Before talking about buying a skateboard, I am going to explain to you what a skateboard is made of. Because a skateboard is made out of a couple of different parts and it is important that you know what those are:

-Deck:

This is the wooden part of a skateboard, the plank you stand on. There are a couple ofdifferent kinds of decks:

Street deck: This is the deck skaters use when they want to do tricks on the street, like kickflips, boardslides etc. This is what a street deck looks like:

Longboard deck: A longboard deck is used by longboarders (no shit sherlock). They are much larger than a street deck and don’t have as much as a defined nose and tail because you aren’t gonna do tricks on a longboard deck. It’s way too heavy for that. Longboard decks are generally used to cruise around or to go downhill very fast. This is what a longboard deck looks like:

Then there are old-school decks or cruiser decks: These look like a mixup between a skateboard and a longboard. They are usually fish-shaped and mainly used by nostalgic hipsters.

-Trucks:

These are the metal things that you put under your deck with screws and attach wheels to. Trucks have a steering mechanism to make you steer when you lean to a side. This is what a truck looks like:

-Griptape:

Griptape is sandpaper-like tape that you put on top of your deck in order to have grip, making tricks easier. This is what a typical sheet of griptape looks like before you attach it to your deck. Don’t worry, you are going to cut the skateboard shape out of it!

-Wheels:

There are a lot of different wheel types, with the two main categories being skateboard and longboard wheels. Skateboard wheels are typically much smaller and harder than longboard wheels. An average skateboard wheel is around 53mm.

There is also a special hardness durometer for skateboard wheels. This durometer goes from 0A to 100A. Usually, skateboard wheels have a hardness of 99A-100A (anything above 100A is a marketing trick) and longboard wheels range from around 70A to 85A.

Now that you know the most important skateboard parts, lets get going with the types of (street) skateboards you can buy:

There are 3 different kinds of skateboards:

1. Shit boards:

These are the kind of boards you find in shops like Walmart. Any board under $50 is likely a shitboard. If you’ve ever owned a skateboard, chances are that it was a shitboard and you stopped skating because “it is too hard”. YEAH OF COURSE IT IS TOO HARD WHEN YOUR BOARD IS A SHITBOARD! Shitboards have very cheap bearings, making them unable to roll, you need to constantly push in order to maintain speed. Also shitboards have bad trucks making it hard to steer and balance on your board. You fall off much quicker with a shitboard! And the quality of the wood is absolutely terrible! A 5-year-old could break it! Buying a shitboard will discourage you from skateboarding and I HEAVILY recommend you to NEVER buy a shitboard unless you just want to mess around.

2. Complete boards:

These boards are of much higher quality than a shitboard. For a beginner, you really can’t go wrong with a good complete. Complete boards typically cost $80 to $120 and are made by a well-known skateboard brand.

3. Setups

The difference between a complete board and a setup is that a complete board is ready to skate once you buy it. When you buy a setup you usually buy all skateboard parts from different manufacturers and assemble it yourself. This is not only a great way to personalise your board, a skateboard setup is also of higher quality than a complete. For example the brand Zero is a deck brand that specialises in building decks. A complete from Zero will have lower quality trucks, wheels etc. (still MUCH higher than a shitboard) than a setup where you buy parts from specialised companies.

When buying a complete, the brand really doesn’t matter that much, just make sure the brand you buy from has a good reputation. For a list of the biggest skateboarding brands and what they produce check this link: Brand List

The only thing you need to take into consideration when buying a complete is the deck size. The other parts’ types and size are usually pretty standard and you should be fine with those as a beginner. You can always switch them out later. There will be a guide on picking a deck sizes under the following “making a setup” guide.

Making a setup for beginners

When building your first setup, there are a bunch of parts you need to buy. Here’s the list:

Deck

Trucks

Wheels

Bearings

Hardware

Griptape

Skate tool (optional)

Bushings (optional)

Riser pads (optional)

Deck:

When picking a deck, the most important thing you need to look for is the deck size. Deck sizes can vary from 7.5″ to 9″ and all sizes fit different kinds of skateboarding. Street skateboarders usually ride decks in the 7.75″ – 8.25″ range. As long as the size is in the street range, the size of your deck will not affect the performance of everyone equally because everyone has a slightly different way of doing tricks. If you want to be a street skateboarder, I recommend you to start out with an 8″ deck. This is the middle size and you can notice for yourself if you want to go bigger or smaller on your next deck. Generally speaking, a smaller board will flip slightly faster than a wider board when doing something like a kickflip. But that doesn’t mean kickflips are easier on a smaller board, because it is harder to balance on one.

If you want to skate vert I recommend you to get a larger deck. Vert skaters don’t need their board to flip around very fast so the need for

Blank decks vs branded decks

Other than branded decks, there are also blank decks out there. These decks have no graphic image on it (just wood), and they are much cheaper than a branded deck. These aren’t nessecarily shit decks because they often come from the same manufacturer as a branded deck. A blank deck will cost you between $15 and $30 while a branded deck usually costs around $60. When buying a blank deck you should take into consideration that you are not supporting the skateboarding industry as much. Most big skateboarding brands try to make skateboarding more popular using the profit they make from selling decks.