Guide to Purchasing Right Parts for Your Skateboard

If you are reading this chances are you have probably just started, or want to start, skateboarding. That is great and I want you to know that I have been skateboarding for around 12 years now, and I have come to have a lot of knowledge about skateboards themselves and all the accessories and clothing associated with them that I wish to share with you. This is a guide to help you out when you first start skateboarding, it is by no means a step by step process for how to be a good skater, but rather something to help you familiarize yourself with the terms maybe get your ideal board picked out. More specifically, this article will help you determine what kind of board you should purchase.

THE GOODS

Let's start at the beginning: the skateboard itself. If you don't have one yet, you obviously need to procure one from somewhere if you want to start learning the basics. But let me help you decide what parts to buy. I highly recommend either putting together our own board or buying from a retailer that will assemble it for you. Boards that are pre-built or pre completed tend to be much more money because cost of labor is included. A local skate shop will be happy to help you put it together for free, or I can recommend online skateboard retailer skatewarehouse. Now, what type of skating do you want to do? Street? Vert? Both? If you don't know yet that's ok, and I'd recommend building a setup that would benefit you in the streets, as the only real difference with vert ramp skating is that you want bigger wheels and higher trucks.

As for the board itself, I'd recommend buying a lightweight board from a respectable brand. I find feather-light boards are much easier to have complete control of, which is essential if you like doing tricks. You also want to get a board that has nice "pop", look at the concavity of the tail on the board. Obviously if you purchase from an online retailer you won't be able to personally inspect the board, so I'd recommend reading some reviews and search for keywords like pop, and make sure your board isn't too thick, as that will add to the weight.

Next we want to figure out what kind of trucks to buy. I would recommend getting trucks that are low to the ground; these sorts of trucks are appropriately called lo-rise trucks most of the time. The lower the trucks to the ground, the more pop you are going to get. We want something durable, my favorite trucks are Venture, they are a super old brand and incredibly durable, you'll most likely go through a few boards before you need another set of trucks.

Once you got your trucks picked out, we need some wheels so we can start rollin' around. If you want to do mainly street skating, I recommend wheels between the areas of 50-54mm. If you want to skate ramps, I recommend going 54mm at the minimum, ideally a little bigger is better. I'd like to give you an important piece of advice though, I am from the city and use 52mm wheels and I can say that I prefer to ride a little bigger (54mm) because all the cracks and terrible terrain just eat up wheels, so your wheels are going to decrease a mm or two in a month or so, depending on how much you skate. As far as brand goes, I really like Ricta wheels because they are on top of their research game, constantly coming out with new materials to use in their wheels.

Just as important as the wheels are the bearings. You're going to drop about $20-$30 on a nice set, but they will last you a LONG time if you take care of them. By take care of them I mean cleaning them once every week (or month if you don't skate too often). If you really want to go all out, ceramic bearings are the best bearing you can buy right now, and they are awesome. I recommend looking into brands like Bones, Zoo York, and Lucky.

Finally, we need some grip tape. I go for the cheapest one because honestly most of them are the same. If a company doesn't know how to properly manufacture grip tape that is pretty pathetic. So just make sure the grip tape is rough enough to sand your skin off with, and this way the rubber of your shoes won't be a problem.

There is one more thing you need to buy, and you will thank me later. Buy an all-in-one T tool that comes with the three different socket sizes so you can completely reassemble your board at any given time you want. Aside from this, you might also want to pick up some wax if you plan to learn some grinds. You may be wondering about risers. Risers are useless unless your wheel drags on the bottom of your board when you carve, and they essentially lessen your potential pop.

In conclusion I think this will help you get started to pick out a skateboard that will suit you. A few things I didn't cover such as board length. A lot of things are completely up to you, and there is no "right" specification, as everyone has different preferences. Get comfortable and remember you control the board, so start shredding some pools or tear up some streets.

You can check out my other beginner skateboarding articles if you are curious and want to start learning the basics.