Talk:Skateboard

Deck materials

While "typically made of wood" might have been true of skateboards at some point, I don't think it's been true since the 1980s. Almost all the ones I see are composites. --Lee Daniel Crocker

Virtually every modern skateboard deck manufactured today is 7 plies of Canadian Hard Rock Maple. the only "major" (which is a bit of a stretch) company to use composites is the snowboard manufacturer Lib Technologies. They manufacture fiberglass-enhanced skate decks. Other companies have experimented with composite technologies, but none have proven viable.

I think Lee Daniel Crocker is referring to plywood, which is a composite of wood ply and epoxy glue (although a very common one). Tp 05:30, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

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What's an "Ollie"? --the Epopt The foundation of all skateboarding tricks -- hard to describe in words, but basically the skater makes his board jump up into the air while he's riding it, up to several feet in the case of a particularly good skater.Like Kason Clary.

Ollie: while riding forward, the rear foot presses firmly, sharply, suddenly, on the tail of the board, at the same time the rider 'unweights' the front leg, and in quick succession afterwards, unweights the rear as he pushes forward with the forward foot, all of which has the effect of causing the board board to first rotate upwards, front foremost, then rotate into a position roughly parallel with the riding surface. (this is what you are usually seeing if you see a skateboarder jump over a low obstacle on the rider's path)(I'm not a skater, I'm a juggler, but this is what it looks like to me when viewed in slow motion.)

Same/similar trick can be done riding backwards too. In combination with other 'moves' this is a core skateboarding skill on which higher order skills are based. nice article, guys, seems to becoming along, putting it on my watchlist.Pedant 21:40, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

The key to the ollie (aside from timing of course) is dragging the front foot up the deck, lifting the deck higher and leveling it out. The basic timing is pop - jump/drag front foot - level it out - land.

How about approximate year ranges in the history? –Floorsheim 07:54, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)

seriously... this article needs {{attention}} or something... --Smooth Henry 03:59, Feb 9, 2005 (UTC)

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The extrenal links were worthless. Tp 06:39, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

This is a great explaination of a skateboard! yippeeeeeeeeeeee! jack

Hey all a ollie does is help you if your think that is a trick u must be trippin because it just helps you link other moves

Needs to catalogue more information

We need to catalogue more things about skateboards. Like tricks, skateboard culture, professional skateboarders, etc. Theres far more to skateboarding than it's components. A lot more to it.

In short, I think that Skateboarding should be merged into the Skateboard article.

Some edits

I've cleaned this page up a little and made it easier to understand. The two most significant changes are:

"The wheels, usually made of polyurethane, come in nine different sizes" to "The wheels, usually made of polyurethane, come in many different sizes to suit different types of skating"

And

"Inside each wheel are eight(2 for each wheel) precision ball bearings" to "Inside each wheel are two precision ball bearings of the type '608' (8mm internal bore)". Steve-g 16:36, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I've removed the suffix 'bone' from some of the obsolete plastics titles as this is the brand name for Powell plastics - lots of other companies made plastics Steve-g 19:05, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

I added some categories from skateboarding to skateboard, since they are very closely related.Fine Arts 17:54, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Cultural impact

Some history of the skateboard should be included here, especially the late-1970s skateboarding fad, and the association with skate punks in the 1980s. As I've never been on a skateboard without immediately falling on my behind, I leave it to someone else to write this...  ProhibitOnions  ^(T) 19:40, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

A lot of history is included on the skateboarding page. I think this is the correct place for it as skateboarding is an 'act' and therefore a social phenomenon with a history, the skateboard is an 'object' whose history exists only as a social phenomenon. Steve-g 19:56, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Of course the history of an object is important! If you look up light bulb, shouldn't the article at least mention Edison? This article needs history and development data...Duh

Board types

I think they need to be added in. EG ramp, street, long, slide, pool... Any comments? 782 Naumova 22:12, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Good idea. Alongside 'regular' decks, we could include square tailed pool/ramp decks, slalom, drop-centre downhill speed decks, and longboards. I can't think of any others off hand, but a new section on 'specialized decks' would be good. Steve-g 08:10, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

I am 75yo and when I was 8yo I took one of my mothers dancing skates and removed it from the boot. I put some wood on it and used to sit on it and roll down the hill (bitumen). Dancing skates have stearable wheels like the modern skateboard. This was in England during the war. A box on wheels was known as a Billy Cart. williamvi —Preceding unsigned comment added by Williamvi (talk • contribs) 12:09, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

"Obsolete" Parts

I don't think "Obsolete" is the correct header for that section. Any ideas on how it should be renamed? Dubkiller 06:59, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

How about 'optional components'? Steve-g 11:57, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Sounds good, I'll change it. --Dubkiller 07:01, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Trucks

How come there is no section for the trucks? I was looking for the threading specs and when i found them (Hex Die 5/16-24 for the axle) I thought I should put it here but there is no trucks-section and I wanted to check if this was a consious decision since it's such an obvious part? Am I missing something. And please confirm that the threading is right and I would appreciate if someone knew if this varies between trucks. Also the kingpin threading might be useful to know. Reference for the threading (http://www.skateboard-city.com/messageboard/archive/index.php/t-4369.html) --Mnsc 12:29, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Trucks section is back. Thanks for spotting that. I think it got deleted when some vandalism was reverted. As for threads, 5/15x24tpi is correct for most. I'm not sure about some high-end slalom trucks that have 8mm axles and I'm sure some '70s trucks had different threads as things weren't standardised then. Steve-g 14:50, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Is 5/15x24 a typo from your side? Do you know what threading the kingpin have? I would like to see the wikipedia entry to have some of this more technical information since it isn't all that interesting to the common skateboarder and hence never included in glossaries on skateboarding pages. --Mnsc 18:24, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Oops, my typo, sorry. That should be 5/16 of course! The kingpin is 3/8 x 24tpi. I can't remember about mounting hardware. Yes, we could have some technical info here, including the above stuff and maybe a little on sizes of bearings, axle diameters, etc. If you want, we could collect all the info here and then edit it in once we're sure it's all correct. Steve-g 11:19, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Tried to put together a small table of my current understanding. I'm learning things as I go (eg. difference between unc/unf) and of course there seem to be many exceptions to any rule there is. Longboarding seems to be the techgeeky division of skateboarding (I've only had a longboard since last year) with massive tweaking of trucks and hardware. For street skateboards, the only thing I see varies is the kingpin head which can be many kinds of strange proprietary designs. Feel free to edit table below. Sources listed beneath the table is just the sites i Googled this past half hour.--Mnsc 17:15, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Common bolt specs
part	dim.	threading	uts
kingpin	3/8	24tpi	unf
axle	5/16	24tpi	unf
hardware	#10?	24tpi?	unc

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Thread_Standard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_metric_screw_thread http://www.zytrax.com/tech/mech/threads.htm

DO NOT use #10-24 TPI bolts on foamcore decks to mount the trucks. Use #10-32 TPI hardware instead, as the finer threading will be far less abrasive to the fiberglass(M-5 hardware is o.k.,too,but is a bit larger in diameter than US #10 bolts).

from: http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2462&sid=84ff6bcf948b85e03f04f7e42d64e01a

As was previously mentioned, the threading is 3/8-24 tpi, aka "unf." A 2.5" length will work, but 2.75" gives more room for taller top bushings, thicker (flat) washers, etc.

http://www.ncdsa.com/2/13365/13389/Skateboard-Truck-Reviews.htm

Banana board

Seems to me an article as short as Banana board might be better suited to be a part of the Skateboard article, perhaps under some kind of general history section? --Lijnema 15:14, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I think Banana board might go well in the 1970s section in the skateboarding page. Steve-g 16:41, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

It'd be great if someone could move the banana board info into either Skateboard or Skateboarding (or both). I don't know which would be better, and I'm sure someone who perhaps actually knows things about skateboards would be better suited than myself to make the decision. --Lijnema 00:43, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

If it was up to me, I'd put a line in the history part of skateboarding. But I'm not sure of the policy for merging articles, so it'll have to be someone else who does it. Steve-g 09:12, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

I am a 57 year old Skate boarder from Southern California who invented it. I also have the first professionally made skateboard in existence made by “The Old Man” a professional surf board maker for a measly $5.00 back in the 50’s. What do you got? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MichaelSavage (talk • contribs).

Wheels rework in progress

The wheels section is mostly made up of generalisations and biased info ("Modern street skaters prefer", "ollies easier"). I will keep my rework here so that others might add, protest and comment. My plan is to merge the four last sections in the first three and make them paragraphs, not a list. Something along the lines of: "the hardness of the wheels affects the riding behavior, top speed, grip yadayada...", "Larger wheels = slower rotation which allows for higher top speeds etc.", "Choice of wheels depends on something..." --Mnsc 19:45, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

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The wheels, usually made of polyurethane, come in many different sizes and shapes to suit different types of skating. Larger sizes like 65-90 mm roll faster, and also move more easily over small cracks in pavement, these are used by longboards . Smaller sizes like 48-54 mm keep the board closer to the ground and require less force to accelerate but also make for a slower top speed and a lower center of gravity.

The skateboards of 1970s (old school) are usually made of urethane which is a product of oil. One of the leading wheels near the 70s are commonly mistaken for Polyurethane formed wheels. The skateboarders from the 2004 movie Lords of Dogtown used these urethane skateboard wheels. These wheels were invented right after ball bearing skateboard wheels were invented.

Wheels also are available in a variety of hardnesses usually measured on the durometer 'A' scale. Wheels range from the very soft (about 75a) to the very hard (about 99a). As the scale stops at 100a, any wheels labelled 101a or higher are harder, but do not use the appropriate durometer scale. Some wheel manufacturers now use the 'B' or 'D' scale, which has a larger and more accurate range of hardnesses.

• Modern street skaters prefer smaller wheels (usually 48-55mm), as small wheels make tricks like kickflips and ollies easier. Street wheels also need to be quite hard, as small soft wheels absorb too much energy to even roll along.

• Vert skating requires larger wheels (usually 55-65mm) as vert skating involves high speeds that smaller wheels are unable to sustain. Vert wheels are usually very hard, so they can roll faster. As they are only used on ramps and parks that are smooth they never need be soft.

• Slalom skating requires even larger wheels (60-75mm) to sustain the highest speeds possible. They also need to be soft and grippy to make the tight and frequent turns in slalom racing.

• Even larger wheels are used in longboarding and downhill skateboarding. Sizes range from 65mm right up to 100mm. These extreme sizes of wheels almost always have cores of hard plastic that can be made thinner and lighter than a solid urethane wheel.

Lappers vs. Copers?

I guess this is som old school "extras" and to me it seem to be the same thing? Anyone got pictures? A story? Regional names? Google gave nothing. --Mnsc 19:51, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Copers fit over your trucks and allow for easier grinds. A lapper is a device that fits in front of your back truck and covers the kingpin, it helps to re-enter pools/ramps as the kingpin doesn't hang up. Both were invented by Tracker Trucks around 1978. Steve-g 07:13, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, a picture says more... and some further investigation gave some image results. Lappers and Copers. And now I see that they are not the same thing. =) --Mnsc 08:54, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Optional Components

I think it's important to tell that the optional components are pretty much useless. Not that Nose guards and Rail Guards help but honestly skaters really don't need them. First of, lappers do help with smooth tranistion but they still can get hang ups and besides ollies today are important to get up obstacles so lappers are not needed. Nose, rail and tail guards are not needed either. Let the board breathe. I mean if a board gets scratched, a board gets scratched, thats the way of skateboards. Trust mre if you show up with a trashed up board, that shows how hard you skate. But this is one component that I think is still cool. Riser pads also are not needed. They do prevent wheelbite (when the board jams into the wheel, stopping it) but you can get higher and/or tighter trucks and plus we have smaller wheels now so riser pads, good-bye. As for copers well the grind is for the grinding sound so the trucks need to scuff.

Useless to you, they were useful to someone at some point, perhaps even today. Sounds like you are trying to inject your own preferences instead of allowing for the fact that skateboards do have optional components, hence the word "optional", which is pretty self explanatory. Dubkiller 09:00, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree that 'optional' is best. I use small risers on my board and most slalom skaters use angled risers to change the steer on their trucks. I also know guys who insist on skaters using copers if they want to skate in their private pools to protect the coping. Steve-g 08:22, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

very few people(ive never seen anyone) use lappers or copers anymore. the way its written in the article makes it sound like its a major part of a board. but you cant even find those parts in most skate shops.

Griptape

This is an imp[ortant componenet to the board. The griptape is the rough black (commonly black but can be colored) sand paper material on the top of the board. This material will help grip the shoes when in the air so the board does not float out. It can be smooth or rough and most skaters have preference when this is the one skate part that does not affect preforming for the worst. Some skaters cut or draw patterns on their griptape for fun or to know when the nose and tail are. Griptape can get ruined by mud, water or rubbing it roughly but it can be taken off with a hair dyer by knicking a corner and blowing underneath to dry the sticky side.

Difficult to define skateboard

I've been thinking about this page lately, and it's a tough one to tackle. Most of the descriptions of a skateboard and its parts in the article are pretty much for one style of skateboard, but the actual fact is that there are so many different kinds that are just as legitimate, even though they might not be as popular. I don't think I'm up to the task of cataloging everything that can be considered a skateboard or skateboard part, but I have expanded the article to make a note that there is no definitive or "regulation" skateboard. Dubkiller 11:18, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Just put a note saying the article deals with the most common type of board. Skateboarding Angel (talk) 12:44, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Page Needs Protection?

I suggest this page be afforded some degree of protection (edit locking), as it has recently been used as a slate for petty arguments by anonymous ISP-only editors. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AnarchMonarch (talk • contribs) 02:20, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Any vandalism gets reverted pretty quick. No need for protection yet. Skateboarding Angel (talk) 12:46, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Vandalism

I just reverted this page from BLANK. Think about requesting temp semi-protection Matthew Glennon (talk) 21:27, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

djfk

Wheels

Just a note, skaters also use larger sized wheels when "streetskating" as it allows for easier control of the board when on a road that has a lot of rocks. Smaller wheels give in for more "hang-ups" on the rocks.

Skate4Life

"The modern skateboard originated in California in the late 1970s"

So, what changed? What is the difference between the modern skateboard and the skateboard of the mid-70's? Did the skateboard craze of the 70's use the old skateboard or the new skateboard? My guess would be that you are talking about the change in deck design from a soft deck (mid 70's) back to a hard deck (60's and 80's), but I wasn't in California at the time, so maybe you are talking about truck design or wheel material? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.214.18.240 (talk) 20:33, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Steerable wheels, Soft decks

Nothing in here about steerable wheels. On a skateboard, when you lean, the wheels change direction. It's a defining feature of a skateboard. I'd be interested in the history of that. I've seen a suggestion that dance skates had this feature, so maybe that's where it came from?

In the mid-late 70's good skateboarders used very soft, flexible decks, made of fiberglass, that would flex perhaps 1/2 inch or a centimetre when you stood on them. (More if you were too heavy for the board). This would have had two effects: (1) you could get some bounce off the deck. I don't remember it being used for that, but there wasn't the big layer of sponge between the deck and the truck now used to get bounce. (2) You could steer the board by bending it. I you leant into the side-centre, the trucks would track in a curve.

I can't remember for sure what kinds of trucks where used with those soft boards. Was the board-bend-steering used because steerable trucks were not used? I think that I remember from the look that they were also using steerable trucks, but probably not as soft or as wide.

Those soft-deck boards were too soft and not tough enough to do modern tricks: they would have dragged and would have broken up quickly on big drops. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.214.18.240 (talk) 20:50, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

See the section on "trucks". That describes what you are calling "steerable wheels" and explains how they work. The plastic (and fiberglass) decks that you are referring to are likely the racing decks. Before the plethora of street tricks, many people raced skateboards similar to ski races with pylons that you had to slalom through. -- kainaw™ 04:36, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Incorrect Information

Moved from top of page -- kainaw™ 15:02, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Ok, I've been riding skateboards since the late 1970's and ther is A LOT of misinformation in this article, in multiple areas. The "soft" boards are actually slalom boards, which are fiberglass and wood(look up G&S Fiberflex), the entire histpory in a bit wonky at best, and the whole thing seems to written by kids who have no concept of where the sport came from. For instance, Ollie Gelfand invented the ollie(hmmm imagine that) Rodney Mullin took it to the street(I remeber the first time I saw him do one in person, I was awe). I think I'll dig out some older books, and magazines, and do a bit of editting on this myself. There is so much missing, out of context, and just plain wrong, that it might be better to scrap the entire thing and start from scratch. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.20.49.65 (talk • contribs)

misinformation

Recently in Sydney there was a radio competition hosted by Merrick, Dools & Ricki-Lee that encouraged people to add false information to this article regarding the person who invented the skateboard. The claim was made by some bloke who happened to improvise his own skate board back in 1959 using wheels from roller skates and an old bit of timber. Although this might be true he is not the actual person who invented the skateboard and the information should be construed as misinformation and reverted. ***Adam*** 22:09, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

I am surprised that there is nothing regarding the origins of the skateboard. I know that in the early '50s, here in Scotland, adjustable roller skates were fitted with a bit of wood and sometimes even a hardback book. The latter especially were usually crouched on but the more game would stand on the wooden lash-up.

This does not mean that the origins were in Scotland but that such devices had probably been used by the inventive (TV and computer deprived) children of the fifties and probably earlier for years - before an entrepeneur decided to teach grannies how to suck eggs and make a few bob. 86.11.163.178 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 01:28, 6 July 2011 (UTC).

There is no information on the origin of skateboards because the origin is unknown. There are dozens of people who have claimed to have made the very first skateboard. All of those claims fail to produce reliable evidence. It is just hearsay. There is no reason to assume that nobody in history every stepped on a board with wheels on it before the 1900's. Some Chinese kid in the year 130 could have been goofing around at his fathers shop and decided to push himself around on a board with wheels that was intended for moving heavy buckets of fish back and forth. Do we claim he invented the skateboard? -- kainaw™ 13:22, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Other techniques for propulsion

You can also propel the board by what we used to call boogieing or tapping (I haven't been on a skateboard since 1978): pivoting on the rear wheels and tapping the front on the pavement at an acute angle alternating left and right, twisting your torso to throw your weight to push outward on each side, thus propelling you forward. In effect you're alternately positioning the board like a left and then right inline skate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.42.208.174 (talk) 22:29, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Reference/citation

This page should cite the documentary Magic Rolling Board. 143.232.210.38 (talk) 16:48, 3 August 2012 (UTC)