Deck Size 

Buying your first skateboard can be confusing. Here's some guidelines to think about when buying your skateboard. Remember that none of these suggestions are rules. You should go with what you want, and make sure you have fun. The longer you skate, you'll get more of an idea of what you want. But at the start, here's some good ideas to keep in mind.

First, choosing your deck. Ask yourself, what kind of skating do I think I'll do most? 

Transition / Vert

Are you looking forward to mostly skating at the skate park, vert ramps or pools? Most of this type of skating uses a wider board, something wider than 8" (8.25" or 8.38" are good choices). 

Street / Technical

Do you see yourself skating around a school yard, the street in front of your friend's house, or downtown? Most of this type of skateboarding involves flip tricks or grinds. These types of skaters are usually most comfortable with a deck 8" wide or smaller (7.5", 7.75" or 8" are good). Anything much wider can make it hard to do technical tricks. 

Both / All Terrain

If you want to master both street and vert styles (not a bad idea at all), then you should look at a board that's right about in the middle. An 8" deck would be a good choice. If you find yourself leaning one way or the other, you might want to adapt your board. A wider board makes ramps easier to ride but flip tricks harder, where a more narrow board makes flip tricks easier but gives a lot less stability on a ramp! 

Cruising

If you're looking to use your board as mainly a means of transportation, then the bigger the board the more balance and control you'll have. You might even want to look at getting a long board. 

Trucks 

Your trucks are important. Inside the trucks are the bushings, a small plastic looking donut like part. These cushion the truck when it turns. 

The stiffer the bushing, the more stable the board. The softer the bushing, the easier the turn.

Also, the truck height can vary. If you get a set of trucks that are particularly high, you can use larger wheels, but you'll also be higher off the ground. 

Finally, the axle length of trucks varies. This is so that you can match your truck size to your board. You'll want your trucks to be within 1/4" of the size of the deck. 

For a beginner, I would recommend a basic set of trucks that match the size of your board, along with medium bushings. But don't worry too much about this -- bushings are easier to change than the whole truck. Just match up the right size at first, and you'll be fine. 

Wheels 

Skateboard wheels come in a variety of colors, sizes and degrees of hardness. Wheels have two stats -- diameter (how tall the wheel is) and durometer (how hard the wheel is -- in this article, we refer to the a-scale for durometer). The bigger the wheels, the faster your board will roll, and the harder the wheels, the faster you'll ride with more stability.

However, softer wheels ride smoother and grip the ground better. Picking the right size and hardness of your wheels is important -- once again ask yourself what kind of skating you think you'll be doing: 

Transition / Vert

Larger wheels roll a lot faster, and when riding ramps this is what you want. Try 55-65mm size wheels (though many ramp skaters will use even larger wheels -- try something like a 60mm wheel first, as you learn), with a hardness of 97-100a. 

Street / Technical

Skaters who like doing flip tricks often like smaller wheels, as they are lighter and closer to the ground, making some tricks easier / faster. Try 50-55mm wheels, with a hardness of 97-100a. 

Both / All Terrain

You'll want something in the middle, with slightly softer wheels. Try a wheel size 52-60mm, with 95-100a hardness. This should give you a balance between speed and weight. 

Cruising

Wheels for cruising are very different from trick skateboard wheels. Usually much larger for speed (64-75mm) and much softer for riding over rough terrain (78-85a). Other wheels for cruising are available, such as huge dirt wheels and the like, but these aren't recommended for skateboards (try longboards or dirtboards). 

Bearings 

There's only one way to rate bearings at the moment, and it doesn't work well with skateboard bearings. The rating is called ABEC and goes from 1 to 9, but only odd numbers. Unfortunately it was originally developed to rate the bearings in machines and the like. 

Therefore, the ABEC rating only rates the precision of a bearing. Skaters take their bearings and totally abuse them, as they should, but the durability of a bearing is likely to go down the more precise it is ... 

So, the ideal ABEC rating for a skateboard is 3 or 5. Smooth enough, but not going to break when you jump on your board. Some skateboard bearings don't even bother with the ABEC rating system. The best thing to do is try some out, ask your friends, or ask the guy behind the counter at the skate shop. 

One warning, though: don't rush out and buy the most expensive bearings right away. You'll likely do something without thinking about it and ruin your first set, and there are some good medium-priced bearings out there

Everything Else

There are a few other things to think about when buying a board, but they are mostly simple.

Griptape: 

One sheet is all you need to cover your board. There are slightly better, finer grip tapes available, if you want. It all depends on how much you want to spend on your board. 

Risers: 

Risers do two things. They help relieve stress from the trucks, which helps keep the deck from cracking. More importantly, risers help keep the wheels from biting into the board on a hard turn, causing the board to suddenly stop. It's a bad thing to have happen. Most risers are about 1/8" high. If you have extra large wheels, you'll want higher risers. On the other hand, if your wheels are small (52mm), then you might not need risers at all. It all depends on what you want. 

Hardware: 

The nuts and screws to put the board together. There are special colored nuts and bolts available, if you want. This is all just for looks -- if you're on a budget, just get the basic parts. 

Those are all of the parts of your skateboard, with some ideas to follow as you pick the parts that you want for your board. If this is your first board, ask for help at the shop to put it together, or simply order a complete set up. Completes are a great way to go when first starting out, and often they allow you to customize quite a bit. Using these guidelines, you should be able to get the perfect board for you. And remember, as you skate, pay attention to what you like and what you don't -- these aren't hard and fast rules, but just good guidelines to start out with. And, always, have fun and ware safety gear.