Old Guys Who Skate

OK – so the last thing I was gonna mention about my board was the wheels. 

Well, actually, the wheels and bearings.  I picked up these sweet Spitfire wheels that (I think) look pretty damned cool.  They’re 54′s and I have no idea how hard they are (I have to admit – I bought them because I thought they looked cool…).  Anyway, it’s a WHOLE new ballgame from the old Powell Peralta mush-wheels on the ole T&C.  I finished it off with some Black Panther bearings – so smooth they’re smooove.  I was gonna go for the Bones Swiss bearings – but I thought, maybe I could use a little less speed.  …maybe that was a mistake!

Overall though, I’m LOVIN the new board.  The trucks are WAY looser than I was expecting, but I’m getting used to the ride and now I’m pretty much over the initial learning curve.  All in all – it’s a sweet rig.

OK – now that I’ve finished telling you about the board, let’s move on to the riding!!

Check these trucks – they’re Thunder Trucks, and you can see them mounted on the Kitsch board and lookin good. 

I have to say, I’m certain that there are a lot of things that separate one set of trucks from another – the good from the bad and the ugly – but I’ll be damned if I know the difference now! 

SO – what did I do?  I went purely on aesthetic. 

My mellon was telling me to go with the raw steel look… but nahhh – that’s what my old Indy trucks on the T&C had – I wanted something more … well more.  And if I EVER get to the point where I’m grinding the hell out of them and the paint scratches off.. oh well – they’re not THAT expensive! 

So yeah – I went on aesthetic and was lured by the Budwieser feel of them.  “King of Trucks.”  Nice.  What I wasn’t prepared for, was the ride.  The one thing I remember back in ’83 – ’84 with my Indy trucks was this: new trucks are stiff as hell and need to be loosened up.  These Thunders came out of the box loosey-and-goosey!  I immediately had to tighten them up … and, I’m not gonna lie to ya – it didn’t seem to make all that much difference.  So my gameplan?  get used to it!  yup – gotta learn somehow!

Tomorrow – I’ll bring you up to speed with the wheels and bearings and we’ll finish up with the complete board.

… and yeah  – these pics were taken when the board was BRAND new – only… I just HAD to ride it from the store to the car

WOAH – what happened to the weekend?!?  It’s already Thursday and it seems like it was yesterday that I was in one of my local skate shops picking up a board.

I gotta say – as an older guy in that shop, it felt weird walking up to the skate desk (I’ve been there lots for snowboard gear tho).  But I have to say – the guy that helped me out… was awesome!  Totally took his time and treated me like a valued customer.  I went in with Ryan and we were both asking a bunch of questions about size of board, trucks, wheels, bearings, where to ride, how to make the learning curve easier – all that…  And this guy made it all VERY accessable to us.  Damn – shoulda got his name!  Next time…

Anyway – I’ll cut to the chase and talk about the deck – personally, I think it’s awesome!  Here’s what I ended up getting: a Kitsch.

Kitsch is a local Vancouver company and the deck came highly rated by the guy at the shop.  I went with an 8 inch deck based on two things – I’m tall and have relatively big feet, and two, the wider deck offers a little more stability. 

Now that said, I knew what specs I was looking for in a deck, and then it all came down to aesthetic and – I have to admit – I liked that they’re a local company.

Anyway – it was a kick-ass experience, and the ride is SWEET.  I’ll tell you about the trucks and wheels tomorrow!

OK - so it’s about time that I upgraded the ole T&C deck.  As you can see, it’s certainly got that… how can we call it… “80s flair”.  Yup.. neon orange, blue shadowed triangles, and no shortage of crazy stickers.

Also, note the (previously neon green) wheels.  Those babies are plush.  I mean it, they’re soft and silent and roll for ever.  The Indy trucks served me well also – they’re pretty much in mint condition. 

And that’s the other thing, considering the board is nearing 25 years old – it runs perfectly.  Everything is tight and smooth.  And you can tell the deck is near mint as well.  Well – that’s largely to do with two things.  First off, I was never all that ‘hard core’ with my riding – never did any grinds or anything like that.  BUT, even if I did, it wouldn’t have mattered.  Why?  Because the entire deck was protected with various plastic guards.  Truck guards, Schmidtt Stix rail guards, a tail guard, even rail guards that protected the tail – I mean, I really went overboard.  But, at the time, it just seemed like a cool way to protect my board (especially since they were so darned expensive). 

LOL – damn!  I even had a Garfield sticker on there!  … but I think it goes well with the Skull Skates sticker right beside it (obviously, a must have!)  … time to retire this deck methinks…

Of course – I’m currently speaking in metaphors – obviously, I’ve had my fair share of road rash in the past.  Nope – this is rash from a different road – the information superhighway! 

I gotta say I’m amazed.  I figured typing in “how to buy a skateboard” into google would be a no brainer, and I’d get hit with a kajillion links all giving me “what to look for” in a new board.  Turns out I’m wrong…

So far, all I’ve conjured up that’s of any use, is an about.com article on how to buy a board.  The simple executive summary of that guy’s tale?  “Don’t buy a cheap board”. 

er… ok… anything else?  Or is it really just a question of “I like those graphics and that color”?! 

There must be more… OH – here we go…  Now that I’ve been “adventurous” and have strayed over to the “build your own” skateboard section on about.com, I see some direction and benefit…

Decks – if you’re a bigger guy, get a bigger board.  “Standard” decks range in size from 29″ to 32.5″ long and 7.5″ to 8″ wide.  If course, they can be wider, longer, skinnier and shorter, but the skate that you’re seeing on the streets is a basic variant of those measurements above.  Ultimately, the bigger you are, the bigger board you should have.  That said, I’m guessing the size variants won’t mean all that much to a beginner like me.

Wheels - OK, now we’re cooking… looks like wheels have two basic attributes, size and hardness.  Size is measured in wheel diameter (larger wheels go quicker, and smaller wheels are lighter).  Hardness is measured in durometer (usually a number – ie, 100, 95, etc).  Just like everything else we ride, a softer wheel is a smoother ride, but a harder wheel can slide better.  A decent “middle of the road” measurement that’s good for ‘all-round’ riding is 52 – 60mm diameter, with a hardness of 95 – 100a.  Personally, I’m thinkin that somewhere in the middle of the size will be good for me, and a hardness approaching 100 will be good (as I already have the mush wheels on my T&C).

Bearings -  These guys make the speed.  Bad bearings = slow-to-no speed.  And, while I’m not a complete speed demon, I understand the benefit of good quality and not having your equipment slow you down (a lesson learned from roller-blades).  Obviously, bearings are highly technical as they get used in pretty much anything that moves.  And it looks like you could bust your nut trying to figure it all out.  But based on the recommendations I’ve seen – looks like I’m gonna get me the “Reds” from Bones.

Trucks – In technical terms, trucks are the parts that connect the wheels to the board.  Here’s what I found out:  make sure they fit the deck.  Also, you’ll want them to be able to fit the wheels (you can’t fit huge wheels on low profile trucks – think of car tires and rims, they seem pretty similar).  Again – for a beginner with no clue (ie, me!) – I’m gonna hit the “medium” height.  Also, there are bushings in a truck.  Bushings come in differing hardnesses and they are what make it easy or difficult to turn.  Hard bushings (good for beginners because they’re stable) make it tougher to turn, while softer bushings make it less stable and easy to turn.  For me, I’m leaning towards a harder bushing.  Why?  Because I want the stability, and they break in over time… plus you can adjust the feel with a wrench.

All the rest – really – there’s not too much else to worry about… just grip tape and risers.  With grip tape, you can get pretty creative – or not.  Its up to you.  There are some varying degrees of quality, but as long as its a sandy surface, you’re good to go.  As for risers, ask the skate shop to help you size them out.  They’re the little bricks of plastic in between the trucks and your deck.  They help protect the deck from the trucks and the wheels.  Outside of that, you’re pretty much good to go…

So now for me – I’m off to do some research to find a deck that looks cool!  I’ll let you know what I find!