okay, so Santa has decided to give my 8 year old his wish and provide a skateboard under the tree this year. Much to my great hesitation. I see a trip to WakeMed in our near future. He sees "wheeee, look at me!!!" While there will be appropriate safety items along with the board (helmet, knee pads, elbow pads all that good stuff) under our tree, I have no idea what type of board to get him?!?!?!? I wasn't thinking along the lines of a RipStick, but an actual old school board, like we had back in the day. Are there height designations as far as the size of the board? Some of the stores I have looked at online and in person have different sized boards but no explanation for the sizing differences to be found.... Does anyone have any experience/advice to offer? TIA Barbara
Gosh - I remember the skateboarding days with our son and his friend. Have you tried CCS? Their website is ccs.com. I forget where they are out of but when our son was skateboarding, that is who we bought a lot of his stuff from; they were always helpful on the phone. One time I bought a board from them for his birthday and somehow during the shipment UPS got it to WI and sent it back to the company for some stupid reason. I called them on the day it was due to be delivered and they explained what happened. I explained it was a gift and they actually sent out another one, overnight air so he would have it in time. A local place we've been to is Vertical Urge. There was in Cary in the Wavery Plaza (I think its Tryon and Kildaire) and there was one on Six Forks Road (since its been a few years, not sure if they are still in either location or whether they are still doing skateboarding merchandise). The thing to remember is that you buy everything separate - board, trucks, and wheels.
Try Vertical Urge in Raleigh off Six Forks Rd. And the skate shack in Clayton, I just remembered. The number is 550-5111, they're on 1st street. Not sure if they're still there.
Before you spend a ton of money on all this stuff, are you sure he'll use it, or is it just something that sounds like fun to him? My son, who's done everything from go-kart racing to 4-wheeling to dirtbiking to riding his bike with no hands insisted last year for his 8th birthday that he wanted to buy a skateboard with his b-day money. He never touched it. He loves it, but he doesn't use it at all. His 3yo brother rides it across our driveway (on his bottom)! He also wanted so desperately heelys, so we finally gave in and he got them either last year or the year before for his b-day, and he was terrified of them. It's the first thing he actually was scared of, so they never got used, except as regular shoes. FYI: He just bought a regular skateboard in Walmart for like $15. I noticed at the time there was no size/age limit on it as well.
Helmet, knee pads and all that are extremely important, but you seriously need to consider the wrist pads. Everyones natural reaction is to catch themselves with their hands when they fall. If I could only have one piece of safety equipment, it would be wrist pads. You can save major cash on a "build it yourself" board by getting a blank deck. They all get the paint scratched off anyways. Get him a "cool" helmet and he will be far more likely to wear it.
