A while ago I decided to buy a bunch of cheap Amazon skateboards. I checked the ratings 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 review, must be a great skateboard right? Wrong! Absolute dog shit.
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 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 these a brand to be honest.
The Worst 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 skateboards I ordered which cost me about 550 bucks because I had to pay a hefty shipping fee:
- Cal 7: Mediocre, not the worst.
- Wolff: Completely unsafe.
- Magneto: Their cruiser is okay, the rest okayish.
- Minority: I can’t make jokes about minorities but this board wasn’t funny anyway.
- WhiteFang: Not great, could be worse.
- Hikole: Snaps when you sneeze.
- Retrospec: What the fk is this?
- Metroller: Not even worth throwing in a bonfire.
- KPC: Rather get some KFC instead.
- Tony hawk Signature Series: Honestly not bad if you get the right series. Decent skateboard for kids.
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 are the worst skateboards you can buy. Somehow they cheated the system and Amazon doesn’t care.
It’s Not All Bad
The better 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 more decent come from a few independent webshops and a couple of reputable brands. Want a decent complete? These are a good choice:
- The CCS Complete is a really good deal.
- Birdhouse offers high quality completes, better than the other known brands.
- Globe offers very decent beginner boards.
- Santa Cruz completes are okay, but a bit overpriced (birch deck and terrible trucks).
- Arbor Wiskey Complete is also a great choice.
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.
The Absolute Worst Skateboard – Hikole
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. Look at that, it’s some sort of cheapass wood glue!
It’s not even made of maple like advertised, it’s some mix of low quality birch and the deck has a soggy pop. Not a single nanotube of maple present. It even bends when you apply a bit of pressure!
I dumped it in the trash in the background, the image seems fitting.
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. I kicked it right at the center and it just snaped, like wow. I didn’t even put a lot of effort into it but it just snapped in half.
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 at first but got a refund in return for a glowing 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.
Last Words
I get approached by Chinese manufacturers occasionally. One offered me 500 USD for a positive review which I politely declined (like 3 times until I blocked them). 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 for skateboards. There are many quality skateboards but also a load of the worst skateboards you can buy.
FYI: I gave away some of the boards that I felt we’re safe enough to a bunch of kids. The rest ended up in the garbage.
