Concrete,first.
Bowls at dawn, plazas at dusk. We ride completes before we write about them, and we ride them until something fails. The only year-round sport on this roster, and the one we're slowest to publish on — because the quality bar is high and the saturation is higher.
500+
km on the review complete
23
decks tested
08
parks in detail
2026
season covered
dawn session,
bowl to self.
Rolling,
patiently.
Because the worst gear content on the internet is skate gear content. We'd rather publish nothing than publish filler.
Every complete gets 30+ days on real pavement before a word ships. Every park gets ridden at three times of day. If a trick doesn't teach, we don't review it. The bar is different — intentionally.
500+
Kilometres logged per review build
23
Complete setups tested end-to-end
08
Parks documented in detail
5+
Years of scene ties per region
“The best review gear I've ever owned was a second-hand Santa Cruz I bought from a stranger in Lisbon. No marketing, no ranking — it just worked.”
— Field log, March 2023
Completes, decks,
trucks, wheels.
Pre-built completes for first boards, full parts for people building up a custom setup. We've pushed every item on this list at least 100 kilometres before ranking it.
- № 015 reviewed
Completes
First-board pre-built setups, reviewed after a full month.
Explore - № 028 reviewed
Decks
Width, wheelbase, concave. The board itself, honestly.
Explore - № 034 reviewed
Trucks
Kingpin angles, bushings, response. The bit nobody explains.
Explore - № 046 reviewed
Wheels
Diameter, durometer, shape. What actually rolls.
Explore
The parks,
honestly walked.
Eight parks we've spent real weeks at. Terrain breakdowns, open hours, local rules, and the obstacles nobody's photographed yet.
- 🇪🇸Euro headquartersSpain · Málaga, Andalucía
La Vega
Southern Europe's best city park. Three bowls — mellow, pool-coping, deep — plus a full street plaza. Rideable 320 days a year. Free, open, busy.
- 🇩🇰Civic design masterpieceDenmark · Copenhagen
Fælledparken
The public skatepark as civic architecture. Free, inclusive, genuinely excellent. Covered sections mean rain is only a minor inconvenience.
- 🇪🇸Street-skater's MeccaSpain · Barcelona
Parc del Fòrum
Street-skater pilgrimage. Polished granite, long ledges, manual pads, a triple set with an actual runway. Bring wax. Expect locals.
Setups, guides,
the honest reviews.
Best first complete skateboards of 2026
Five completes, 500 kilometres per build, three rider sizes. What actually lasts a first year.
- 01Review · Element
Element Section 8.25 — after 500 km
The complete we built for a single rider for six months. What broke, what held, what we'd buy again.
02 Apr 20267 min read - 02Guide · Fundamentals
How to set up your first deck
Trucks, wheels, bearings, grip. A full build in under an hour with €20 of tools.
14 Apr 20269 min read - 03Guide · Fundamentals
Deck size — a real buying table
Width, wheelbase, concave. Which size actually fits your foot and your style of skating.
28 Mar 20267 min read - 04Guide · Maintenance
Clean your bearings in ten minutes
Why the slow rolling isn't a bearing quality problem. What to do about it, with a €5 kit.
18 Mar 20265 min read