November 27th, 2008 Posted in Blogroll | Comments Off
When most people think of skateboarding equipment, the first thing they think of is a skateboard. Well, some people might think of skateboard pads, but mostly I think it is a skateboard people think of. To be exact, what people think of is complete skateboards.
complete skateboards consist of 3 main parts. The skateboard deck, the trucks, and the wheels. I think everybody knows that the skateboard deck is the part that you stand on. The truck is the medal part your wheels hook on to. Its important to get the type that best fits your style of skateboarding. The last part of a complete skateboard is the wheels. I am pretty sure everybody knows what the wheels are. You can pick different types of decks, trucks, and wheels depending on what type of skating you will be doing.
After cool graphics, the main dimension of a skateboard deck is its width. You have to make sure your skateboard looks cool. If you like to skate in half pipes or pools or at a skate park your deck should be about 8.25″ to about 8.5″ wide. The wider the deck the more stable it is. For technical and street riding you would need about a 7.5″ to 8″wide decks. This well help you do flip tricks, grinds, and other stuff like that a bit easier.
The next part of a complete skateboard is the trucks which come in three different heights. Low, medium, and high. Low trucks give you more stability and quicker flip tricks. They also go well with smaller wheels. Higher trucks allow you to use bigger wheels for a little bit more speed, you can roll a little farther to, and more bigger wheels make it easier to go over rougher roads. Medium trucks are between low trucks and high trucks. Most skaters choose low trucks for street skating. You can also specialize the bushings that are between the deck and the trucks. Soft rubber bushings are better for sharper turns while harder rubber is more stable and harder to turn. Most skaters just use a medium hardness.
The last part of the skateboard you need to select is the wheels. As with all parts of your skateboard, appearance is a big factor. You need to make sure your wheels look good with the rest of the skateboard. The other 2 factors are the hardness of the wheel and the diameter of the wheel. Larger wheels allow you to go faster. If you are doing a lot of skateboarding on ramps, you will want a larger wheel to get more speed so you can get more air. If you are going to be doing more tricks on the ground, you will probably want smaller wheels because they will be lighter and allow you to flip your skateboard easier. If you are going to do a lot of all terrain type skating, you may want to choose a softer wheel to give you a smoother ride. As with all of the elements of a complete skateboard, many skaters will be well served by getting a medium sized wheel of average hardness.
Usually you don’t need to individually select the components of a complete skateboard because you can just buy boards already put together with middle of the road equipment and be off and skating without ever having to choose the components. This is recommended for new skaters. After you start skating you can go out and replace components to fit the style of skating you do the most of. Once you are advanced and building your dream board, you will know exactly what you want and it won’t be hard to pick out all the components.
When you are ready to buy your extreme sports gear check out one of many resources on the internet like www.SkateboardPlanet.net where you can save a bunch of money on big name complete skateboards and other equipment.
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