Skateboards are relatively simple.
If you think about it, it’s basically just a piece of wood with 4 wheels on the bottom. I mean it’s really not that complicated.
With that said, there’s a lot that goes into skateboards and even the smallest change can make a huge difference in the way a board works and just your skating in general.
There are certain aspects about a skateboard that every skateboarder should know, because they can have a huge impact on the way you skate.
It seems like nowadays a lot of kids barely even know their board size, which is pretty bad, so I figured I would make a post explaining the basics that every skateboarder should know about their skateboard.
For a lot of skateboarders, it can take years before they fully understand the different measurements of a skateboard and what exactly they mean, but honestly, most of it can be explained in just a few minutes.
Skateboard Deck Size
Arguably the most important measurement you need to know about your skateboard is your board size.
Now there isn’t a specific size that’s best, and like most things in skateboarding, it really just comes down to preference.
Most skateboards are between 7.5 – 8.5 inches, with a few outliers on each end of the spectrum. Boards below 8 inches tend to have more concave to them and are typically better for people who are short and light, while boards larger than 8 inches are more suitable for larger people because they’re more durable.
This doesn’t mean you have to skate a big board if you’re tall or a small board if you’re short, but you should at least take it into consideration.
Again there’s no one size that’s better than the other, because there are pros and cons all along the spectrum. There are usually quarter-inch increments in the size of skateboard decks, so for example it tends to go from 7.5 to 7.75, to 8, to 8.25, and so on, but there are also some common sizes that are more precise like an 8.125.
Now the size of the board you skate doesn’t have to be set in stone. It can be good to try out different sizes and see what you like best, and you can always move up or down a size after a while if you want to.
Keep in mind though that it can take a while to adjust to a new size, so if you do move up or down try to only do it by a quarter or half inch.
Skateboard Wheel Size
So next up we have wheels.
The type of wheels you ride makes a much bigger difference in skateboarding than most people realize.
There are two major things you need to know about skateboard wheels: the size of the wheel and the hardness of the wheel.
Most skateboarders only care about the size of the wheel, but I promise you that hardness is equally as important.
The wheel size is the diameter of a wheel, and affects a lot of things like the height of the board and the amount of pop, how easy it is to role, and even your speed.
Wheel sizes tend to fall between 52mm and 64mm, with smaller wheels being better for technical street skating and larger wheels being better for park, transition, and just cruising around.
The hardness of the wheel is the durometer, which determines how easy it is to slide, its speed, how quickly your wheels wear down, and the impact you feel when you’re skating.
Wheel durometers are more or less measured on a scale from the low 70s to just past 100 depending on the company, with harder wheels having a higher number and softer wheels having a lower number.
Hard wheels are usually better for skating street since they slide easier and last longer, and soft wheels are typically better for skating transition since they grip better and go faster.
Now there are also wheel shapes which can be pretty important, but there are so many different styles that I’m not going to get into it.
Wheel shapes can make it easier to lock into grinds, they can affect your speed, and they can also affect your grip among other things.
Again there are just too many different wheel shapes to explain them all, but every major wheel company has a chart that explains their wheel shapes so if you want to know more about them it’s pretty easy to read up on.
It’s always good to know what kind of wheels you like to skate because deciding which skateboarding wheels are best is going to vary depending on what you like to skate.
Bearings
Along with knowing about your wheels, you should also know about your bearings.
Bearings are pretty straightforward and simple, but there are a few things you should know that a lot of skateboarders don’t.
Skateboard bearings are almost always universal, so you can use any skateboard bearing with any skateboard wheel, assuming it’s for a skateboard and not a longboard.
There are rumors out there that Bones makes their bearings slightly larger so it’s harder to fit into a spitfire wheel or vise versa, but I’ve seen people do it before and I couldn’t really tell a difference so I don’t think it’s true.
A lot of skateboarders use the ABEC rating of a bearing to decide which bearings to get, but in reality, the ABEC rating system was designed for industrial bearings so it’s not really applicable to skateboarding.
Instead, a better indication of what bearings to go with would be the material. Skateboard bearings are typically made of steel, stainless steel, or ceramic.
Do yourself a favor and skip steel bearings since they’ll rust and break easier, and either go with stainless steel bearings if you want good quality affordable bearings, or ceramics if you want something a little more high quality.
Trucks
Up next we have skateboard trucks. Skateboard trucks are probably the most confusing part of a skateboard when it comes to sizes and measurements. I’d even say that trucks aren’t just confusing, they’re needlessly complicated.
The reason why is truck companies have different standards and methods when it comes to the sizes of their trucks.
So to start things off, skateboard trucks basically come in 2 options: lows, and HIs. However, you may also see trucks that are labeled mids or even standard, but they’re essentially Hi’s as well just under a different name.
It seems simple enough, but this is where things get confusing.
The terms lows, hi’s, mids, and standard are all used differently by different companies, and there’s no set measurement to them. So one company may call their trucks mids, but they’re the same height as another company’s hi’s, and one company’s highs might not be as tall as another company’s hi’s because there’s no set standard to go off of.
To keep things simple, the main thing you need to take away from this is whether or not you skate low trucks or high trucks.
Low trucks are better for tech tricks because they have a quicker pop and a more stable center of gravity. High trucks make it easier to turn and give you more wheel clearance so you can use bigger wheels without getting wheel bit. Most people skate hi trucks, but again it really just comes down to preference.
Now the measurement of the height of trucks is already weird enough, but the measurement of the width makes even less sense.
Independent and thunder are two of the most popular skateboard truck companies, and both use millimeters to measure their trucks, but just about every other brand uses inches. To make things even more confusing, the number in the name of the trucks isn’t always the exact measurement of the hanger.
For example, 129 Independent trucks are the same size as a 5.0″ hanger truck, but they don’t measure 129mm exactly. Then you have Thunder’s 5.0″ truck which is called ‘145’ but doesn’t measure 145mm.
When it comes to figuring out the size of the truck you need, it’s going to vary depending on your board width
.Trucks that are too skinny will make it harder to turn, and Trucks that are too wide will stick out on the sides, which will not only catch your foot when you push but it will make it a lot harder to flip the board because it gives it a wider center of gravity.
The best way to tell what size trucks you need is to just size them up on your deck, and reference a chart from the company for exact measurements and recommendations.
Try not to get too hung up with skateboard trucks, but definitely try to figure out which trucks you like best because once you start to learn their sizing system it makes it much easier moving forward.
Hardware
The next thing you need to know about your skateboard is your hardware.
Okay so I’m just going to keep it brief when it comes to hardware, because honestly there just isn’t much to know.
When it comes to hardware, you should almost always use 7/8-inch screws. This allows the ring inside of the nut to lock in with the bolt so they’re less likely to come off. If you happen to use risers or shock pads then you may need to go up to 1-inch hardware or maybe even 1 1/2 inch.
Skateboard hardware is either a Phillips head, which is the bolt that looks like a plus sign, or an Allen key which is a hexagon. Most skateboards use Philips head because it’s so much more common and easy to find a tool for, and it’s also less likely to strip. Allen key hardware can still be good and it is easier to put on because of the shape of Allen wrenches, but if you’re unlucky enough to strip one it can be a pain to get out.
Skateboarding Measurements Everyone Should Know
Even though skateboards are really simple generally speaking, there are a lot of details that go into them and it’s good to understand all of the basics because it definitely makes a difference and I promise you skateboarding will be so much more fun once you figure out what works best for you.
I learned a lot of this stuff pretty late and once I started to figure out what sizes and styles of everything I preferred, it made a major difference whenever I would skate.