Egypt's Skateboarding Hub Since 2005

Skateboard Anatomy

Skateboards are made up of several different components. These components have technical differences for various types of terrain and styles of riding. Essentially, skateboards contain the following components:

1-Deck

It is the actual board, the flat, long, oval/rectangular, usually wood part of the skateboard that you stand on.

Skateboard decks are classically made from 7 plies of wood, usually maple, laminated together and have a concave shape.

The concave is the curved edge which is where instead of the deck being flat, it curves up slightly (very obvious in the picture), it eases the flipping of the board, increases its stiffness and helps your foot getting the comfort needed on the board.

The nose is the raised end of the deck in front of you when you're riding your board. Its angle is steeper, it is longer than the tail to deliver the required amount of gripping of the board.

The tail is the raised end of the deck near your back foot, its angle is mellower and it is shorter than the nose to deliver the required amount of pop and comfort of the board.

2-Trucks


The trucks hold the wheels on and act as a kind of axle. They also allow you to turn and when you lean in a particular direction. A skateboard contains 2 trucks.
Most trucks are made from an aluminium alloy nowadays and they are very strong. Trucks contain the following components:
1.      The Kingpin nut
2.      The Bushing ring or washers
3.      The Axle nut
4.      The Bushings
5.      The Kingpin
6.      Mounting Screws (also called Hardware)
7.      The Base plate
8.      The Pivot Cap
9.      The Axle
10.    The Hanger

The two red bits on the truck are the rubbers or bushings (4), which enable the truck to turn. These are held on by a bolt called the kingpin (5) with a nut on the end (1). The four holes on each corner of the base plate (7) (bottom of truck) are where the screws (6) go through the truck and deck to hold the trucks on. There are 8 bolts altogether.

You can adjust how much your truck turns by tightening or loosening the nut on the kingpin. The tighter it is, the less your trucks will turn and the more you loosen it the more they will turn, so it is best to find out how tight you prefer it.

3- The Axle nut:

Used to tighten wheels to the truck axle.

4- The Bearings:


Bearings are what enable the wheels to turn and these also come with different types. The precision bearings are machine made products for highest quality for speed and durability. The standard bearings are normally 608Z or ABEC1. Most bearings today are between ABEC1 and ABEC7. Basically, the larger the number, the faster the bearings normally go. A skateboard contains 8 bearings (2 in each wheel).

Bearings are very high precision products, getting dirt inside it will slow it down and may ruin it, always clean your bearings from time to time. Avoid running into dirt, sand, water and mud at all costs.

5-Mounting Hardware

Used to tighten mounting screws.

6-Wheels

Skateboard wheels are made out of polyurethane and come in different sizes and harnesses. The wheels affect the smoothness of the ride on a skateboard and the speed. If you have hard & large wheels you will go faster than if you have soft, small wheels. A skateboard contains 4 wheels.

7-Risers

Used to give your trucks a rise and provide protection. They help mounting hardware stay tight and prevent your nuts from vibrating loose. They help relieve stress from the trucks, which helps keep the deck from cracking. More importantly, risers help keep the wheels from biting into the board on a hard turn, causing the board to suddenly stop. It's a bad thing to have happen. Most risers are about 1/8" high. If you have extra large wheels, you'll want higher risers. On the other hand, if your wheels are small (52mm), then you might not need risers at all. It all depends on what you want.

8-Griptape

Grip tape is applied to the top of the deck for traction and grip while riding.

9-Mounting Hardware

The nuts and screws to put the board together.

Those are all of the parts of your skateboard, with some ideas to follow as you pick the parts that you want for your board.
A Pro skateboard has some features that differs it from any skateboard you find at sports or toy shops which are not professional skateboard suppliers like we are, and they don't know or care about what's best for you. Sports and toy shops carry fake boards which you should avoid buying if you want to learn and progress fast.