Unpopular Gear Opinion Thread 2025

[neonbrown]

Thin shock pad risers are a secret weapon that nobody seems to use. Powerful ancient technology.

I tried these once and it made my deck feel like it had been recently fished out of a lake.

[Barack Hussein]

Expand Quote

Thin shock pad risers are a secret weapon that nobody seems to use. Powerful ancient technology.

[close]

I tried these once and it made my deck feel like it had been recently fished out of a lake.

Huh different strokes. I don't notice anything that I would consider a hinderance in any way. Just that little bit of smoothing out crust vibrations. Pop feels goooood. Board feels goooood. For me they allow me to ride 99a+ out in tha streets.

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

It’s just a bit more height….i run a no vibration board and it sounds like shit…..

[neonbrown]

There are good and bad bearings. Good ones last a long time and spin freely, bad ones do not. For the purposes of the type of skateboarding practiced by Slappers, there are no "fast" bearings, and any bearing spinning freely will be equivalently fast to any other decent bearing.

[DERBY]

Thunders are for YouTubers.

[GnarAlarm]

There are good and bad bearings. Good ones last a long time and spin freely, bad ones do not. For the purposes of the type of skateboarding practiced by Slappers, there are no "fast" bearings, and any bearing spinning freely will be equivalently fast to any other decent bearing.

I've always described Bones Swiss as the "**one less push bearings".
If you're pushing 3 times on Reds or G3s, you'll only have to push twice on Swiss.
I've never been a fast feet kinda guy, I like to take my time getting my feet in position, so that extra ten or so feet of setup time I get from one less push is precious.

*I guess it'd technically be "one fewer push bearings"
**One less push does not apply if you're only pushing once on the cheaper bearings, you still have to push at least once even on Swiss

[TwisT]

Expand Quote

There are good and bad bearings. Good ones last a long time and spin freely, bad ones do not. For the purposes of the type of skateboarding practiced by Slappers, there are no "fast" bearings, and any bearing spinning freely will be equivalently fast to any other decent bearing.

[close]

I've always described Bones Swiss as the "**one less push bearings".
If you're pushing 3 times on Reds or G3s, you'll only have to push twice on Swiss.
I've never been a fast feet kinda guy, I like to take my time getting my feet in position, so that extra ten or so feet of setup time I get from one less push is precious.

*I guess it'd technically be "one fewer push bearings"
**One less push does not apply if you're only pushing once on the cheaper bearings, you still have to push at least once even on Swiss

In my experience, there’s a appx 20ft curved ledge at my local. I can nose manny the whole thing on Swiss without the extra push before the Ollie, on pretty much everything else I need that push.

 Swiss aren’t faster giving more speed just longer speed. So yeah, for me one less push.

But my unpopular opinion is I think that mini logo bearings are the best bearings to buy unless you’re buying bones Swiss. Sure it’s fun to try other stuff, but from a practical standpoint point, if I’m buying anything between MLs or Swiss I know I’m wasting money, cause they wont perform as good as bones Swiss, or better than MLs enough to warrant the price.

[JM]

Expand Quote

There are good and bad bearings. Good ones last a long time and spin freely, bad ones do not. For the purposes of the type of skateboarding practiced by Slappers, there are no "fast" bearings, and any bearing spinning freely will be equivalently fast to any other decent bearing.

[close]

I've always described Bones Swiss as the "**one less push bearings".
If you're pushing 3 times on Reds or G3s, you'll only have to push twice on Swiss.
I've never been a fast feet kinda guy, I like to take my time getting my feet in position, so that extra ten or so feet of setup time I get from one less push is precious.

*I guess it'd technically be "one fewer push bearings"
**One less push does not apply if you're only pushing once on the cheaper bearings, you still have to push at least once even on Swiss

[moonordie]

Boardfeel is just a bug that brands try to pass as a feature to have a excuse to sell shitty shoes.

[Sila]

"Broken in, right out of the box" just means it's a soft shoe lacking in durability to me. But I'm mainly just exhausted of hearing that phrase lol

[moonordie]

"Broken in, right out of the box" just means it's a soft shoe lacking in durability to me. But I'm mainly just exhausted of hearing that phrase lol

Aka "Suck from factory"

[DERBY]

"Broken in, right out of the box" just means it's a soft shoe lacking in durability to me. But I'm mainly just exhausted of hearing that phrase lol

facts. sure it’s broken in but it ain’t broken in according to my feet

[rocklobster]

Boardfeel is just a bug that brands try to pass as a feature to have a excuse to sell shitty shoes.

My mate has a theory that shoe companies pushed the board feel narrative in the 2000s so they could sell cheaper vulc usage, double down on this during the 2008 financial crisis

[moonordie]

Expand Quote

Boardfeel is just a bug that brands try to pass as a feature to have a excuse to sell shitty shoes.

[close]

My mate has a theory that shoe companies pushed the board feel narrative in the 2000s so they could sell cheaper vulc usage, double down on this during the 2008 financial crisis

I've been saying that for ages too. Your friend seems to be a highly smart person.

[JM]

Something something you don’t break in shoe, the shoe breaks you.



(Okay, I stop.)

[pizzafliptofakie]

Expand Quote

Thunders are for YouTubers.

[close]

more broadly speaking I think Thunders are for people who aren't susceptible to trends or "cool" marketing, which unfortunately is kinda the YouTuber MO.

[roba]

"technology" in shoes is a hoax catering to oldheads who think that this new density of foam might finally bring the kickflip back

[non-playable character]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Thunders are for YouTubers.

[close]

[close]

more broadly speaking I think Thunders are for people who aren't susceptible to trends or "cool" marketing, which unfortunately is kinda the YouTuber MO.

I went from ace to venture to now thunder and this is true

[rocklobster]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Boardfeel is just a bug that brands try to pass as a feature to have a excuse to sell shitty shoes.

[close]

My mate has a theory that shoe companies pushed the board feel narrative in the 2000s so they could sell cheaper vulc usage, double down on this during the 2008 financial crisis

[close]

I've been saying that for ages too. Your friend seems to be a highly smart person.

We went from moon boots in the early 2000s to canvas boat shoes in the 2010s, thankfully we've reached a happy medium in the 2020s

[DeanMaple]

That made me think how the fuck can people skate chuck taylors. But a i think about that pretty often...

[MichaelJacksonsGhost]

Hollow kingpins actually work well to smoke weed out of.

[JM]

That made me think how the fuck can people skate chuck taylors. But a i think about that pretty often...

(I lied)

[moonordie]

Hollow kingpins axles actually work well to smoke weed out of.

[minilogoflow]

Wheelbases over 14.5 and lengths over 32.25 are pointless for 95% of skaters.

[BeachChicken]

Most people that do not ride Indy's mess with bushings and board lengths to basically get a board to skate like a standard shape would with Indy's. It's entirely based on not wanting to be part of the majority or have a generic component. Indy hasn't done anything worse than any other truck brand. Removing the cross and kicking Jason Jesse off is more admirable than Ace bringing Jason right on because he's "core"

[skateboarder4life]

Most people that do not ride Indy's mess with bushings and board lengths to basically get a board to skate like a standard shape would with Indy's. It's entirely based on not wanting to be part of the majority or have a generic component. Indy hasn't done anything worse than any other truck brand. Removing the cross and kicking Jason Jesse off is more admirable than Ace bringing Jason right on because he's "core"

real

did you like my new antihero logo?

[skatefresh]

Thunders suck. They don’t turn, they just lean and then wheelbite immediately. Venture highs do everything Thunders do, but 10x better. I don't get the popularity.

[TerryFunk]

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...

I only skate Indy Allens because every set of Phillips hardware I’ve ever had has stripped…

And flatspots are definitely a real thing. Powerslides are the quickest way to make it happen

[Pbn_jake]

Interesting to hear some more experiences with Mob. I stick with it because it's always stayed grippy for me, even when I used to skate boards for a year at a time. I've also been doing more elaborate grip jobs for years now and that's a big reason why I like Mob. I never get air bubbles or have issues with the grip sticking, even when I cut it up into tiny pieces.

Never had bubbles with pepper

[Pbn_jake]

Mob's less sticky adhesive makes it easier to put on because you get multiple attempts. Then you gotta sand down the edges well so that it creates a chemical bond to lock it in, using a file is good. Fresh it really eats up shoes though.

Bro I can grip a board and it didn’t happen with every sheet, just happened with mob more than any brand like at all