A while ago I decided to buy a bunch of cheap Amazon skateboards. I checked the rating and all of them came with great reviews, many of them are actually Amazon’s Choice! Imagine buying a $30 skateboard with a 5-star reviews, must be a great skateboard right? Wrong!
Amazon skateboards are not worth it if they don’t come from a reputable brand. Most of the reviews are fake, or the reviewers are bribed. If you look at the 1 and 2-star reviews you’ll learn that Amazon skateboard are unsafe and low quality.
It wasn’t a surprise to find out that the 8 skateboards I purchased we’re terrible. Since lots of websites recommend them, I think it’s a good idea to expose these horrible skateboard ‘brands’. I wouldn’t even call them a brand to be honest.
Contents
Are Amazon Skateboards Good For Beginners?
Amazon skateboards are hard to skate and not great for beginners. In fact, they aren’t great for any skater no matter how skilled. They come with low-quality trucks, decks that are made of cheap wood, bearings that don’t spin, and wheels that ride very uncomfortable. Most of these cheap skateboard can break within a day.
Do yourself a favor and buy a skateboard from a reputable brand and learn how to recognise the crappy ones. If you want to pick a skateboard for a child, please don’t buy one of those really cheap Chinese knock offs.
What Are The Worst Amazon Skateboards?
There are too many to list, but I’ll mention a couple of the worst Amazon skateboards, how to recognize a bad skateboard, even when you shop online. Here are the worst Amazon skateboards:
- Cal 7
- Wolff
- Magneto
- Minority
- WhiteFang
- Beleeve
- Retrospec
- Metroller
- KPC
- Etc
Some of them are worse than others. Cal 7 and Magneto at least come with a deck that isn’t the worst, but still the components are trash. In fact, most of the best sellers on Amazon are the worst skateboards you can buy. Somehow they cheated the system and Amazon doesn’t care.
What Are The Best Skateboards on Amazon?
The best skateboards on Amazon are usually around $70 and up. CCS completes go from 70 to 80 bucks which is a steal. They aren’t perfect, but miles ahead of brands like Minority.
Some of the best skateboards come from a few independent webshops and a couple of reputable brands. I can a recommend a couple of Amazon skateboards that are great and won’t feel frustrating to ride.
- CCS Complete (webshop)
- Birdhouse Complete
- Globe Complete
- Santa Cruz Complete
- Arbor Wiskey Complete
Keep in mind that these are not custom setups. In the end you get what you pay for. You can buy a decent skateboard for about 100 bucks but it still won’t be great. Good enough for beginners, but not recommended for skateboarders with experience.
We tested many skateboards that you can buy on Amazon and there are a few that aren’t bad. If you are a beginner and never skated before make sure to check our recommended skateboards. Still, the best skateboard is the one you assemble yourself.
What Makes a Bad Skateboard?
Basically the easiest way to spot a bad skateboard is its price. A skateboard under 60 bucks is made of cheap materials and probably won’t cost more than $5 to $10 USD to produce. All those 5-star reviewed and $30 to $50 USD skateboards are unsafe to ride.
I ordered this Hikole skateboard and it was dead on arrival, the ply’s were delaminated which is an accident waiting to happen.
It’s not even made of maple, it’s some mix of low quality birch and the deck has a soggy pop. It even bends when you apply a bit of pressure!
I added the green line to show what I mean, you can clearly see the deck bending when I apply some pressure to the front of the board. This shouldn’t be happening and it means that you can’t do tricks on this board because it will deform when you attempt a trick. Most likely it will break on the first try.
It comes wrapped in plastic, which is also a sigh of a low quality skateboard. The manufacturer didn’t even bother to wrap is in plastic after assembly. I removed most of the plastic but some is still stuck under the trucks.
Be wary of raving reviews, non of the 4 and 5-star reviews are written by skaters. For the harsh truth you better read the 1 and 2-star reviews, if they don’t get deleted.
“My grand son was really happy to get a skateboard”, BAM 5-stars.
“Super fast shipping, love the graphic”, POW! 5-stars.
You probably see what’s going on here, people who bought this product as a gift for a skateboarder should’t be reviewing a skateboard. There is something more weird stuff with Amazon reviews which isn’t obvious at first.
Many of the reviews are fake. Some are written by bots, and some people gave a bad review but got a refund in return for a postitive review. There are tools that can detect fake reviews and here is where it starts to get interesting. Here are a couple you can use to spot fake reviews:
- reviewmeta.com
- thereviewindex.com
The absolute worst skateboards are always wrapped in plastic. The Chinese manufacterers wrap the deck in plastic and then attach the trucks. This isn’t always obvious when you shop online, but when you shop skateboards at Walmart you know what to avoid.
If a skateboard is under 50 bucks you should assume it is absolute trash. A quality deck alone is around 60-70 bucks which is more than a complete cheap skateboard.
Keep in mind that buying a cheap skateboard will be more expensive in the end. If you have to immediately replace the bearings which already is close to a decent complete skateboard from CCS. Replacing a skateboard deck is even more expensive and can cost you $40 (no graphic) to $70 USD.
Conclusion
I get approached by Chinese manufacturers occasionally. I even had to block one of them on my Instagram because they couldn’t take no for an answer. One offered me 500 USD for a postive review which I politely declined. It wasn’t even tempting because once you start doing fake reviews, it’s a slippery slope.
I would never recommend a product that I don’t support, 90% of the product I recommend are tested by myself or friends. The other 10% is stuff I just know is great because it’s from a reputable brand or I tested similar products.
Anyhoo, be careful when you shop on Amazon for skateboards. There are many quality skateboards but also a load of the worst skateboards you can buy.
I’m an aged skateboarder and still shred responsibly. Started skateboarding 25 years ago, peaked in the 2000’s, and still ride to this day. I am a total geek when it comes to skateboard gear, love test to stuff and share my findings.