Thanks all for the thoughts, and setup details.
I’m way over 40, spent lots of time under 8. The 7.5 era was my personal best time, because I was young, not because 7.5. Whenever I’d ride an 8 during that era I would land more tricks, chuckle (like a moron) about how insanely large the board was, and get another 7.5-7.75 asap.
2010 ish when people started sizing up, I tried, and that’s when the madness really kicked it up a notch: I am the most influenced/trend hopping rube of all times. There hasn’t been a skate trend I haven’t ran towards. That’s why I get so hyped when I see someone that’s skated the same setup/wheel size/shoes/whatever for a long time, it’s just beyond me to settle down.
There is absolutely things that work better on an 8.5, but as soon as I get on an 8* (ish) setup, stuff starts to get a bit easier, and doesn’t need to be the specific combination of wb, truck brand, tail degree, for sets of flat, wheel width, etc etc.
* 8” decks, and or trucks. 8.125 on 8” trucks totally fits under the umbrella of what I’m thinking about. When I’m in this range, the specifics start to be much less important. The dlx 8.06 with the longer wb sounds terrific. The 8.125 ps stix I’m skating rn feels a little too short. I think
@TwisT said it in another thread, but there absolutely was a time where I could just grab an 8, fuck it an 8.25, and if I had 139s, no biggie. I can have a lot of fun on bigger boards, but it’s some baldilocks shit fr, fr, and absolutely no one wants to hear it.
As the most skate media influenced person I know, I started thinking, again, about this (8s) after watching Wade’s part. So many of my favorite skate video moments have come from people skating 8ish setups.
Blah blah, thanks for indulging my blabbering on a rainy no skate day.