How to look after your skateboards and longboards
Longboards, skateboards and cruisers are very resiliant - but with a little bit of care you can keep your ride running smoother and faster for much longer!
We generally recommend that you run through this checklist every few months or so (more often if you skate in the rain!) to keep your board in tip-top condition.
- Where should I store my board?
- Stop bearing play
- Clean your bearings
- Freshen up your griptape
- Make sure your truck bolts are tight
- Take your trucks apart
Remember: the better you look after your board...
...the better it will skate...
...which means you'll enjoy skating it more...
....which means you'll go skating more often! And that's the result we're all looking for. :)
Where should I store my board?
Skateboards and longboards are prety resiliant and will last a long time - but you can make it last even better by keeping it in the right place.
Almost all skateboards are wood. Wood likes stable conditions without drastic changes in humidity or temperature.
As long as you pay attention to the following, you can store your board almost anywhere you like!
- DO keep your board inside, or at least out of the rain and weather. Indoors in your house is better than in a shed or garage if possible.
- DON'T keep your board near a radiator or other heat source. Skateboards that are heated and cooled all the time warp way faster.
- DO avoid keeping your board in direct sunshine - be it outdoors or next to a window. Direct sunlight will heat your board up faster than you might think, and might fade the graphic too.
- DON'T dry your board out on a radiator after you've got it wet! This is pretty much the fastest way to warp your board. Instead, follow our "wet skate maintenace" guide, and let it dry over a longer period of time.
- DO lay your board flat, eiether upside down on the deck, along a rail or upright on its wheels, rather than stood up on the nose or tail. Boards stood on their ends can warp a little faster.
If you can, the best place to store your skateboard or longboard is on a wall rack like we do in our shop!
There's tons of ideas for swanky racks out there, get searching...
Stop bearing play
If your wheels are too loose, you'll get play in your wheel bearings
Bearing play will significantly shorten the life of your bearings, increase wheel wear, and make slides really noisy and chattery.
You can largely fix this problem by using built in bearings, or failing that, bearing spacers.
However, sometimes your spacers come up slightly smaller than the wheel core, which essentially stops the spacer doing its job and allows bearing play anyway.
If you have any play in your bearings, simply adjust the axle nut tightness. You want them tight enough to minimise any play, but loose enough so that the wheels spins freely.
Keep your bearings clean
Bearings last way longer if you look after them - especially if you skate in the rain!
You shouldn't need to clean them more than once or twice a year as long as you don't skate in the wet.
If you do get them wet though, clean them as soon as you can when you get back in from your skate.
Check out our step but step guide to bearing cleaning right here.
An alternative to cleaning is run your bearings into the ground and buy new ones. This obviously costs a lot more... but you can check out our bearing selection here.
You can largely fix this problem by using built in bearings, or failing that, bearing spacers.
However, sometimes your spacers come up slightly smaller than the wheel core, which essentially stops the spacer doing its job and allows bearing play anyway.
If you have any play in your bearings, simply adjust the axle nut tightness. You want them tight enough to minimise any play, but loose enough so that the wheels spins freely.
Freshen up your griptape
All the crap on the bottom of your shoes often ends up on your griptape!
This can significantly reduce grip over time, and wear your griptape out. So it's worth grabbing a stiff brush and giving the gripped surface of your board a quick dust off every now and then.
Griptape does eventually wear out, so when it's time for a fresh sheet, just grab yourself some griptape and follow our griptape how-to. Easy!
Make sure your truck bolts are tight
It doesn't matter how well set up your trucks are if they're not held tightly on to the deck!
If your bolts are loose you will shorten the lifespan of your deck dramatically, and your board will ride like a big sloppy mess.
We recommend checking your truck bolts after the first few weeks of skating, then every few months after that.
Just tighten them enough to stop your trucks moving. Over-tightened hardware will damage your deck and your truck baseplate. If you're worried about then then you can use a M5 washer between the bolt head and the deck to spread the load a little.
Freshen your trucks up
We always say that your trucks are the most important part of your longboard.
Get your trucks set up right and look after them, and your board will skate way better than if you just ignore them.
Apart from the consumable parts - bushings and pivot cups - a decent set of trucks are a great investment and should last a very long time.
Things you can do to keep your trucks running in tip-top condition:
- Give your pivots a clean to stop your trucks squeaking
- Get some new bushings in there! Bushings do wear out over time and a fresh set will breathe new life into your whole ride. We recommend fresh bushings every six months if you skate a lot.
- Set your trucks up properly to suit your weight, riding style and personal preference. Again this can make a huge huge difference to your ride, it's why we give away free bushings with every complete we sell. Check out this truck setup guide on the Sabre Trucks Website to help you get the right bushing and washer setup. (Opens in a new window). Or just give us a call if you get stuck!
