How long does your gear last?

[camel filters]

Damn, skating must become an expensive hobby when you get a new deck and shoes once every 6 weeks. I don't know how you guys are going through decks that fast unless you're all jumping down stairs and gaps like you're 18.

If I'm gonna waste my time skateboarding, I want to waste it skating at my highest potential. New boards and shoes especially really do make it easier to do tricks for me. I try to reach a balance point between the two tho and stretch a board as long as it still feels good. Skating is still relatively cheap when compared to golf or snowboarding or something like that. I guess cheaper hobbies are also out there but thats how i justify it in my mind.

[disclosed]

i wonder how long gear "last"  average relates to where people are located too.
buying new gear in the US is like almost half the price of gear in Europe. while Japan and Australia will pay like 3 times as much for gear.

[Urtripping]

i wonder how long gear "last"  average relates to where people are located too.
buying new gear in the US is like almost half the price of gear in Europe. while Japan and Australia will pay like 3 times as much for gear.

Location matters based on location due to the environment you skate, too. Midwest crust eats shit up pretty quick. Those overseas prices are murder.

I almost never buy anything full price and have a skate credit card that I put shoes and decks on. I make biweekly payments of like 15 bucks and it's paid off by the time I buy something new. That way I'm staying fresh for what feels like less.

[backside_frontside]

Boards - about a month, longer during winter
Shoes - about two months
Trucks - until I can’t get the axle nut on anymore
Wheels - a couple of months

[Easy Slider]

Expand Quote

Damn, skating must become an expensive hobby when you get a new deck and shoes once every 6 weeks. I don't know how you guys are going through decks that fast unless you're all jumping down stairs and gaps like you're 18.

[close]

See "Sale Gear Thread" for tips on how to maintain a supposed expensive hobby at an affordable rate hahah!

To be honest, scoring some gear at record low $ was a foresight investment: stack of boards and a stack of shoes to skate through bought at 50-70% of made it less expensive.  Also easier to swap earlier than probably necessary. I do my best to ride all parts to dust though

Personally, I have a large bag of flip tricks and i tend to do a handful of them every skate session I have (warm up and cool down). Each session I push myself to land all of these to feel satisfied:
-kickflip
-fakie flip
-varial flip
-tre flip
-backside bigspin
-backside flip
-fakie tre flip
-half cab flip
-switch heel
-caballerial

If I'm feeling a flat ground week or a tech ledge week trying flip in or flip outs, then the boards and shoes can get toast pretty fast, even now at 28 and skating less often then 10 years ago.

I'm sure there are others that have to do certain tricks each session to keep them or feel happy and all that wear adds up quickly.

I am like that too, but my bag is shallow. However, I skate everyday and need to do several kickflips (over manhole, over tiny curb, down large curb, up regular curb), three halfway decent heelflips, and one decent fakie heel (alongside a plethora of less board consuming pop shoves and 180s).

Heelflips are the bane of my existence and take the most time of the session. I often primo and that‘s where my boards get chipped quickly. They become asymetrical and after 4-6 weeks I usually have to get rid of them. I pass some of them on to my nephew and godson so they get another lease of life, but they would not be of much use to anybody who skates seriously. Dudes even ask me why I keep riding them as long as I do because they look so battered.

Also skating in the winter with wet/frozen ground my board tends to feel heavy/waterlogged quickly.

I tend to skate better on a fresh board (not a fresh shape) so I try to pick up multiple identical boards at a time when they are on sale, provided they are suitable to my taste.

As for shoes I found out shoe goo does not extend the life of a shoe drastically so I stopped using it. I just skate them until there are holes, then move on. I skate Busenitzes and they are regularly on sale in some strange colorways so I pick those up.

[Uncle Flea]

Damn, skating must become an expensive hobby when you get a new deck and shoes once every 6 weeks. I don't know how you guys are going through decks that fast unless you're all jumping down stairs and gaps like you're 18.

I gotta cut out stuff like new clothes and deodorant lol. I just double down on soap.

The impossible kills all my boards. Gumby tail. When 7.75s was standard I stopped doing the trick so much especially down shit.

That's how you go though 3 boards a week. I had to quit doing real tricks for 12 years over baby boards. That I couldn't afford.

[pops]

Setup usually lasts around a year at least. I skate mostly transition and cruise around the streets so my trucks, wheels and grip wear down the most, deck not so much.

[OhioGuy]

The Sale Gear Thread ruined me. I just set up a new deck today cause I got tired of looking at the Toy Machine graphic on my last one. I skate twice a week but was injured between Nov-Dec. So I got like two months from the deck, could’ve stretched it out to Spring.

I have a few FA decks I want to try that I got for $30 each during that crazy sale. So I may start switching them out every month just cause (and give the old ones away).

Trucks: Forever
Wheels: 6 Months
Bearings: Forever
Shoes: 3 months (I lose traction before I put holes in them).

[modern life is war]

I almost never buy anything full price and have a skate credit card that I put shoes and decks on. I make biweekly payments of like 15 bucks and it's paid off by the time I buy something new. That way I'm staying fresh for what feels like less.

That's actually a great idea

[Easy Slider]

I have thought about this. I will start to recycle gear: once the decks are chipped I will rebuild them with liquid wood, regrip them if necessary (I have many of those free shop grips) and use them as curb and eventually as  rain set ups.

I will run an 8.38 on 144s on my street/flip set up, and my used 8.5s on 149s on the curb/rain set ups, as I have two sets of 149s, one is down to the axle (this will go on the rain set up) and one still good as new (for dry slappy sessions). I will run Spit 52s on all set ups, but on the rain set up it will be 25 year old wheels.

So ideally, a deck will have three stages of life: Street decks as long as it is crisp and unchipped, then as curb board and eventually as rain board.

How does that sound?