I'm expecting to move this summer, so I'll have much shorter distances to travel each day than I do now, which not only means less milage for the car but also creates new transportational possibilities that wouldn't work right now, such as a bicycle, a scooter, walking (although it would probably still be pretty long for that), rollerblades... and/or a skateboard.

From reading, I see that "cruising" skateboards/longboards are longer and have bigger wheels than the stunt-platforms that are normally associated with "skating". But, having previously seen "skating" only as a sport I had no interest in, I've learned essentially nothing else about them. 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?...

Knowing a bit about this as an older brother to a skater, I can answer a few of those.

1. There used to be shops where you could get just about any combination of equipment you can imagine. Most of it is probably online by now.

2. Using them is a practice which breaks many bones and bruises many body parts. Must learn balance, Daniel-san.

3. Steering is accomplished by tilting the board left or right. The trucks have angled pivot joints which cause the wheels to move to a turning configuration when the skater tilts the board left or right.

4. Steering can be done either by the gentler radii acheivable with the truck's pivot,or you can pop the front wheels and turn on the rear truck's axis as you described for sharper turns.

5. Rear skid breaking is done with the board on the ground, there's no break mechanism in the trucks, the wheels are completely free moving.

6. A good board will last a few months of hard and heavy use, some can go longer, even though they won't be pretty. The rear braking move is FAR from the worst abuse the deck sees. The underside middle of a deck will see heinous abuse from power slides on rails, half-pipe edges and just about anything else a skater wants to hot dog off of. Decalling looks sweet for about a day. The top decals can last forever, since there's an adhesive (obviously transparent) grip stripping, not unlike what you see in some showers, that gives the skater additional traction on the deck. Usually its applied over the full length of the top of the deck. The decks you see in catalogues are obviously photographed without it, but when they go into service, they get covered.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

If you're going to ride a skateboard, learn to take pain. You're going to eat it a few times. Pack a first aid kit in your backpack. And if it rains, you're going to get wet.

Also, you'll get really good leg muscles. In the gym, skaters can usually match me in leg lifts (I'm a cyclist).


I think the really long ones are made for cruising.

Cool. I thought that might be the case and was sure it could mechanically be done, and thought I'd seen people steering without any wheels coming up, but the assemblies I've seen just looked so simple...

So it's sure to wipe out whatever decoration you have back there pretty quickly, followed by the rest of the entire back end, even if you're mostly a gentle straight-line rider like I would be. So why, between that and the abuse you described in your #6, are the bottom surfaces decorated at all? Nobody would even see it while it was pristine, and it wouldn't stay that way, but I keep seeing pictures of the bottoms of boards online. (I can tell because of the wheels!) And why do the boards I see pictures of not seem to have at least a plate back there of any different material from the rest of the board, specialized for the purpose?

"Heinous" sounds like a skater word.

Well, I won't be doing any of that. I'm just thinking of making what could be a long walk go a bit quicker than walking, without having to resort to using the car every time. (It depends on how close I can live to where I'll be working & studying. Too close, and I might as well not bother with wheels at all; too far, and there's no point to anything less than a bicycle.)

Ya, that's what I gathered so far from reading... that, and big wheels...

That part of the deck is also rarely ever decorated for that reason. Because it looks awesome. To be honest, I doubt there's a rational explanation as to why they decorate a part of the board 100% destined to be destroyed by hard use. I can only say that it looks good while it lasts...Because I doubt anyone's seriously worried about it. In terms of regular use, I'd say an average deck's lifespan is a year at the outside before they dump it for the latest and greatest, or simply destroy it from use. I think my brother was a bit conservative, only going through five or six of them all through his teens.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

There's various expressions of powered boards, too; this one has a 12 mile range...and does 0-19 MPH in 4 seconds

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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!).

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

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Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
- Goethe

Jump in with both feet!
- Me, indulging my inner eight-year-old

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"Are you a mad-hatter that just types what he wishes, or have you actually any physics training?"
Occam's Ghost to Grant Hutchison.

I tried skating once...

I broke my arm. Understandably I'm reluctant to get back on that horse.

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There is no dark side of the moon really, as a matter of fact it's all dark - Pink Floyd, The Dark Side Of The Moon

Heh...I remember when my brother broke both of his hands. Poor boy had to be bathed by mom for a month.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

I'm about as coordinated and agile as a zombie on cold medicine after happy-hour at the local pub. Skateboarding is not something I think would fit my skillset.

I'm considering buying a bicycle, because I live within a few blocks of where I work. It would be good excersize, and save on gas.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

"A long time ago, yet somehow in the future"

I used to ride (a bike) to work several days a week; it was great. I eventually ended up buying a set of street tires for my mountain bike - which made commuting much easier.

Make sure you get a helmet. I also recommend gloves. And a flashing light. I took a header in traffic one time and proved the helmet worked, but didn't have gloves. I was still pulling gravel out of my palms the next day.

I also recommend a camelbak - much easier to use than the old water bottle.



- re: falling on skateboards; When I was 13 my dad tried my old (skinny 70's) board while I was playing stickball with some other kids in the street. At one point, I saw my dad sitting in the middle of the street about half a block away. I called out asking what he was doing. He replied, "I broke my foot. Please ask your mother to bring the car down."

I said to my friends, 'Yah, right.' and we continued to play.

About half an hour later, I noticed my dad was still sitting in the street.

Turns out he really had broken his foot...



I've had my share of spills and visits to the ER for board-related injuries. I still think that if you're young enough to be considering buying a board - you should. They're fun.

__________________
Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
- Goethe

Jump in with both feet!
- Me, indulging my inner eight-year-old

*** *** ***

"Are you a mad-hatter that just types what he wishes, or have you actually any physics training?"
Occam's Ghost to Grant Hutchison.