Standard/average sizes by era

[ok boomer]

I know there will be some variables on this, but I've been trying (in my head) to piece together what the average/ standard sizes of boards/trucks/ wheels were. Shaped board eras (especially mid/late 80s)being one of the harder ones I would suppose. I've skated since 1986 so there's been a lot of changes. I know in 1994, I skated a 7.5 deck with 5.0's but can't remember what size wheels I was rolling then. Same with 1995-1997 either. I would check old catalogs, but I lost all of that stuff about 3 moves ago. I would imagine the "standard" of today to be something such as 8.25 deck, 149 (depending on brand) trucks and 54mm wheels? For an examples.

[Seventyfrigginseven]

Ha, this has me thinking! I thought 90-92 (or so) was the overlap of shaped decks and BPSW, but the decks were footballs before they dropped to the 7.5-7.75 a little after..If I had access to my parents photo albums, I could straighten my head out. Great topic man.

[Skatebeard]

From 99 into the mid 2000s I and all my friends pretty much exclusively skated 7.5-7.75...anything wider than 8" was considered "wide"

wheels were getting a little bigger by then, I usually skated 52-54mm

[Solid bowlcut]

From 99 into the mid 2000s I and all my friends pretty much exclusively skated 7.5-7.75...anything wider than 8" was considered "wide"

wheels were getting a little bigger by then, I usually skated 52-54mm

I remember getting 8.25 in like 2008 and people would freak out that i'm gonna lose all my flip tricks. Seems so funny nowadays.

[GardenSkater77]

I started in 87’ got my first real board in 88’. The standard decks in 88 were 30.5-31” in length if I remember correctly. Most of the decks were Powell, Santa Cruz and Vision. No idea about wheelbase, but width was always around 10” or slightly over. Powell shapes were the least progressive and mostly resembled Pig shapes. Noses were 3-4” with no upturn. Standard wheel were 60, 62, 64 and 65 mm. I had Slime
Balls and they were 60 mm/95a. Big Balls were 65 mm. I have no idea about trucks because 169 Independents lasted me until  93.

In the Chris Miller Chrome Ball he said his deck had the first upturned nose. I had that deck and it was just under 10 wide and over 31” long. It was a hybrid street/ramp deck.

But my favorite deck was the Hensley King Size and it felt long when I started skating it. I think it may have been one of the first decks with two wheelbases and 32” in length. Attached is a link to the board that H-Street claims uses the same mold from 31 years ago:

https://h-street.com/products/matt-hensley-kingsize-p-eagle-e-series

[Nth syd bear]

The most confusing part I find is when abouts boards dropped to 7.5 .
I thought it was 95-96ish

I know I had world boards in 93 that were still pretty wide

The other thing is trucks Indy had a 136mm truck at some stage.. correct ?

[fang]

I think I had an 8.125 at the end of 93 but 7.5 by summer 94

[Maccat]

When I started skating in 99 I was on 7.5 inch decks, 129/39s.  I remember my buddy getting an 8.5 Toy board back then when you might’ve had two other options for a “big” board.

Introduce rails soon thereafter and boards got wider. That’s what I noticed amongst kids in the scene.

[imposter]

mid to late 80s 10
early 90s 9.5 9.0
mid 90s7.25 7.5
late 90s to early 2000s 7.88 7.75 7.5 8.0
mid 2000s 7.9 8.0 8.25
late 2000s 8.0 8,25 8.5
now 8.0 8.25 8.38 8.5 8.625 8.75 9.0 9.5 10.5                                     



but for me im 7.5

[Skatebeard]

Expand Quote

From 99 into the mid 2000s I and all my friends pretty much exclusively skated 7.5-7.75...anything wider than 8" was considered "wide"

wheels were getting a little bigger by then, I usually skated 52-54mm

[close]

I remember getting 8.25 in like 2008 and people would freak out that i'm gonna lose all my flip tricks. Seems so funny nowadays.

Right? I've just jumped from a 7.75 to an 8.25, and if anything, flip tricks are actually slightly easier to catch when the board isn't spinning like a jet turbine!