Review: P-REP 30mm Starter Fingerboard
Katter Reviews is a Katter.haus series where KC reviews whatever KC wants.
Booyah!
Today, we are beginning our journey into the world of Fingerboarding by reviewing all kinds of different boards — starting off with Broken Knuckle Fingerboard’s P-REP Starter 30mm Fingerboard.
The P-REP 30mm Starter Fingerboard Complete - Dohnut Design
Before we get started into this review, I want to acknowledge that on the BK website there are performance series and pro series completes, however no starter completes. It looks like the starter completes for the P-REP boards are exclusively sold to an audience on Amazon. Reason why I first purchased the P-REP Starter complete is because this is the one parents and people are most likely going to see first — they may not be seeking out a Blackriver or Obsius deck immediately! I hope give an accurate view of what is available on the general consumer market for fingerboards rather than just tech decks.
Broken Knuckle (BK) Fingerboards has been producing mini boards since one cold day in 2010 and has been long a respected part of the community. However I must admit that the $8 difference between the Starter Set and the Performance set may make all the difference.
The Amazon Exclusive P-REP Starter 30mm fingerboard is created with the beginner fingerboarder in mind — complete with 29mm hard bushings, alloy(?) trucks, and a heat transferred graphic on a 5-ply deck.
The board arrives completely unassembled however comes with straightforward instructions and a mini skate tool. Other extras include two pre-cut pieces of foam grip tape and a set of P-REP & Broken Knuckle Fingerboard stickers.
Close-up of the Pre-cut Foam Griptape, neat addition!
Extra screws and nuts are also provided.
After assembly, immediately what I noticed about this board is the weight, it is extremely light compared to a Slushcult Grom or a Teak Tuning Board. Fingerboards are commonly around the 32mm to 34mm size, however this P-REP Starter fingerboard is slightly smaller at around 30mm. There may be such a thing as too light however, I struggled to land Kickflips and Ollie North’s without completely losing control of the board. A part of me believes this might just be me used to fatter boards and rarely ever using something under 32mm.
The trucks seem to be manufactured trucks from China with hard PU bushings, the wheels appear to be some industry standard wholesale CNC wheels. The bushings seem to be just a hastily chopped piece of PU tubing. Now, I would not be surprised if this board would show more promise with some better trucks. The ride is loud and does not have that same satisfying click that other fingerboards make. The trucks also have some pretty harsh hex bolts so when performing any truck based grinds (think a 50-50), you will be scratching up your obstacles.
Speaking of scratching up, the heat transferred graphic looks awesome. Graphic is glossy when applied and you can even see the wood grain peaking from the bottom. However, the board out of the box is prone to scratch up! Personally, I love the scratched up look on fingerboards, and gives me an excuse to sticker bomb it, but if you do not — get some rails or some nice coating!
Tricks on this board were nothing to write home about, however much better than what you can do on a retro (or even modern day) Tech Deck, in my trick test, I could confidently perform tricks such as:
Casper
Ollie
Pop-Shuvit
Board slide
Kickflip(!)
While a P-REP starter board may not be a premium option, younger fingerboarders who are looking to get into the hobby can definitely get some progress on a P-REP Starter board before upgrading to something a little more technical.
All in All P-REP 30mm Starter Fingerboard is recommended for:
Someone who wants to get into fingerboarding but wants something above a tech deck.
Younger skaters getting into fingerboarding (smaller size and lighter weight may be an advantage).
If you love a deck that will scratch and show how much you shred!
A P-REP 30mm Starter Fingerboard is not recommended due to:
Weak trucks and hard bushings.
Smaller than the average industry fingerboard.
Foam grip does not cover the entirety of the board and more difficult to customize
Harder to perform tricks that may benefit from more surface area on the board.
If this sounds like the board for you, you can buy this deck directly from Amazon.
Broken Knuckle Fingerboards has a performance and a pro series too, you can check those out here!
