Know your skateboard parts to build one or restore existing one
February 25th, 2009. Published under Sports. 1 Comment.
Familiarity regarding the different parts of a skateboard is roughly as essential as knowing how to ride. Once you are familiar with in relation to each part, you’ll be able to take better care of your board, furthermore make better decisions about purchasing parts. Besides a deck and wheels, skateboards are made up of: bearings, trucks, hardware, and grip tape.
The deck is the actual part that you would stand on. It’s made of compressed wood (some more expensive models can be made of maple, etc). The width is about 8 inches or so, with the length being between 30 and 35 inches. Size will vary depending on your preference and the types of skating you do (street or vert). There are hundreds, if not thousands of different graphical designs you can choose to adorn your deck. Top deck companies include: Element, Powell, Creature, Birdhouse, and Alien Workshop. Try choosing a design that will show off your personality and style.
The skateboard truck fastens to the underneath of the skateboard deck. Bushings, kingpins, baseplates, hangers and axles make up the trucks. You can purchase these in tons of diverse colors, as well as you have an option of titanium or aluminum. Look for skateboard trucks from Phantom Trucks, Speed Demons Trucks, Tensor Trucks, or other well known brands.
Skateboard wheels are plastic urethane and can be hard or soft. Softer wheels are chosen by vert skaters, and hard wheels are favored by street style skaters. Wheels can come in small or large sizes, depending on the style of feat you are after. Smaller wheels are excellent for extreme “feats”, and the bigger wheels are fine for beginners requiring additional stability while riding. Beginners may as well think using wheels that a bit wider than usual, to make all the more stable.
Grip tape is placed on the top of the deck to provide traction (or grip). You can buy grip tape in several different colors to match your deck and/or trucks. Try not to buy the cheapest grip tape, a few dollars more will provide you with tape that sticks to your deck without peeling up.
Skateboard hardware is simply the nuts and bolts used to secure the skateboard trucks to the deck. As with all other parts that make up a skateboard, you can choose nearly any color you want to match the rest of the parts.
Recognizing all the parts that make up a skateboard like DOGTOWN FORD ARCHBOLD COMPLETE will permit you to be familiar with accurately what to get if you have to to make repairs, or keep up with general maintenance. An added benefit of skateboard parts knowledge is the fact that you could probably build your own board! Even someone who just started skateboarding can gain from building their own board. What better way to make certain that you’re riding on quality material?