Will there be a „smaller“ Decks hype soon?

[SlapMcKracken]

Like from 8.25 back to 8?
What do you think?

Seeing a lot of people go down in deck size.
I just did go back to 8“ and I love it.
Don’t love that manny companies barely do those sizes anymore.

[notinternetfamous]

I think 8.25 will continue to be the industry choice of size and it's a good size if you wish to do all kinds of skating (transition, tech, handrails, etc.) on 1 set-up.

I think the smaller boards wave is lowkey upon us, but it's more of a personal preference thing. Not something that the vast majority is trending towards. It seems people want to to run bigger wheels and wider trucks. Mark Suciu is one that comes to mind, he was on 147's forever, but now he runs 148/149s with bigger/wider wheels. P.Rod also made the move to 8.25 a couple of years ago

[SlapMcKracken]

I think 8.25 will continue to be the industry choice of size and it's a good size if you wish to do all kinds of skating (transition, tech, handrails, etc.) on 1 set-up.

I think the smaller boards wave is lowkey upon us, but it's more of a personal preference thing. Not something that the vast majority is trending towards. It seems people want to to run bigger wheels and wider trucks. Mark Suciu is one that comes to mind, he was on 147's forever, but now he runs 148/149s with bigger/wider wheels. P.Rod also made the move to 8.25 a couple of years ago

Interesting that you mention p-rod, cause I just saw him saying he’s thinking about going back to smaller decks

[SneakySecrets]

I think 8.25 will continue to be the industry choice of size and it's a good size if you wish to do all kinds of skating (transition, tech, handrails, etc.) on 1 set-up.

I think the smaller boards wave is lowkey upon us, but it's more of a personal preference thing. Not something that the vast majority is trending towards. It seems people want to to run bigger wheels and wider trucks. Mark Suciu is one that comes to mind, he was on 147's forever, but now he runs 148/149s with bigger/wider wheels. P.Rod also made the move to 8.25 a couple of years ago

I think this is a pretty accurate assessment.

I personally grew up on 7.75 and currently skate 8.25.  I’ve tried sizing down and haven’t found the benefits to be worth the reduced comfort and stability.

That being said, I’m sure if I was forced to ride a smaller board, I’d get used to it after a few weeks and be just fine.

[dr.prestige]

I would not be surprised, and I hope so, if only that board companies start putting out a variety of shapes in the 7.5-8 range and not just a 7.5, 7.75 and 8 and leave it at that. I've been craving a 7.86 as of late.

[el chino]

does anybody make scaled boards? like a 22 x 8.5 with a proper wheel base and shit?

[texasplant]

does anybody make scaled boards? like a 22 x 8.5 with a proper wheel base and shit?

This is something DLX has started messing around with, they had their SE shapes that were fuller with a shorter wheelbase, but they’ve just started shrinking length and wheelbase on a lot of their popular shapes. I think this is what we’re going to see a lot more of, moreso than narrower boards.

[sle_epy]

I started with a standard 8.5 x 32 X 14ish three years ago or so. My board size has been slowly shrinking since then. At this point I'm riding a 7.75 x 31.75 x 14. I'd like to try a 7.75 x 31 x 13.5 and I think it's possible that's the ideal size for me. When I went to a shorter, skinnier deck everything got a lot easier for me. I'm short and I wear a size 8.5 or 9 so it looks proportional and I feel like I have enough to land on.

[bob george]

i grew up on 7.75 until one day when i walked into a shop in the city i had just moved to and was like, "where are your 7.75s" and they didn't exactly laugh at me or anything, but you could tell it was just not a thing anymore, so I moved up to an 8. I skated them for a few years, and then I kept noticing whenever I'd see pros talking about their boards that they seemed to be on 8.125s, so I decided to try that and got used to it. then i fell on hard times and had run out of old boards to skate, but had always owned an 8.5 setup for this fantasy of skating vert (never really worked out) so I rode that and enjoyed it but it was definitely too big for me, just hard work, but nice to have so much room - so then when i finally could buy shit again i got an 8.25 and some 149s and it's kind of perfect (for me obviously).

i think i'll always have a nostalgic niggling about maybe getting a smaller setup again, but i think i've found my goldilocks board.

[rawbertson.]

I think Smaller Wheelbase is where the hype is going to be (hopefully)
I am finding now it is actually the wheelbase that I am more sensitive towards than the width of the board. i have an 8" setup with Ventures and it is my preferred setup for flat ground 100%. i wouldnt change anything about that. i just dont really skate that mcuh flat ground anymore and i find bigger setups are a bit better for grinds so I have just been skating those more.

[Allen.]

I hope not. I need more access to 8.75’s

[S.]

I see a lot of 8 inch decks on sale, so I would say no.

I think the most popular size in my area is 8.25. My personal sweet spot right now is 8.125*32. Not a lot of companies offer those specs right now. Only anti hero and some dwindle brands.

[GumOnMyGrip]

Saw where some of the new Tactics shop decks are 8,25 x 29.

Why. Seriously, why?

[manysnakes]

I moved to an 8”, mostly. I can skate an 8 to an 8.25” with no real difference in effort. Hold the two decks next to ones another and actually notice just how minimal is the difference. All other things being equal, I’ll take the narrower, lighter deck. 

Andrew Reynolds posted his current 7.75” setup on his Instagram stories last week. He’s always stayed on narrow decks, but I think there’s probably something to more people sizing down.

[Sila]

I moved to an 8”, mostly. I can skate an 8 to an 8.25” with no real difference in effort. Hold the two decks next to ones another and actually notice just how minimal is the difference. All other things being equal, I’ll take the narrower, lighter deck. 

Andrew Reynolds posted his current 7.75” setup on his Instagram stories last week. He’s always stayed on narrow decks, but I think there’s probably something to more people sizing down.

He's been 8.25-8.5 for a while as he said on the Nine Club, but always magic carpeting. Keen to see his 7.75 clips though

[Yakusoku2]

Having big feet (11.5 or 12 US) I can’t see myself riding a 7.75 or even a 8.25. I’ve rode 8” decks for the longest time and that’s because I never cared about inches and always bought the same deck type. When I started to skate again I bought a 10” deck and it felt so confortable having that room… then went don’t a little bit to 9” football shapes and now 8.5” popsicle. I think this is my perfect balance between weight and room for my feet.

[rawbertson.]

Expand Quote

I moved to an 8”, mostly. I can skate an 8 to an 8.25” with no real difference in effort. Hold the two decks next to ones another and actually notice just how minimal is the difference. All other things being equal, I’ll take the narrower, lighter deck. 

Andrew Reynolds posted his current 7.75” setup on his Instagram stories last week. He’s always stayed on narrow decks, but I think there’s probably something to more people sizing down.

[close]

He's been 8.25-8.5 for a while as he said on the Nine Club, but always magic carpeting. Keen to see his 7.75 clips though

he said he ended up bringing the trucks to the same width as the deck actually in the end. he experimented with it and thought it felt weird (unless maybe he just went from like a 139 up to a 144 like i do on a 8.5")

[switchfakie]

i hope not bc i dont see any benefit

i genuinely believe there is no such thing as smaller boards flipping easier due to the width, the wheelbase is what makes the difference. ive kickflipped & heelflipped a 9.75 with a 14 inch wheelbase and my buddy treflipped it

if your wheelbase is 14-14.25, your board will always feel small, no matter how wide it is (but length does matter tho). it gives you the benefit of having a wide board (8.5+) and not have to sacrifice anything while gaining extra landing space for your feet

[mj23]

I always figured a big part of the reason for 7.75 decks back in the day was that the target consumer was a teenager or younger. They’re small people and they want light boards to fling around. The more grown adults ride skateboards the more they want something stable, and the more their adult strength allows them to pop a larger board. My guess would be that we see both smaller and larger sizes equally well represented in the future.

[rawbertson.]

DGK seems to be offering boat loads of small boards still. almost the entire team rides ~8" sizes. They even have a bunch of 7.8" + 7.9" pro models. i dont think you want to be going smaller than that unless you are in kids shoe sizes.

[yghartsyrt]

I hope not. I need more access to 8.75’s

This

[GBLange]

i hope not bc i dont see any benefit

i genuinely believe there is no such thing as smaller boards flipping easier due to the width, the wheelbase is what makes the difference. ive kickflipped & heelflipped a 9.75 with a 14 inch wheelbase and my buddy treflipped it

if your wheelbase is 14-14.25, your board will always feel small, no matter how wide it is (but length does matter tho). it gives you the benefit of having a wide board (8.5+) and not have to sacrifice anything while gaining extra landing space for your feet

this

[logjammin]

I’ve sized down to an 8 a few times last few years being a tranny/slappy type. It’s doable but not ideal. I just want more options for small wheelbases. 8.2-8.5 wide, with 13.75-14.25 MAX wheelbase. Tired of every rad board I see with a desired width having the same boring 14.5 wheelbase.

[Allen.]

Expand Quote

I hope not. I need more access to 8.75’s

[close]

This

I no longer stand behind this quote and have slowly worked my way back to 8.5’s. Godspeed fellow traveler.

[goodatmeth]

Just watched the WKND video and Nikolai Piombo might just influence some people to go smaller. No idea what his actual setup is but it looked tiny

[BurgerCop]

Having big feet (11.5 or 12 US) I can’t see myself riding a 7.75 or even a 8.25.

I wear a US 12 and I skate 8.0 exclusively.

I like narrower decks because I do most of my flip tricks with my front foot basically in ollie position. That's just how I like to do them. The wider the board gets, I feel like I have to hang my foot off the side of the deck more, and I don't like that.

I think more people should give 7.75 to 8" decks another shot, but one problem is most people are rolling around on 149 trucks and probably don't want to go buy a new set of 147s (139 for Indy) for a deck experiment.

[WoodRat]

I started skating on the 10 inch wide boards of the 80's, but have ridden 8 inch boards since the OG Plan B days. As long as 48mm wheels don't become the norm again...I'm good!

[camel filters]

All I can say is that I started landing a bunch more tricks and diversifying my spots when I switched up to 8.25 from 7.75 back int he day and I will never go back. Also visually, footage of me on anythiing below an 8.25 just looks goofy (size 10.5 shoe). I get we were all ok with seeing it back in the day but HD cameras kinda made that clown shoe look more apparent these days.

[BurgerCop]

All I can say is that I started landing a bunch more tricks and diversifying my spots when I switched up to 8.25 from 7.75 back int he day and I will never go back. Also visually, footage of me on anythiing below an 8.25 just looks goofy (size 10.5 shoe). I get we were all ok with seeing it back in the day but HD cameras kinda made that clown shoe look more apparent these days.

I've never once in my whole life watched a video and noticed or thought "this guy's feet are too big for his board", and I've never heard anyone say it outside of SLAP forums or gifted hater videos. That's a very niche level of scrutiny.
And I can't think of any situation where adding .25" to my deck would be the difference between skating a spot or not.

[radcunt]

7.0 and tight jeans. The pendulum is ever swinging.