Most people asking about a first skateboard have already been to a toy shop, seen a board for thirty euro, and sensibly suspected something was wrong with it. Something was. This is the board to buy instead, and it costs €110 at High Rollers on Aungier Street.
What you are actually paying for
The deck is seven plies of Canadian maple. That phrase gets thrown around loosely, so it is worth saying what it rules out: Chinese maple, which is softer and loses its pop within months, and birch, which is lighter and chips. A Canadian maple deck ridden by a beginner will last a year or more, because beginners do not land hard enough to break decks. Most first boards get replaced because the rider outgrows them, not because they snap.
Eight inches wide and 31.5 inches long is the shape almost every adult skateboard has settled on. There is no learning-sized version of this to graduate from. You can ride an 8.0“ deck for twenty years and never need a different one.
The wheels are wrong and you should plan for it
The complete comes with 52mm wheels at 100A. That is a skatepark wheel: small, hard, fast on smooth concrete, and designed to slide predictably when you want it to.
On a footpath in Cork or a laneway in Galway it is the wrong tool. Hard wheels transmit every bit of grit straight into your feet, they stop dead on small stones, and on damp ground they let go without warning. Ireland has damp ground for a good part of the year.
If you are going to skate a skatepark, leave them on. If the board is going to live on the street, budget €30 to €40 for something in the 92A to 99A range, or softer still if you mostly want to get places. This is not a fault in the board so much as a fact about how completes are specified, and every complete in this price bracket has the same issue.
The trucks
Birdhouse fits its own trucks rather than Independent or Thunder, and you can feel it. They turn a little vaguely and the bushings are soft. For learning to push, turn and ollie, that is fine and arguably helpful. If you are still skating in a year you will want better ones, and by then you will know what you like.
Who should buy something else
If the rider is under about eleven, this board is too big. A 7.75“ complete around 30 inches long makes more sense, and the Creature mini complete is the obvious one in Irish shops.
If you want to get from one place to another rather than learn tricks, do not buy a street complete at all. Soft wheels and a cruiser shape will make you far happier, and you can spend the same money on something like the Ocean Pacific or the Madrid Picket.
Getting it
High Rollers is at 65 Aungier Street in Dublin 2 and delivers anywhere on the island for €6.50, free over €150. Collection in store is free, and if you are anywhere near Dublin it is worth doing, because they will set the board up and answer the questions you did not know to ask.