Skateboard is a plywood board that designed for practicing skateboarding. The board is usually combined with polyurethane coating for stronger board and smoother. Skateboarding started to be known in the 1940s by the Californian surfers who wanted to do some surfing activity when the there are no good waves on the sea. The creator of the first board was unknown and skateboarding was known as sidewalk surfing. The use of wheels usually for roller skate that attached on the bottom of the wooden board was how the first skateboard built. It was before there were any specialized wheels or boards designed for the activity. The specially produced skateboards were made in Los Angeles, California after an owner of surfing apparel provider Bill Richard, wanted to provide activity for surfers during the downtime. He propose a cooperation project with a roller skate manufacturer from Chicago to create a set of skating wheels set to be attached on the bottom of a square wood board.
Later on, some surfing manufacturers started to produce specially designed board for skateboarding; it was shaped like a small surfboard. The popularity of skateboarding was started in mid 1960’s. Its popularity also supported by skateboard magazines. In the early 1970’s, polyurethane skateboard wheels are developed by Frank Nasworthy. Before the use of polyurethane, skateboard wheels are made of metal or clay wheels. The use of polyurethane increased the traction as well as the overall performance. Due to this invention, skateboard was resurrected to its popularity. There are also manufacturers that started to produce truck or axles specially designed for skateboarding. By the year of 2000, Rodney Mullen designed the tensor trucks. It is a part of the skating board that attached to the deck and the wheels.
Basically, truck is made of two parts. The top part is attached to the deck with screws, it called as the baseplate. The hanger is placed beneath the baseplate. The axle is attached to the hunger. There is a rubber called as grommets and bushings between baseplate and hunger. It provides cushion mechanism when the skateboard is driven in a turning maneuver. A bolt that holds the parts is called as kingpin. Kingpin can be adjusted its tightness for stability and easier control. Trucks are produced with different axle widths option. The width of the axle should be close to the width of the board. Axle which is too wide will cause difficulties while doing tricks and maneuver. When the axle is too small, the stability and control of the board will be poor. Another popular truck design series are the thunder trucks. The light and hollow designed truck provides control for extreme tricks and maneuvers.
