I used to skate (about 20 years ago!).
I had a
Powell-Peralta deck with the Steve Caballero design and (what were then) normal wheels - probably 64mm. My board was shaped almost identically to the Ray Rodrigez or McGill boards (in the link above). I replaced the stock bearings with some german -made super fast bearings from the local skate shop. It had a nose bone, tail bone & ribs - all of which made the board last longer whenver I ground over curbs, rails, etc. (Or just plain wiped out).
Our boards were multi-purpose: both used for transportation and for half-pipes and street-ramps / rails, etc.
Some of the new boards I see have pretty small wheels - which I think make them less useful on the street.
Anyway, it was a great way to get around during highschool and college. Trips of 3 miles or more (one-way) were not uncommon (before I got my license!).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Delvo
...Is there anything I should know from more experienced people (if BAUT has any) about how to choose a skateboard or how to find a place to get one from? And what about how they're used? How do you steer and brake? Is there any way to curve your path or do you just go in a straight line, pop the front up, pivot, and go on in a new straight line? Does leaning back and bringing the front way up slow the thing down by engaging a braking mechanism in the rear "truck", or do you need to drag the bottom of the board on the ground, and if the latter, how long does that take to ruin a board, and what about the decorations that I seem to be seeing back there in pictures?...
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There's a lot to it, but the best thing is get out there and have fun.
Oh, and you will fall. I recommend wearing an old-school pair of sneakers, rather than something like athletic shoes (running/crosstrainers).
You make sweeping turns by leaning, sharper turns by using the tail (you can also do nose-turns, but I don't recommend that your first week). You can stop the board by grinding on the tail (old school - many new boards don't have tail bones), or doing a grind-turn (kind of like when skiing) or stepping off the board. You can even propel the board by using the tail - by sort of slashing the front back and forth.
There are no brakes.
How long does it take to use up a board? How hard are you going to ride it? The rails help protect the belly of the board, and the nose & tail bones, well, you get the picture. The problem is; I don't know if its cool to use rails any more...
Thing is: if you're using primarily for transpo, get some old-school 60mm wheels. If you're going to go for tricks, the smaller wheels are the way to go.
Wiki - with some good info