Skateboard Decks

For most adult skaters, 8.0"-8.5" covers the sweet spot. 8.0"–8.25" tends to suit technical street skating and smaller frames; 8.25"-8.5" works well as an all-rounder; anything 8.5" and above is typically preferred by transition and bowl skaters, or people who just like more board underfoot. If you're buying for a younger or smaller skater, 7.75"-8.0" is a sensible range. These are guidelines rather than rules – plenty of skaters ride outside what's considered standard for their style and find it suits them fine. If you're stuck between two sizes, the Thomas Street team can help.

A popsicle deck is the standard modern shape, symmetrical with a rounded nose and tail, designed to handle pretty much everything from street to park. A shaped deck is anything that steps outside that mould, from old school pool boards with bigger tails to cruisers and more experimental outlines. Popsicles are the most versatile and the best starting point, while shaped boards come into their own once you know what you like.

If you’ve ever wondered who makes the best skateboard decks, a lot of it comes down to the woodshop. Two of the most respected names are BBS (Bareback/Generator), which presses boards for brands like Baker and Deathwish, and PS Stix, who’ve been supplying top-tier brands for decades. Both are known for using high-quality Canadian maple and producing decks with consistent pop and durability. At a slightly lower price point, woodshops like DSM in China and HLC in Spain are turning out seriously good boards as well. UK and European brands pressed closer to home are also well worth a look. If you want to get properly into the details, we’ve got a full Woodshop Guide over on the NOTE blog.

How long a skateboard deck lasts really depends on how you skate, how often you skate, what’s the weather like for the duration of its use and potentially what tricks you’re attempting. If you’re out skating street everyday in the depths of winter you might get a month but if you’re skating sparingly during the summer months your might get a few months out of deck. The main things to watch for are a dead or flat feel when you ollie, chips and cracks around the nose and tail, and any signs of delamination where the layers start to separate.

If your board feels off, chances are it’s time for a new one.

There’s a general split when it comes to skateboard deck width and terrain but a lot (like most things in skating) of it comes down to preference. Street skating usually leans toward narrower boards – somewhere around 8.0” to 8.5 ” – as they’re lighter, quicker to flip and a bit more responsive for technical tricks. Transition skating, whether that’s ramps, bowls or pools, tends to favour wider decks from 8.5” upwards, where the added width gives you more stability and control at speed. Still, these are just tendencies rather than strict rules. Some people skate everything on an 8.0”, others won’t go near anything under 8.5”. It’s all personal preference at the end of the day.

A symmetrical deck - often called a twin shape or twin tail - is a board that features a nose and tail that are the same shape and size as each other. Any way you skate it, it's the right way round.

Traditional popsicle decks are slightly asymmetrical - the nose is larger and a tad longer, than the tail and many shapes take this slightly further with a more "shovely" nose which makes it much larger than the tail.

The appeal of the twin tail or symmetrical deck is there's no discernible difference in feeling between switch, nollie, regular or fakie tricks. If you skate a lot switch, or transition where you're riding fakie half the time, that predictability could be genuinely useful.

If you're after one, look out for "twin", "twin tail" or "symmetrical" in the deck name or description - brands generally shout about it when they've done one.