Buying your first skateboard can be overwhelming. Which deck should you choose? What trucks work best? Which wheels are beginner-friendly? Should you buy a complete skateboard or build your own? With so many options, it’s easy to get lost—but don’t worry. Our guides cover everything you need to confidently pick your skateboard parts and hit the streets sooner. Let’s get started!

Decks

Decks are what puts the board in skateboard! These can be viewed as works of art or treated with absolute punishment as you’re trying to learn all your tricks, but what board you ride is a truly personal choice of style and functionality. What you may not know is there’s more to these than just a pretty picture so let us get you started right with picking that right board for you.

Size 

Choosing your board is one of the toughest decisions when putting together your set up. Firstly, it’s common for beginners to buy a deck based entirely on the graphic which is totally cool, although getting the right size is critical to the way your board functions. 

Over time, you’ll find yourself being more comfortable with a certain size or shape, but these are a few basic guidelines to follow if you’re new to it all:     

Shapes

You might see some crazy, old school and sometimes straight up weird shaped boards out there but be careful as this can make a big difference to your skating! These are a lot of fun to cruise around on and experienced skaters sometimes like experimenting with these quirky shapes, however the basic “popsicle” shapes are by far the most popular, easiest to learn on and are perfect for all types of skating.

Be Stoked On What You Ride!

It’s easy to get caught up in all the different brands, wood factories, glues, shapes and limited releases but if this is your first board, don’t worry about what's cool right now or what company your friend likes. Choose something that you identify with and will be stoked to ride, you’re the one who’s going to be riding it anyway! Rest assured the brands and products we stock are all carefully selected to give you the best quality for a range of budgets and skill levels, so you know you’re getting something good!

Grip Tape

You can’t forget to chuck a fresh sheet of grip onto your fresh board! For the creative types out there you can let yourself go wild here with all types of cutouts, drawings, colours and lines, the possibilities are endless. For most a simple full black top or a little stripe will do, but we’ll leave that one up to you! Applying grip tape can be difficult for a beginner so if you’re not sure, come in and see us and we’ll be more than happy to help you out! 

 Now get out there and go skateboarding!

- Fast Times

Check out our range of decks here.

Need to know more? We also have guides on Trucks, Wheels, Bearings and Completes!