im 25 and i got a longboard last year ! so much fun to cruise around the neighborhood on it. My dream is to bring it downtown to work with me but i think itd look funny riding a longboard in a suit lmao

this

skateboarding is way different than it used to be in the 90s, people are way cool and it's not all about smoking weed and smashing chit.. that's where bmx is now, like 20 years in the past. skaters nowadays are usually chill as fuk

and aaron kyro/revive/braille/all those affiliated guys put awesome videos on youtube, i don't even skate any more and i'm subscribed to half those channels cause they do so much rad chit like skating all sorts of things that aren't skateboards

am I better off buying a premade skateboard, or putting one together myself?

as a rookie.

And if anyone has premade recommendations let me know. Ill probably start buying everything in a few days

I am in my late 20s and I just picked up skateboarding. It is kind of strange but it is just so much fun! I would recommend buying some skate shoes. The first few days of skating I ruined a brand new pair of regular sneakers. Regular sneakers just aren't as durable and most wont protect your ankles when the skateboard bangs into it.

Go buy a complete DGK deck. They will have it all put together for you. Any skateboarding site should sell them. Do some tricks! Need to get back on my board. Getting old isn't fun. Time to turn uuuuuuuuuup

I used to skate all the time with my older brother as a kid. I was never as good as him, but still I could do a decent amount of tricks, some small gaps, basic stalls and chit in the bowl, hit some baby ledges, etc.

I still go back to my old neighborhood and ride around on my cruiser with some old friends every now and then, go by my old house, makes me real nostalgic.

Since you'll be buying a complete at the store, they'll assemble it and grip it up for you.

I'd learn how to grip your deck ASAP, though. Like, once your deck gets destroyed and you need to buy a new one (new deck, not a complete since your trucks and bearings shouldn't be fuked. Gripping is mad easy, it just takes a bit of practice to get clean. What you do is you center your deck, apply the grip from one side to the next slowly to reduce air bubbles, and then score an outline with a screwdriver. Once that's done, you take a razor/exacto-knife, tilt it on a diagonal, and then pull it along the outline with your finger as a guide.



Make sure to buy a skate tool, too, in case your want your trucks tighter/loosened. It comes with an allen key for the hardware, and has 3-4 different heads for wheel nuts, hardware nuts, and kingpin nut. The 4th head is typically a threading tool in case you strip your trucks.

I wanna skate and inline but at 25 i'd feel mad weird going out by myself practicing tricks. Any other NYers want to help a newb out?

Skating definitely is a lot more fun with people, but it can be fun to just ride around by yourself at times. As a beginner, you'll be working more on ollies and its variants (fs 180, bs 180, pop shove, front shuv) rather than busting out with treflips and nollie heels, so IMO you should just go out anyway and practice ollies over manholes, up ledges, over cracks, and worry about training balance and board feel (srs).

It'll allow you to go out still, learn the basics, gain board feel and stability, and maybe find some other brahs skating that you could join a PUG skate sesh with/ask friends if they're down.

Again I stress this: Skating is nothing like the lifting community, it is very open to newbies. You aren't going to get the same reaction from skaters wanting to join them that you would walking up to some douchebag in the gym asking for tips and getting cold shouldered.

OG right here.

RIP Jay Adams

the skating community is one of the most appealing things to me

dude was a beast ... talking about his youth

I'm 32 and I want to learn skating. Who gives a fcuk what age you are lmao. insecurity of absolute peace

starts with skating, moves to parkour and ends with death

It's up to you really. Premade will be cheaper, but mostly because the trucks and bearings (and wheels probably) aren't as high quality as those same parts purchased by themselves to make a custom complete. Once you learn how, putting a complete together is pretty easy, although the griptape cutting can be a little tricky in trying to get it smooth around the edges of the nose and tail.

Overall, going custom will give you a better experience; you'll probably have to mess around with the hardware on a premade anyway to get it to work the best; the axle nuts are usually tightened to the point where the wheels can't even spin, and the kingpin nuts on the trucks are usually wayy too tight as well- so if youdodecide premade, buy a skatetool (can get a solid one for 9 bucks) so you can adjust the hardware to your liking, plus it's always good to have one incase you run into any hardware problems or need to make adjustments during a session.

The best advice I can give you, though, isgo to your local skateshop- not only will they answer any questions you may have, but a skateshop is the hub of any local skate scene, so they'll put you on to the best parks, spots, events, and you can meet people from around your area to skate with. And I'm talking about a legitimate skateshop, not Zumiez.

Grip tape, the black stuff on the top of the deck, is literally sandpaper glued to the deck. So, whatever shoes you wear while skating are going to get ripped up quickly. That's the main reason why you shouldn't wear your normal shoes if you care about them.

Went on a mini neighborhood tour the other day and it brought back the feels. Great memories of cruising with friends came back.^solid advice, especially about going to your local skate shop. Loads of them are closing since everyone goes online or to zumiez type stores.
Anyway, go out and do it. It's so much fun, plus if it's something you're rally curious about you shouldn't be deterred by what others think of you. Especially if they think it's childish/lame. Pretty sure Max Chewning did a vid where he went out and started skating for the first time in years. Was mirin hard.

Yeah man, even the pros aren't divas.



^Arguably the best skater next to P. Rod and Luan Oliveira playing a game of SKATE with a fan. (Dat late varial flip).

Im 31 and love to skate. I rarely ride my short board anymore. Nowadays, I ride my Carver. Most fun Ive ever had on 4 wheels. You pump it. No need to push with foot. Hell, I can pump mine up a bridge. Similar to surfing. Anyone that reads this, demo one!

I guess YOU are. Otherwise, youd be out skating instead of saying "I want to learn skating" on a forum. Never my bro

Quit overthinking sht. Just go get a board and start riding it

EDIT: Fuk Im a hyooooge triple posting *******

fuk zumiez is cheap though. Its kinda depressing that a few skate shops that I went to as a kid are now closed

i want to **** an 18 year old even though im much older. dont give up on your dreams.

can you even buy these anymore?

I still say go with these
http://www.tactics.com/emerica/figue...ck-white-white

and then buy these
http://shop.fpinsoles.com/Insoles_c_1.html

Game changers = flat feet
Kingfoam Orthos = normal arch
Kingfoam Reg = high arch


Nikes are honestly proper expensive and go against the whole buying locally thing, since NIKE isn't even a skate company whereas people like Vans, Emerica, Etnies, ES, etc are.

Get some vans/knockoffs for dat dere board feel, i personally like a 8" deck. low profile thunder/indy trucks, some bones stf wheels and youre good to go. Don't buy a premade, or a blank deck (they go soft very fast if youre hard on it), just go to a shop, pick a deck (REAL or Krooked my fav) and have them help you pick out the rest and theyll assemble it right there too.

Personally don't like Nike SB and similar shoes for skating because i can barely tell what i'm doing, maybe if you're doing 8+ sets then itll help, but you'll probably just play around doing technical tricks and small grinds/tranny, so id just stick with very low profile shoes.

I tried to get back into skating couple years ago, and let me tell you, our bodies dont heal fast anymore. Landed twice hard on my side and my hip/leg didnt feel good for a month. Remember to stretch.

For context, tranny means transitions.

I also want to learn but not so much for doing tricks I would rather skate on pathways, do you think a longboard is a better option? It would be fun to cruise around and just casually stop whenever like say I want to grab a smoothie well I can just carry the board in with me no problem.
Is longboarding legit?

Longboard/Shlongboard/Cruiserboard would be a lot better.

Skateboard wheels are just way too small and hard to properly cruise around. You'll get proper fuked up by pebbles all day, and the bushings on skate trucks are just too stiff to carve properly. Longboards/Shlongboards/Cruiserboards are designed to accommodate the larger wheels (they typically are carved around the wheels to prevent wheel bite).

Look at the wheel area of the board to see what I mean.


If you aren't planning on snailing streets or carving, though, IMO get a cruiser just for dat ease of carry.

Longboards are fun, but kind of inconvenient when youre not bombing hill. I have a Gordon & Smith banana board and its very chill for around townhttp://gordonandsmith.com/site/?page_id=492&paged=2and you can feel like a dogtown boy on them