So, i've just started getting into fingerboarding and I want something a bit more substantial than a tech deck. I've read some feedback and reviews on here, and the general consensus is to avoid China-manufactured anything, with maybe an exception or two. But since at least one of the companies that sold cheaper completes went under, I was curious what your guys' disposition was currently on what a good beginner setup would be, keeping the cost around 30 bucks? I know frost fingerboards are still an option, but that's about the extent of what i'm aware that I should consider at my price point. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

For $30 you cant really get anything professional only really china. Getting a new deck could help, I am sure on FF you could find a deck for less than 30 and use china trucks/wheels.

I'd recommend to buy a nice deck, which accords your preferences in shape, width, lengths etc.
You might get a deck for 10-20$.
Best trucks in your price range would be Teck Deck Longboard trucks, if you can find any... depends on where you life, it's not always easy to get them for a decent price.
The only other option for trucks/wheels is China.
And save a few bucks for foam tape and bushings, that's even more important than good trucks/wheels imho.

Definitely agree with kThumb about the tape and bushings. Both a better investment than trucks. Trucks should be last on your list of good parts to get. There's a lot of good deck options around. If you're gonna go with some china products, I'd recommend eBay to get the best prices.

teak tuning has some great and cheap tuning at www.teaktuning.com
there's alot of companies that make decks for about 20 and then id get china cnc lathe wheels and tech deck lb trucks and some cheap tape, all that you can get for maybe 40ish dollars im not sure.

you on kik or line i may be able to help u?

You can even get away with using a pair of wide teckdeck trucks too, as they are basicly the same as simular rebranded china trucks. And do yourself a favor by treating yourself to a set of Witchcraft bushings (no need for washers and rebranded orings)..

Man, there is some great feedback in this thread. I really appreciate your guys' help, I'll let you know what I settle on after I do some more poking around.

trivium fingerboard decks are really cheap right now.  then you could get china wide trucks, china cnc bearing wheels, cheapest foam grip you can find (milk's creamy goo is cheap, but currently sold out), and soft bushings.

like most others said, besides the deck--wheels, bushings, and grip are most important.  a lot of people get by w/ china wide trucks, but it really helps to have better bushings and wheels that can actually roll.


some other cheap brands:

broken knuckle (decks are horrible, but they have good china tuning options),
class a (also have cheap china tuning and wheels),
roswell fingerboards (i swear its the only place that still has shaped old bollie 2.0 trucks),
flatface (poke around the site and look for the cheap options like close-up completes, etc).

fingerfuzz wrote:

some other cheap brands:

broken knuckle (decks are horrible, but they have good china tuning options),
class a (also have cheap china tuning and wheels),
roswell fingerboards (i swear its the only place that still has shaped old bollie 2.0 trucks),
flatface (poke around the site and look for the cheap options like close-up completes, etc).

^China shit


The thing is.. Deck making takes time, and its very rare that a deck around the $10 mark will have put enough effort into it to make it much nicer than a china deck.

I look at it this way. If the deck maker only values his decks at a low price, it's a sign that he don't think his own decks are worth a lot.
And i really don't understand the idea of buying something mediocre.
$20 can buy you a good deck, and it's not an amount of money thats insanely hard to come up with.


And yea, i agree with whoever suggested just buying a new deck. It's much more rewarding to upgrade your setup over time, bit by bit, with good parts, instead of buying a mediocre complete.

Well, the idea for me is to get used to the nuances of a higher-quality fingerboard. I don't want to dive headlong into an investment and potentially botch my fingerboard, which i've read horror stories of on the forums.

For me, its not necessarily about being a tight-wad, but promoting a learning experience. Frankly, I'd rather not learn to drive in a Rolls Royce, i'd rather start smaller and get an older, western-made puddle jumper. My price-point is relatively flexible, but from what i've read, it didn't seem as though that was unreasonable. I still wanted to get the community's feedback on what was the best bang for my buck, though.

So, that's my rationale on wanting to start smaller with my investment. Make sure i'm comfortable with it, that I don't fuck anything up and, really, to make sure it's something I want to further commit money to in the future.

All understandable thoughts man, we all went through it starting up. I'd say get you a quality deck, and solid bushings/tape, wheels and trucks really aren't a huge thing performance wise, that's mostly just preference. Get a solid deck and work from there! If you get some China wheels, and td wides or lbs, you'd be set.

Also, where at in Texas are ya from?
I also live in Texas, I tell you whut!

i could make you a custom if you wanted i can throw in some tuned wides but i dont have any wheels
ill do that ^^^ for about 20 shipped if you want? if interested ? with a sheet of foam tape. i have a low concave/medium kicks shape and can do any width that is reasonable 30mm/31mm/32mm
and my company is c-decks. then broken knuckle has cheap china bearing wheels for around the $5 range.

and I used to live in Abilene texas near dyess

Mikkel S wrote:

fingerfuzz wrote:

some other cheap brands:

broken knuckle (decks are horrible, but they have good china tuning options),
class a (also have cheap china tuning and wheels),
roswell fingerboards (i swear its the only place that still has shaped old bollie 2.0 trucks),
flatface (poke around the site and look for the cheap options like close-up completes, etc).

^China shit


The thing is.. Deck making takes time, and its very rare that a deck around the $10 mark will have put enough effort into it to make it much nicer than a china deck.

I look at it this way. If the deck maker only values his decks at a low price, it's a sign that he don't think his own decks are worth a lot.
And i really don't understand the idea of buying something mediocre.
$20 can buy you a good deck, and it's not an amount of money thats insanely hard to come up with.


And yea, i agree with whoever suggested just buying a new deck. It's much more rewarding to upgrade your setup over time, bit by bit, with good parts, instead of buying a mediocre complete.

umm, that's nice but the issue is he's trying to get all the parts for a complete around $30…

by being completely anti china you're defeating any efforts of getting cheap tuning stuff. you would just have to buy brt, or y trucks, and witchcraft bushings, and the matching pro wheels etc. all the cnc wheels, wide trucks, most grip, and o-ring bushings are made in china now. hmm

i can make you a custom deck for 25 shipped

fingerfuzz wrote:

umm, that's nice but the issue is he's trying to get all the parts for a complete around $30…

by being completely anti china you're defeating any efforts of getting cheap tuning stuff. you would just have to buy brt, or y trucks, and witchcraft bushings, and the matching pro wheels etc. all the cnc wheels, wide trucks, most grip, and o-ring bushings are made in china now.

Thats why I suggested using teckdeck wides and getting a set of witchcrafts. Then its only a matter of getting hold some nice second hand wheels and pick up any deck desired within the budget limits.

Cant beat that with any rebranded china complete..

Bakko wrote:

fingerfuzz wrote:

umm, that's nice but the issue is he's trying to get all the parts for a complete around $30…

by being completely anti china you're defeating any efforts of getting cheap tuning stuff.  you would just have to buy brt, or y trucks, and witchcraft bushings, and the matching pro wheels etc.  all the cnc wheels, wide trucks, most grip, and o-ring bushings are made in china now.

Thats why I suggested using teckdeck wides and getting a set of witchcrafts. Then its only a matter of getting hold some nice second hand wheels and pick up any deck desired within the budget limits.

Cant beat that with any rebranded china complete..

well yea, definitely, then again my reply wasn't to your post.

td wides are great if you can find em.  thing is the market is tight for them right now cuz it's hard to find retail td longboards (non-internetz).  that and they really only fit wide decks best too, so that's another consideration.

I was not refering to the TDLB trucks, but rather the regular wide teckdeck trucks that come with for example the Simpson series oldschool shapes as they are easyer to come by. I explained all this in an earlyer post in the thread. Took me like one second to source one of those on ebay and I am positive someone would have a set they could part with for dirt cheap. These are more than fine to use if on a budget and not just some rebranded china trucks with orings and washers.

Just trying to give the guy some friendly advice for a budget setup..

bleh, they look like dump trucks [china wides] though? minus well just get china wides or a whole tdlb on amazon

Bakko wrote:

You can even get away with using a pair of wide teckdeck trucks too, as they are basicly the same as simular rebranded china trucks. And do yourself a favor by treating yourself to a set of Witchcraft bushings (no need for washers and rebranded orings)..

Umm....I think that`s what I wrote. And again, just trying to give the guy some friendly advice for a budget setup..

Bakko wrote:

Bakko wrote:

You can even get away with using a pair of wide teckdeck trucks too, as they are basicly the same as simular rebranded china trucks. And do yourself a favor by treating yourself to a set of Witchcraft bushings (no need for washers and rebranded orings)..

Umm....I think that`s what I wrote. And again, just trying to give the guy some friendly advice for a budget setup..

and what i wrote is that minus well buy dump trucks for $6 than trying to snag a whole simpsons set up on ebay for much more…

I wasnt saying he had to go on whatever site and get the teckdeck ones. I was pointing out that they are not hard to come by at all. In fact, many have a set of these laying around they would be willing to part with for dirt cheap or free.

Oh, and rebranded china trucks for $6 is still more than the $4.99 for the whole teckdeck pack..

So far this is a great topic with a lot of good opinions. Here's my 2¢:

Deck: Redemption http://www.redemptionfb.com/apps/webstore/ At the bottom of the second page are older mold decks that are still really well crafted. I would suggest maybe the MC (overall medium) which should be easy to learn on.
Price: $16 (including US shipping)

Trucks: Tech Deck Wide (Target, Walmart, Toys R Us, etc.) Perform the same as China wides just usually not a sexy color.
Price:~$3

Tuning: Teak Tuning http://www.teaktuning.com/ 1 set of bushings w/pivot cups and 1 sheet of tape (pretty sure it's Creamy Goo Sourced). Pretty standard o-ring tuning but lots of colors to choose from and not too overpriced.
Price: $5 (including US shipping)

Wheels: China... It's pretty unavoidable in your price range. Just shop around for cheapest single bearing wheels and cheap shipping. Broken Knuckle http://www.brokenknucklefingerboards.com/ has standard China wheels.
Price: $6.59 (including US shipping)

Total: $30.59

Not a bad first set up with room to improve with time. Eventually I would get Witchraft bushings and a good set of wheels followed by whatever deck you've got your eye on. Learning tricks is easiest on a single deck and your taste will probably change as you get better. Finally, splurge on some pro trucks when you got some scratch (or a major gift giving holiday) and you'll be outfitted with an all pro setup.

where do people find these cheap ass (wide) tech decks?!? about time i do a toys r us pilgrimage or something? seems like all the td stuff online is horribly overpriced cuz a lot of them are being sold by collectors, etc.

in reality $6 is expensive for any china stuff, especially bearing wheels and wide trucks, but i haven't bothered to see who sells em at the absolute lowest. someone did mention 4cfb as well, but i haven't gone around pricing china wides, though that could be a first step for any newcomer.

fingerfuzz wrote:

where do people find these cheap ass (wide) tech decks?!?  about time i do a toys r us pilgrimage or something?  seems like all the td stuff online is horribly overpriced cuz a lot of them are being sold by collectors, etc.

The Internet sucks for buying Tech Decks that are currently available in most stores. It's easily twice to three times the price of retail. You can however get older stuff like the TDLB trucks usually around $10-$15 new in package. Right now you could probably find any of the Creature 3D decks, Santa Cruz Star Wars Boba Fett or Cheebacca cruiser, or the Simpsons board shop pack (4 wide trucks, 1 of them white, 1 of them green) still leftover in a store near you. Those are the most recent wide truck options I've seen.