Board Customization Guide
How to Personalize Your Longboard: Upgrades That Actually Change How You Ride
A personalized longboard should solve a riding problem, not just look different. The upgrades worth spending money on are the ones you can feel under your feet — grip tape, wheels, trucks, and bushings. Everything else is decoration. Decoration is fine, but it should come after the functional stuff, not instead of it.
Start with the ride you want, not the board you saw online
Most “longboard custom” advice you find online is about aesthetics. Sticker placement, grip tape art, color-coordinated wheels, deck painting tutorials. All of that is valid — your board can look however you want. But none of it changes how the board actually rides.
Functional personalization means swapping or adjusting components to match your specific route, your body weight, and the riding style you have actually developed over time. Not the style you think you might want someday. The one you already have.
Here is the part most guides skip: if you have not ridden your current board long enough to feel what is “wrong” with it, you are not ready to customize. Ride first. Upgrade second. I learned this the same way most people do — by helping my sister Casey try to pick her first board and realizing that knowing what to change requires knowing what you actually do on the board every day. If you are still in the first-board phase, our beginner longboard guide will help you orient before you start swapping parts.
The board I ride most — a 2015 Loaded Dervish I bought used — has been customized three times. Not because a forum told me to, but because after a few months of riding the same route to the river, I started noticing things. The wheels vibrated too much on one section of brick. The trucks felt too loose on a particular downhill corner. Each change was a response to something I actually felt, not a trend I read about. That is the difference between personalization and buying stuff.
If you are still figuring out what kind of rider you are, spend some time with our guide to types of longboards. Understanding the shape and style of your board helps you know which customizations even apply.
Grip tape: the cheapest custom longboard change that actually matters
Grip tape is the first customization most riders should consider. It costs under $15, takes about ten minutes to swap, and directly controls how locked-in your feet feel on the board.
Coarser grit — something like 80-grit — suits riders who carve hard, ride faster, or deal with wet conditions where foot traction is a safety concern. Standard grit around 36–40-grit works for cruising and commuting, giving enough grip without tearing up your shoes in a week.
Cut-out designs, colored grip tape, and perforated patterns look different but do not change ride quality. That is completely fine. Just know you are making a cosmetic choice, not a performance one.
One practical note: if your current grip tape is peeling, worn smooth, or bubbling, replacing it is not personalization — it is maintenance. Worn grip tape is a control problem. Fix it regardless of whether you care about aesthetics. You can find replacement grip tape and other care supplies in our longboard maintenance section.
Wheels: the upgrade you will feel within 30 seconds
If you are going to spend money on one longboard custom upgrade, wheels are where most riders feel the biggest difference. Swapping wheels changes how the board handles rough pavement, how fast it rolls, and how smooth your commute feels over distance.
| Wheel spec | What it means for your ride | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 78A–80A (soft) | Absorbs road texture, quieter roll, grips better on cracked pavement | Rough city streets, brick paths, first-time riders |
| 81A–83A (medium) | Balanced between grip and speed, works on most surfaces | Mixed routes — some smooth, some rough |
| 84A+ (hard) | Faster roll on smooth surfaces, transmits every crack and pebble | Smooth bike paths, skate parks, experienced riders |
| 65–70mm diameter | Practical cruising range, enough roll speed for 1–3 mile commutes | Most campus and city riders |
| 70mm+ diameter | Rolls longer per push, adds weight, may need riser pads to avoid wheel bite | Distance pushing, longer commutes |
The reason wheels matter so much: changing them to match your actual route surface is the single most common “my board feels completely different” upgrade that buyers report back to us. One buyer wrote in saying his board felt “tricky” and uncomfortable — turns out his city streets were rough cracked asphalt, and the stock wheels were too hard for that surface. Swapping to 78A wheels solved it immediately.
That said — do not upgrade wheels if you have not identified what is wrong. If your ride feels fine on your usual route, your wheels are probably fine. Personalization should be a response to a real riding experience, not a preemptive purchase. You can browse longboard wheels and complete setups when you know what you need.
Trucks and bushings: customizing how your board turns
Trucks and bushings control how responsive your board is when you lean. This customization matters less than wheels for most riders, but it becomes important once you have developed carving preferences — or if the board feels too twitchy or too stiff when you turn.
The cheapest, most overlooked swap is bushings. Most stock complete boards ship with medium-durometer bushings around 90A. If you are a lighter rider (under 150 lbs), those medium bushings might feel stiff. If you are heavier (over 200 lbs), they might feel too loose. Swapping bushings costs a few dollars and changes turn resistance without replacing your trucks at all.
Before buying anything, try this: loosen or tighten the kingpin nut on your trucks. It is free, reversible, and takes thirty seconds. Half a turn tighter reduces wobble at speed. Half a turn loose makes carving more fluid. If that fixes your issue, you just saved yourself a purchase.
Full truck swaps — like changing from RKP (reverse kingpin) to TKP (traditional kingpin) — are only worth it if your riding style has fundamentally changed. A buyer named Marcus wrote me once: he bought a drop-through board for commuting, rode it for three months, and discovered he wanted faster, steeper riding in parks. His board was not wrong; his style had evolved. If that happens to you, a truck change might make sense. But for most people adjusting bushings and kingpin tension is enough. You can find trucks and replacement parts when you are ready to experiment.
Bearings: when a longboard custom upgrade is worth it
Bearings are the most over-recommended customization in longboarding. I need to say that clearly because every “top upgrades” list puts bearings near the top, and most casual riders will not feel the difference between stock and aftermarket bearings on a two-mile commute.
Stock bearings in most complete boards are adequate for cruising and commuting. They spin, they roll, they work. Upgrading them changes very little unless you are pushing long distances, racing downhill, or your current bearings have actual problems.
What counts as an actual problem:
- Grinding or clicking sounds when the wheel spins
- Visible rust on the bearing shields
- Wheels that stop spinning within a few seconds of a free spin
- Resistance you can feel when pushing
If you notice any of those, replace the bearings. Do not upgrade for the sake of upgrading. Most of the time, cleaning your existing bearings and re-lubing them with proper bearing oil — not WD-40, which is a solvent, not a lubricant — will restore performance for free. Check our maintenance supplies for bearing care tools.
What about deck art, stickers, and custom longboard designs?
Custom deck art, grip tape cut-outs, hand-painted designs, and stickers make the board feel like yours. There is nothing wrong with that. Some riders spend more time on the visual identity of their board than on the components, and if that is what keeps them excited to ride, it serves a purpose.
But these changes do not affect stability, speed, turning, or comfort. They do not make you a better rider. They do not make the board safer or more suited to your commute.
If your budget is limited — and whose is not — spend the money on wheels or grip tape first. A personalized longboard that rides well for your specific route is worth more than one that looks great on Instagram but vibrates through every crack in the sidewalk. You can browse complete longboards and start customizing from there.
Common questions, answered straight
What is the first thing I should change to personalize my longboard?
Grip tape. It is the cheapest, easiest swap with the most immediate effect on foot feel and control. After that, wheels — but only if your ride feels rough or slower than you want on your actual route.
Does customizing my longboard void any warranty?
Swapping components like grip tape, wheels, bearings, and bushings is considered normal maintenance and does not affect your deck or truck warranty. For specific coverage details, check the warranty terms on your purchase.
Is it cheaper to buy a complete board and customize it, or build from parts?
For beginners, buying a complete board and upgrading specific parts over time is almost always more cost-effective and less confusing. Building from parts requires knowing exactly what you want before you have ridden enough to know. Start with our beginner longboard guide if you are still deciding on your first board.
Do custom longboard designs (paint, art, stickers) affect performance?
No. Cosmetic changes do not change ride feel. They are personal expression, which is fine — just do not expect them to make your board ride differently.
Ready to start customizing?
The best personalized longboard is one set up for your specific route and riding style. Start with what you feel every ride — wheels, grip tape, bushings — and build from there. Browse longboard parts — wheels, grip tape, trucks, and bearings — to find the upgrade that matches your ride.