Skateboard Trucks – What’s the difference?

There’s lot’s of different types of Skateboard Trucks on the market these days and here at www.nativeskatestore.co.uk we like to offer you a large selection. We offer budget entry level trucks from Cargo and Speed Demons and premium trucks from the top brands like Thunder, Independent, Silver, Destructo, Royal, Tensor, Theeve, Ace  and Venture.

All of the brands we carry are reliable skateboard truck brands and when it comes down to it it’s personal prefrence which one’s you buy. We thought we’d put this blog together to give you a little bit of an insight into the different widths and heights of trucks we offer to make buying a new set of trucks a little easier for you.

Ok so you need a set of trucks and you don’t know where to start, well first thing you need to do is work out what size board you’re riding. This will determine what width of truck you should buy. General rules that we go by here are hanger width, now not all companies use the same measurement as each other, some call them a completely different size to the other when they are in theory pretty much the same width (why they do this we don’t know, it’s skateboarding, this is how it is. Ha!) We’ve put a filter on the side of the Skateboard Truck page to break the trucks down for you into four different widths 5.0″,  5.25″,  5.5″ and 5.75″

So anyway how does this work I hear you ask. Basic rule of thumb is 5.0″ wide Trucks are suitable for decks that are 7.4″ – 7.875″ wide. 5.25″ wide Trucks are suitable for decks that are 7.75″ – 8.25″ wide and 5.5″ wide Trucks are suitable for decks that are 8.25″ – 8.75″ wide. There aren’t many set’s of trucks bigger than this but we do have them, mainly for the old school style boards and they fall under the 5.75″ category. Anyway work out your board size and have a think about whether you may want to step up a board size before buying your next set of trucks to determine the width you want to buy.

Ok so you’ve got your board width sorted and you know what width truck you need now you need to work out whether you want a high, low or mid truck. Again we’ve put a filter on the left hand side of the truck section to help you out here. The reason there are different height trucks are for different sized wheels, so if you’re riding a tiny 50mm wheel and like to be close to the ground you probably want some low trucks, or if you’re a bowl guy and ride something like a 58mm wheel you maybe want to be riding a high truck with a riser pad underneath so you don’t get any wheel bite. Again it’s personal preference and it’s all up to the individual, have a think about it and bear it in mind when purchasing your next set of trucks.

Don’t forget you may need a  new set of Truck Bolt’s with your new Trucks, we always offer a great selection. If you’re going to be riding a riser pad please make sure you select a bolt that is atleast 1″ long as if it’s 0.78″ in length it may not lock on properly and come loose when skating.

If you ever need any advice on Trucks feel free to call us on 0191 261 2229 we’re happy to help.