Most Skateboards Are Fundamentally The Same.

Most skateboards are fundamentally the same. Is this a monopoly we’re overlooking?

I mean, go to a skate park and 9 times out of 10 you’ll notice every kid there has the same board. It’s the universal board that everyone skates on. Sure, there’s different artwork underneath in most cases (which most don’t even get to see…) that might distinguish one from the other, but what’s the deal with having one size fits all?

Perhaps we’re overlooking a monopoly hiding in plain sight: the common skateboard as a whole. Skate businesses have built themselves on the configuration of one interchangeable board. Someone, somewhere, cracked the code of which type of board on wheels an individual can ride. No wonder people can rest assured they’re getting something of value.

There are some exceptions :

• Electric skateboards (Boosted boards or other)
• Long boards
• Penny boards

But these are customizations, much like additions and subtractions of mark-ups or mark-downs, if anything. They distinguish themselves as such. The common skateboard still reigns as the most popular and most used skate thingy on wheels we’ll find in the modern world. Hey, it makes it fair if one can do an ollie and someone else can’t. You’re both using the same board! Get it together.

Consider too, a bicyclist must ride his/her vehicle in one specific size that fits just right for the specific person. Yet anyone can ride a skateboard being the exact same size. Big whoop, right?

My lukewarm take : sellers must’ve realized an immense popularity to buy the same board, so everyone simply followed their lead as skate brands became bigger over the years. Since so many different businesses sell the same type of board, we can rest assured that the common skateboard is NOT a monopoly since each company makes it their own. But it does make me wonder. This ain’t a research article pals. Just food for thought.

- GC