Should you Buy a Walmart Skateboard?

When you are new to skateboarding, it is common to try finding a cheap board on Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc. However, maybe you want to buy a skateboard for your child, or you don't have the budget to get something more expensive. I am here to tell you to wait to buy a skateboard until you can afford a high-quality board.

You shouldn't buy a Walmart skateboard because they are low-quality and dangerous. They use cheap materials for the trucks, making them likely to break. The skateboard decks usually have a weird/uncomfortable concave. The wheels on the boards are often out-of-round, causing the board to wobble when you ride.

You should consider the cons if you are still contemplating buying a cheap skateboard. Since all the parts are low-quality, your skating experience will probably be frustrating. Learning to skateboard will be way harder, and you take away the feeling of being proud of your first board.

Are They Good if You are a Beginner?

You could argue that it's better to start with a cheap skateboard, this way, you can find out if skating is for you before you spend a lot of money. Of course, you can always upgrade your board later if you find out you like skating, but it is easy to get discouraged when you are skating on a bad skateboard.

I think it is important to buy a quality board. With a low-quality board, you will have a harder time balancing. Also, with wobbly wheels and a weird concave, standing on your skateboard can be uncomfortable.

If you want to save money buying a board, you can buy a blank deck with no graphics, they don't look as cool, but they work just as well if they are high-quality maple. You can also go to an indoor skatepark and see if they rent boards, this way, you can try out skating before buying an expensive skateboard.

Walmart skateboards are better than not having a skateboard, but saving up for a board you want to show off is even better.

Why Walmart Boards are Bad

The first reason is poor performance; Walmart skateboards use cheap material that often isn't assembled correctly. The board will last for a while, but they wear down fast; it also becomes a lot harder to learn skateboarding which is frustrating and demotivating.

The second reason is safety. with a cheap skateboard, you don't know when it will break, the wheels can fall off while you're riding, and the trucks can brake with impact.

The decks are made from fewer plies and are often not properly compressed; this results in chipping, sharp edges, pressure cracks, and the need to replace the board before it gets dangerous. The most obvious sign that the board is of poor quality is if it has plastic trucks, a board with plastic trucks is nothing more than a toy in my eyes.

Skateboarding can be dangerous, and you don't want to hurt yourself because your board was cheap. However, you should never compromise your safety with skateboarding; instead, save money and buy a skateboard that will hold your weight.

Are there any good cheap skateboards?

There are probably some ok cheap skateboards out there, but generally speaking, you can't get a good cheap skateboard.

Cheap decks chip easily, and the nose and tail can also break at any moment; this results in a sudden stop, often causing injuries. Referring to them as toy skateboards is more accurate; the bearings can break anytime. When a bearing breaks, the wheel will lock and suddenly stop the board, often leading to injuries.

The same goes for the trucks; they are made from cheap materials and will eventually break, leading to a sudden stop and often injuries. In addition, the board probably has cheap wheels; either the wheel functions poorly, or they will deteriorate much faster than usual.

The only toy skateboards I can say are good would be Penny boards, their trucks are a bit low quality, but the wheels, bearings, and deck itself are good. Even with some pros, I wouldn't recommend getting a pennyboard, especially as your first board.

What makes a good skateboard?

Many factors make a good skateboard, but trust is the most important one. I need to trust that my board will hold up while I'm riding on it; if I can't trust a board, I won't feel safe and most likely not be safe either.

A skateboard consists of many parts, your wheels, trucks, bearings, grip tape, and deck; all the parts must be made from quality material so they can take a beating. A good skateboard deck has an inwards concave; the most normal is a mellow concave; it provides more stability and makes it easier to perform tricks.

A quality skateboard has bearings that can last long and spin well. Low-quality bearings will slow you down and make it harder to do anything involving speed.

Your deck should have 7 layers of either bamboo or high-quality Canadian maple. When made the correct way, they can last a long time, depending on your skating style.

Quality trucks have a really simple task; their job is not to break. If you have good trucks, you won't need to change them before you have grinded them down, but this only happens over a long time, and it's not something a beginner needs to look into.

Quality wheels are important; you need the right wheel for the right area, but the riding will be slow and uncomfortable if your wheel is of poor quality.

Skateboard Decks

You should buy a skateboard deck from a known brand; it is more expensive than buying from an unknown brand, but at least you know that the quality is guaranteed.

The most significant difference between a real skateboard and a toy skateboard is the wood they a made from. A quality skateboard is usually made from Canadian maple, but you can also get skateboards made from bamboo.

Toy skateboards are made from low-quality wood like birch. Sometimes they mix in other types of low-quality wood, making the board inconsistent. However, with a toy board, you can manage to snap your board in half on the first trick if you weigh enough.

Quality Trucks

The skateboard truck is a significant factor in how it feels to ride your board; there are many sizes; for a regular skateboard, the edge of your wheels should be aligned with the edge of your board.

You should get quality trucks from good brands like independent or thunder; they go for 30$ or more. The most significant difference between cheap trucks and expensive ones is the metal used; it can be hard to notice which one is high quality, so you should buy them from a trusted brand.

Never buy plastic trucks; they are dangerous and will break. Luckily it is easy to spot plastic trucks; make sure to avoid them.

Good quality trucks can last for more than 5 years; this depends on how often you skate and aggressively, but the trucks are the most resilient part of your board.

Skateboard Wheels

High-quality skateboard wheels are made from polyurethane with a low amount of additives. They usually have the manufacturer's name, wheel durometer (hardness), and diameter. Some good brands to choose from are Spitfire, Bones, and many more.

Toy wheels are usually made entirely from plastic, or it has a mix of polyurethane in them. Cheap wheels perform poorly and easily get flat spots, cracks, and tears, which can be dangerous. As a bonus, cheap wheels are really uncomfortable to ride.

A high-quality wheel will spin for a long time with the correct bearing, but a low-quality one can even stop the second after you spin it; this is an easy way to identify a low-quality wheel.

Bearings

Having quality bearings is the primary key to making your board go fast. You can trust that high-quality bearings won't break unless you have used them for several months or if you get them wet or dirty without cleaning, drying, and re-lubing them.

Without good bearings, your wheels won't spin properly, the lube is low-quality, and your skating experience will be slow and frustrating.

If you want to get good bearings, I recommend reds or Bronson bearings; you don't need the most expensive ones as long as they are from these brands.

Grip tape

Grip tape resembles sandpaper; you stick it on top of your skateboard deck to provide grip on your board. Low-quality grip tape loses its grip much faster and can even come off the board.

High-quality grip tape will last longer and probably won't fall off unless you get it wet.

My Personal Experience Starting With a Cheap Skateboard

When I started skating, I used a cheap board I bought from an online store, I was super excited, but it got less fun when I found out how hard it was to gain speed with it.

All of my parts were mounted correctly, but since they were bad quality, the wheels started wobbling after I fell off the board and it jumped on a mini ramp.

After that, I got annoyed with how fast it broke, so I bought a high-quality skateboard.

To be fair to cheap boards, it lasted for 1 month, which got me into skating, but I think of myself as lucky since I didn't hurt myself by skating it.

Conclusion

You should never buy a cheap skateboard because it can be both frustrating and dangerous. If money is a problem, try to rent one from an indoor skatepark or buy blank decks, they don't have the cool graphics, but they are much cheaper.

The biggest reason to buy a quality board is for your safety, and you shouldn't try to save money at the cost of your health.

Remember to use protective gear, especially if this is your first time skating.