Skate Shop Addict

Lots of tourists are into museums and art galleries but skateboarders aren’t into that boring stuff. Unless you can skate them of course! Whenever I travel to a new city, all I want to do is track down anything to do with skateboarding. I’m always keen to check out the nearest skate shop.

Skate shop mementos

If you’re into skateboarding like me, you can’t pass by a new skate store without going in. When I find a cool new skate shop I usually spend ages there. I check out skateboard wheels and skateboard trucks, then the longboards & skateboards. I always buy some sort of skate gear when I’m travelling because then I get to enjoy it back home and it becomes kind of like a memento of my trip.

Skate decks in my suitcase

But you need to have lots of room in your suitcase. Or don’t take a lot of skate clothing with you and then you don’t have to worry. You can go buy a load of new stuff, whether it’s skate clothing or skateboarding hardware or whatever. Once I managed to fit two skate decks into my suitcase – it was damn tricky but not impossible.

Skate clothing for a growing guy

When I’m travelling I’m always on the lookout for new skate clothing because I seem to outgrow my clothes so quickly. Or I wear them out – especially skate shoes – so I always need new stuff. And because I skate most days, I’m often in need of new skateboard trucks, or skateboard wheels and skateboard bearings.

Better tricks with my new skateboard trucks

On my last trip to New Zealand, I got some great skateboards trucks that I couldn’t resist putting on my skateboard deck straight away – even though the ones I already had on there were good as. You know what it’s like when you get something new – you can’t wait to try it out. Those new skateboard trucks made such a difference – some tricks I was trying to land were that much easier.

Where to skateboard

I asked a guy at the skate shop where I bought the skateboard trucks from where to skateboard and he told me about the Vic Park skate park so I headed straight there. Turned out to be super close to where I was staying.

My new skateboarding trucks were the bomb and the park was mean too. So I stayed at that skate park heaps – basically every day from about lunchtime ’til dark. Would’ve stayed longer but it was basically too dark to skate.

New skate shoes required

I still did massive skating and pretty much wore out my skate shoes in the process. Which gave me a great excuse to go shopping for more skate gear – not a good look to turn up at the airport wearing majorly thrashed skate shoes and looking like a wreck after getting up at 5:00 AM. They’d probably eye me suspiciously and get the sniffer dogs on to me quick as!

DC shoes or skate clothing?

So I was still tearing around the skate shops like a maniac right up until the day I had to fly out. I’m fussy about skate shoes and I was down to my last bit of cash. Luckily that’s when I spotted some wicked DC shoes and a totally mean looking skate t-shirt. But I didn’t have the dollars for both and I needed to get on that plane. Should I go for the DC shoes or skate clothing? Nah, the skate shoes won my vote dead easy.

I’m still wearing those DC shoes now. They remind me of my trip to New Zealand which is kinda cool.

Online skateshop

Usually when I get back home from a holiday, I do the online skateshop thing and stay connected to the skate shops I like that way. I sign up to get their newsletters or special offers on skate clothing or skate gear that can be shipped easily. If they’re on Facebook, I sign up to that too.

Skate Shops

Boardertown
www.boardertown.co.nz
New Zealand’s premier supplier of skateboards, snowboards, wakeboards and footwear.

Freeride Surf Skate Snow NZ
www.freeride.org.nz
Freeride… fashion, skate, surf, and snow all in one.

Hyper Skate – Hyper Ride
www.hyper.co.nz
Skateboards, longboards, miniboards, wheels, bearings, trucks and more.

NYC Skate – Skateboard Shop
www.nycskate.co.nz
Online skate shop located in Helensville, New Zealand.

The Fun Warehouse
www.thefunwarehouse.co.nz
Skate ramps, skate ramp with rail, ramp sets.

Wipeout Skatewear
www.wipeout.co.nz
Show your moves with DC skate gear. His & her latest styles. BIG savings.

018 Skatepark Directory
www.018.co.nz
New Zealand’s premier skatepark directory. Full panoramic photos and descriptions of almost 100 parks.

Adidas Originals
www.yukka.co.uk
Vintage retro Adidas Originals available from Yukka.

Alta Snow & Skate
www.alta.co.nz
Need to hire a Snowboard in Queenstown? No problem! Voted “Retailer of the Year” more than once, Alta offer a full range of Burton, K2 and Ride snowboards, plus exciting kiwi brands such as ABC, Lower, Huffer & RPM.

ActivZone
www.activzoneskateshop.co.nz
ActivZone skate shop, hot destination for your skating and hockey gear needs.

Alpine Ice Sports and Entertainment Centre
www.alpineice.co.nz
Go hard or just chill out with friends and family at this ice skating venue in Christchurch. They cater for all ages and abilities, with public sessions and learn to skate courses.

Bauer Nike Hockey
www.bauernz.co.nz
Selling all Bauer Nike hockey products in New Zealand. Shop online for hockey sticks, clothing, inline skates, ice skates, gloves, elbow pads, shin guards and other accessories.

Best Boards
www.bestboards.co.nz
Your source for surfboards, skateboards and board hire. Best Boards offers the best boards at the best prices.

BWMsnow
www.bwmsnow.co.nz
A New Zealand online snowboard, ski and skate shop, offering free shipping on all products. The BWMsnow range includes skis, snowboards, skateboards, clothing and accessories.

Cheapskates
www.cheapskates.co.nz
Cheapskates has been around for ages. 17 stores nationwide.

Cheapskates Nelson
www.cheapskatesnz.co.nz
Cheapskates Nelson sells skateboards, snowboards, wakeboards, waterskis, surfboards plus shoes, street wear, jeans, caps, wet suits and much much more.

DC Shoes
www.yukka.co.uk
The latest skate clothing is available online from Yukka.

Empire Skate Shop
www.empireskate.co.nz
Select styles are available through their online shop.

Eversion Clothing
www.eversion.co.nz
A range of surf, skate and street clothing, designed in Australia and New Zealand.

Gag Raglan
www.gagraglan.com
Selling a range of surfboards, skateboards and hardware, along with skate clothing, footwear and many accessories.

Hockey Locker
www.locker.co.nz
New Zealand’s inline hockey and ice hockey skate supply shop. Hamilton, New Zealand.

Lostboy Longboards
www.lostboy.co.nz
New Zealand’s longboard and speedboard skate supply store.

Premium Skate Park Designs
www.premiumskatedesigns.co.nz
An experienced skate boarder owned and operated design/build firm specialising in concrete and wooden skate parks since 1998.

Quest
www.queststore.co.nz
Skateboarding and snowboard clothing and equipment retailers. Four locations in the South Island.

Ride SSS
www.ridesss.co.nz
Online retailer of surf, skate and snow products, with secure purchasing.

Sam’s Skate Store
www.skyriderforkids.com
So you’re building your own skateboard? Before you begin, there are some things you need to think about.

Schidt Skateboarding
www.schidt.com
Skateboard pictures and information from Dunedin, includes spot guide, events, photo gallery and history.

Shoe Connection
www.shoeconnection.co.nz
Leading brands and the latest shoe styles from around the world, with contemporary dress fashion, urban, street and skate footwear for both men and women. Stores in Wellington, Porirua, Lower Hutt and Christchurch.

Sisco’s Surf School
www.surfsouth.co.nz
A surf shop in New Brighton, Christchurch selling a range of surf and skate clothing and equipment.

SK8.co.nz
www.sk8.co.nz
New Zealand’s best range of ice and inline hockey items. Located in Christchurch.

Skate Clothing
www.yukka.co.uk
The latest skate clothing is available online from Yukka.

SKATEgear
www.skategear.co.nz
Online skate shop. Free shipping in NZ!

Skateland
www.skateland.co.nz
Rollersports rink in Mt Wellington, Auckland. Public session times and rental of skates and blades. Bookings also available for groups and birthday parties.

SpotX
www.spotx.co.nz
Online skate shop.

Surf Shop
www.thesurfshop.co.nz
A New Zealand online surf shop with the biggest range of surf DVDs anywhere.

Tall Clothing
www.plus-size-tall.com
Plus Size Tall is an online fashion magazine focusing on plus size clothing and tall clothing, for women and men.

The Original Stikboards
www.stikboardsnz.co.nz
Find out about the new extreme sport craze – The Original Stikboards. Now available in New Zealand.

Underground Skate
www.undergroundskate.co.nz
New Zealand’s premier skate, surf and snow shop.

XEN Skateboard Co
www.x-e-n.com
Skateboarding gear for skateboarders by skateboarders. Superior quality since 1998.

Skateboarding in Japan

By Scott Robson

Although skateboarding may seem like a purely American invention, and in fact the sport was created in sunny California, this activity has spread worldwide since the 1970s. In fact, skateboarding is quite popular in Japan. The burgeoning Japanese skate scene is definitely worth checking out if you are a skateboarder who happens to be travelling to Japan.

Continue reading “Skateboarding in Japan”

Skateboard bearings & ABEC rating scammers… separating fact from fiction.

Skateboard bearings ABEC 5
Skateboard bearings usually have an ABEC rating, and most skaters think the higher the number the better. ABEC 5 is better than ABEC 3, right? First, let’s look at what ABEC actually means.

If you want to impress your mates, tell them that ABEC is an acronym of Annular Bearing Engineers’ Committee. ABEC standards are a way of measuring the tolerances and accuracy of bearings, and were developed by the American Bearing Manufacturers Association.

These are the factors used in determining the ABEC rating of skateboard bearings… Continue reading “Skateboard bearings & ABEC rating scammers… separating fact from fiction.”