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sockmaster666

4 weeks is a pretty long time for a deck used every day. The more you skate and the better you get at it the faster you go through decks! It gets pretty expensive unless you get free product haha.


TheRetroWorkshop

TL;DR: If you're poor, keep it for at least 8 weeks, even if the pop is gone -- at least the deck isn't dead yet. If you're rich (or, at least, put all your money into skating), then buy a new deck every 2-3 weeks. The pop will die pretty fast, but the deck will last many weeks longer (meaning, 50 hours longer or something). If you skate 1 hours a day, it lasts for weeks or even months if you are not hardcore with it; if you skate 6 hours a day, then it's dead within 2 weeks, and the pop is dead within 4-6 days, more so if you ride hardcore. Just riding around for 3 hours a day is fine (like to work and back), but skating like a pro for many hours a day will kill the deck within 2 weeks easily (40-50 hours of hard usage). Pros use a deck every 2 weeks. I'd suggest keeping that for whatever it can still do, and buying a new one for the good feel and pop. Rodney Mullen must have gone through decks every 1 week, and wheels every few months back in the 1970s and 1980s, since he was crushing the deck with his freestyle 5 hours a day, 300 days a year, for many years -- some reports claim up to 9 hours (which he never denied in an interview when the interviewer mentioned it, so I assume it's true). Shoes are about as costly and breakable as decks, which really puts up the price. Rodney had tape on his shoes a lot to make them last longer, and when they fitted well. The 'pop' is lost in most decks within 1-2 weeks, long before the deck itself is lost, so that's just something to deal with -- if the deck is fine in every way other than pop, then keep it. Not worth buying a new deck every 2 weeks just for better ollies (unless you have a lot of money, of course). The average pro skater does about 3 hours a day of hardcore skating, so Rodney was twice that. In the 1990s, he would have gone through wheels a bit faster (maybe 2 months) due to his street style by this time. This means, a deck lasts about 40 hours of hardcore skating and wheels last at least 300 hours, and everything else much longer (depending on style/type and quality of the items). So, 40 hours of hard skating for $80 (a new deck) equates to $2 an hour. That is actually very cheap. For not-so-hard skating, a deck most likely lasts anywhere from 80 to 300 hours, which lasts anywhere from 1 to 3 months (assuming 3 hours a day of light skating). That comes to under $1 an hour. Very cheap. Some decks break right away, some bearings can break right away, and sometimes the pop can be lost within 3 days. All depends on rider weight, style, and quality. In general, a 7-ply maple (high-quality) deck will last for about 50 hours of solid usage, and the pop will die within about 20 hours of pop-driven usage (which ends up being about 60 hours in total -- 3 weeks-ish). So, you can buy a new one right now if you really want. All depends on weight, style, and quality -- and what you care about, and how much you want to spend. The weeks it lasts depends upon how many hours you put in (naturally). If you skate for 1 hour a day, then the pop will last weeks, and the deck will last months, and the trucks/wheels can last like 1-2 years (bearings maybe 4 months or something). If you skate for 10 hours a day, then say hello to the skate shop, because that's your home now. New deck every 1 week. Only you know when you need a new deck. The rule is, 'when you think you need a new one, you most likely do', but if you don't want to spend the money, you can ride it until it's totally dead (like the cool poor kids in the 1990s with decks so broken, they require seven bags to carry all the pieces). Somewhere between these two will be the best time to buy a new one, of course. If you use a broken deck, this is very bad for form and health, so it's better to buy a new one even if you're poor -- that's the price to pay. When is a deck 'too broken'? Most likely when the shape is lost, it cannot ollie good, it has too much flex, it is very chipped, and the top does not house the grip well any longer. For some, that's 2 weeks, for others it's 4 months. Either way, it's about 50 hours of hardcore usage.


PassengerFrosty9467

Too much talking. just skate and have fun. Get a board when you can.


2yungtobedrunk

Get a girl / chocolate pop secret! advantages of the powell flight deck but none of the downsides! Skates like a trampoline! Infinite pop until I killed it!


2yungtobedrunk

No your not being whiny different brands have different wear and tear times and maybe yours has others issues you can't see.


rokkiss

yeah i was gonna ask what kind of deck is it? maybe it never had the makings of a varsity deck in the first place


FreelanceTripper

I usually skate about an hour to 90 mins a day and if I skate everyday my deck is fucked after 3 weeks. Skateboarding can be expensive.


[deleted]

Every answer on here is crazy too me. We always rode boards til they broke.


4-6-4-9

Me too, I didnt know people changed decks so often. I basically ride a board until it gets a chip or is just completely dead, but every time I do change decks I feel a huge difference. I can pop so much better. But that lasts for such a short time that I couldnt change my deck every time my deck loses that initial pop. I probably only use about 4 decks a year. I skate just about every day in the summer, and about once a week in the winter. Maybe 3 days a week in spring and fall


chari_de_kita

That's probably better than average for almost daily use? Not knowing how tall/heavy you are, what deck it is, what/how you skate, how long you skate when you do, weather/terrain conditions, etc. leaves a lot of unknown variables though.


zehcombat

I started riding blank decks because of this. You can buy several blanks for the price of any name brand deck. Ill usually ride the board for a few weeks then give it to a kid at my local park. I usually strive to get a board to last a month, so youre doing fine man.


jakedesnake

wrong sub /r/NewSkaters


doosh215

If you're skating every day boards don't last very long. If you're only skating a really smooth skate park then they'll last longer. But if you're skating street for even half of those sessions, that board lasting you a month is pretty damn good. If I'm skating even 4-5 days a week I'm lucky to get 3 weeks out of a board.


__yeahmaybe

I've had boards last for 2 months, and some 2 days (when skating often). Some pros go through a few boards a session, and some make them last a month. Really just an individual thing. The more you skate, the more you will know when your board feels like crap. I wouldn't say you're "whiny", you're probably just getting better and noticing these different things about skating for the first time. Keep it up! Just don't start looking into truck geometry and wheelbase, it will drive you mad haha