The name on this board has sold more skateboards than any other name in the sport, and it is doing a lot of work here. Set that aside and look at what €50 gets you, down from €70 at Sports Direct. A 28.2 inch deck, 7.25 inches wide, seven plies of hardrock maple, aluminium trucks and full grip. That is a child’s skateboard, and a decent one.
The sizing tells you who it is really for
A lot of boards sold to parents are adult shapes with cartoon graphics. This one is not. Twenty-eight inches long and 7.25 wide suits a rider somewhere between eight and thirteen, which is exactly the age most people start. The tail is close enough to the back foot for a small rider to actually press it down, which is the whole mechanism behind every trick they will want to learn.
The aluminium trucks are the other thing worth paying for. Cheap boards at this price come with nylon or zinc trucks that flex under load and turn vaguely. These are cast aluminium with 90a bushings, which is stiff for a light child but at least predictable.
The wheels are the problem
54mm at 99A. That is a skatepark spec, and it is wrong for the person who will be riding this board.
Hard urethane works by being pushed into the ground. A 65kg adult moving quickly presses enough weight into a 99A wheel to make it grip and roll. A 30kg nine year old pushing along a footpath in Tallaght does not. The wheel skitters on damp tarmac, and the first time it meets a small stone or a raised paving slab it stops and the child does not.
This is the single most common reason a new skateboard ends up in the shed by October. Not the deck, not the trucks, the wheels. Budget €25 for a set of 54mm wheels around 85A to 92A and fit them before the board is ever ridden. Any of the Irish skate shops will sell you a set and most will swap them over while you wait.
Buy this only if the rider is a child
An adult should not buy this for themselves. 7.25 inches is narrow enough that your feet hang off the edges, and the shorter wheelbase makes it twitchy at any real speed. Spend €40 on the Rocket instead and get a full-size deck, or €110 on the Birdhouse and get a good one.
A child under about seven should not have it either. The nose and tail are still adult proportions in miniature, and a very small rider will be fighting the weight of it. The Creature mini complete at €130 is built properly for six to ten year olds, with a short wheelbase and soft wheels already fitted, and it is worth the extra if the child is serious.
And if the plan is to get to school and back rather than learn tricks, this is the wrong shape entirely. A cruiser with soft wheels will get more use and cause fewer arguments.
Where it sits
At €50 with maple and metal, this is good value against anything in a toy shop. It is poor value against the €40 Rocket if you need an adult size, and it is beaten outright on specification by the Creature if you can find €130. What it has going for it is the size, which almost nothing else at this money gets right.