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Most beginning skaters get a complete skateboard from a store and they are not really concerned with what the parts are that make their skateboard. They start to care when they have to repair it. They really start to care when they start becoming awesome skateboarders and realise that all those little parts actually either help you do what you want to to do or keep you from shredding the park like you want to.
This article is like a guide to what the parts actually do. You can use the info you pick up next time you rework your skateboard or want to order a custom skateboard that will do what you want it to do.
The Deck
There are lots of good deck makers. They are usually made of wood and the biggest difference is size and shape. Shape is mostly just what a you like, but size in skateboards does matter. The reasons are you want a deck that is the right length for the skateboarder and the right width for the skateboarder's feet and what they like to do.
This is a common chart used for helping people to buy the right skateboard length.
| Height of Skater | Length of Deck |
| Under 4 feet tall | 29 inches or less |
| 4 feet to 4' 10" | 29 to 30 inches long |
| 4'10" to 5'3" | 30.5 s to 31.5 inches long |
| 5'3" to 5'8" | 31.5 to 32 inches long |
| 5'8" to 6'1" | 32 to 32.5 inches long |
| Over 6'1" | 32.5 inches and up |
The width of the deck is usually between 7.5 and 8 inches. If you have big feet you want the wider deck.The other thing to think about is what kind kind skateboarder you are. A vert and transistion skater or spend a lot of time just riding around cruising you will most likely want a wider deck. If you are more into doing tricks then a narrower deck will work better for you.
Skateboard Trucks
While it seems like most people spend a lot of time talking about the pop of the different deck brands, what you can do on a skateboard really is about the trucks. The hieght, strength, and geometric design of a truck determines what you will be able to do easier or harder on your skateboard.The height of a truck varies so you really want to pay attention to that based on what you want to do. If you want to do a lot of street skating and flip tricks then you want low trucks because they are lower to the ground and give your skateboard better stability. On the other hand, if you want to air it out on halfpipes and vert walls then you will probably want high trucks so you can use bigger wheels to get more speed.The width of a truck needs to match the width of your deck. This chart gives you the match that you should use:
Bushings
Inside the trucks are the bushings that look like rubber donuts. These cushion the trucks when a skateboarder turns. The big thing about these is how soft or stiff they are. Softer bushings make for easier turns while stiffer bushings make for a more stable ride. The only reason anybody would really want to use softer bushins if if they are going to be doing a lot of carving out lines.Beginners should use stiff bushings, which will break in over time. If you are an experienced skateboarder then medium bushings should work out for you just fine.Riser
The riser works as a cushion between the trucks and the deck which helps keep the deck from cracking (really annoying). They also help keep the wheels and deck apart on hard turns, which could lead to the wheels locking up which is a really bad thing unless you like taking headers.
Skateboard Wheels
Picking out the right wheels for how your skateboard is vital because they are your ride.
When you look at wheels they have two stats that matter, diameter or how big the wheel is, and durometer, or a-scale, which measures the hardness of the wheel. Most of the skateboards that come prebuilt are going to have wheels from 52mm to 54mm and a hardness of 99a. And for most skateboarders that will work out just fine.
If most of your skating is done on halfpipes and ramps then you will want bigger wheels because you will able to go a lot faster. A lot of the ramp skaters will go bigger than 65mm although 60mm is probably just fine for most of us. You can experiment with wheels between 55mm and 65mm, or bigger if you really want to air it out. Hardness can be between 95a and 100a.
Street skating works best with smaller wheels because they are lighter so they are closer to the ground. This means the tricks are easier to do and faster. 50mm to 55mm wheels with a hardness between 97a and 101a should work fine.
Not all wheels have a hardness rating. Sometimes it is just best to ask the people who know at the parks or the skateshop.
Skateboard Bearings
Inside the wheels are the bearings which are the little metal donuts. They are rated by what is called an ABEC rating from 1 to 9 which are almost meaningless for skateboarding. That is because the rating is for the precision of a bearing for how they would work in a machine not a skateboard. An ABEC rating of 3 to 5 usually works for skateboarding because that means they are not so precise that they will break easily, but smooth enough so they are good for riding.When you need to replace bearings or want to build your own custom deck you have a lot of choices. For most of us spending a lot of money on the most expensive bearing is just going to waste money on something we don't really need and will be easy to ruin.Most bearings have 8 balls within them. Newer designs are changing the size of the balls, the material they are made out of, and even the number of the balls. Bones has a 6 ball design that can take higher stress loads. These are intended for people doing high stress load tricks like ollieing huge stairs.Seizing up is the bigger problem for bearings though. Most skateboarders replace bearings because they get dirt in them and stop spinning long before they would ever break them. Consolidated Skateboards makes a daredevil filtered bearing that is supposed to keep the dirt out.Another design is Oust Bearings. They created a patented design that is supposed to prevent the bearings from being worn out by friction by reducing the balls chances of making contact within the casing. You can find these by looking for "Powered by Oust" on the packaging label.
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