Unpopular Gear Opinion Thread 2025

[Rick Trapasso]

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All these street dudes riding wheels 58mm+ are lying to themselves.

[close]

This gets brought up quite often, so let's talk about it. Why are you so confident that you know better what guys and gals like Jeff Carlyle, T-Funk, and Nelly should skate than they themselves do?

Fair point. I should've been more specific.

All these street dudes skating 58mm+ wheels that aren't skating big shit at mach 10 are lying to themselves.

Nelly is rad, but she would be fine on 54-56mm.



The whole big pants, tiny shirt, and large black square wheels look can get bent. IDC who you are, just stop, please.

[scab]

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All these street dudes riding wheels 58mm+ are lying to themselves.

[close]

This gets brought up quite often, so let's talk about it. Why are you so confident that you know better what guys and gals like Jeff Carlyle, T-Funk, and Nelly should skate than they themselves do?

[close]

Fair point. I should've been more specific.

All these street dudes skating 58mm+ wheels that aren't skating big shit at mach 10 are lying to themselves.

Nelly is rad, but she would be fine on 54-56mm.



The whole big pants, tiny shirt, and large black square wheels look can get bent. IDC who you are, just stop, please.

I see where you're coming from, and I agree that most "normal" skaters don't need such big wheels to skate the way they skate. On the flip side, most people also don't need small wheels to skate the way they skate... So we're all just lying to ourselves one way or another.

[neonbrown]

Wheelbase is not nearly as important as people make it out to be

Like the modern obsession with the length of bicycle cranks, it really only matters if you have extremely short or long femurs. Most people in the mean are fine not thinking about it.

[skatebruh]

A twin shape deck makes the board feel like it's always backwards.

[moonordie]

This is a good thread...

Indys are sooooo boring.

People that complain about ripping shoelaces are weird.

People that only skate one brand of hardware are weird.

Board dimensions do matter, but not much. You could easily skate a 2x4 if you always skated a 2x4. Does that make sense?

Flatspots aren't real.

2 bolts for each truck is fine.

Most insoles that come in shoes are absolutely terrible. Vans pop cush might be the only exception.

Griptape brand is actually really important.

There should be more coloured wheels, not just white and occasionally black.

Any carbon fiber gimmick (VX, Flight, DBX, Impact etc.) is a straight up lie. The only one that is true is the one for Girl boards I forget what it's called. (Pop Secret?)

Similarly, dragon wheels and the like are a scam. They figured out a way to sell cruiser board wheels to street skaters at a higher markup.

The new Andrew Reynolds shoe for NB is HIDEOUS! WTF are those colourways?! NB shoes in general have got to be the ugliest skate shoe brand out there. IDK why but the idea of having 1 letter on the side of a shoe is so dumb to me. My brain says 'At least finish the sentence'.

The NHS board brands are the worst decks I have ever had the misfortune of skating. IDK what woodshop they are but goddamn they suck. Santa Cruz especially.

Amongst many, many others...

You're pretty much dead wrong in like 80% of what you said. Either that or you don't skate that much or for that long.

[BeachChicken]

I hate Frankie Villani footage because of his egg shaped deck. Same with Kyonosuke. Also dislike Ace trucks in footage.

[roba]

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no way you've been skating for longer than 6 months lol

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I don't wanna come across as insanely defensive, but I have been skatin a lil while now, I started in Covid. I guess compared to some of the fogeys on here I am like a baby haha. I've always thought I might be the youngest here.

What makes you say that tho? I didn't even know what flatspots or board dimensions were in my first six months lmao.

work is very slow today, i wrote a longer post at first and tried to keep it more concise but it didn't really help

i agree about nb (people on here glaze the brand because some employees log on sometimes) and nhs

indy: i'm not a fan of em, but i don't know what you mean that indy is boring. image wise? ace's marketing is just as corny. design wise? have you ever seen thunders? they look like walmart trucks, no flair at all.

ripped laces: ripped shoelaces suck and more shoes should implement lace savers like dunks or old emerica hsus

hardware: having a preferred brand of bolts is fine, some put out videos and have teams. i'll take the shake junts or bronzes over mini-logos all day.

board dimensions: i'm not tryna prove a point when i'm skating, i just want to have fun and enjoy myself. if i have a shape i like i'm not gonna buy something totally different next time. obviously some people are way too extreme about that, but if i'm skating a 14.25wb i'm not gonna cop a 15 inch wb next time just because "it doesn't matter", i already know it's not gonna work for me. if 2x4 were all it took to skate then boards wouldn't have evolved from that.

flatspots: flatspots are very real and earned me my first nickname because my board was so fucking loud with them. i think i told that whole story on here before. i guess if you started around covid then you might not know what flatspots used to look like before the stf/spf/f4 revolution, but trust me, that shit sucked.

2 bolts: i had a bolt break with only 2 left on a truck and had a nasty ass slam because the truck spun around under me. keeping all 8 since.

insoles: i hate pop cush but that's just me. i think ultracush was better, currently i like lrab insoles the best. sole tech had some good shit too, i was given some maranas last year and they had a decent insole, but i sold them shits so idk how it performed. felt better than popcush when i tried em on though.

grip: i don't think grip matters that much but maybe it does on transition, i wouldn't know. fuck mob though

colored wheels: colored wheels have probably been around since the invention of the urethane wheel and they're still out there, just not as popular. my first set of good wheels was some bones 100s and every wheel was in a different color, there was a pink, a purple, a blue and a neon green. i'm p sure they still make those and a bunch of other shit. spitfire puts out swirls kinda often too.

tech boards: impact boards def worked, p2 was good too. i haven't tried the ones that cost 2x the price of a normal board, i believe impacts/p2s were like 5-10 bucks more, at least over here. those boards weren't unbreakable, but they did keep their pop/shape longer for sure.

soft street wheels: again, if you started around covid then you probably have little experience with older 90-95a wheels, but they wouldn't slide at all. what dragons/soft sliders brought to the table is on par with what f4s were like back when they first came out, they were unlike anything else available on the market at the time. cruiser wheels are totally different.


tldr: i felt like most of your points were pretty oblivious which i figured was caused by lack of experience

[TwisT]

Canvas shoes skate better than suede and are the optimal choice if you are buying your shoe on performance alone.

[pizzafliptofakie]

I think people gave way too much benefit of the doubt to Lurpiv because Oski is "cool" and if anybody else put out such a dysfunctional truck at a premium price that they would forever be seen as a kook.

Wheelbase does matter, but I think people exaggerate its importance. A lot of times it's just user error.

Piggybacking on user error, it is extremely uncomfortable listening to somebody blame their gear for a trick that we all know they cannot do to begin with. Plz just have a little humility. I suck at 360 flips regardless of my board. It's my fault and that's fine.

The hangars on Ventures remind me of Tinker Toys.

I'm sure these new softer wheels are helpful with super crusty spots, but I think more often than not standard durometer wheels will do ya just fine if you take an extra push or two. Half the videos I saw glazing Dragon Wheels were filmed at skateparks anyway.

I got a lot of heat for this before, but I think hoarding gear is weird. I'm not talking about collectors or just having a few extra decks on ice. I'm talking having upwards of 20 boards on hand because you found a good deal online. Not even sponsored skaters I know keep that many at once. Skate your boards just a lil longer, it builds character.

[ferguu]

tldr: i felt like most of your points were pretty oblivious which i figured was caused by lack of experience

Now I really feel like I'm living on a different planet... I'm wary to create a back-and-forth of monster length posts so I'll keep it brief and try and be final.

-I say Indy is boring because they're like the jack of all trades master of none. If I see someone on Indys IDK what to think of them, whereas other truck brands have a 'type' y'know? I think this is reflected in their team.

-I've probably ripped about 2 laces in my life. And I skate Authentics and Old Skools. I guess I have a weird flick?

-IDK man what makes one bolt better than another? If I snapped an indy bolt for example, I wouldn't swear off indy bolts for life, I'd just assume that was a dud bolt. Reminds me of those Ace hollow bolts. Like wtf??? 3 grams savings.

-I think the main thing about dimensions is consistency. Obviously not ideal to skate a 2x4 because you're limited in what you can do, but it is so annoying when ppl say shit like 'should i swap to so and so board to get my kickflips back' it's like, bro that is 1/8th of an inch just get gud.

-Yea ur definitely right about not getting flatspots, I'm lucky enough to have basically only skated formula fours since I started. My first board's wheels were hollow and I think I flat spotted them until they literally cracked open. That was my only experience.

-I've got a friend who exclusively skates 2 bolts AND he grips over them. No clue why. He's been doin it for like 2 years tho and nothing has ever happened...

-I skated last resort when they first came out, and goddamn were those insoles terrible. I know they're better now but haven't toe-tasted them. I mostly put this one because of the horrendous dunk insoles that I suffered with for about 5 months. I thought the air pocket would be good, but it mushed and my heels are still mad at me haha.

-Exactly man! You get used to the way a grip should feel and it's so annoying when it's too grippy / not grippy enough.

-Man you just never see coloured wheels. Like on anybody's board or for sale anywhere. I dye all my spitfires because white wheels are boring!

-I used to keep all my old boards under my bed, until I realised that was dumb. So I went to throw them all in the bin but they didn't fit so I started curb stomping them. VX's and flights literally snapped easier then regular decks, but I could not get the pop secret to even bend. Also one time I was skating a VX and it felt like soggy shit, so i snapped it with one stomp and I couldn't even find the carbon layer. Maybe I got a fake one?? IDK... It was definitely the worst board I ever skated. I can't stress enough that it literally snapped easier than a regular board. I was like 'wtf is the point of the extra money then?'

-I've got 2 friends with dragons, and I've tried their boards. IDK if it's cause theyre ~1 year old, but those mfers still don't slide! They make the board feel so heavy and disconnected and weird and no thanks. Ur right again I probably just haven't been around long enough. I used to skate 78a OJ's and they slid better than dragons...

I guess I've had pretty weird experiences in my skate career compared to you guys? All of my opinions are anecdotal as hell...

You're pretty much dead wrong in like 80% of what you said. Either that or you don't skate that much or for that long.

Hurtful! I've pretty much skated every single day since I started. When I was 14 I skated in the rain because I didn't know any better and my bearings were completely fucked the next day. I cried when I realised I couldn't skate anymore! Some kind of addiction...

[neonbrown]

I can show you a wheel on which I hit a pebble and a spot on said wheel became flat. That wheel now has a flat spot.

[Osage]

 I used to skate 78a OJ's and they slid better than dragons...

 
  No they didn't.

[ferguu]

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 I used to skate 78a OJ's and they slid better than dragons...

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  No they didn't.

ur right they were 87 and they slid terribly i misremembered

[Barack Hussein]

Ace are not ‘squirrely’ at all. The have a stable center and a predictable, progressive turn.

If you get them loose enough to turn, Indys feel way more squirrely. They feel like you are just teetering on the kingpin and pivot cup, and just dive, no smooth transition into the turn.

Agree with this one 100%. I was always a super loosey trucks rider to the point of rattle and wobble back when I was only riding Indy. With Ace you can still turn carvey and responsive even if you rockin your trucks tightened up some. The turn is there, it just has better suspension to guide ya thru it or something.

[BeachChicken]

I think people gave way too much benefit of the doubt to Lurpiv because Oski is "cool" and if anybody else put out such a dysfunctional truck at a premium price that they would forever be seen as a kook.

Wheelbase does matter, but I think people exaggerate its importance. A lot of times it's just user error.

Piggybacking on user error, it is extremely uncomfortable listening to somebody blame their gear for a trick that we all know they cannot do to begin with. Plz just have a little humility. I suck at 360 flips regardless of my board. It's my fault and that's fine.

The hangars on Ventures remind me of Tinker Toys.

I'm sure these new softer wheels are helpful with super crusty spots, but I think more often than not standard durometer wheels will do ya just fine if you take an extra push or two. Half the videos I saw glazing Dragon Wheels were filmed at skateparks anyway.

I got a lot of heat for this before, but I think hoarding gear is weird. I'm not talking about collectors or just having a few extra decks on ice. I'm talking having upwards of 20 boards on hand because you found a good deal online. Not even sponsored skaters I know keep that many at once. Skate your boards just a lil longer, it builds character.

Couldn't agree more on Lurpiv. I like the look but man they make no sense to me. Shitty KP, sub par plate slide, bad pinch, why do they exist?

Also agree on the hoarders, so lame.

Also agree about wheels. That little bounce ain't saving your knees. It's mostly bc you're bad at setting up after pushing and you're out of shape. Plenty of pros skate nasty ground on 51-53 99s.

We need more hot takes here. Mine is that all the Thunder collab trucks are super corny.

[Scarecrow Radio]

There are too many truck brands. Ace, Slappy and Lurpiv could all disappear and I would not even notice

[Barack Hussein]

.25" of WB matters more than .25" of deck width. -- Agree

All these street dudes riding wheels 58mm+ are lying to themselves. Bout whut? Speed is fun. Feels cool. Feels tuff.

Same with dudes riding those early style shaped decks with no concave, also lying to themselves. Yes. But! Also fun time feelings to explore yaaah yah.

I feel like most people need to tie their shoes tighter More people need to skate barefoot

[TwisT]

Axle slip is a generational trauma, it hasn't been a real problem for years

[Hubba Bo-Tep]

A twin shape deck makes the board feel like it's always backwards.

There is no spoon.

[backside_frontside]

Phillips head bolts are better than Allen.

[Rick Trapasso]

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All these street dudes riding wheels 58mm+ are lying to themselves. Bout whut? Speed is fun. Feels cool. Feels tuff.

[close]

Most people are not skating in a manner that utilizes the potential benefits of giant wheels.

However most of those same people do try to flip their board, and giant wheels do not help that.

[neonbrown]

Phillips head bolts are better than Allen.

Phillips head is a scourge akin to the system of imperial measurements and like the imperial system, should have been done away with at least 75 years ago.

[GnarAlarm]

People that complain about ripping shoelaces are weird.

What am I supposed to do? Like it? Just pretend it's not happening?

Also, I have friends who will skate the same shoes for months and somehow never break a single lace. And I mean people doing flip tricks and shit. I can't wrap my head around how that's possible, do they just not use the side of their foot at all?

If I don't slather my laces in super glue I'll break them two, sometimes three eyelets up in just a couple sessions.

People that only skate one brand of hardware are weird.

I only skate Shorty's. They have smaller heads that sit nice and flush without having to sink them into the wood.

Flatspots aren't real.

Eh?

2 bolts for each truck is fine.

Maybe, but they come in packs of 8. I'm not just gonna throw 6 of them away.

[Too Frank To Fred]

-Middle age men need more than just Antihero to over-identify with. (I'm very guilty of this).

[back smith]

spitfire 99a and 101a are inferior to the new 97a in terms of everything

Not in terms of availability, that's for sure.

[Too Frank To Fred]

there are no good cruiser wheels that slide, dragons and 93as aren't real cruiser wheels

Archer not arrow...

Also, try 82a Powell Soft Slide Formula .

[Osage]

there are no good cruiser wheels that slide, dragons and 93as aren't real cruiser wheels

 Nice big wide Powell Dragon Formula 88a's would like a word. They're cruiser wheels. They slide.

[BeachChicken]

It's pretty trite to just say "DLX is so great" because they flow shit to ams and pros. That doesn't impact any of us one bit. They can be difficult for shops to order from and often do not provide many options or consistent orders. A few local shops find them a difficult distro to work with, which means there is less for me to buy from my local. Their constant focus on one off shapes gives us inconsistent availability of gear we want (see also Radial Slims, Full SE decks, Venture cast hollow). DLX has way more novelty colorways than Indy. Their bearings blow.

Jumping on the DLX bandwagon is kinda like middle aged virtue signaling. I still love DLX, but they get shielded from rightful criticism.

[lamfordie]

I genuinely like the anime collabs that Primitive does.

[GnarAlarm]

-Middle age men need more than just Antihero to over-identify with. (I'm very guilty of this).

What happened to all the gold chain and Tommy Hilfiger fresh/tech skaters from the 90s'?
Did most of them quit or did they convert to being Anti-Hero/hesh type guys when they got older?

As an older guy, I'm still definitely in the former crowd, or at least closer to it than I am to Anti-Hero.
To be clear, I'm in no way trying to throw shade at Anti-Hero, they're legendary.