As others have said that Wal-Mart crap is awful. Bad bearings especially but the wheels, deck, and trucks suck as well. The bearings are the worst. Back in my day Swiss Bearings were the best and German Bearings were good too.

swiss are still the best

fyp

Go with one of those Rip Sticks...

My wifes friends whom are nurses in the ER say that they are good for business....

:clap: agreed, find a shop near you.

http://berricsunified.com/

Give him anything but a skateboard. Geez, I hate skate punks. Especially Independence skate punks.

Whatever this kid was using:

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sgDyvjY5AVQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sgDyvjY5AVQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

You guys are right, I don't want him hanging around a bunch of skater punks...

I'd might as well just buy him some cigarettes and drugs.

I'd like to see a video of skater epic ownage, wrecks and shit. That outta deter him.

Not all skateboarders are punks. There's a lot of them that you don't see on the streets all the time that are just normal kids. It's actually a great hobby for kids.

All of 'em?

Nope.

But if you want to greatly increase the likelihood that your kid ends up hanging around with the kind of reeruns that literally sat stock still while their friend was screaming about his broken nuts, get him a skateboard. Seriously - watch those kids from 9 - 20 seconds in that video - no movement whatsoever.

If you want your daughter to be a shallow whore, send her to beauty pagents. If you want your son to be a ****stick drug addict, get him a skateboard. Neither approach guarantees succes, but they're pretty good starts...

Skate or Die!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8TmIxHSBcU

This. I played organized sports and skated (took a two years off during hs). I ended up being a college graduate.

If you encourage the accomplishment aspects of it then it's very good for him. There's nothing like working on a trick for awhile and then nailing it.

shit, a lot of skaters (Actually most now that I think of it) are dorks.

Check out Rodney Mullen (one of the best ever).

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bPYlM1VPP_Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bPYlM1VPP_Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Props for mentioning rodney. Still my favorite skater to this day.

http://www.darkslideskateshop.com/se...9;BRIEN/Detail