff. Loaded is a fast growing company, and it's because of customer service like this, along with providing truly original, well made skateboards and snowboards. Check out the Loaded website for more, and to see the other boards offered by Loaded.

The bottom line on the Vanguard - if you are looking for a pure carver, I strongly recommend the Loaded Vanguard. It's great for most environments and packed with innovative features. As far as pure carving machines go, the Loaded Vanguard is one of the best I've seen.