Random Questions for Shop Owners/Workers...

[Sedition]

(1) What is the most common deck size you sell?

(2) What is the most common wheel size?

[breezy_again]

(1) What is the most common deck size you sell?

(2) What is the most common wheel size?

used to be 8" and 52mm but now i think its 8.25" and 54mm, 8.5" and 56mm are creeping up on em though

[dustyassrocketswitchv]

8.25 and 149 and 54

[metchup]

How do you feel about gripping boards for people who are capable of doing it themselves

[InkkeACAB]

How do you feel about gripping boards for people who are capable of doing it themselves

let them do it

[mynameisnotjeff]

8.25 and 149 and 54

Damn, I really am basic haha

[Arto!Arto!WakeUp!]

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8.25 and 149 and 54

[close]

Damn, I really am basic haha

i'm not a set up nerd (e.g. i'm barely competent enough to set up a board), so i'm sure it's me that's wrong - but isn't 149 a bit too wide for an 8.25?

i ride an 8.25 with 144 and it seems exactly flush.

i got 55mm wheels instead of 54s this time and that extra 1mm is now taking all the blame for the fact i fucking suck.

on an adjacent topic, why do pros so often have their pro models be the actual size and shape they prefer when that's often quite specific?

if i was making royalties off board sales, i'd be asking for my pro model to be an 8.25 with a slightly steeper, wider nose cos that's what like 80% of people seem to skate. why would i want to miss out on a bunch of money just because when i actually skate i might like something a bit unusual. some of these older pros who grew up on toothpicks still have 7.75 or even 7.5 pro models - which i can't imagine sell well.

i needed to pick up a 7.5 recently and they only had one in the whole shop because no one ever bought them. the guy even said they only have the one token 7.5 'cos the boss rides that size and knows he can just take it for himself rather than having it sit forever...

feel like most times i look to pick up someone's pro model it's not my size so i can't...

on the opposite end of the spectrum, i was looking at krooked's current offering and it made me laugh to see that mark gonzalez's pro model is an 8.25 popsicle when you only ever see him on like lightening shaped longboards and shit.

[Sedition]

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8.25 and 149 and 54

[close]

Damn, I really am basic haha

[close]

i'm not a set up nerd (e.g. i'm barely competent enough to set up a board), so i'm sure it's me that's wrong - but isn't 149 a bit too wide for an 8.25?

i ride an 8.25 with 144 and it seems exactly flush.

i got 55mm wheels instead of 54s this time and that extra 1mm is now taking all the blame for the fact i fucking suck.

144s will put end of axle exactly flush, with (most) wheels sitting a tad inside the edge of the deck. 149s will have axle bolts sticking out a tad, with edge of wheels flush with the deck. It’s just a matter of choice.

EDIT: Also remember 8.25 decks were popular for quite awhile before proper 8.25 trucks were produced—you had to ride 149s or 139s.

[Sedition]

How do you feel about gripping boards for people who are capable of doing it themselves

When I worked at a shop, I hated doing that.

[Gleefull508]

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8.25 and 149 and 54

[close]

Damn, I really am basic haha

[close]

i'm not a set up nerd (e.g. i'm barely competent enough to set up a board), so i'm sure it's me that's wrong - but isn't 149 a bit too wide for an 8.25?

i ride an 8.25 with 144 and it seems exactly flush.

i got 55mm wheels instead of 54s this time and that extra 1mm is now taking all the blame for the fact i fucking suck.

on an adjacent topic, why do pros so often have their pro models be the actual size and shape they prefer when that's often quite specific?

if i was making royalties off board sales, i'd be asking for my pro model to be an 8.25 with a slightly steeper, wider nose cos that's what like 80% of people seem to skate. why would i want to miss out on a bunch of money just because when i actually skate i might like something a bit unusual. some of these older pros who grew up on toothpicks still have 7.75 or even 7.5 pro models - which i can't imagine sell well.

i needed to pick up a 7.5 recently and they only had one in the whole shop because no one ever bought them. the guy even said they only have the one token 7.5 'cos the boss rides that size and knows he can just take it for himself rather than having it sit forever...

feel like most times i look to pick up someone's pro model it's not my size so i can't...

on the opposite end of the spectrum, i was looking at krooked's current offering and it made me laugh to see that mark gonzalez's pro model is an 8.25 popsicle when you only ever see him on like lightening shaped longboards and shit.

I think the reason companies will make the pro models the size the skater actully skates is because say they do a drop and its a board for each pro and a couple team graphics, all the different sizes from the pros plus the team boards pretty much will hit all the different sizes so if someone rides a 8.38 they will get this guys pro and someone rides 8.5 they get this guys pro board. Gives people options and if they make every pro model in every size it will prob be way harder to sell them all

[kookdusoleil]

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How do you feel about gripping boards for people who are capable of doing it themselves

[close]

When I worked at a shop, I hated doing that.

Here’s the thing, I hate doing it too

[spooky electric]

How do you feel about gripping boards for people who are capable of doing it themselves

I've never minded, gripping boards is meditative and easy since the incorporating of perforations in the grip - it's almost impossible to fuck up.

What I do mind are fuckheads that want you to take their old grip off because they feel like they need new grip...
Or dealing with people's threaded/burred shit. Nothing fun about any of that.

[Sedition]

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How do you feel about gripping boards for people who are capable of doing it themselves

[close]

I've never minded, gripping boards is meditative and easy since the incorporating of perforations in the grip - it's almost impossible to fuck up.

What I do mind are fuckheads that want you to take their old grip off because they feel like they need new grip...

Oh, god. I had totally forgotten about •those• people. I used to tell them we put tape on, but do not take it off, so, if you want it replaced, you have to remove it yourself.

[manysnakes]

One time I had a bad cut on my hand, so I asked the guy at the shop to grip it for me and I gave him $5. I felt like that was a decent deal.

[dstrytruitt]

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How do you feel about gripping boards for people who are capable of doing it themselves

[close]

When I worked at a shop, I hated doing that.

[close]

Here’s the thing, I hate doing it too

Managed a shop for a while years back and we’d teach a kid to grip once, maybe twice, but after that they were expected to do their own work. November/December holiday shopping parents having us set up board after board was when all the gripping took its toll on my fingers.

[Tireeedd]

move this to shoes and gear

[TheLurper]

2002-2008 answer:

7.75 decks
and 52mm wheels.

I had zero problem gripping boards for customers. However, no one on the team was allowed to have anyone else grip their board. If you're sponsored, you need to grip your own shit.

Re-grips were a nightmare. I'd charge a 5 dollar service fee.

Fun fact: I was fired from my first shop job cause I didn't know how to grip a board. Instead of letting me learn, dude had me do shit work for three days and then once the shit work was done, he told me there was no job and paid me w/a 50 dollar gift certificate for 3 8-hour shifts.

[144p]

Best selling size is 8.5 54mm wheels.
I don’t mind gripping boards. It’s good customer service. Always more than happy to teach someone how to do it but I have no Expectations that someone should do it. We’re a business, I wanna keep customers happy. Lots of new skaters, I’d rather have people happy to come back and talk skating vs being intimidated by some old head.
Every shop should do what they want, I try to encourage people to learn to grip a board, not bully them.

[Sedition]

Best selling size is 8.5 54mm wheels.
I don’t mind gripping boards. It’s good customer service. Always more than happy to teach someone how to do it but I have no Expectations that someone should do it. We’re a business, I wanna keep customers happy. Lots of new skaters, I’d rather have people happy to come back and talk skating vs being intimidated by some old head.
Every shop should do what they want, I try to encourage people to learn to grip a board, not bully them.

I loved teaching people how to grip a board. What I hated, was when some dude, whose been skating for years, is too lazy to do it himself. It's also a little weird to me, when you're an experienced skater, to let anyone else even touch your board for anything maintenance/set-up related.

[mynameisnotjeff]

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8.25 and 149 and 54

[close]

Damn, I really am basic haha

[close]

i'm not a set up nerd (e.g. i'm barely competent enough to set up a board), so i'm sure it's me that's wrong - but isn't 149 a bit too wide for an 8.25?

i ride an 8.25 with 144 and it seems exactly flush.

i got 55mm wheels instead of 54s this time and that extra 1mm is now taking all the blame for the fact i fucking suck.

[close]

144s will put end of axle exactly flush, with (most) wheels sitting a tad inside the edge of the deck. 149s will have axle bolts sticking out a tad, with edge of wheels flush with the deck. It’s just a matter of choice.

EDIT: Also remember 8.25 decks were popular for quite awhile before proper 8.25 trucks were produced—you had to ride 149s or 139s.

This is exactly why.
I also like skating 8.38s so 149s are my sweet spot.
May just jump on to 56mm just to shake things up

[GershonSweaty]

“Why don’t you see so many 7.75s anymore!? that’s what I used to skate”

Well you don’t anymore fuck off

[HeapsCool]

How do you afford rent?

[JugeL]

Would you rather poop out marble or pee out softball

[Nolliesmith]

How do you afford rent?

[Mbrimson88]

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How do you feel about gripping boards for people who are capable of doing it themselves

[close]

I've never minded, gripping boards is meditative and easy since the incorporating of perforations in the grip - it's almost impossible to fuck up.

What I do mind are fuckheads that want you to take their old grip off because they feel like they need new grip...

[close]

Oh, god. I had totally forgotten about •those• people. I used to tell them we put tape on, but do not take it off, so, if you want it replaced, you have to remove it yourself.

Best selling size is 8.5 54mm wheels.
I don’t mind gripping boards. It’s good customer service. Always more than happy to teach someone how to do it but I have no Expectations that someone should do it. We’re a business, I wanna keep customers happy. Lots of new skaters, I’d rather have people happy to come back and talk skating vs being intimidated by some old head.
Every shop should do what they want, I try to encourage people to learn to grip a board, not bully them.

I think the board size is creeping up from 8.25 to 8.38 and 8.5 now, as well as wheel size up from 52 or 53 mm to 54 mm and up.  Been having a lot of interest in the 8.6 to 8.75 sizes recently too, as well as the 58 to 60 mm wheels, but that is more just the bowl / pool / vert or other transition types who appreciate a bit more width of board and size of wheel.

Gripping boards is fun for me, so I don't have any issue doing it, sometimes even surprised when someone says they want to do it themselves, but that is the difference here - quite a few people that just take it with them and don't want it set up right away as well, compared to a lot of younger skaters who don't really know but do like to watch and see how it is done.


Thankfully not too many weird things, but occasionally someone will come in and want a board re gripped so usually I show them how to get the grip off if it doesn't look like it will come off in one clean sheet and they can deal with it from there.


As said, at the end of the day, it is about making people stoked on skateboards, so I do tend to help them a lot more and make sure their board works for them, more so than anything else.

[MetalAnkleMan]

What are some of the profit margins for gear? I'v heard shop decks make more $ than pro decks

[MOE SYZLAK]

8.5 & 54mm wheels
I’ll grip anyone’s board but I draw the line at custom grip jobs, that’s your own adventure and artistic expression. I’m also not re-gripping a board period, I tell them my re-gripping fee is $60 so you’re better off just buying a new deck 😉

[pool coping]

what do you do when you get bored? seems like there would be a lot of downtime working at a skate shop. sometimes i drive past my local and the dude who works there is out the front skating flat in the street hah. do you get annoyed at the skate vids playing all the time?

[Sedition]

what do you do when you get bored? seems like there would be a lot of downtime working at a skate shop. sometimes i drive past my local and the dude who works there is out the front skating flat in the street hah. do you get annoyed at the skate vids playing all the time?

I read many books while working at a shop.

[Bristol_Palin]

Do you ever think that someone was giving the duty of throwing Ray Liotta a surprise birthday party and hired a band and the band took the liberty of playing “my sharona” but instead of singing “my Sharona” they sang “ray liotta” in the same rhythm?