What size of skateboard do I need? [Complete Guide]
If you’re a beginner and searching for what size of skateboard do I Need, you’ve landed in the right place.
In this article, I will guide you with everything that matters while picking your first skateboard.
You should always keep in mind these features of a skateboard, includes deck size, the shape of the board, truck size, wheel size, hardness, and bearing. It will decide the perfect skateboard for you.
You’ll arm yourself with all these features after reading this article and all set to pick the best skateboard according to your need size.
What size of skateboard do I need
Nowadays, various types of skateboards are available in the market because of increasing demand. Each board comes with different specifications and uses, like a shortboard, longboard, cruiser board, etc. For more information on this, check out our article, different types of skateboard.
After choosing the most suitable skateboard according to need, you necessitate checking the skateboard size to make it perfect for you.
let’s dig into it.
Skateboard Deck Size Chart
The most important part of the skateboard is a deck, where you stand and ride the board.
If you fail to choose the deck’s size according to your need, it will be hard for you to ride it; either you talk about balance or doing tricks. So let me explain to you in-depth, which size deck is fittest for you.
To measure the deck, you need to consider the below-given points.
Width
Deck width is available in a range of 6–10 inches, so we divided it into Micro, mini, medium, and full.
Micro: Comes with 6.5 to 7.5 inches width and for shoe size 0 to 3. Best for under six year old beginners with height less than three feet and five inches.
Mini: It comes with 7 inches width and for shoe size 4 to 6, and best for 6 to 8 year old kids with height three to four feet.
Medium: It comes with 7.3 inches width and for shoe size 7 to 8, and best for 9 to 12 year olds with height four to five feet.
Full: It comes with 7.5 inches width and for shoe size nine or more. Best for adults with a height of more than five feet and three inches.
While measuring, always give more preference to width over length, and select the deck according to your height and shoe size as shown in the above table.
Length:
The distance from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail is called skateboard length. The deck’s average length is 28 to 33 inches, and for longboards, it goes up to 44 inches.
Width and Wheelbase size is most important to look for either the length of the deck. Length is only considered when you plan for longboarding; otherwise, it is not essential.
Wheelbase:
The distance between the board’s inner mounting holes is called wheelbase, and It means the gap between the front and back wheels.
It ranges from 13 to 16 inches. Only your experience can show the right wheelbase for you; otherwise, it will affect turning radius and stability, but it can be neglect for a beginner to consider while choosing the best skateboard according to size.
Tail and nose:
The tail is the back and nose is the front part of a skateboard, and it together is measured from the centre of outermost mounting holes.
In most of the decks, you get graphics that show tail and nose. The nose is somewhat longer and wider than the tail, while the tail has a sharp angle.
The wider nose helps to perform better flips, and it gets easy to prefer the direction you wish to go.
Skateboard Truck Size
Trucks are the T-shaped metal that connects wheels to the deck and allows for pivoting and turning on the skateboard axle.
Trucks have different size width according to various riding styles and needs. But before sorting out the truck, you should know the size of your skateboard deck.
The Skateboard truck axle must be suitable with deck width, to get better performance. For that, you can prefer the below-given table.
Skateboard Wheels Size
Skateboard wheels are available in different sizes and shapes. It also varies in diameter, which measures in millimetres, and hardness calculated on a durometer scale.
It depends on you which type of skateboard ride you prefer, and both factors will make a massive change in your riding performance.
Skateboard Wheel Diameter
The Skateboard wheel diameter is measured in millimeters and printed on the wheel’s outer surface.
For a different style of skateboard, several wheel sizes are used. Most wheels range from 50 to 75mm.
50 to 54mm smaller wheels are slower and prone to getting caught on rocks and cracks, but they are lightweight and easy for tricks, though technical skaters and street riders use it.
For park and street roads, 54 to 60mm wheel size is utilized.
60mm+ diameter wheels are used on cruisers or longboards because it is faster and bypass cracks, further it is heavyweight also. old school boards, downhill and dirt boards.
For a beginner, we recommend starting with 52–56mm wheel size.
Skateboard Wheel Hardness
To maintain the overall performance, you have to focus on a wheel’s hardness, which is measured by a scale called a durometer.
This scale is ranging from 1A-100A, while the 100A will be the hardest one.
There are two main types of wheels:
Softer Wheels: Wheels Less than 90A known as softer wheels. It is best for rough areas, rolling over pebbles and cracks But not suitable for technical or street skateboarding because the grip and softness of wheels degrade to do tricks.
It is utilized for easy cruising and by those who want a stable and smoother ride like filmers.
Harder Wheels: Wheels Between 95A to 100A are known as harder wheels. It is best for technical or street skateboarding. They ride faster due to less friction.
It works best in almost all regular skateboarding areas like street, park, or vert. In some cases, hardness is measured in Durometer B. This scale is used on extremely harder wheels, as you can see in the below table.
Skateboard Bearing Size
Bearing is one of the most important factors to consider while selecting a skateboard size. It will fit inside the skateboard wheels and increase the speed by decreasing the friction.
You can test it by spinning the wheels and seeing how long it rotates. If it keeps turning for a long time, it means the bearings are suitable to go.
To choose the bearing is easy because all are manufactured in the same size, which fit in any wheel.
You need to consider speed, build quality, and ABEC (Annular bearing engineer committee) rating factor between the scale of 1 to 9.
A higher rating indicated the bearings are very precious but also weaker. So the most recommended bearing is between 3 to 5 ratings, which is strong and long-lasting.
If you’re a beginner then before you start learning skateboard I would suggest you look at skateboarding tips and tricks for beginners.
Conclusion
Nowadays, different skateboard sizes are available in the market, which is good for different riding, but quite tricky for a beginner to choose.
But after reading this article I am sure you have no query like what size of skateboard do I need, and you are ready to select the best skateboard that suits your need.
Still, have any questions? Feel free to ask me in the comment box.
Originally published at https://skateboardidea.com/what-size-of-skateboard-do-i-need on October 21, 2020.
