When it comes to building your own custom skateboard, nothing can be more important than picking the right deck. And it is true; deciding on wheels is the easy part.

But when you pick the deck, you need to be right first time. You have to think of the material; will it be plastic, or will it be a simple wood? Will you build the deck yourself, doing a bit of skateboard DIY job, or call the experts? What is your budget? How much can you afford to pay? Maybe you are on a shoestring budget and you have to constrain yourself to $50-$60… it all depends on what you have in mind. I was lucky; when I started with skateboards, I was building them myself. I would go and find the best piece of olive wood and go to the carpenter of my neighborhood, show him the design and tell him ‘do it’. Then I would glue the anti slippery paper on the top of the deck, buy my Cryptonite wheels, put them on and off for the road!

There is more choice nowadays; you take your pick from [1] a wide selection of skateboards decks, tell them to send it home, and you can take it from there. It is also cheaper than it used to be in my days, but hey the buying options were fewer.

I still do skateboards for my nephews and I pick my skateboards decks and wheels online; I find this great, all I have to do is just glue things together and that’s it! I am happy to test them first. Can you imagine someone who is 40+ going on the road with skateboard gear, up and down on slippery pavements-at nights? (too embarrassing to test them during the day, what will the neighbors say?)

So this is why I made this quick blog; I want to use my experience in skateboard building and pick up a few decks and skateboards that I have used, or know that they are great, so that you know from now on where to turn your attention. You can then take it from there; just remember skateboards decks are like helmets: they have an expiration date. They get fatigue from this entire skateboard dancing and rolling, and you need to change them frequently. I would say if you ride a lot, once a year would be your best choice. Don’t forget that.