How do I choose my first skateboard?
Ondřej Loos
I will try my best and guide you through picking up your first skateboard. I know at the beginning it can be hard to become familiar with all of the components.
First you have to find a skate shop. Please don't buy your skateboard in big supermarkets like Walmart, Decathlon, Supersport, because these boards have extremely bad quality and it will most likely discourage you to skateboard more. I recommend you to find some small local skate shop, something like darkslide on Hradčanská metro stop, because they are most likely experienced with skateboarding and they could really help you with choosing your skateboard.
You can choose between already made skate or you build your own. If you choose an already made one I suggest to pay for it at least 1700 czech crowns to not buy some crap. Just check if the wheels are rolling properly and the trucks are made out of metal, not plastic!
If you have a bigger budget and you chose to put together your own skateboard, I recommend you to go with brands that are used and verified by other skaters like Independent, Element or Theeve trucks, bust check online if the size of a trucks goes with the size of your deck, Bones or Spitfire wheels, Bones reds or some ABEC 7 bearings. Picking the deck and griptape is on you, but the deck should be made from Canadian maple and should have 9 layers of wood. I recommend you buy an 8" size deck at the beginning and then in the future you can pick another size depending on what style you will ride. I know it is going to be a bit expensive, but it could last you a long time and you are going to feel much better riding on a good board.