Complete 55cm Maple Wooden Retro 22” Mini Cruiser Board by Ridge Skateboards

Right. So. I've now owned this board for 3 months. (Original review left untouched below, ftr).In that time, I've used it for school runs and commuting - probably 6-10 miles per day. And have come to think that it does have some potential, but it also has a lot of real problems. Compared to a D Street 23" board, the quality control is miles short; and both can be found for similar prices with a following wind.So. Main benefit: this is a short board with a short wheel base. It is hilarious. It is wobbly, joyful, freeing and responsive. It would be a terrible first board. It is an utter joy once you're used to it. It is notionally possible to tic tac on it, though you would have to be in a brave mood to rely on this on a regular basis. If you are after a very short board with a very short wheelbase and are up for doing some work to it, this may be a great buy.Main problems: quality control. The wheels that came with it were mis-moulded. (One arrived as a slightly flattened ovoid). The bearings that came with it were very poor. Collectively, they amounted to a sticky and mis-shapen riding experience.The trucks are, again, mis-shapen. The axles on either side of my deck are different lengths. The kingpins are slightly fatter than on all the other decks I have, which sounds like a trivial problem until you TRY TO FIT NEW BUSHINGS. I'm going to guess it took me 2hrs plus bleeding fingers to get a set of Bones hardcore bearings on. Contrast that with the (Bones, hardcore) bushings I've just fitted to my old Enuff trucks - about 2 mins, all in.Frustratingly, the pivot cups are an unconventional size. Mine have worn through. I've just been trying to replace them with some Independent pivot cups. Nope, no chance, they're far too fat. I can buy Ridge's own pivot cups, but only if I want to buy a new set of their bushings too (£3 all in). No, thanks. I only want the pivot cups. Irritatingly, no can do. (This is irritating enough that I'm looking at getting new trucks, probably Penny or D Street, as I don't want to be ordering a full new set of bushings and pivot cups every 2-3 months and conventional ones clearly won't fit).Oh, and the nuts and bolts that came with it were a joke. My trucks were unscrewing themselves. The wheels were literally falling off on the sides with shorter axles - the road surface shook the trucks, the trucks shook the nuts, the nuts had no 'grip,' the nuts shook themselves off. The board, as it arrived, was a liability.To date, I've been completely up for changing everything about this deck to turn it into a flying beauty. I've replaced the wheels (Bones 59mm ATFs). I've replaced the bearings (erm, Bones Ceramic Super Reds). I've replaced the bushings (Bones hardcore, soft). I've replaced all of the nuts and bolts - kingpin, trucks, wheels.What I'm left with is great to a point - but it's basically a 22" deck and trucks for £30. And now the trucks are probably going, because the whole pivot cup and bushings thing is just a massive pain in the fundamentals.I guess my take-home has been that this board is ok, if you're up for doing some work to it. But the more work I've done, the more I've discovered the ways in which this board makes itself difficult to upgrade. Small incompatibilities. Janky manufacturing tolerances. Unnecessarily thick, thin, or just plain bad machining that make other bits hard or impossible to replace, or put on.That said, I am happy to own it. I'm still trying to fix it. I - personally - haven't found another deck this short with this short a wheel base, and I really do love the form.If I compare it to my 23" D-street... The D-street is more stable. It's got a much longer wheelbase. It feels far cleaner, and far better put together. IDK. In all of that, it is a much safer and much more lovely ride (for not many pennies more, in a sale). Is it as joyful? IDK. Better, in almost every respect. But probably not so joyful.___________________Original reviewThe deck is solid. The grip tape is decent. The trucks are sort of perfectly ok.The bearings are pretty dire, the bushings a bit janky (I couldn't get them to sit satisfactorily - there was either a big gap / wobble, or else they were too tight / entirely inflexible), and the wheels... ok?I had a few spare bits and bobs lying around - with decent bearings, spare bushings and decent wheels this is a properly lovely little deck.I've also replaced the nuts - those that came with it were... sketchy. And two were prone to falling off after a couple of minutes' skating, leaving the wheels prone to escaping.The nuts, tbf, are pennies. Bushings not much more. Bearings are worth the spend; and wheels, well. Your call, tbf. I'm no fan of wheels this soft, slow and squidgy (and replaced them with Bones 59mm ATFs) - but that's a personal thing.

I am happy I can receive the cruiser board with good condition, and I can’t wait to try it out.Unfortunately, one of the bushing was broken after I have played with the cruiser just about a hour. I contact the seller about the problem and they decide to send a new set bushing to me.

I was struggling to cope with my park board (much harder wheels) and decided I wanted a wee cruiser so tried this out (I bought the purple). When I first got this, it was amazing! The ride was so much smoother and I could ride over most surfaces. I used this as a wee commuter board to get to uni (all down-hill from my flat) which worked and it was easily tucked under a chair whilst in lectures.Problems came as soon as I became more confident on it and trusting in myself. It's maybe my skill as a skater (admit I'm still a beginner) but larger bumps in the pavement (of the many in this city) sent me head first with the board stopping to a halt. Adjusting my stance helped so much, but I was getting tired of being thrown off the board so much. I had an old deck (full size) not in use and decided to chuck the wheels from this onto it. This has helped me as I find I do fewer speed checks (I just didn't have confidence to handle this at speed) of myself and enjoy my ride a lot more.That's just my experience of living in a city where, about every hundred metres, you have a gaping hole in the pavement. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to start cruising but, be warned. It is small. I have size 7 feet and can barely fit them both on it. The ride is high but this has the benefit of making turns really easy and great for practicing carving when you have the space. The build quality is really good for the price, it is a wooden desk and bearings are maybe a little slow but when starting to cruise on long downhills that makes you feel more able to push yourself a little.

This is a lovely skateboard for my 9 year old grandson. He loves it as it is the right size for him. He is 4 foot 7 and its perfect for him to learn on. However the packaging is a bit OTT. The skateboard comes in a box inside a box with tons of paper. Inside the box it is bubble wrapped and then the skateboard is sealed with plastic film which has been put on before the wheels and screws are put in making it very stressful to get off. My grandson is autistic and so you can imagine when I had to sit for about 10 minutes trying to get plastic off the skateboard and pick everybit of plastic out of the screws as he would not be able to use it if there was one bit of plastic remaining on the foot side of the board and where the wheels are on the underside before he could use it. Less packaging would make sense as Ive now got to get rid of a huge box and other stuff.

Perfect skateboard for my 6 year old nephew. Not too big, not too small

Bought skateboards for my two grandsons for Christmas. Really impressed with the quality. Wish I was young enough to have a go on them.

If you've ever ridden a skateboard before and are trying a cruiser for the first time, this will feel very strange due to the small size and increased height of the board. However, after some getting used to, the board rides smoothly and is very responsive when turning. I'd say unless you are an experienced skater or have small feet it might be better to go for a 27", as the feet positioning has to be pretty accurate every time. All the above is just a standard for mini-cruisers, though, so don't let it deter you. The board is well made and you can't argue with the price - mine was £23!

The board is warped and twisted meaning not all wheels touch the ground. Picture shows underside decal to be black but it's dark blue.You are better off getting a plastic penny board on hindsite.