Did we all go through those awkward teenage years feeling like you embarrassed yourself in front of someone you liked just by opening your mouth so you took up skateboarding to look cool, but instead embarrass yourself in completely new ways, or was that just me? Well, even if you didn’t take up skateboarding to impress your crush and fail (like me), there are many other reasons why people used to take up skateboarding when I was growing up, and the number of people I still see riding their boards without any protection, leads me to believe that not much has changed. Now, you may think that riding without safety gear is not dangerous, and if you do then you either aren’t a skater or haven’t been one for long, so here are a few things you might like to know before trying to grind any rails.
While I wasn’t joking about how not many skateboarders that I knew growing up wore nothing except clothes while riding, there is nothing wrong with going to a skateboard store and getting yourself as much protective gear as you want. The most obvious choices are the knee and elbow pads, as well as a sturdy helmet. These are the most used items by skateboarders for a reason since they are meant to protect the areas of the body that are the most likely to suffer if you fall off of your skateboard. There is however also the choice of getting gloves to help you protect your hands since instinctively when you fall you will raise them to try and stop yourself and scrape your hands on the ground.
Many people don’t change their deck unless it gets damaged, but they do frequently switch out their wheels. A lot of the time this is because they are too worn out from too much use and get so ragged that every ride becomes ten times rougher. But other times the wheels are switched out for thinner ones, larger ones or even wheels made out of different rubber because of the different benefits that each of these characteristics can bring. If you want you can even change them simply because you don’t like the colour since they aren’t exactly so expensive that you will have to take out a loan from the bank to afford them.
And finally, if you would like to try and learn how to do a few tricks, you can also check a skateboard store and look into switching your trucks for ones that can help you pull them off more easily, or ones that are made to be durable so that they can withstand the trial and error period.