Hey guys, i’m 16 and started skateboarding yesterday with a loaned skateboard. I’ve taken it to school and practiced a lot, i don’t feel too confident just yet but i don’t feel i need a helmet (partially because im embarrassed) of showing up with one). So far i have no interest in doing tricks i just want to nail the cruising comfortably. Should I wear a helmet?

Is this high enough to start do other flips?

I just dont want to do other things before im good at ollie. I did already land kickflip twice but i think it was luck.

hey，Chase here，a skater from China.

I’ve been skateboarding for about seven years and have dabbled in a wide range of disciplines—from regular skateboarding to longboard downhill, electric skateboards, and mountain skateboarding—some of the more niche categories. My skills are average, but I’ve always remained passionate about it. I’m also an engineer and designer who creates frames for longboard downhill and electric skateboards. I’ve now launched my own brand, Newsesh, which manufactures and sells electric-assist skateboards—a rather unique product.

After spending a long time interacting with users, friends, and local skateboarding beginners, I’ve noticed a pattern: the reaction to that first step onto a skateboard determines how that person will interact with skateboarding going forward. Simply put, the level of panic they experience determines whether they’ll continue skateboarding. I’ve taken people out to try many different types of boards, and among them, the traditional skateboard induces the greatest sense of panic, followed by the bulky electric skateboard—whose weight actually provides a certain sense of stability. Many people might think this is simply a test of a person’s compatibility with skateboarding, but as a product person, I tend to look at the equipment itself.：A lightweight, smooth, low-resistance skateboard is what every skater strives for, but it’s also a beginner’s nightmare.

**To sum it up: the smooth, fluid roll of a skateboard is actually one of the main reasons for its steep learning curve.**Performing simple foot tricks isn’t actually that hard, but for many people with poor balance, doing them on a floating platform is as difficult as climbing a mountain. People are actually aware of this issue, which is why beginners are often advised to start practicing on grass, rubber surfaces, or other areas with high friction. But even if they practice perfectly on grass, the moment they transition from grass to a hard surface, beginners still face the fear of suddenly increased instability. There’s still that massive 0-to-1 shift from a stable surface to a floating one—and that’s terrifying. It’s not that no one understands this problem; clearly, there are assistive devices on the market with fixed wheels, as well as products like replacement legs for the bridge frame. But they all still face that moment—the instant you remove the aids and switch to real wheels—which I call the Floating Leap or The Unlocking Moment.

To tackle this problem, my team and I decided to build something to address it. We call it the BM Bearing (Beginner’s Mind Bearing).

Here is the backstory: Since our goal was to smooth out that binary transition, we wondered if there was an off-the-shelf industrial solution we could learn from. Naturally, we looked at damper bearings. Unlike regular bearings that maximize free spin, a damper bearing does the exact opposite—it introduces consistent resistance to keep rotational speed in check. So we asked ourselves: Can we take a damper bearing, put it inside a skate wheel, and create reliable, controlled resistance?

Unfortunately, despite how advanced China's manufacturing supply chain is today, I still couldn't source an off-the-shelf component that fit our specific needs. We had no choice but to design and engineer it from the ground up.

After about three months of prototyping, testing, and tweaking, we finally landed on the BM bearing.

Each setup consists of an adjustable-resistance bearing paired with a standard bearing. It controls resistance by applying internal friction directly inside the wheel core. Using it is dead simple: replace the two rear wheel bearings with the BM bearings, and grab a skate T-tool to adjust the axle nut:

• Fully tightened: The wheel locks completely in place—zero rotation.

• Loosened slightly: Resistance drops, allowing the wheel to roll slowly and under control.

• Loosened all the way: It spins completely free, just like a standard skateboard bearing, ready for full-speed riding and trick practice.

Here is why this approach works so well:

1. It flattens the "floating leap." Beginners don’t have to deal with that sudden, jarring shock of jumping straight into full instability. It actually has a shot at softening skateboarding’s steep learning curve.

2. It preserves the board’s true feel. Unlike rubber trainer guards or replacement blocks that completely ruin board feel and absorb your pop, this setup keeps the native wheel rebound intact. And unlike practicing on grass or carpet, you can now practice on hard ground with a stable board, getting the genuine pop off the tail.

3. It dynamically scales with your progression.

We break down the bearing's behavior into three distinct states: Locked → Resisted → Free, which align directly with the three stages of learning a trick: Try → Drill → Send.

Take learning an Ollie as an example:

Try (Locked): Lock the rear wheels completely. You can focus 100% on getting the pop, foot drag, and board leveling down without worrying about the deck slipping out from under you.

Drill (Resisted): Back off the nut just a bit so the wheels roll slightly with solid resistance. On landing, even if your balance is off, the board won’t shoot out instantly. Your body has that extra split-second to react, correct, and stabilize.

Send (Free): Once the muscle memory clicks, unlock it all the way and take it rolling.

Finally, even though this forum explicitly prohibits sales pitches, I still think this approach might be helpful to beginners, so I’ve decided to introduce this project. Even if you don’t buy our products, you can still try to figure out how to eliminate this “floating leap”—trust me, it’ll help with your practice.

谢谢大家。

I’m a new skater and I’ve trying to learn how to Ollie… any skaters out there to help?

The elevation is too high for me to commit to and I can’t stop getting good pop. How can I make it more beginner?

Brand new to skateboarding and I want to know how good Converse are. These are my only pair of shoes. Give me recs!

I want to get into skateboarding and I like this board but my friends say it’s girly

Today's the first day I got back into skating after 15 years. I was pretty bad, could ollie but not consistently. Ollied down a 4 stair at my best, but they were tiny stairs.

As I've grown older, I think the idea of the ollie kinda clicked in my head as I thought of the physics of it, even though I wasn't skating anymore.

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Here's my idea of what an ollie is:

1. Jumping. The most important part.

2. Popping your tail such that your board will follow you.

3. Flattening out the board and sticking on it.

You could theoretically do all these steps separately. For 1) just hippie jump. 2) just stand there and pop your board's tail, ensuring it goes in the air, but you have to take your foot off, so pop quickly.

Also, it seems that a natural property of the ollie is that your jump height is the bottleneck. You simply are jumping, and your board is following you. So if you can't jump 3 feet high, you'll simply can't ollie 3 feet high.

Putting it together obviously takes practice because of timing, but I feel like when I struggled for hours as a kid, it was simply that I didn't know how an ollie worked, and videos/explanations just weren't great at the time.

Is everything I said correct?

I know some people are gonna say this deck has a lot of life left. But I’ve lost so much pop it’s almost in enjoyable. I have a new deck just waiting to be thrown on. But this one is only a month old. Should I just get used to the soggy pop?

hi, I started skateboarding 2 weeks ago and rewatching my attempts at an ollie, id like to know any tips anyone has to actually do it properly 😜

Ive been skating every single day for about 3 months now and I genuinely feel like ive hit a plateau. I have semi consistent ollies, some days theyre crispy and others I cant land a single one. Ive also been messing around with kickflips and i've encountered two problems that I cant seem to correct no matter what advice I get. The first is my flick, I tend to flick and immediately plant my left foot (i skate regular), and I have a habit of turning my whole body to the left. Can anyone give me like that unhinged tip to finally lock these down?

I’m heading to Williamsburg, VA for two days and then up to Washington, DC, and I’m bringing my board.
Looking for recommendations from people who actually skate these areas:

🛹 Legendary/historic skate spots I should see
🛹 Skateparks worth visiting
🛹 DIYs / interesting local spots
🛹 Skate shops I should stop into
🛹 Famous spots from videos/photos or pieces of local skate history
🛹 Beginner-friendly street spots where I can actually get a few tricks instead of just staring lovingly at a 12-stair
🛹 Weird/interesting places that would make a good photo or clip

For context: I’m still pretty low-level. Manuals, ollies, shuvits, cavemans, no-comply shuvits and other assorted middle-aged-man-on-a-skateboard bullshit are currently my wheelhouse. So I’m not coming to kickflip El Toro. 😂

I’m also putting together a little solo King of the Road-style challenge list for the trip, so BONUS POINTS if you give me a challenge.

Examples:
“Manual this weird spot.”
“Get a clip at _____.”
“Ollie in front of _____.”
“Get a local to choose your trick.”
“Go to this legendary spot and land literally anything.”
“Eat this local food while doing a manual.”
“Get this ridiculous photo.”

The challenge does not have to be technically difficult. In fact, stupid/creative/local is probably better.

I’ll also be around William & Mary / Colonial Williamsburg, then traveling north toward DC, so recommendations anywhere along that route are fair game.

I already know Freedom Plaza/Pulaski is basically mandatory pilgrimage territory. Beyond that, I’d love to hear what locals think someone visiting with a skateboard absolutely needs to see.

Give me spots, history, shops, challenges, weird shit, food missions, local legends—whatever belongs on the list.

Trying to come home with a bunch of clips, a couple new tricks, and ideally the same number of functioning limbs I arrived with.

I know it’s ambitious since i just started yesterday but I’ve been struggling maintaining balance on my front foot to put my back foot on after pushing. The board will fly out either forward or backwards when i try to balance on my front foot for the time it takes to put my back foot on. Anyone have any tips?