
For the Love of Skating: Online Shopping Tips for Newbies
Although it may seem hard to buy your first skateboard and make the right choice, it really isn’t all that complicated. Due to the great variety of wheels, trucks, and sizes, it can be quite easy to get confused. The paradox of choice, the more options you have the harder it is to decide which one is right for you. The truth of the matter is, there are just a couple of basics you need to stick to when buying your first skateboard as an adult. Your best bet is getting something that provides stability and rolls smoothly. Just get a basic skateboard deck, trucks, bearings, wheels and you will be good to go.
Width
When browsing the market for gear skating online shopping is the smartest move. The online market offers a great array of products which means you’re bound to find the ideal board for you and all the accessories you may need to make skateboarding that much more enjoyable. So, when choosing a board, to ensure better stability and control over it – choose a wider one. A board that’s about 20 cm wide will be of great help as this way a bigger portion of your feet will be in contact with it and you will be able to get the hang of it in no time.
Wheels
As for the wheels, since you’re just starting with skateboarding, your best bet is choosing medium hard wheels. I would suggest wheels that have a hardness between 96a and 99a and if you are going to mainly cruise a hardness between 78a and 87a is ideal. Big and soft wheels will make you faster but they are harder for technical stuff, while smaller and harder wheels will accelerate faster and are the better choice for technical skateboarding.
Concave
When buying your first skateboard, you need to pay attention to the type of concave on the board which is basically the y-axis that spans across it. A more apparent concave will make it easier to make tricks but you won’t have as much stability, while a steeper concave will give you more stability but a harder time handling it. Go for a mellow concave which combines the best of both worlds.
Bearings
By now someone has probably told you that the higher the ABEC number, the better the bearing will be. Well, that is not true. If you want to have high-quality bearings, go for Swiss brands but I wouldn’t recommend doing this when you are just starting out. However, beware not to get cheap Chinese knock-offs as well since these can cost you more in the long run than high-quality Swiss bearings will. A standard off-the-shelf bearing from a legitimate online shop will do the job just fine.
Trucks
As I said, when looking for gear skating online shopping is your best bet as there you can also find detailed product descriptions that will help you make the right choice. So when choosing trucks, make sure that they fit the size of your board (deck), meaning they shouldn’t stick out or be in the inside too much. Matching a standard desk size of 20 cm will require a truck size of 149. My advice? Don’t spend too much on trucks, as you won’t feel the difference between hollow light trucks or just solid standards.
