Andy Mac Complete Beginner Skateboards Review

NOTE: Andy Mac boards are no longer made. SkateOne has replaced them with other boards (like Golden Dragon, Positiv, and Hoopla (for girls). These boards (including Andy Mac) are all of similar quality.

Andy Macdonald has come out with two skateboards built specifically the young kid or teen who is just learning to skateboard. Built well, with quality materials by an established skate company, Andy Mac skateboards are strong and will give the new skateboarder a great experience. And to top it all off, they cost about half of what a regular complete skateboard will cost.

If you walk into your local superstore in the US (Target, Walmart, etc.) you will find plenty of cheap skateboards. These boards look good, if you don’t know what to look for, and are covered with pictures of Spiderman or Dragon Ball Z pictures to help tempt you and your kids to buy them.

These skateboards are usually deathtraps. The wheels are simple plastic or rubber, and will either slip or grip at the wrong time, and you or your kid will go flying. The wood deck of the skateboard will be made of weak wood if you are lucky - more likely, it will be of composite wood and snap all too quickly, and in a dangerous way. The trucks will be made from low grade metal and bend or break under the extreme pressure and impact of learning to skateboard. The bearings will be cheap throwouts from some reject company off in the corner of the world - they will roll slowly at first, then jam, rust or just gum up. All of this will give you or your kid a bad experience with skateboarding, laughed at by other kids, and very likely injured by the poor performance of the board. Please, for the love of all that is Holy, do not buy a no-name skateboard from a superstore, flea market, or guy selling them out of the back of his van.

As you can see, I have some passion about this. So hopefully you’ll take it to heart when I say that the Andy Mac beginner skateboards are seriously good quality low price beginner skateboards. They are made by Skate One, who have been making extremely good skateboards from the early days of the sport. Andy Mac knows his stuff - his goal is to provide good, quality skate gear without blasting the young or new skaters with high prices just to have gear with Andy Mac’s name on it.

The latest complete skateboard from Andy Mac is the Zon - for more, read this review of the Andy Mac Zon complete skateboard.

The only drawbacks to Andy Mac skateboards are that they aren’t built to withstand the pressures and impacts of high level skateboarding. These skateboards are for younger or beginner skateboarders - if the rider is already fairly good, they will likely wear this board out pretty quick. But for a beginner or young skater, these are the perfect choice.

The only other drawback is that the graphics are super simple. They aren't poor or ugly, but they also aren't super cool. Most kids like to slap stickers all across the bottom of their boards anyway, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem!

Andy Macdonald has a heart for kids - he’s always loved ‘em. He’s one of the few professional skateboarders out there who is dedicated to providing good quality gear for kids to learn on at cheap prices.

If you are a new teenage skateboarder and trying to figure out what to buy - don't waste too much on your first board. You don't even know what size of deck you'll really want, and you are going to beat the crud out of it anyway. If you are shopping for a new skateboarder who fits the age or weight limits of one of these boards, I highly recommend picking one up. They are perfect. You can get them through Andy Mac’s website, or check at your local skate shop.