Forty euro. That is the current price at Sports Direct, down from €58, and it makes this the cheapest board in Ireland that is made of actual maple rather than moulded plastic with a sticker on it. Delivery starts at €6.99 and there is no free threshold, so budget €47 to the door.
The wheels are the part they got right
Something odd happens at the cheap end of this market. Boards costing two and three times as much arrive with 99A or 100A wheels, which are skatepark wheels, quick on smooth concrete and miserable on a wet footpath. This one comes with 52 x 30mm wheels at 92a.
That is softer, and it matters more here than it would in California. Softer urethane grips damp ground instead of skidding off it. It rolls over grit rather than stopping dead on a chip of gravel. It takes some of the buzz out of the chipseal that covers most Irish estate roads. The 30mm contact width helps too, giving a beginner a bit more to stand on while they work out where their back foot goes.
Whoever specified this board either got lucky or was actually thinking about where it would be ridden. Either way it is the one part of the package you will not need to change.
The trucks are a consumable
The 5.25“ trucks are raw cast aluminium with 85a cushions, and they are the reason this board is €40. Cast trucks at this price bend. Not dramatically, not all at once, but drop off a kerb badly and you will find one axle sitting at a slightly different angle to the other, and the board will pull to one side forever after.
Plan for it. A pair of Independent or Thunder trucks costs €50 to €60, more than the whole complete, which sounds absurd until you realise they will last a decade. The sensible order of events is to ride this until something goes wrong, then decide whether you care enough to fix it.
Rocket is a shop label, not a skate company
Frasers Group owns Sports Direct and Rocket is one of its in-house brands. There is no team, no history, no warranty worth the name and, more practically, no shop in Ireland that stocks Rocket spares. High Rollers on Aungier Street or Crazy Monkey in Douglas can hand you replacement parts for a Birdhouse or a Creature off the shelf. For this, you are buying generic parts and hoping the bolt pattern lines up. It usually does.
Who should skip it
Anyone reasonably sure they will still be skating this time next year. Spend €110 on the Birdhouse instead and you get Canadian maple, real trucks and a shop that will set it up for you. You will save money over two years, not lose it.
Anyone buying for a child under about eleven. This is 31.5 inches long and 8.0 inches wide, an adult shape, and a small rider will struggle to get their weight over the tail. The Creature mini at 7.75“ is the right answer there even at three times the price.
And anyone who wants to get from Rathmines to town rather than learn a kickflip. A street complete with 52mm wheels is the wrong tool for that no matter how cheap it is.