Walking into a skate shop for the first time can be quite intimidating for a beginner and for good reason. There are an overwhelming amount of options when considering each part of your first board. Many new skaters go with whatever the shop owner recommends. For most people this will be completely fine, but knowing what you are looking for when it comes to your first board can be helpful.
Your first setup can look different depending on what you are looking to do. The main three categories of skating are transition, street, and freestyle. I will mostly touch on the first two since I have no experience with freestyle skateboarding.
The parts you need for a functional skateboard are trucks, wheels, bearings, grip tape, hardware, and a deck. There are add-ons like riser pads that can also be considered, but for beginners those aren’t too important. I will break down each of these parts and give examples for what you should look for depending on what you hope to achieve.
Trucks
Trucks are the metal T-shaped component that holds the wheels and deck together. They are arguably the most important part of a setup because they determine the stability, turning radius, and are usually the heaviest part of your skateboard. There are usually a few common brands you’ll encounter in a run of the mill skate shop, including Independent, Venture, Thunder, Ace, and Krux. There are plenty of other various brands to choose from, but these are considered the most widely known and used.
I personally would skate any of the first four brands I listed and have had solid experiences with all of them. For the last several years I have skated Ace trucks because I love the turning radius, low weight, and control they give me on rails.
It is here where I would like to give a word of highly opinionated advice. I would highly advise new skaters NOT purchase Krux as part of their first setup. This is due to the obnoxiously limited turn radius of these trucks. When I was a beginner, I got some for Christmas and used them for a while, only to realize over a year later that I was being limited by their design. My overall skills were beyond a doubt stunted by the lack of control these trucks offer.
Additionally, you may see options that offer an inverted kingpin. The kingpin will sometimes hinder or completely stop your momentum if you accidentally hit it on the surface of whatever you are trying to grind. In my experience, this design makes it much easier to grind rails and ledges, so I recommend them.
Bearings
The bearings of a skateboard sit on the axle of the trucks and give the wheels the ability to spin freely. The most offered brands are Bones and Bronsons. These two brands are reputable and will both serve you well for a first setup. If you are tight on cash, I would recommend Bones Reds. You can find these for under ten dollars online and they will get the job done. If you have a bigger budget I would go with Bronson Raws for the high quality and speed.
Grip Tape
Grip tape is essentially sandpaper that sticks on to the top of a skateboard, creating texture and friction for your shoes to stick on. It makes it much easier to stay on the board when skating transition, as well as doing flip tricks and grinds. The most notable grip tape brands are Mob, Jessup, and Grizzly.
The brand you choose is almost completely up to your preference and I suggest trying each one over time. The only differences between them are how gritty the surface is, which determines how intense the friction between the grip and your shoe is. I personally only skate mob because I do a lot of flip tricks and want as much friction as possible.
Wheels
The most self-explanatory part of the skateboard is the wheels. They allow you to go from point A to point B on your board. There are quite a few brands that manufacture wheels, including Spitfire, Bones Wheels, OJ Wheels, Ricta Wheels, Powell-Peralta, Dragon Wheels, and many more. Spitfire and Bones have always been my wheel of choice, and I recommend them both for all purposes.
There are three characteristics to look for when purchasing wheels. They include hardness, shape, and diameter. The harder the wheel, the easier it will be to roll over rough surfaces, which makes it ideal for street skating. Softer wheels provide more grip on smoother terrain which is great to have if you skate a lot of transition.
As for shape, you will see rounded edge and flattened edge. For beginners, this difference is negligible, but as you learn flip tricks you can start to notice a difference. I personally notice rounded edge wheels make it easier to do certain tricks compared to flat edge wheels. The diameter affects the weight of your board and how much you feel the surface you are rolling on. Street skaters usually prefer smaller wheels so they can more easily do flip tricks, while transition skaters like the speed and smoothness of larger wheels.
Hardware
The nuts and bolts holding the skateboard together are known as hardware. The brand doesn’t matter as all, however there are some new innovative designs that eliminate the risk of stripping. If you decide to get into skateboarding long term these may be worth looking at.
Decks
Last but certainly not least, you will need to choose what deck to ride. The term deck refers to the actual board that attaches to your trucks. The main things to look out for when buying a deck is the concave and width. Concave is the amount of curvature that is built into the shape of your board. There is a very noticeable difference between flatter and decks with more concave, so I suggest you stand on a few options to see what feels best. The width of your board will depend on how big your feet is. Again, I recommend that you try out different deck sizes by standing on them to see what’s comfortable. Most people prefer a size 8-8.5. Santa Cruz, Toy Machine, Powell-Peralta, Creature, Polar Skate Co., Real Skateboards, Anti Hero, and Primitive are all solid options. Many board companies are produced by the same manufacturer so some will be very similar in shape.
I personally have a hard time skating decks that are flat in shape. I remember when I first was learning flip tricks that I couldn’t get the proper flick for my kickflips and heelflips. Then, I switched from a Baker mellow concave deck to a Real skateboards deck, which had way more concave, and I picked up both flip tricks soon after. This is not to say your gear will make you a better skater, but sometimes finding what you are comfortable with can help you reach your goals faster.
All in all, there are many things to consider when picking the parts for your first deck. I hope my suggestions help you in picking out a setup that is right for you. Many choices come down to preference, and you will learn what you like the longer you skate. I implore you to support your local skate shop (Cecils Skate Shop if you’re in Nashville) instead of large online retailers like Zumiez.
