I used to ride smaller shorter boards and although they felt fine, more recently I have been loving the 8.38s because it has the 14.5 wheelbase and slightly longer 32.25 board, but I don't find it to be any less in the width really compared to 8.5 as well as being very easily available (before covid) and being taller I find the longer boards just work better.
In saying that too, I ride a lot of DLX wood, and have had and seen a lot of the 8.5 boards which always used to be 14.38 wheelbase and 32.25 long (same length) so still good, but when I had a blue eagle, the shorter 8.5 x 31.85 with 14.25 wb version, it just didn't work for me as it felt too short.
Most of the boards mentioned are from BBS woodshop so they are the same specs, but I know from talking to a lot of others over the years, they say if boards kept going up in width, wheelbase and length, many would be out of proportion.
The sizing up of this is the Antihero eagle series, which I think works well in going up through cream 8.6, white 8.75 and the orange eagle, at 9 x 33+ with 15 wheelbase, it is perfect for the big dudes who want big boards, but most others who try it think it is way too long.
Also there seem to be many skaters who want shorter wheelbases on wider boards (especially on here), so there is increasing interest in these wider but stubby boards coming out nowdays.
I have found another BBS wood board at 8.5 x 32.7 with 14.5 wheelbase which is excellent, but I am not so keen on the company and usually sand off the graphics before riding them.
Sizes and shapes have been fairly constant for a long time, but many companies choose to run with only a few of a great many existing sizes and shapes for certain runs of boards, even more so now with covid.
Topic: Why are 8.38's longer than 8.5's? (Read 4749 times)