Having recently gotten back into skating, I have been catching myself up on the modern board setups vs. when I skated ( '83 - '90 ). I have a few questions that I was hoping someone could give me a logical answer to.
1) How on earth does anyone skate anywhere but a clean, smooth skatepark with the tiny, rock - hard wheels that are popular now? These tiny wheels are impossible to skate any normal terrain without having to run off your board or ollie / avoid every pebble or concrete expansion joint you run into.
2) Did skaters shrink since the 80's? All the decks are smaller than even the mini's I rode for street back in the day. I understand the idea's behind the popsicle shape and double kick design, but the size makes no sense to me unless you are a small kid or an emaciated teen.
3) Why are folks not using rails on boards any longer? Does anyone use skid plates to stretch out the life of a deck anymore? Is there a honest, common sense reason for the non - use of these accessories any longer? I can understand not using copers or nose guards ( they are pretty useless ), but rails and skids made sense for a kid on a budget.
4) What happened to risers? Even a 1/8" riser will theoretically keep your board from snapping sooner than later by acting as an impact absorber / grommet for the truck / deck / mounting holes in the deck area.
I am not trying to be an old crank. I am genuinely interested in why the skaters have their boards setup the way they are. I own a small manufacturing company and find this very interesting.
Comments
2. times have changed
3.rails only purpose is to really just slide so waste of money when u can just go really fast and slide
4. risers are really only for wheels 55mm and up but no matter what u will still get wheelbite
I've always been fond of 60mm wheels, very hard. But I also push with my front foot, so basically everything I have ever done has been opposite from the norm. That's the beauty of skating, there is no standard.