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Skateboarding => Shoes & Gear => Topic started by: Sedition on February 28, 2025, 02:17:17 PM
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Random discussion point: How, if at all, and why, has your equipment evolved over the last 5 to 10 years? Are you riding the same type trucks you were 10 years ago? Same size board? Wheels? Etc. What's changed, and why?
I've been riding an 8.25/14.38, 144 Indy Forged, and 53mm Classics for a long, long, long time. Yeah, I've toyed with other stuff, but I've always come back to that set-up. Over the last year or so, 8.25 has been starting to feel quite small, and wider decks are beginning to really feel good (use to hate them). Also flipping my board less these days, and the feel of more "stability" under my feet is great. I'm starting wonder if I will even own an 8.25 by the end of 2025, and that's kind of horrifying.
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Sizzla mi mek deh switch up from 8.125 move on up dem to 8.25 cuz Babylon inflation mek it dat nah enuff 8.125 dem fi sizzla to find
I mek change from satori to spitfyah recently cuh be dem strong and satori wheel weedjam too much fi mek good wheel
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I used to avoid the Nike swoosh like the plague but now that I’m old I’ve come around to the fact that dunks are just the most comfortable and last like three times as long as my vans would
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A lot of this is figuring out that certain things don’t work for me
- I am sticking to 8.25” trucks, I can’t go back to the tiny grind space of 8” trucks
- I probably don’t need to try the latest board technology seeing as I don’t skate stairs…although the Flip P2s and Darkstar Armorlights were great in their day for a guy on a budget
- No more experimenting switching between wheels and shapes. Spitfire F4 Classics are the best
- I can’t kickflip on non-sanded down Mob and stick to Jessup and regular grip gum (pun not intended)
- An okay job and career means Bones Swiss instead of Reds
- No more colored bolts although…hey you never know
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Biggest evolution in my gear from 5 or 10 years ago... putting on the pads and helmet! :D
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I switched from vulc to cups about three years ago, was starting to get knee and foot pain from the flimsy shoes. I've skated Spitfires and Independents since I started skating as a kid, I have a set of Ventures now on my street board and I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4. Decks vary, I've been on shaped decks for the last ten years or so, I tend to gravitate towards egg shapes now, preferably Deluxe wood. Not much has changed, even in the 90s/early 00s I was skating bigger boards with Indys and Spit Classics
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Boards and trucks got bigger.
Trucks switched from Thunder to Ace.
Still skating Vans almost exclusively.
Pant fit varies ever so slightly, but the needle doesn’t swing very far either direction…
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Biggest evolution in my gear from 5 or 10 years ago... putting on the pads and helmet! :D
I salute! Pads are punk. It’s the biggest “I don’t give a fuck” what the cool guys think.
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Biggest evolution in my gear from 5 or 10 years ago... putting on the pads and helmet! :D
I salute! Pads are punk. It’s the biggest “I don’t give a fuck” what the cool guys think.
Pads are great. You can take a pretty nasty slam and... get up and keep on skating! And can skate again the next day. Amazing. :D
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Biggest evolution in my gear from 5 or 10 years ago... putting on the pads and helmet! :D
I salute! Pads are punk. It’s the biggest “I don’t give a fuck” what the cool guys think.
Who knew?!?
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I've been riding an 8.25/14.38, 144 Indy Forged, and 53mm Classics for a long, long, long time.
You’re my board twin, except I’m on Team Bones x formula/dragon, and Thunder 144’s (148)
I think we even had passionate discussions about butt suppository shapes.
Even still, I think the 8.38 DLX is perfect, but if I were to ever stop doing tricks and just cruising fast, I would for sure switch back to 149’s and a 8.5…. Wide decks feel amazing under foot.
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Deck from 8” popsicle to 8.75” symmetrical egg.
Trucks 8” Venture to Thunder to 8.5 Indy standard to 8.5 Slappy ST1 Hollow
54mm Spitfire classics to 52mm Classics back to 54mm
Bones Swiss always.
Jessup to Mob to Pepper back to Mob
Lakai vulcs to New Balance cups.
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Decks stayed at 8 inches for me.
Trucks from Indy to Thunder
Wheels 52 spitfire classics to 52 spitfire lock ins
Grip was mob now pepper.
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Biggest evolution in my gear from 5 or 10 years ago... putting on the pads and helmet! :D
I salute! Pads are punk. It’s the biggest “I don’t give a fuck” what the cool guys think.
Who knew?!?
Well young people might not know wtf I am talking about at all hehe. Though my front knee keeps reminding me otherwise. So, whatever..
Another change in my gear has been harder wheels in the outdoor season, even 101A is fine. Because only skating at the skatepark... That is pretty lame. Gotta get my middle-aged ass back on those streets hehe.
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Gone from a 8 to an 8.25 to an 8.5 gradually over the last 25ish years but been on 52mm Spitfires and Indy's basically my whole life. I don't even know if I like them, I just don't question it. I tried all sorts of stuff as a teenager but then settled on that. I don't skate well or often enough to care really
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15 years ago I really started venturing away from the 8.25" 8.5" popsicles, 149 Indys and 56mm wheels that I had been riding for a long time.
10 years ago I was rotating between 8.5s, 8.62s, 8.75s pops with the occasional shaped deck, mostly Thunder 151s/ Indy 159s and F4s of all sizes.
During Covid I went crazy with experimentation, and started to enjoy short WB wide boards... like the Dane 1 and Couch decks, with small wheels. And dabbled more and more with Ace trucks.
Now, its mostly Huffers and the occasional smaller egg/ football like the GFB, Af1 60s or Classic 55s Ace trucks, F4s of all sizes and duros still but the Radial is my go to shape.
Was only Vans for a long time. Era, pros, half cabs, skate mids etc. Now its mostly Numerics (212s, 440s and others) with the occasional Half cab.
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I’ve been through all the changes from banana board and pig to 2000s baby board and back
These days
I’m trying to only ride shapes. Football egg shuv nose and I’m back into riding trucks that sit in a quarter inch on each side. Saves weight. F lips faster and i feel more in control in all situations. More on top of the ledge. Sometimes i ride rails. That probably the biggest change. I stopped riding rails in the Frsnky Hill Era. I remember the last one with rails.
The Black Street Hawk. Best board he ever made. So functional for a no nose having Powell that my step ma got for my birthday long ago.
I miss Bridge bolts.
And this is the longest I’ve been without thunder trucks in my life. From before the t4 to 2016 I rode thunder near exclusively. A little bit of Gk. I loved the early cups. It depended on how loose I was going for at the time. Now I ride ventures. (https://i.ibb.co/0Rg8N2PC/IMG-2840.jpg) (https://ibb.co/0Rg8N2PC)
Check these out. The homie who owed (owes) gave um to me long ago.
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like anyone stuck in gear madness it hasn't i just cycle between the same shit and get upset at re-living the limitations of all of them and being trapped in purgatory.
Honestly tho I sized up from 8.25x14.25 in 2020 and since then have mostly ridden the generic Generator 8.38 and always come back to it. I have 3 in my garage, but I've already had each graphic before so i go try new stuff i never stick with.
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Board used to be 8 for the most of my life. Now it's 8.25 with some 8.3 and upper sonwtines.
Trucks used to be 8 and Indy. Now 8.5 and currently Lurpivs after being on Ace for like 3 years.
Hardware used to be 1". Now it's 7/8 and Allen since day one.
Before I never cared for grip, maybe I tried to get Mob but overall I was good with whatever grip that was free. Now is Jessup or gtfo even tho I'd try Pepper sometimes.
Wheels 54 and whatever. Now 53 and only F4 99.
Bearings would be HKD 5, now it's swiss 6 or regular swiss.
Before I would care much for shoes, whatever I could find for cheap. Now only NB# cups.
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Yes, for years I only rode a 7.75 with indys and 54mm spitfire wheels. When I really got back into skating around 10 years ago, I sized up and started riding early 90s style shapes again.
These days I always have these two setups:
Big board/ small wheels setup - 9 - 9.25 deck, 52mm wheels and currently on Royal 159s
EE3 setup - 8.5 - 8.75 board with 56mm wheels and ace 44s
Really dived deep down the loophole/ NFG urethane hole, but my stock will run out soon so I'll probably have to revert (pun intended) back to formula 4s...
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Everything got bigger. I used to skate 8.25-8.5 popsicles. Currently I ride 9+ eggs. With trucks I went from Thunders to Indy to Ace/Slappy. Truck size is 9". I used to skate 50-52mm hard wheels but now 56+ and slightly softer (93-97a). I prefer cupsole shoes that are supportive. Skated Vans etc slimmer vulcs for too long. NB 808s are my preferred shoe atm. I know it all sounds funky. I skate tanky shoes and setups. ;D
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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...
Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots? :)
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I think the biggest change has been double drilling truck baseplates - I saw the Koston double drilled baseplates a few years ago now and thought that would be a very good idea, but it wasn't until more recently - last year maybe - that I started drilling in all the baseplates for the tails of my boards, just the most minimal amount, but it has meant the longer tail doesn't have to be flattened half as much and the usual 8.38 boards feel way more manageable now, which had 14.5 wb and 6.5 tails, so now about 14.3 wb and 6.7 tails, which I really like.
Going back to 2019, I had been on the black eagle 8.12 for a long time (since about 2002 or so on 8.1 up from 8" boards), mostly with 139s, but then with 144s from 2017 to 2019, but then thought I might just be better off on something a bit wider, so tried the 8.4, 8.5 and 8.38 which ended up being the easiest to get and stuck with it.
To be fair, I have always had one 8.5 blue eagle setup and one 8.75 white eagle setup, which were more just cruisers or best when I was hurt and just had a gentle roll round, but increasingly in the last few years, mainly thanks to this wonderful place, I have since tried and now own almost one of everything there is from the DLX stable for decks, a number of other brand trucks besides Indy, many more options in wheel size, shape and duro - Spitfire Formula Four really needs nothing to just be amazing - along with a whole lot more experimentation with this and that.
There are really too many modifications I make to any one board, but driving over the deck, redrilling baseplates, angle grinding down kingpins, cutting down bushings, reshaping wheels, even taking a graphic off if I just don't want to see it, but at least everything feels just right for me on this setup, so I think I am going to keep this one going for a while now, no other / additional changes needed now.
Madness thread crossover maybe, but it is fun messing with stuff and seeing what works and what doesn't work.
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from ashy to classy
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Madness thread crossover maybe…
I thought of this thread while reading the Madness one…
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my pants got baggier - who would have thought, but I guess they couldn't get much skinnier.
Kid
Fish shaped blank or small sector nine
random indys w/ big ass risers
60mm+ cruiser wheels
I also had a long flex-dex board i loved - id be across town in 5 mins.
First 10 years seriously skating (Zero, Girl, Enjoi)
8.25 x 149s
to 8.25 x 44s
2nd 10 years (more enjoi, 917, Frog, Alltimers, Limo)
8.5 x 159s
to 8.5 x 151s
Currently riding the dlx 8.38 (the one that measures 8.5) x 14.5 on 151 standards and I think I'm in love.
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Went from always on 8.06-8.125, to 8.38-8.5s, to now on 8.25 with 14’ WB.
Was a Indy dude but got influenced by Worrest and flipped to Ventures, v-lights.
Bones were my shit too but that old Manderson shape converted me to Spits.
And used to be Jessup gang but Pepper my jam lately.
Finally for shoes, went from only skating one pair to the ground, to having a trunk full of em in rotation. Vulcs to 95% of the time in cups.
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Sort of off topic, but what’s the deal with Pepper? Not tried it, but noticed it gaining traction (no pun intended).
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It's between Jessup and Mob. Easier to apply than Mob, doesn't have that weird shiny fray on the edges Jessup gets after a while. Lasts really long. Basically perfect middle ground.
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Haven't moved much over the last 15+ years,
Went from:
8x31.5" 14" WB
147 hi Thunder ti-lights
52-53 spitfire 99a f4s
Bronson Raws
Mob
to:
8.25x31.5" 14" WB
149 hi Thunder team lights
52-53 spitfire 99a f4s
Whatever bearings
Pepper
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Not counting the much larger curb/park setup...
I used to go for the smaller boards. 7.5 maybe 7.75 little wheels and all of that. Then I stayed with an 8 for ages. Cautiously I would try an 8.25 once in a while, then go up wider. But I'd miss a kickflip one day and that would send me straight into a panic. What if I am becoming OLD? Run back and setup a skinny board. I can still flip that one.
Lately, I've bumped it back up. 8.38, and importantly, with standard 149 Indies. It feels great. Comfortably roomy, but not too wide. Or too long. I had this idea in my head that a tiny low board would help with my pop, as I am in fact becoming an old person. I think I was wrong. I skated 56mm wheels recently and it did require a bit of effort and oomph on my part. To actually crouch down and snap. I liked it much more than I thought I would. Felt confident even. But I wanted the trucks a little looser, as usual. Kinda wheelbitey. I've re-settled (again) on Spits 54mm. This will be my setup for the foreseeable future!
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Sort of off topic, but what’s the deal with Pepper? Not tried it, but noticed it gaining traction (no pun intended).
I agree with Beach Chicken. I love the Pepper Galaxy grip. been on the same board most of the winter. Tail is razored, board is mushy but the grip tape still looks and feels new. Still sparkles. Only downside is, it might be a little too grippy for my taste when brand new but I just avoid the new shoe, new grip combo as much as I can.
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It's between Jessup and Mob. Easier to apply than Mob, doesn't have that weird shiny fray on the edges Jessup gets after a while. Lasts really long. Basically perfect middle ground.
Noted, and thank you!
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Since 1985 I've ridden decks ranging from 10 x 30 to 7.5 x 32 Currently riding a few different decks, 9.5 x 32, 10 x 30, 10.25 x 32 ,8.75 x 32 and 6 x 27.5 being my main decks
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Deck from 8” popsicle to 8.75” symmetrical egg.
Trucks 8” Venture to Thunder to 8.5 Indy standard to 8.5 Slappy ST1 Hollow
54mm Spitfire classics to 52mm Classics back to 54mm
Bones Swiss always.
Jessup to Mob to Pepper back to Mob
Lakai vulcs to New Balance cups.
Curious what made you go back to mob from pepper?
Decks last me a ridiculously long time and after a week of skating Pepper grip it had less grit left than the Mob on the previous deck I had skated for 6 months. It wasn’t a crap as Jessup, I would ride it again if I couldn’t get Mob.
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short wheelbase and sacred geometry. if it ain't the combo of 13.75-14" WB with some ace/stage 4's, I don't even wanna ride it. I need hair trigger turning and deep carves.
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Recent change that affected me for the better was switching from mob to jessup. Something so simple but changed my skating. Feels broken in with new shoes and new board. And I swear I get another week or two out of my shoes and board with the less gritty grip. Also was stuck on blazer gt for the longest time. Loved that shoe. But needed some more under my foot. Been through I don't know how many NB#440's. V1's and the v2's. New favorite.
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I went from kinda not caring to caring....then caring less.....
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The biggest change is figuring out that going from 7.9 inch boards to 8 inch boards isn’t a step up.
But I was a dumb kid.
I took a weird path to what i have in front of me as the most standard looking skateboard I think I’ve ever ridden.
I used to skate zip zingers exclusively, don’t really know why. I became known for it at the shop I went to. Then I moved onto those creature punk point cruiser things for a bit, tried a girl power slide board that I think was 9 inch at the widest.
I bit hard into Welcomes weird shapes and misfit skating. That’s when I joined here, I was gifted a habitat 8.4 for Christmas a good few years back by a cousin and realised popsicle boards and my slowing down of skating in general is where I’m at.
Today I have an 8.5 popsicle DSM board, some big old stable Indy’s and I’m trying classics again after years on radials.
It looks fun and it skates well.
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10 years ago I was going back and forth between skating shaped boards and popsicles on and off on indy 149s and Mike Anderson Spitfire Wides. Loved that wheel. What a great wheel. I had skated a few polar p1 shapes. I don't know if they make it anymore but it was like 8.75 at the widest with a rounded nose and a square tail. I liked that board. I also had this early shaped 917 that was just a picture of a cheeseburger. I'm pretty sure it was a homage to Jason Lee. That was an amazing shape. I loved skating that board. Then I went to anything 8.25-8.5 (Mostly skating 8.375ish) on 149s and F4s. Skated a bunch of quasi and passport and would have a shaped cruiser on the side for messing around as well. I ended up just always going back to the quasi 8.5 proto and decided it was the perfect board.
Then about 5 years ago, I decided I'd only skate boxy 8.5x32.125x14.25 ps six boards on 5.8 venture with 58 mm spitfire F4s. I skated a lot of quasi, gx1000 and snack boards - I did skate 2 bbs boards one hockey that was a pretty similar shape and bought a FA with the same dimensions but only skated it once because I thought it was too round then went back to ps six brands. I've been skating nothing but 58 mm OG classic shapes up until the 93a came out and started skating those.
Shoewise - about 10 years ago I skated a bunch of the Cory Kennedy nike shoe and Adidas shell toes. Skated a good amount of GT Blazer lows.
I tried skating a pair of Tiago 1010s right when they came out (the Guy homage color way - white and blue) and they skated good but looked very silly on me. I wore them with light colored wrangler jeans and I thought it might gave Tiago vibes but I sort of looked like my wife's uncle John - just quintessential dad vibes. I couldn't pull them off so about 3 days into skating them I bought a pair of classic half cabs and told myself I wouldn't skate anything but half cabs ever again. The skate half cabs came out soon after and I had a friend gift me a pair. I have just been skating half cabs since.
some nice nb shoes have came out since but I'm reluctant to stray from the formula. I did pick up a pair of dunk lows a few months back but they are just an occasional chilling shoe.
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I used to avoid the Nike swoosh like the plague but now that I’m old I’ve come around to the fact that dunks are just the most comfortable and last like three times as long as my vans would
Amen. Instead of Dunk I am going for GT low though.
Wheels: nothing but Spitfire F4s, bearings: nothing but SWISS, yes they are expensive but last way longer than anything else I skated in 2 decades... 8)
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Nope, still wearing Reynolds 3s with tight KR3W jeans and the full zip hoodie to match.
8.75-9 the last decade, with occasional shaped boards or forays into 8.5. Indy or Ace, F4s.
Prior to that I was on 8.38-8.5 and exclusively Indy and Bones STF.
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This thread has been a cool read. Thanks to everyone who chimed-in.
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I've got one more... size of the quiver.
Ten years ago I had two boards, an 8 and a 9.
Now I have twelve, ranging from 7.5 to 10. Thirteen if the longboard counts. :D
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This is more madness than evolution with the giant break in my skating.
Went through all the industry trends from 89 to mid 90s. 38mm bb wheels being the absolute dumbest, at least I learned how to push hard af.
Would switch out between “wide” 8” decks to 7.5 in the mid 90s. Settled on loving the Kalis AWS shape in late 90s, think it was 7.625 with a short wheelbase and steep kicks. Indy’s to grind crusty pnw ledges (the rocks down the Seattle central double set were my claim to fame). 52-53mm wheels. I loved tre flips on this set up, but hated frontside flips. Would keep a Howard girl deck in the trunk and swap if I was at a spot I wanted to film frontside flips (madness started early).
I destroyed my right ankle in 2000, cut back on skating and flip tricks severely. Went up to a 7.75 and 54mm wheels. Frequency of skating was dropping to a couple times per year.
2011 was given an 8” lib tech, that construction was wild. Massive magic carpet.
Totally quit shortly after. One day in 2020, then another four year break.
July 24, wife wants to learn how to skate. With two set ups I’ve skated 7.75-9.5 with wb from 13.785-14.75. On Indy’s, aces, ventures, and thunders in that time. Original narrow stf bones, 55 f4 99 classics, 56 99 og classics, 54 radial 93, 57 radial 93. I’m just out here trying to personally pay the rent for 35th ave.
14.125-14.25 seems to be my happy place for wb.
8.38-8.5 width is nice and roomy for ledge skating, without being too heavy. honestly don’t see myself relearning a lot of flip tricks in my mid 40s anyway.
Light trucks are good, the difference in effort to pop going to hollow light thunders from standard indys was huge.
I like the sound and feedback of harder wheels skating ledges and even more so on manual pads. The 93s were faster at my local by a good margin, but the rebound screwed with manuals. Quiet sound screwed with my head.
Narrow wheels only.
Went from reds to Swiss 6 because I’d rather clean and relube now than fill a landfill. I think they’re way cheaper in the long run.
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I had that same Kalis shape! It was 7.46 or 7.625 (depended what they labeled it but they were all 7.5) with mellower concave and steeper kicks. Skated great with 7.5" Venture Lo and 50-51s. I probably learned just about every flip trick on that setup that I've ever learned. We were on a family road trip and were in Utah and a shop was going out of business and I got 5 of the Love Park graphic for $100. I waxed up a ledge outside of my hotel in Bryce Canyon and did like 2 hrs of noseslides and stained the ledge red. When I went back in 2014 the ledge was still a faint red.
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Pretty sure that was his 9 club interview(iirc the Covid one) he mentioned that.
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I had that same Kalis shape! It was 7.46 or 7.625 (depended what they labeled it but they were all 7.5) with mellower concave and steeper kicks. Skated great with 7.5" Venture Lo and 50-51s. I probably learned just about every flip trick on that setup that I've ever learned.
Great shape, short decks for tre flips are incredible. I learned all my switch flip tricks on that shape too. Best hard flips too
Here is gem from 99, unlaced pink camo vans that appeared in my trunk while working the outlet mall store in North Bend. second pic shows the green dip exp.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CjO4opiJHzJ/?igsh=MTZ0MjI0ajNuNThrdA== (https://www.instagram.com/p/CjO4opiJHzJ/?igsh=MTZ0MjI0ajNuNThrdA==)
Now I have a closet full of 600s, great minds think alike
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Aight so closet full of 600s vs stashing behind the climbing wall same addiction different way of hiding it.
I was trying to find a pic of that green EXP deck for years! I had that with blue Ventures and it was one of my favorite setups. Photo had just come out and I learned shifties on it like Tim O and thought that was going to be it for me- my niche in skating. Unfortunately they weren't high or over anything cool.
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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...
Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots? :)
I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.
It was because he preferred the whiter wheels that came in the original formula, rather than the natural colour that Formula Four had.
Looks like the 54 mm Classics for the most part - that silver / black swirl print is easy to see.
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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...
Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots? :)
I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.
It was because he preferred the whiter wheels that came in the original formula, rather than the natural colour that Formula Four had.
Looks like the 54 mm Classics for the most part - that silver / black swirl print is easy to see.
When F4 came out, I didn’t like the off-white color. Now I hate the pure white. Funny how things change.
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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...
Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots? :)
I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.
It was because he preferred the whiter wheels that came in the original formula, rather than the natural colour that Formula Four had.
Looks like the 54 mm Classics for the most part - that silver / black swirl print is easy to see.
When F4 came out, I didn’t like the off-white color. Now I hate the pure white. Funny how things change.
Ha yeah, it is more in the performance than the look for me, but I can see how it would bug some people to no end.
Different forms of OCD or what I can deal with vs what I can't deal with.
I still have a good number of the original formula wheels on boards, which still go ok, but I do feel like they are somewhat limiting in certain situations. The much older originals, which are now quite yellowed skate way better than the newer white ones, so that kind of defeats the purpose of having white wheels anyway.
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My trucks are a bit looser and I enjoy turning more. That’s about it.
Oh, and after slowly going from 8-10 inches in the last 15 years, I always thought it would be hard to go back to narrower decks, but I’m comfy on a 8.75
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10 years ago i was really into flat boards between 8 and 8.25 and didn´t care about wheelbase at all. Nowadays i will skate any board in any shape between 8 and 8.5 while preferring wider boards with short wheelbase but it´s not a deal breaker if the wheelbase is on the longer side. I realized i can get used to pretty much anything, it just takes some adjusting on my part. I also started to like boards with shovel noses because of my weak nollie/switch pop but also not particularly looking for them. I buy mostly online so i can´t be to picky except for the boards being from generator. Shoutout to the woodshop thread and the dudes keeping it up to date.
I experimented with different wheel duros and shapes and in the end landed on 99 duro classics which offer everything i want from a wheel. Also had a short stint on thunders but could not get them to work because i am too used to the turn on aces.
Guess the only constant have been bones swiss because every other bearing is worthless.
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The only big change has been going from blanks to whatever I find in the sale thread, big shoutout to that thread
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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...
Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots? :)
I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.
Puleo is also anti F4
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10 years ago I was going back and forth between skating shaped boards and popsicles on and off on indy 149s and Mike Anderson Spitfire Wides. Loved that wheel. What a great wheel. I had skated a few polar p1 shapes. I don't know if they make it anymore but it was like 8.75 at the widest with a rounded nose and a square tail. I liked that board. I also had this early shaped 917 that was just a picture of a cheeseburger. I'm pretty sure it was a homage to Jason Lee. That was an amazing shape. I loved skating that board. Then I went to anything 8.25-8.5 (Mostly skating 8.375ish) on 149s and F4s. Skated a bunch of quasi and passport and would have a shaped cruiser on the side for messing around as well. I ended up just always going back to the quasi 8.5 proto and decided it was the perfect board.
Then about 5 years ago, I decided I'd only skate boxy 8.5x32.125x14.25 ps six boards on 5.8 venture with 58 mm spitfire F4s. I skated a lot of quasi, gx1000 and snack boards - I did skate 2 bbs boards one hockey that was a pretty similar shape and bought a FA with the same dimensions but only skated it once because I thought it was too round then went back to ps six brands. I've been skating nothing but 58 mm OG classic shapes up until the 93a came out and started skating those.
Shoewise - about 10 years ago I skated a bunch of the Cory Kennedy nike shoe and Adidas shell toes. Skated a good amount of GT Blazer lows.
I tried skating a pair of Tiago 1010s right when they came out (the Guy homage color way - white and blue) and they skated good but looked very silly on me. I wore them with light colored wrangler jeans and I thought it might gave Tiago vibes but I sort of looked like my wife's uncle John - just quintessential dad vibes. I couldn't pull them off so about 3 days into skating them I bought a pair of classic half cabs and told myself I wouldn't skate anything but half cabs ever again. The skate half cabs came out soon after and I had a friend gift me a pair. I have just been skating half cabs since.
some nice nb shoes have came out since but I'm reluctant to stray from the formula. I did pick up a pair of dunk lows a few months back but they are just an occasional chilling shoe.
I ran the manderson wheel constantly, would love a F4 update
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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...
Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots? :)
I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.
Chico and Drehobl too. A lot of older pros.
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I've seen Chico skate countless times and he was always on 51 or 52 F4 classics
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I used to skate cranked down Krux K4's. Like can't turn kind of cranked down. Now I skate loosey goosey Ace 44's. IDK what I was thinking!!! I think it was for no-complies but goddamn what a sacrifice to make.
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Elissa is also known to prefer the classic formula. Different strokes and all that.
This is a good thread and exactly the kind of topic I come to Slap for. Unfortunately I was estranged from skateboarding for a very long time, but I've done my best to cram as much experimentation/ madness into the roughly 2.5 years I've been back. I've ridden or have currently set up ...
boards:
- 3 8.25s
- 2 8.38s
- 10+ 8.5s
- 1 8.62
- 2 8.75
- 3 9+ eggs or egg-adjacent shapes
trucks:
- Silver 8.5s (on my first setup after coming back, I didn't know any better, please don't judge)
- Ace 44 classics
- 5 or so sets of Venture 5.8s in hollow and cast hollow
- Thunder 149s lights
- Ace AF1 55 hollows
-Ace 55 classics
- Venture V8 5.6s
- Lurpiv 160 hollows
wheels:
- 56mm 99a OJ Elites
- 55m Bones 103a SPFs
- 54mm V4 Dragons
- 54mm V6 X97s
- 54mm F4 97a conical fulls (old formula)
- 58mm F4 97a radial fulls
- 54mm F4 97a radial fulls
- 55mm F4 99a lock-in fulls
- 54mm F4 93 radials
- 58mm F4 93 radials
- 56mm F4 93 radials
- 54mm F4 97a conical fulls (new formula)
Funny how the mind works. I couldn't tell you what I did last week if my life depended on it, but I can come up with this list off the dome without skipping a beat. I'll spare you what bearings and hardware I tried, but I could probably also remember all that if I wanted to... Take that for a humblebrag!
The funny thing is that I figured out what works for me within 2 months of skating again: 8.5 twins with Ventures and 54mm wheels with large contact patches. That's my setup. Everything else I tried just for fun.
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Only doing post coming back in 2019 cause like many people went from small boards to big boards.
Rode 8.38-8.5 decks, Indy standard, 58-60mm spitfires classics or OGs and those real wooden risers. Did this for the first few years of skating until the madness settled in.
Rode ventures which I loved but they wore down really quick and grind kinda slow to me. I did find that for the type of skating I do now being slightly lower is helpful.
Post madness my setup has been same decks (8.38-8.5 bbs), Thunder standards (Indy blue conical bushings shaved down to fit) with an ace 1/16 shock pad (little extra height for pop without losing the Thunder pinch) and 54mm radials or classics.
I kinda miss the explosive pop of huge wheels and Indy’s but I do like the control and being able to be more consistent, plus I’m getting older so I’m mostly skating ledges and doing wall rides.
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went from 149 to 159 hollows. went from 8>8.62>8.5>8.38>8.25.
Skating 8.25 x 14.13 WB with 159 and 54s. is nice for street and crust
switched from bones swiss to quantums, reds, big balls, etc and made my way back to bones swiss
switched from spitfires to bones stf/spf, PFC, loopholes, back to spitfires
don't skate with a top washer on front truck. i like it loose
strictly NB#1010
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The last ten years I’ve not changed up a ton. I’ve ridden a lot of the antihero Grosso shape. Mainly Indy’s and those have gone from 159–169–166 along with Ace 66 I’m back and forth on. Wheel-wise I’ve bounced around between Speedlabs, Spitfires, and Cherries. Generally 54-56 on my miniramp and 58-60 at big parks. Always knee pads. Used to skate vans or blazers now I skate dunks with aftermarket insoles.
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Bigger everything
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With time, I went STF.being tired of flatspots.I also finally indulged Nike that I boycotted for a long time.I must admit now they're great shoes.
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started skating on a 7.5, had no idea that boards had sizes - 11 years old
my next deck was an 8 and i set it up with the trucks of that 7.5 complete - still 11, bout to turn 12
after that i got a 7.3 and that board was crazy skinny and short, that's when i learned about sizes - 12 years old
started buying 7.75s and stuck with that size for about 2 years
at 14 i moved up to 8.0, still couldn't kickflip, set up a 7.8 to learn that, went back to 8.0 after i learned it, luckily i was able to keep doing em on the 8, but i set up a 7.75 again to learn how to 360 flip, that was like a month before i turned 15
15-16 i kept switching from 8.0 to 8.125, stuck with those 2 sizes, then one time my board got ran over and i was given an 8.5 from a friend, skated it but it felt too big, so i moved down to 8.375, then 8.25 and stuck with it for a couple months until i broke one and the shop only had 8.5s
naturally i got the 8.5, got used to it, from 17 up until i was like 20 i was mostly skating that size, occasionally going up or down 1/8
i think i learned about wheelbases at 18 because one of those 8.5s felt longer than usual but lined up with my previous board - it had a 14.5 wb while pretty much all boards i had before were shorter in that aspect
at 20 i went back to 8.25, knowing that i can do 14.25 or 14.38 and anything bigger will be harder to adjust to
at 21-22 i gave up on the 14.38s and stuck with 14.25 since (i'll be 25 this month). obviously i had a few boards that were different, disliked all of them, but was often broke so i had to make em work. in that time period i convinced myself that widths are not as important as the wheelbase, so i skated boards from 8.25 up to 8.625 without any real problems
at 24 i finally got a real job and started buying blanks in bulk, they were 8.375s at first, this last pack i got were 8.25s though and i think i like them a bit more, but both shapes work well for me.
truck wise - my first real trucks at 11 years old were ventures, i think 5.0 lows and they were rasta colored, i also had a silver pair, a baseplate broke on one of them somehow and i got royals in a crailtap colorway, blue hanger with a bunch of clouds, also skinny. i don't remember if they were good or not. i was 12 when i had the royals.
at 13 i got a set of indy 139s that were purple
at 14 i was skating thunders which were a busenitz colorway with a thumbs up/down graphic that said "seal of approval/disapproval" depending on which way you looked at em, they were 145s and had a hollow kingpin
at 15 i was skating silvers, size 8.0, from 16 to 18 i was back on thunders, 147s at first, then i moved up to 149s at 18. i was skating 8.5 boards with 8.0 trucks for over a year because of a reynolds set up video. 149s definitely made more sense.
at 18 i got a pair of ace 44 classics, that was my truck of choice for the next 4 years
at 22 i was given a set of ventures from a friend, ended up loving them, been on ventures since, just ordered a new pair of 5.8s
wheels - my first were zero, then i got bones 100s in the party pack colorway. i have a photo of my set up from that time period somewhere, purple plan b logo board, rasta ventures, wheels in 4 different colors, i'm pretty sure i had caution tape grip on there too.
i rode the bones for a super long time, i think 2+ years, i remember that one of those wheels was like 38mm in diameter when i took them off. to replace them i got a set of spitfire grossos in 54mm with a traditional tattoo graphic, they flatspotted super quick and other skaters were calling me ursus, which is a tractor manufacturer, because my board was crazy loud because of it. those got replaced with 54mm mini-logo "a cuts", i had them for a year, then i got my first set of f4s for christmas 2015 and stuck with em. i had like 4 sets of wheels that were different in those 9+ years, i had a set of pig wheels, some dialtones and i think jart wheels once.
my first f4s were 54mm conical fulls, i ran that shape for about 4 years, at 19 or 20 i got 58mm classics and then i kept getting classics or radials only, with a 56mm minimum, 97a if i could find em, 99a otherwise, never had 101s.
bearings are still whatever i can get for free or mini-logos if i have to pay
oh and jessup for life
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Think the only thing I haven't changed over all these years are the bearings. I usually always get reds or whatever is $20 or cheaper at the shop. Want to make the jump to some swiss finally, but I've been saying that for 2 years now lol. Just hit axle finally on my trucks so will still be a while till I make that bearing upgrade.
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Jesus Roba write us a fucking novel why don't you?
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I sort of went full circle, started skating in the early 80s. Big board, fun shapes, stupid griptape. Made it through the 90s and 00s on popsicles small wheels and all associated gear and now I'm back on fun shapes and big wheels and its still super fun to push around and goof off.
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Jesus Roba write us a fucking novel why don't you?
Tell me you have poor reading comprehension without telling me you have poor reading comprehension.
@roba I literally lol'd at the Ursus reference. That's some actually funny shit, and even better because it's buried so deep in the post.
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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...
Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots? :)
I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.
Swear by f4. I've skated standard spits and you can definitely feel the difference. Standards feels like a board company wheels. Grippy and bouncy is how I can describe it. Any trick you land sideways and skirt your wheels. you are flat spotting them.
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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...
Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots? :)
I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.
Swear by f4. I've skated standard spits and you can definitely feel the difference. Standards feels like a board company wheels. Grippy and bouncy is how I can describe it. Any trick you land sideways and skirt your wheels. you are flat spotting them.
i think the reason many of the og’s like the original formula is that they are softer, roll over more stuff.
the mike anderson sfw’s….something about the wheel was excellent, and i wasn’t a huge fan of the shape. but the formula felt really good in the street.
my gear has evolved, a lot, to the point of it just being a mess. devolved.
i’d say that i skated boards 7.75-8, often on 8 trucks, with 52s. this worked well enough for me, but even then i’d frequently switch things up. i’ve often felt some ‘tribal’ identity bs about sticking with smaller boards, ‘keeping it real’ as it were, because that was what was authentic and real, when i was skating my best, due to youth. i tried to skate the smallest boards of the time, sometimes sub 7.5, but i’d always skate like shit on that stuff. ‘funnily’ enough, whenever the shop was out of 7.5s, i’d do way better on a 7.75, and then shrug it off. this back and forth messed with me, from like 95-2006 ish.
mentioned this a ton of times, but went out skating with some young g’s around 2008, and they were all on bigger boards 8.25 up, with indy 149s and 53-54 wheels. i was back to skating a 7.6 with lows and 50s. everyone was goooooooone down the hills, and skitching back up. they were unconcerned with trying to do super slow switch backside flips. it was really cool looking. i was going really slow and it was funny.
i tried to size up and could not.
started buying all of the different parts, trying shaped boards, huuuuuge boards (8.88 on 169s), had the full ck1 biter kit with the huffer….crisis.
gear wise i am houseless, no nation. i’ll grab an 8.25 and try that for awhile, eh. try and skate a small board like back when. eh.
i’ve had good days on board with 14.5 wb, and good days on 14 wb. loved low trucks. skated poorly on low trucks.
i’m not above the madness, obviously. but for me, the results are all the same: it ain’t the gear. i can be more or less stoked, but i skate the same shitty way, on all of it.
i’ve made this same garbled post a few times. i really like reading about other people’s experiences on this topic.
in my age cohort there was this movement of l7.75ish boards, with 5.0 lo’s, to 8s with 139s and 52s, and then 8.25 149s, before people went full all over the place.
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Started on shaped boards in the 80's. All kinds of decks but ended up really liking the Cruz Missile 2 concave on SMA. Favorite trucks of the era were Tracker Ultralights and favorite wheels were Bones Mini Rats 57mm 97A.
Moved to popsicles in the 90's. No idea about the specs other than they were probably all <8" wide. I rode a lot of blank decks and wheels during this time and the only thing that I really preferred was having a strong board with good pop that lasted but I rode whatever I could get. Favorite deck was a Lib Tech and favorite trucks were Gullwing Street Shadows.
After around 20 years off from Skateboarding, I got back into it with a 8.25" deck, Ace AF1, Spitfire Conical Full 54mm 99. Like 8.25" but starting to experiment with differnt sizes and wheelbases so I currently have a 8.3" and an 8.5" and want to try a 8.1". For the first time, I'm really noticing the differences and think the sweet spot for me might be 14" wheelbase even though I haven't tried one yet and 8.1" or back to 8.25" deck. Been riding the AF1, some old Indy's, Thunders and my favorites so far are the Tensor Maglight ATGs.