How Has Your Gear Evolved?

[Cthulhu!]

Not counting the much larger curb/park setup...

I used to go for the smaller boards. 7.5 maybe 7.75 little wheels and all of that. Then I stayed with an 8 for ages. Cautiously I would try an 8.25 once in a while, then go up wider. But I'd miss a kickflip one day and that would send me straight into a panic. What if I am becoming OLD? Run back and setup a skinny board. I can still flip that one.

Lately, I've bumped it back up. 8.38, and importantly, with standard 149 Indies. It feels great. Comfortably roomy, but not too wide. Or too long. I had this idea in my head that a tiny low board would help with my pop, as I am in fact becoming an old person. I think I was wrong. I skated 56mm wheels recently and it did require a bit of effort and oomph on my part. To actually crouch down and snap. I liked it much more than I thought I would. Felt confident even. But I wanted the trucks a little looser, as usual. Kinda wheelbitey. I've re-settled (again) on Spits 54mm. This will be my setup for the foreseeable future!

[Too Frank To Fred]

Sort of off topic, but what’s the deal with Pepper? Not tried it, but noticed it gaining traction (no pun intended).

I agree with Beach Chicken. I love the Pepper Galaxy grip. been on the same board most of the winter. Tail is razored, board is mushy but the grip tape still looks and feels new. Still sparkles. Only downside is, it might be a little too grippy for my taste when brand new but I just avoid the new shoe, new grip combo as much as  I can. 

[Sedition]

It's between Jessup and Mob. Easier to apply than Mob, doesn't have that weird shiny fray on the edges Jessup gets after a while. Lasts really long. Basically perfect middle ground.

Noted, and thank you!

[The real veganshawn]

Since 1985 I've ridden decks ranging from 10 x 30 to 7.5 x 32 Currently riding a few different decks, 9.5 x 32, 10 x 30, 10.25 x 32 ,8.75 x 32 and 6 x 27.5 being my main decks

[Coffee]

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Deck from 8” popsicle to 8.75” symmetrical egg.

Trucks 8” Venture to Thunder to 8.5 Indy standard to 8.5 Slappy ST1 Hollow

54mm Spitfire classics to 52mm Classics back to 54mm

Bones Swiss always.

Jessup to Mob to Pepper back to Mob

Lakai vulcs to New Balance cups.

[close]

Curious what made you go back to mob from pepper?

Decks last me a ridiculously long time and after a week of skating Pepper grip it had less grit left than the Mob on the previous deck I had skated for 6 months. It wasn’t a crap as Jessup, I would ride it again if I couldn’t get Mob.

[logjammin]

short wheelbase and sacred geometry. if it ain't the combo of 13.75-14" WB with some ace/stage 4's, I don't even wanna ride it. I need hair trigger turning and deep carves.

[marcusbutler]

Recent change that affected me for the better was switching from mob to jessup. Something so simple but changed my skating. Feels broken in with new shoes and new board. And I swear I get another week or two out of my shoes and board with the less gritty grip. Also was stuck on blazer gt for the longest time. Loved that shoe. But needed some more under my foot. Been through I don't know how many NB#440's. V1's and the v2's. New favorite.

[j....soy.....]

I went from kinda not caring to caring....then caring less.....

[Paco Supreme]

The biggest change is figuring out that going from 7.9 inch boards to 8 inch boards isn’t a step up.

But I was a dumb kid.


I took a weird path to what i have in front of me as the most standard looking skateboard I think I’ve ever ridden.

I used to skate zip zingers exclusively, don’t really know why. I became known for it at the shop I went to. Then I moved onto those creature punk point cruiser things for a bit, tried a girl power slide board that I think was 9 inch at the widest.

I bit hard into Welcomes weird shapes and misfit skating. That’s when I joined here, I was gifted a habitat 8.4 for Christmas a good few years back by a cousin and realised popsicle boards and my slowing down of skating in general is where I’m at.

Today I have an 8.5 popsicle DSM board, some big old stable Indy’s and I’m trying classics again after years on radials.

It looks fun and it skates well.

[Bristol_Palin]

10 years ago I was going back and forth between skating shaped boards and popsicles on and off on indy 149s and Mike Anderson Spitfire Wides. Loved that wheel. What a great wheel. I had skated a few polar p1 shapes. I don't know if they make it anymore but it was like 8.75 at the widest with a rounded nose and a square tail. I liked that board. I also had this early shaped 917 that was just a picture of a cheeseburger. I'm pretty sure it was a homage to Jason Lee. That was an amazing shape. I loved skating that board. Then I went to anything 8.25-8.5 (Mostly skating 8.375ish) on 149s and F4s. Skated a bunch of quasi and passport and would have a shaped cruiser on the side for messing around as well. I ended up just always going back to the quasi 8.5 proto and decided it was the perfect board.

Then about 5 years ago, I decided I'd only skate boxy 8.5x32.125x14.25 ps six boards on 5.8 venture with 58 mm spitfire F4s. I skated a lot of quasi, gx1000 and snack boards - I did skate 2 bbs boards one hockey that was a pretty similar shape and bought a FA with the same dimensions but only skated it once because I thought it was too round then went back to ps six brands. I've been skating nothing but 58 mm OG classic shapes up until the 93a came out and started skating those.

Shoewise - about 10 years ago I skated a bunch of the Cory Kennedy nike shoe and Adidas shell toes. Skated a good amount of GT Blazer lows.

I tried skating a pair of Tiago 1010s right when they came out (the Guy homage color way - white and blue) and they skated good but looked very silly on me. I wore them with light colored wrangler jeans and I thought it might gave Tiago vibes but I sort of looked like my wife's uncle John - just quintessential dad vibes. I couldn't pull them off so about 3 days into skating them I bought a pair of classic half cabs and told myself I wouldn't skate anything but half cabs ever again. The skate half cabs came out soon after and I had a friend gift me a pair. I have just been skating half cabs since.

some nice nb shoes have came out since but I'm reluctant to stray from the formula. I did pick up a pair of dunk lows a few months back but they are just an occasional chilling shoe.

[oldfart]

I used to avoid the Nike swoosh like the plague but now that I’m old I’ve come around to the fact that dunks are just the most comfortable and last like three times as long as my vans would

Amen. Instead of Dunk I am going for GT low though.
Wheels: nothing but Spitfire F4s, bearings: nothing but SWISS, yes they are expensive but last way longer than anything else I skated in 2 decades... 

[Enrico Pallazzo]

Nope, still wearing Reynolds 3s with tight KR3W jeans and the full zip hoodie to match.

8.75-9 the last decade, with occasional shaped boards or forays into 8.5. Indy or Ace, F4s.

Prior to that I was on 8.38-8.5 and exclusively Indy and Bones STF.

[Sedition]

This thread has been a cool read. Thanks to everyone who chimed-in.

[back smith]

I've got one more... size of the quiver.

Ten years ago I had two boards, an 8 and a 9.

Now I have twelve, ranging from 7.5 to 10. Thirteen if the longboard counts.

[nurkdurk]

This is more madness than evolution with the giant break in my skating.

Went through all the industry trends from 89 to mid 90s. 38mm bb wheels being the absolute dumbest, at least I learned how to push hard af.

Would switch out between “wide” 8” decks to 7.5 in the mid 90s. Settled on loving the Kalis AWS shape in late 90s, think it was 7.625 with a short wheelbase and steep kicks. Indy’s to grind crusty pnw ledges (the rocks down the Seattle central double set were my claim to fame). 52-53mm wheels. I loved tre flips on this set up, but hated frontside flips. Would keep a Howard girl deck in the trunk and swap if I was at a spot I wanted to film frontside flips (madness started early).

I destroyed my right ankle in 2000, cut back on skating and flip tricks severely. Went up to a 7.75 and 54mm wheels. Frequency of skating was dropping to a couple times per year.

2011 was given an 8” lib tech, that construction was wild. Massive magic carpet.
Totally quit shortly after. One day in 2020, then another four year break.


July 24, wife wants to learn how to skate. With two set ups I’ve skated 7.75-9.5 with wb from 13.785-14.75. On Indy’s, aces, ventures, and thunders in that time. Original narrow stf bones, 55 f4 99 classics, 56 99 og classics, 54 radial 93, 57 radial 93. I’m just out here trying to personally pay the rent for 35th ave.

14.125-14.25 seems to be my happy place for wb.
8.38-8.5 width is nice and roomy for ledge skating, without being too heavy. honestly don’t see myself relearning a lot of flip tricks in my mid 40s anyway.

Light trucks are good, the difference in effort to pop going to hollow light thunders from standard indys was huge.

I like the sound and feedback of harder wheels skating ledges and even more so on manual pads. The 93s were faster at my local by a good margin, but the rebound screwed with manuals. Quiet sound screwed with my head.
Narrow wheels only.

Went from reds to Swiss 6 because I’d rather clean and relube now than fill a landfill. I think they’re way cheaper in the long run.

[BeachChicken]

I had that same Kalis shape! It was 7.46 or 7.625 (depended what they labeled it but they were all 7.5) with mellower concave and steeper kicks. Skated great with 7.5" Venture Lo and 50-51s. I probably learned just about every flip trick on that setup that I've ever learned. We were on a family road trip and were in Utah and a shop was going out of business and I got 5 of the Love Park graphic for $100. I waxed up a ledge outside of my hotel in Bryce Canyon and did like 2 hrs of noseslides and stained the ledge red. When I went back in 2014 the ledge was still a faint red.

[Plan9Customs]

Pretty sure that was his 9 club interview(iirc the Covid one) he mentioned that.

[nurkdurk]

I had that same Kalis shape! It was 7.46 or 7.625 (depended what they labeled it but they were all 7.5) with mellower concave and steeper kicks. Skated great with 7.5" Venture Lo and 50-51s. I probably learned just about every flip trick on that setup that I've ever learned.

Great shape, short decks for tre flips are incredible. I learned all my switch flip tricks on that shape too. Best hard flips too

Here is gem from 99, unlaced pink camo vans that appeared in my trunk while working the outlet mall store in North Bend. second pic shows the green dip exp.

Now I have a closet full of 600s, great minds think alike

[BeachChicken]

Aight so closet full of 600s vs stashing behind the climbing wall same addiction different way of hiding it.

I was trying to find a pic of that green EXP deck for years! I had that with blue Ventures and it was one of my favorite setups. Photo had just come out and I learned shifties on it like Tim O and thought that was going to be it for me- my niche in skating. Unfortunately they weren't high or over anything cool.

[Mbrimson88]

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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...

[close]

Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots?

[close]

I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.

It was because he preferred the whiter wheels that came in the original formula, rather than the natural colour that Formula Four had.

Looks like the 54 mm Classics for the most part - that silver / black swirl print is easy to see.

[Sedition]

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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...

[close]

Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots?

[close]

I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.

[close]

It was because he preferred the whiter wheels that came in the original formula, rather than the natural colour that Formula Four had.

Looks like the 54 mm Classics for the most part - that silver / black swirl print is easy to see.

When F4 came out, I didn’t like the off-white color. Now I hate the pure white. Funny how things change.

[Mbrimson88]

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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...

[close]

Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots?

[close]

I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.

[close]

It was because he preferred the whiter wheels that came in the original formula, rather than the natural colour that Formula Four had.

Looks like the 54 mm Classics for the most part - that silver / black swirl print is easy to see.

[close]

When F4 came out, I didn’t like the off-white color. Now I hate the pure white. Funny how things change.

Ha yeah, it is more in the performance than the look for me, but I can see how it would bug some people to no end.

Different forms of OCD or what I can deal with vs what I can't deal with.

I still have a good number of the original formula wheels on boards, which still go ok, but I do feel like they are somewhat limiting in certain situations.  The much older originals, which are now quite yellowed skate way better than the newer white ones, so that kind of defeats the purpose of having white wheels anyway.

[Sloppy Krooks]

My trucks are a bit looser and I enjoy turning more. That’s about it.

Oh, and after slowly going from 8-10 inches in the last 15 years, I always thought it would be hard to go back to narrower decks, but I’m comfy on a 8.75

[SUPREMENECKPROTECTOR]

10 years ago i was really into flat boards between 8 and 8.25 and didn´t care about wheelbase at all. Nowadays i will skate any board in any shape between 8 and 8.5 while preferring wider boards with short wheelbase but it´s not a deal breaker if the wheelbase is on the longer side. I realized i can get used to pretty much anything, it just takes some adjusting on my part. I also started to like boards with shovel noses because of my weak nollie/switch pop but also not particularly looking for them. I buy mostly online so i can´t be to picky except for the boards being from generator. Shoutout to the woodshop thread and the dudes keeping it up to date.

I experimented with different wheel duros and shapes and in the end landed on 99 duro classics which offer everything i want from a wheel. Also had a short stint on thunders but could not get them to work because i am too used to the turn on aces.

Guess the only constant have been bones swiss because every other bearing is worthless.

[Hyliannightmare]

The only big change has been going from blanks to whatever I find in the sale thread, big shoutout to that thread

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...

[close]

Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots?

[close]

I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.

Puleo is also anti F4

[Pbn_jake]

10 years ago I was going back and forth between skating shaped boards and popsicles on and off on indy 149s and Mike Anderson Spitfire Wides. Loved that wheel. What a great wheel. I had skated a few polar p1 shapes. I don't know if they make it anymore but it was like 8.75 at the widest with a rounded nose and a square tail. I liked that board. I also had this early shaped 917 that was just a picture of a cheeseburger. I'm pretty sure it was a homage to Jason Lee. That was an amazing shape. I loved skating that board. Then I went to anything 8.25-8.5 (Mostly skating 8.375ish) on 149s and F4s. Skated a bunch of quasi and passport and would have a shaped cruiser on the side for messing around as well. I ended up just always going back to the quasi 8.5 proto and decided it was the perfect board.

Then about 5 years ago, I decided I'd only skate boxy 8.5x32.125x14.25 ps six boards on 5.8 venture with 58 mm spitfire F4s. I skated a lot of quasi, gx1000 and snack boards - I did skate 2 bbs boards one hockey that was a pretty similar shape and bought a FA with the same dimensions but only skated it once because I thought it was too round then went back to ps six brands. I've been skating nothing but 58 mm OG classic shapes up until the 93a came out and started skating those.

Shoewise - about 10 years ago I skated a bunch of the Cory Kennedy nike shoe and Adidas shell toes. Skated a good amount of GT Blazer lows.

I tried skating a pair of Tiago 1010s right when they came out (the Guy homage color way - white and blue) and they skated good but looked very silly on me. I wore them with light colored wrangler jeans and I thought it might gave Tiago vibes but I sort of looked like my wife's uncle John - just quintessential dad vibes. I couldn't pull them off so about 3 days into skating them I bought a pair of classic half cabs and told myself I wouldn't skate anything but half cabs ever again. The skate half cabs came out soon after and I had a friend gift me a pair. I have just been skating half cabs since.

some nice nb shoes have came out since but I'm reluctant to stray from the formula. I did pick up a pair of dunk lows a few months back but they are just an occasional chilling shoe.

I ran the manderson wheel constantly, would love a F4 update

[sagginbaggies]

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...I prefer the standard formula wheels to F4...

[close]

Wow. That's a rare bird. I have to ask, what do you like better about the standard formula? Flat spots?

[close]

I’m pretty sure BA rides standard formula sometimes too for a reason I can’t remember. I swear I saw some video of him talking about it, if anyone knows what that was from please lmk because now I’m curious again.

[close]

Puleo is also anti F4

Chico and Drehobl too. A lot of older pros.

[BeachChicken]

I've seen Chico skate countless times and he was always on 51 or 52 F4 classics

[ferguu]

I used to skate cranked down Krux K4's. Like can't turn kind of cranked down. Now I skate loosey goosey Ace 44's. IDK what I was thinking!!! I think it was for no-complies but goddamn what a sacrifice to make.