Skateboard
A skateboard is a narrow platform with attached wheels, developed in the twentieth century from a scooter, for recreation and transportation. They are typically used by young people.
Skateboards are composed of several parts. The deck forms the body of the skateboard and provides a place to stand. It is covered with grip tape, which adds friction to its surface. The deck is normally 76-91 cm long (2 1/2 to 3 feet). The longboard, a common variant of the skateboard, has a longer deck. Decks were originally a single piece of wood but are now more commonly made of composite materials. Attached to the deck are two metal trucks, which connect to the wheels. (The corresponding parts of trains and other vehicles are also called trucks.) The trucks are further composed of two parts. The top part of the truck is screwed to the deck and is called the baseplate, and beneath it is the hanger. Between the baseplate and the hanger are bushings, also rubbers or grommets, that provide the spring mechanism for turning the skateboard. A bolt called a kingpin holds these parts together. Two polyurethane wheels attach to each hanger. Inside the wheels are bearings.
Skateboards are used for skateboarding and skateboarding tricks. A person who rides a skateboard is a skateboarder. Skateboarders sometimes wear helmets, knee and shoulder pads, wrist braces, or other safety equipment, especially when riding in skate parks.
History of the skateboard
In the beginning, a skateboard was just made of wooden planks, little more than two by fours with the wheels from roller skates attached to the bottom.
Stage two was the plastic surfboard imitations that were small and unstable. The wheels began as clay but were later replaced with plastics.
Stage three was the attempt to make them more interesting and flexible. They all had kicktails now, an approximately 20 degree slope up of the last 7.5 or 10 cm (3 or 4 inches approx.) of the board, behind the back wheels. Materials included fiberglass ply (successful but seldom seen now) and aluminium (bad idea because the edges became very sharp). (The aluminium board, though, presaged the current skateboard style of having a kicktail at both ends).
Stage four was when the wide boards and trucks came on the scene and everything changed. The tricks that could be performed expanded tremendously and the equipment and control needed to handle extreme vertical terrain was finally available. This was the first renaissance in skateboarding (later followed by the Ollie). Boards were now 20 to 25 cm wide (8 to 10 inches approx.), with wheels well out to the edges. Wheels were generally soft polyurethane and came in a large variety of colors, sizes and degrees of hardness (durometer). The decks had a kicktail still, and a very useful convex surface running the length of the board.
Stage five was when the Ollie took over and the wide boards were too heavy and unidirectional to accommodate all of the tricks being invented. The boards narrowed to 7.25 - 8.00 inches. The front (Nose) is a bit longer and steeper than the back (Tail). The wheels also narrowed to catch on things less and were made much harder to allow more sliding.
Variants include: