Skateboard Buying Guide

Between different skateboard types, decks vary in length, width, and profile. Generally, longer and wider decks are reserved for longboards and cruisers as they offer increased stability and increased room underfoot, making them suited to cruising, carving, and old-school skating. Standard skateboards can also vary in width and length to match rider size and terrain preferences. Wider decks offer bigger landing platforms for tricks, but are usually harder to flip than narrower decks.

Trucks sit on the underside of the deck and are what attach the wheels to the board. In general, the width of the trucks should match the width of your board. The height of trucks can vary, with low trucks being more stable for flip tricks and high trucks preferred for cruising and carving whilst also accommodating larger wheels. The angle of the hangers also makes a difference to the ride. Lower-degree hangers give more stability at high speed, and higher degrees offer tighter turns. Some trucks (such as those that come with our longboards) offer reversible hangers to provide two different angle options. 

Bearings are essentially what allow your wheels to turn, they have a big impact on how fast, or slow, your board rolls.

Bushings are the rings that fit around the kingpin (the central bolt that goes through your trucks to hold them together). They allow the board to turn and pivot smoothly and affect how responsive your trucks are. By tightening or loosening the kingpin, you can adjust how tight the bushings are and how easy the board is to turn. Bushings come in various stiffnesses, measured by a durometer, and in general, a softer bushing is more manoeuvrable, and a stiffer bushing offers a more stable and responsive ride.

Wheels vary in size and softness. Small wheels are great for tricks and smaller street riders, whereas larger wheels suit bigger riders, and importantly, they roll better on rough surfaces as well as being faster. Longboards and cruisers will come with larger wheels than standard skateboards for this reason. Softer wheels are better on rough surfaces and are usually found on longboards and cruisers. Harder wheels are faster but less effective on slick or rough surfaces.