Skateboards?

[TooLateForAName]

My 11 yr old has announced that she 'needs' a skateboard. The school did a session the other day and apparently she was pretty good (even the boys in her class were telling me how good she was so I'm prepared to believe it - I don't give her enough pocket money to bribe them all).

I know nothing about these things but I assume that price != quality but is more related to brand / coolness whatever.

I assume that the key thing is decent bearings and axles? Does it make a difference plastic or wood board?

What do I need to know and how much is it going to cost me? What do I look for/avoid?

thanks

[Fas1975]

What kind of skating will she be doing? Street or ramp? If on street, will she be into long distance / downhill skating?

Different boards for different functions. Downhill / long distance, she'll want a long board. For street / ramp, more traditional, shorter boards. Budget is definitely a factor, like anything, you can buy a board from 10 to 1000, but anything from 40 to 100 is going to be decent.

I've bought a couple of boards from here

http://www.routeone.co.uk/

They have great sales and they drop a catalog once a quarter with great clearance sales.

I have a couple of boards from a brand called Chocolate. You can buy a fully made board, or build your own, take a look at that site and take a look at what's possible. Above all, make sure your daughter enjoys it.

[Vladimir]

Get to a skate shop if you can; anything £50 or up will be fine and it'll often be down to the design on the deck!

Make sure its big enough for you to have a go on too!

I can just about still olly but am pretty poor compared to how I skated as a teen!!

[Hoofy]

Skateboarding in school? H&S? Won't somebody think of the children??

Find out what kind of skateboarding she did. It might have been a longboard but it probably wasn't. I would definitely avoid the cheap boards - a complete set up should cost around £100 (decent wheels, trucks, bearings, board). The £20 Argos specials will feel wrong.

[jesta1865]

routeone are good, so are ss20.

if you are in the essex area you could talk to the lads in switch in Leigh on Sea, always helpful and skate as well as sell.

you can get a decent set-up for £60, if you start looking into ceramic bearings etc then its starts getting expensive (really).

used to skate myself the first time it was big, now my son does, although he hasn't been on a board for 6 months as he is in oz, but have been begged to send a board out to him.

when i win the lottery i might just

[jesusbuiltmycar]

If you are in the Bournemouth area a mate of mine owns Carve Board Sports (01202 432227) ask for Mark, he stocks most brands and is very competitive on prices and enthusiastic.

[Asterix]

Make sure you get some good protection gear as well. My knees are just a mass of scar tissue and my elbows look like gonads thanks to getting an absolute hammering from falling off the bloody things when I was a kid.

We wouldn't want a little girl with gonadical elbows would we!?

[AmiableChimp]

Asterix said:

We wouldn't want a little girl with gonadical elbows would we!?

I think when it comes to skateboarding, go radical is much preferred to gonadical

[Asterix]

AmiableChimp said:

Asterix said:

We wouldn't want a little girl with gonadical elbows would we!?

I think when it comes to skateboarding, go radical is much preferred to gonadical

I may have invented Gonadical - I need to apply it far more often.

It's a jumentous word.

[DMN]

At that age just buy the cheapest one you can from a reputable store. I paid £20 for my first deck; and £180 for the last.