For thrill-seekers and enthusiasts who have practiced and mastered the art of riding over the years, skateboarding is a great deal of fun. As a beginner, you should not only learn how to handle a skateboard, but you should also choose a skateboard that suits your style, requirements, and needs.
As someone who is enticed by the sport, you have probably seen skaters jump around on staircases and ride their board on a thin railing. After years of practice, the sport might seem easy, but you will have to go through many injuries and ups and downs as a beginner.
In order to get started with skateboarding, you will first have to purchase a skateboard that fits not only your style but also your requirements and purpose. There are a plethora of skateboards available on the market, allowing you to choose something that tickles your fancy.
But before you can head online and order the best-looking skateboard you can find, you will need to consider many factors like the board size, type, wheels, the kind of grip you will need, along with the power of axles and more.
If you are looking to buy a skateboard, here are some factors you need to take into consideration in order to ensure your skateboard shopping and buying experience are a breeze.
Factor 1: Determine why you are buying a skateboard and how often will you use it
As mentioned earlier, when watching other skaters pull off neat tricks, you might not only be amazed but also think you can pull off the stunts and jumps too. But in reality, becoming a professional skater is much like anything else; it takes years of practice, determination, and consistent struggling.
During their early years, even the most skilled skater would have had to pick out a suitable skateboard and practice for years on end in order to excel at the sport. Similarly, before you can narrow down your options, you need to determine why you are buying a skateboard and how often you plan to utilize it.
Below are some of the most common reasons people buy skateboards along with how often they use them to help you decide.
Riding around the town
This type of skating is all about riding around town without much thought about jumps and tricks. This is best for people who want to learn how to skate but don’t really care about the stunts and just want to cruise down the street on their board and have fun. If you want to indulge in easy-going skating, you can choose a longboard, penny board, or even a cruiser.
Learn all the jumps, tricks, and kicks
If you are interested in skateboarding, chances are you have seen some teens or adults jump, kick and flick around on their skateboard on the television. This is one of the most fun parts to learn and watch about sport. Some professional skaters are effortless with their jumps, making them seem like a breeze.
If this is the kind of skateboarding, you want to get into, buy a less flat-concave skateboard as it will aid your jumps, tricks, and rolls better than any other option.
All-around skateboarding
While the options mentioned above limit the skater to a single category, all-around skateboarding is a mix of the two, enabling skaters to cruise down the street but also dabble in tricks and jumps at a skate park. This type of skateboarding can take years to master, but if this is what you are interested in, getting a cruiser board or penny board at first might be helpful before you can get a standard skateboard.
Factor 2: Choose a pre-assembled, complete skateboard
As a beginner, you might not know this, but you can find two types of skateboards on the market─ the pre-assembled that you can start riding almost instantly, and the second that you have to assemble yourself manually.
You might think getting the latter option would be more interesting, but no matter how hard you try, you can’t replicate the sturdiness, stability, and good balance that comes with the pre-assembled skateboard. When comparing the two options, the ride quality vastly differs, and you also have to waste time and energy putting the skateboard together.
Factor 3: Choose the width that corresponds with your height and foot size
Don’t stress about the skateboard’s length just now; all you need to do is check the skateboard’s width. The size of your shoes should determine the width of your skateboard. Most users chose a board that is wider than 7.5”; however, different widths are available.
Factor 4: Avoid buying low-quality, cheap, plastic boards
Avoid purchasing inexpensive, plastic-made skateboards from grocery stores. These skateboards are too fragile to learn anything on and are challenging to handle. Even the most skilled skateboarders avoid using these boards.
Furthermore, these skateboards are made from several different types of polymers, making them cheaper and less durable. You might be intrigued by their price, but they bring no value to your learning or sporting activity. If you really want to go all out, you may also obtain advice on modifying and acquiring the best skateboard for yourself from sports shop owners and experienced skateboarders.
Factor 5: Invest in a grip tape
A grip tape is generally a plain, black-colored, textured tape that helps you ride your skateboard by producing friction. Although not all boards come with it, they are all free and easy to apply at home.
All you have to do in order to make your skateboard more grippy is peel off the tape, reveal the sticky side, and apply it to the top of your skateboard. Much like you would smooth plastic coating, you can then take a card or ruler to smooth out air bubbles and get a cleaner look.
Factor 6: Be sure to purchase safety gear
No matter how skilled and experienced you are as a skater, wearing safety equipment is always beneficial. Safety equipment protects the rider from minor cuts and bruises and protects and minimizes the damage caused by a serious traffic collision.
Everything from skateboarding helmets, wrist guards, elbow guards to knee guards and first aid kits should be part of your safety equipment.
Check out our land boards section if you want to buy the best-reviewed skateboards in 2022. At Outdoor Trends, we bring you the best-reviewed outdoor products, including the best long-range scopes to buy in 2022, best budget mountain bikes 2022, best off road all terrain electric skateboards of 2022, and much more.
