Long before the days of fidget spinners, squishies and slime, we had lots of other cool toys to play with. Many of them involved dexterity and practice. Tech Deck is part of that group.
First of all, just a recap of what Tech Deck actually is… Finger-sized skateboards or fingerboards. Tech Deck fingerboards are 96mm long authentic replicas from the world of skateboarding. On these miniature action toys, you will see real graphics from brands including, Plan B, Element and Primitive. Alongside the board is the accessories like ramps, half-pipes and grind rails. Everything you could imagine at a skate park, but finger sized. There is also a range of mini BMX and Scooters too!
Tech Deck Packs
We were given a range of Tech Deck products to try out.
This included a 96mm board Pack (£2.99), a 4 Pack of fingerboards (£9.99) and a Build-a-Park Ramp and Grind Rail.
The single Tech Deck pack features one board, stickers, a spare set of wheels, a new design board tool and a display stand. There are over 100 different boards to collect and I think the price point of a single board is comparable to lots of the pocket money collections at the moment.
How to Build a Tech Deck Fingerboard
The 4 Pack of Fingerboards is more in kit form. With only one out of the 4 pre-built. This was a perfect chance to choose the wheels, apply the grip tape, install the trucks and totally customise it.
Before building your Tech Deck board it’s worth pointing out that the trucks (wheel axels) have an adjustable bushing on them (a white plastic part). These bushings should face the centre of the board.
Next step is to choose your board. Select your wheels and mount the wheels to the trucks. Our technique for connecting the wheels to the trucks was to insert the little brass nut into the tech deck tool. Overlay the wheel on top of this, then locate the truck through the wheel to the nut.
Next step is to attach the trucks to the deck with the tiny tiny screws. It is very fiddly, but Imogen managed to secure them into place. The final step is to apply the grip tape sticker on the top of the deck. Trying your best to align the screw holes with the grip tape.
As Tech Deck Fingerboards are totally customizable you can swap the wheels and trucks to create a different feel to the boards. (Loosening off the bushing a little helps with the steering on the boards)
Learning new tricks.
So you’ve mastered the build process, next up is tricks. The basic ollie (jump) is achieved by pressing down on the back of the board, then flicking the wrist to flick down the front. I’d be lying if I said this was easy and with a little practice the inner satisfaction with shine on you.
As part of our kit, we received a Build A Park ramp and grind rail. The Ramp kits are modular, which means that you can manoeuvre the pieces into various combos to make a different setup. Or even adding more ramps to it to build a bigger skate park.
To See how a pro handles a Tech Deck, visit TechDeck.com to be amazed. They have videos of tricks and links to all the cool kit you can get.
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