Pantheon Supersonic Bamboo LDP Longboard Complete - Paris Trucks/Caguama

No, we’re not going to give you some line about bamboo having some properties that make it a better longboard. Pantheon have tested so much bamboo in the past. They don’t think it’s better. They think it’s just as good as maple but that it’s more expensive.

No, the reason Pantheon did a bamboo core on this board is because they wanted to get the flex right. While a normal maple ply is 1/16 of an inch in thickness, wethey can machine their bamboo cores to within 0.5mm tolerances. This allowed them to find and hone in on what they call their “medium flex” and to bring the multiple flex options together in closer increments. So, the “heavy flex” is less stiff than an 8 ply maple core, the “light flex” is a little stiffer than a 6 ply maple core, and the “medium flex” is just about in line with our 7 ply core maple Supersonic.

Additionally, Pantheon have been listening, and wanted to offer a higher end Supersonic model that had more waterproofing elements so that the deck lasts longer. Riders of the Supersonic are putting on A LOT of miles. The new Supersonic Bamboo will support as many or more miles, but it will definitely keep your board looking stronger for longer. The glass top is more resistant than the former’s maple top, and the veneer bottom with glass right underneath satisfies their requirements of protecting the fiberglass from bumps and bruises on curbs or flicking up rocks, but provides a much longer lasting construction on the bottom ply so that the elements don’t get into that bottom layer of maple and break it down.

While the old all-maple Supersonic still has been lasting riders for thousands of miles, the elements will break down the dyed bottom veneer and cause it to look quite worn. They have not seen significant early failures, but Pantheon understand that this isn’t a great look, and it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a board where the bottom plies resist weathering. For riders truly logging tons of miles in all sorts of conditions, this is the better option.

The Pantheon Supersonic is available with 3 different truck options. The deck has been designed specifically with Bear Trucks or Paris Trucks in mind. You can certainly use whatever setup you want to your liking. Setting up outside of the recommended setups may require risers or angled risers. This will depend on your truck choice and the angles of your baseplate. You’ll want to consider your wheel choice in correspondence with your trucks to keep your setup from getting bite.

The stock setups with 50 degree fronts are your safest choice. With the 50 degree front (Paris or Bear), you should be able to run bite free up to 90mm wheels. This is as long as you have a stock cupped washer in the board-side position of your bushings. Once you start bringing down that front degree, wheelbite can start coming into play for the larger wheel option. This can be easily mitigated with risers and/or bushing and washer modifications.

We recommend 50 degree front trucks for most riders using the Supersonic LDP longboard for long distance riding and pumping. This will push the pump power toward the front of the board and make pumping more effortless.

For riders looking to max our their top speed, dropping the front angle may be considered. This can be combined with zeroing out the rear truck angle. Ultimately, between riding a 50 front or a 43/40 front for maximum pumping speed will come down to riding style. It is worth noting that a the lower degree front does feel a little more stable when pushing absolute maximum speed. Riders just looking to leisurely cover large distances will appreciate the efficiency of the higher degree front end.

For LDP riding, we expect the 8 ply to be ideal for riders over 190 lbs. The 8 ply should be good up to around 250 pounds in both mounting positions. We cannot say with 100% certainty where this deck maxes out. In the zero mount position, it can certainly handle much more weight than in the -17 rear position. Above 250 lbs, we would suggest keeping this deck in the zero degree mounting position.

The deck has been tested up to 285 lbs in the far rear mount, but whether or not that works for you will largely be dependent on your riding style.