Thanks for starting this. I toyed with the idea of starting the small boards <8 (I wanna hear small Boiz talk about their small toys) thread and was, ah...yeah.
7.75 is the best size.
Skateboards are fun in general and I’ve absolutely had enjoyable times riding big set ups, but for me I don’t see the point. I’ve never been a board breaker, bigger boards do help with that. I’m 5’9”, 180 (too big to skate, or the weight plus the age is wack), size 10, 40+. Smaller set ups just work for me, I’m not fighting them, and they don’t beat up my joints as much.
Aesthetically....some people make the too big board thing look ok, most look even more like little kids. I’m glad skateboarding is not furthest, highest, longest, bestest, truly, because then it’s just figure skating, but seeing people seemingly try to land tricks all shitty, rocket, sloppy, on they big ass boards....weird. Smaller boards would help a lot of these frail folks get they shit up.
I used to obsess over 7.5” and less boards. The Kalis, Wenning, and some Menace boards, but I’ve never skated my best on super small boards* (* had one 7.5” set up and had an exceptional day, way back when, but it was just once).
775 can fuck with me in what size trucks to use, I’ve had good experiences with both 5.0s/139s. Lately I’ve been keeping it smaller on the trucks, they turn quicker, and the majority of my skating is flat and cruising. Unfortunately not a lot of ledges near.
OG companies keep a sub 8 in the catalogue, as they should. Shop decks are fine for me. The green eagle, as noted, is a good choice, the girl 7.876435 worked well for me, the jovontae re-issue was really nice but a little too small. Always like hearing what people are putting together on this end of the spectrum