SKATEBOARDS BASIC

The basic elements of the skateboard seem pretty straightforward. A board has three parts: the board or deck, the wheels, and the trucks, which connect the wheels to the board, and allow the board to turn. Modern skateboards are made traditionally from 7 plies of canadian maple veneers, pressed together using polyvinyl glues in either aluminum, metal or concrete forms, generally taking around 300 psi to take up multiple skateboards in one closing of a press. 5 skateboards are done in one press, and after 30 minutes to an hour, the boards are removed from the press. At this point they have been stuck and laminated in the compound curve or the shape, which is the concave. Then after days of curing, the CNC routers, or hand routers depending on the woodshop, will cut out the final shape, apply the edge trimming, paint it and send it on its way.

TRICKS

In a blur of flying acrobatics, skaters leap and skid over and onto obstacles, executing flips and turns of ever increasing complexity--all at top speeds. For onlookers and beginners, it can be hard to follow the action, let alone answer the question that springs naturally to mind: How on earth do they do that? While it may seem that modern skateboarders are defying the laws of physics, the truth is that they're just using them to their advantage. Let's take a closer look at the fundamental skateboarding moves and the physics principles behind it.

Invented in the late 1970s by Alan "Ollie" Gelfand, the ollie has become a skateboarding fundamental, the basis for many other more complicated tricks. In its simplest form, the ollie is a jumping technique that allows skaters to hop over obstacles and onto curbs, etc. à


1. Tail : the rear of the skateboard, from the back truck bolts to the end.

2. Wheelbase : the distance between the front and back wheels, measured between the two sets of innermost truck holes.

3. Nose : the front of the skateboard, from the front truck bolts to the end.

4. Deck lenght : distance from nose to tail.

5. Deck size width : distance from side to side.

6. Concave : the 3-dimensional curves that are in the board itself, nose, tail and side to side concave. Concave can be flat, medium or hi.

7. Deck construction : sequence and type of wood used in the boards making.

Shape : shape is called the plan form. This is the shape of the board's outline.