Things You'll Need:
- basic set of tools
- a deck
- wheels
- bearings
- two trucks
- grip tape
- risers
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Step 1
All hands on deck. You need to consider your height when buying a deck. Open a new tab and copy/paste http://createaskate.org/ into the address bar. There you can take a look at a chart that will help you size your deck. It goes something like this: For 4-5 ft tall you're looking at a 29" to 30" deck; for 5'-6', 30.5" to 32.5"; for 6 foot up, 32.5" and up. Although they tend to average around seven and a half to eight inches in width, the width of your deck depends and how big your feet are.
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Step 2
Get some wheels. Wheels are a pretty complex topic thats far outside the scope of this article. You could write a whole article on how to choose skateboard wheels alone. In fact, I think a few of people have:
http://skateboard.about.com/od/boardmaintenance/ss/ChoosingSkBoard_3.htm
or
http://www.ehow.com/how_2132197_choose-skateboard-wheels.html
or
http://skateboard.lifetips.com/cat/61972/skateboard-parts-tips/
For basics, it's important to know that the wheels will have an impact on your form and your ride depending upon how hard or soft they are as well as how big they are. Larger, harder wheels are faster but hard wheels don't have a lot of grip and I don't thing they're very good for rougher terrain of you're going to be doing a lot of tricks and need more control, consider smaller, softer wheels. That about.com article that I listed up there give a very in depth discussion about all this stuff. -
Step 3
Get your bearings straight. Your bearings can also affect how your ride feels but choosing the best bearings for your new board is far from an exact science. Different boarders like different bearings. I for one hate new bearings altogether. It seems like I can never get any real speed on them. I'd almost rather get my friends old bearings than buy new ones. But this is not a common attitude. The two sources below both give great discussions on things to consider when buying bearings:
http://grind.tactics.com/skateboarding-buyers-guides/choosing-skateboard-bearings
http://skateboard.about.com/od/boardmaintenance/ss/ChoosingSkBoard_4.htm
Steve Cave, professional writer, teacher and all around skateboarding guru, recommends against running out and buying the most expensive bearings you can find for your first build. He says that you'll just mess them up and be out of a bunch of money.
The best thing you can do in my opinion is just to keep experimenting until you find bearings that feel good for the type of skating you do. -
Step 4
Ain't yo mutha's trucka.Grab a couple of trucks. Conventional wisdom dictates that you should match your trucks to the width of your deck. There's a sizing chart here:
http://skateboard.about.com/od/boardmaintenance/ss/ChoosingSkBoard_5.htm
But I've seen people do all kind of weird, tricked out stuff with their trucks. When talking about trucks, we should also give some attention to your brushings. These are the little rubber parts inside of the trucks. The harder these are, the more stable your board will be but if they're too hard it get difficult to maneuver. On the other hand if you go too soft, your board is wobbling all over the place it it gets hard to control. I suggest you find a medium. its the perfect balance of stability, maneuverability and control. -
Step 5
Slap some tape on that smack. Yep you're gonna want to put some grip tape on the deck when you're all done. A lot of skate shops will do this for you for cheap or free (well except for the minimal cost of the tape) but if you do it yourself you can cut out cool patterns and really make the board your own.
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Step 6
Get some risers. Riser are suggested because they'll increase the life of your board by keeping the deck free of cracks. Plus if you take a sharp turn they'll keep your wheels from rubbing against the underside of your deck and messing you all up.
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Step 7
Trick it out. There's all kinds of sick hardware out there that you can use to put the finishing touches on your board. Check out this site:
http://www.outlookskates.com/Hardware.htm
I've seen people do some really interesting stuff.
