I religiously watch the god of skateboarding BEN DEGROS

I’m a retired moto guy and at the ripe old age of 35 I bought myself my first complete. Bens videos were my first videos I started watching. Now turning 40 in a month, I can’t thank Ben enough for all the beginner videos!

the time between his uploads feels like an eternity

been skating for a year after taking about 15 years off. been having the time of my life. getting thru the injuries is the only downer. love the vids

This is why Ben is such as great youtuber, he is humble knowing when he's made a mistake. What a great rolemodel for skaters, I love it!

Ben ,you have caused so much madness in skateboarding. I have so many trucks, wheels and boards now. But I have been riding every symmetrical board I can find. Right now I’m riding the Andy Anderson twin and loving it.

That’s so sick that Paul Schmitt sent you those decks! And congrats on reaching the Goldilocks zone. I feel like I’m getting there. I never thought critically about my setup until getting into your channel last year, but I’m learning what works. My last board I sized up from an 8.25 to an 8.5 Alltimers Dustin Henry deck with 8.75 indy hollows, 53 mm spitfire classics. I love the width of the deck and the trucks are light but stable for transition and grinds, but it was a bit too long (14.5 wheelbase and 32.25 long) so it felt awkward for certain tricks. Anyway it just got ran over by a van 😂 so I ordered an 8.5 magenta with a 14.375 wheelbase and 32.125 length and the same indy hollows since the van bent the hell out of my axles. I’m tempted to try thunders someday because I do ride relatively tighter trucks than some, but I’m terrified of throwing off everything I do lol. I won’t even start on shoes because that’s another essay 😅 Always hyped on your uploads Ben!

This channel man, I keep watching and rewatching even the old videos. The DIY ledges and in-depth board reviews. Ben, you bring so much to the table when it comes to knowledge about skateboarding, both on technical and cultural levels.

Paul seems to be a really nice guy! I bet he had a moment of joy when you reached out for him. There is no better compliment than asking a person "these are the best, where can I find more?"

I love watching this kind of video. I am currently loving the blue classic eagle anti hero 8.5 31.7 length and 14.25 wheel base, riser pads in between with 149 standard thunders and spitfire formula 4 classic shape 56mm wheels. Got them back grooves from slappy’s on the back truck too. I also do the front truck loosen more then the back. It’s the best and most enjoyable set up I’ve ever ridden in a long time. Cheers Ben!

7:17 that flatground sesh was so good man you rip!

Holy Flip trick Batman! 🤣💕👍 I'll skate anything, used to be 7.75 and skinnier back in the day. Now its 8, 8.25 or 8.5 depending how much tranny skating

Thanks for the upload ben. Recently I switched from thunder to indys after being on thunders for a long time. I needed new trucks anyway and I thought bigger wheels sound fun, but they just don’t work that well on thunders. I also had this idea that I didn’t want to get too comfortable with ONE brand because the reality is you can skate almost anything and eventually you will get used to it. At first it was weird and i was getting so much ghost pop, but after the first couple sessions it felt normal and I’m stoked on indys.

Ben built the very first half pipe.

This is the cleanest Degros session in a minute, you really may have nailed the board + shoes combo. I just got my first pair of dunks in 15 years of skating, the gorge green Decon Dunk Highs, hoping they wear in like you said.

Paul is such a rad guy! I will watch anything with him in it.. So much knowledge!

#1 Influencer of the year right here

Amazing flatground skills!👏 During last two years I have tried quite many different setups. Partly thanks to your channel I have supported quite a lot local skate shops. 😅 Now very content with this setup: 8.25 Real renewal doves deck (wb14.375), 144 indy titanium, 53mm spitfire classics and swiss bearings. I tried Thunder trucks and ACE trucks as well. For me Indys work best with stock bushings. Have a nice week!🤙

Love to see you ripping again ben. I found a nice goldilocks zone this summer. Shoe madness is a definite thing tho haha. Maybe worse than Board related madness. You should just ask around for some DC lynx OGs or something like that. We deserve to see that. I did vans the summer before last and loved them but I had some dcs lying around unopened for this summer, it took a session but once I got the feel back man it was fun. Like being a kid again. I’m going up a truck size this summer but the trucks I call home now are thunder hollow lights, not as swimmy as Indy’s and feel really snappy. Great grinds. Anyway happy new year man hope all is well. See you next time!

you're getting awesome! love seeing your progress. also, thanks for these technical details... helps me pick a deck, which is important (because i'm broke)

I have switched from thunder to Indy MiD and found out that trucks being closer made such a diferent feel so I stayed and got my third pair. I got 8.5 with 14.2 WB. It really make me think more about my setup. Thanks G keep going.

Nice setup! Great warehouse session! And great counter-point to some of the gear madness in your other vids (tho I love them all)! Recently got some Emerica Temples and was about to dismiss them for not enough board-feel, and being too heavy, even though I do like them a lot, so have been skating other shoes...But then tried the Temples again and am reversing myself, they really do feel great to skate in, the soles are so grippy, and they just feel better on my board..And I decided there's just enough board-feel after all...Doh

I just went on a year long pursuit of trying to match a shape that I got from a local company. They don't get the same shape any longer. Long story short it was a 8.5 w/14.25 WB and mellow kicks. I finally found the Powell 243 which is close to what I wanted but now I think I need to add risers to give a little more height to my venture highs. You made me go full NERD. Love it.

I'm just really glad to know there's someone out there with as much shoe/equipment madness as me.

Over the years I have settled on probably the exact board set up you’re riding, 14.25 wheelbase is a must, however I lighten it up with Indy 149 titaniums. Because of your videos I actually switched from bones V3 to Spitfire formula for 52mmclassics. They just look like a skateboard wheel should.

46 and starting to really like mellower and mellower concave. I think for the same reasons you stated. But I’m also not doing many flip or pop tricks. Mostly curbs and carving. Thank for the great insight, as always,

Dude that nollie pop to 5.0 stall thing on the mini ramp was 👌 great watch again sir 👊

Ben your videos are literally improving my skating! I recently dumped my Thunder 147 lights for Venture 5.2 lows. It never dawned on me that lighter isn’t necessarily better in skateboarding. I have a new found confidence and feel with the Ventures, its been amazing. Also riding a WKND 8/14/31.5 board with 52mm spitfires. I’m going to bump up to a WKND 8.12/14/32 soon. Loving these PS Stix WKND boards. Your board manufacturer video with Gifted Hater inspired me to seek those boards out as well. All the best, keep the videos coming!

Been going back to the AH 8.25 eagle shape for a while. And the Emerica Wino Slip cups are my latest obsession. Enjoying a Heroin egg for curb stuff!

One of the most informative yt channels for skateboarding products 💪🔥

My madness gets worse every time i watch one of your vids, I can’t stop switching preferences 😂

I will never get tired of him reassuring the loyalty I have in the brands I use.

My madness has gotten way better over the past year. Always Ace AF1 55’s, Quasi 8.375 with a 14.25 wheelbase, or also enjoying the Woodchuck Laminate 8.375 blanks, 56mm spitfire conicals worn down to about a 54, feels great!

Professor Schmitt... PLEASE drop a Ben Degros deck!!! You gotta do it! You'll sell at least 94.3K of them lol

Thanks for sharing this video. I recently went through a shoe crisis myself after skating sb dunks for years - for the price and availability, I decided to go back to accels! It’s funny how skaters of a certain age - we all come to similar conclusions about things- board and trucks around 8.25 and wheels around 52mm…

lol I thought you were riding that slappy setup?! xD bro! you are crazier than I am! I currently have like 3 setups, for park and street that is, +1 rain setup and a cruiser setup. all complete with trucks and wheels and everything - I also have 3 new decks lying around, 2 sets of wheels and ... no my trucks are all in use, at least :P oh god. I love your passionate madness Ben, you tought me so much and make me feel less crazy myself :P

What Ben was saying about the shape of the arch of the foot. I remember that back in...probably the very late 80's...NHS brought out a convave that actually raised a bit across the truck bolts (so runing through the centre of the board from front truck bolts to rear). They had an advert asking "which hamburger do you prefer? Hamburger A or Hamburger B" Hamburger A showed the arch of the foot (so the 'concave' of your foot) being opposite to the concave of a typical deck. Hamburger B showed their new concave sitting more aligned with the arch of the foot. I had a Jeff Hedges around that time and I'm pretty sure it had this concave.

I’m 46 that can skate. I’ve been riding Baker mellow concave 8.5’s for a long time. I do have to re-drill rear truck bolt holes to bring the WB to 14 inches (I’m 5’7 1/2). I did try the BAKER 8.475 with 14.25 WB but felt too tapered for me towards the tail. Felt like I didn’t have enough width for back tail stuff (size 10 feet) Other deck shapes/conclaves that I like are Chocolate/Girl GO39 & G096. Haven’t tried Anti Hero’s 8.5 with 14 WB yet but that will be next. Good skating as always thanks for your clips 👍🏼

I'm currently riding a chocolate couch shape,it's a 9.25 with the shortest wheel base iv ever skated 13.875 I think and it's 32 length on a set of indy 169s with 52mm spitfire wheels and I absolutely love it!! I already got another deck same shape for when this one is done!!!

I’m skating the Vans Kyle Walker pro 1 atm (never worn vans before) they’re really good! Love to know what you make of em! They’re the half volc half cup sole

I've been riding 7.4 through 7.81 since the early 90s, and have landed on 7.56. I have a cardboard template that I trace onto boards with concave that I like and cut my template, router the edges and seal the new shape with lacquer. I pair that with Venture 5.0 Lows and 44mm through 46mm Boardycakes wheels. It's my Goldilocks setup and they feel perfect every time.

I’m only 5’8 and 140 lbs but I’ve been riding a 9 or a 9.5 for like a year now, idk why I just love the way it feels underneath me. Currently it’s a 9.81 mark Gonzales krooked on 66 Ace Trucks, standard formula four Indy’s with some Bronson ! It’s been my favorite set up so far

Always have had mellow level boards. I used to ride low trucks with an 8.38 but have switched to regular thunders and it just hasn’t felt the same but they don’t make a wide low truck.

damn what a pleasure to see how you stomp all you tricks!

i think i finally found my goldie lock setup.. My deck is a girl twin shape sean malto 8.25 with a 14 inch wheel base.. i got independent 144 forge hollow for my truck and some good old spitfire formula4 with bronson bearings.. So far that setup been doing me really good.. but i may still need to try to find the perfect twin tail board.. bc the 14 inch wheel base seems good for 360 flips that i kinda struggle to learn.. but in manuals and other flip tricks it may hindre me abit.. but only time will tell since i only have had 2 sessions on that deck.. Also i cant ride any other truck than idependent now.. ive tried other trucks but its a nope from me haha Anyways good to see you still alive and post sometimes! you inspire me so much to go skate!

Hey Ben, enjoyed the deck analysis here! I wanted to recommend a shoe for you. I skated blazers almost exclusively for about 12 years. I went to my local shop to get some new ones and didn't like the materials in the ISO blazers or any of the other color ways. I noticed Lakai had a good looking and grippy shoe called the Trudger. Its Simon Bannerot's pro model. aesthetically it looks like hybrid of half cabs and dunks. they skate with the support and flexibility of blazers. They are so comfy i have a work pair and a skate pair and planning on getting another skate pair when this one is done. I thought you might like to try some out as another "small adjustment" while you go through a little shoe madness and try to avoid the absurdity of acquiring dunks.

I bounce around a lot with setups. I just get too hyped on new stuff and want to try it out. Just got off some tensors (my occasional guilty pleasure) and set up a Christmas complete. A Real 8.25 with a 14.375 wheelbase and mob grip. Spitfire formula four lock ins 99a. And some ace hollow af1 44s. The whole setup feels so good. I didn’t think I’d like the slightly longer wheelbase, but if feels great. Also, the turn of aces feels so good. Also rocking their hollow hardware. It’s kind of silly to think that it would be any lighter haha, but I really like the threading it has. It keeps the grip from doing the little volcano thing where it peels up. That’s a pet peeve of mine.

Nice 👌🏼 I prefer the mellower concave these days. Also have the front truck a little looser. Not into the twin nose or tail either. I like my tail and nose lol.

Wow! Paul Schmitt doing the boards you want! You reach something here!!! My current setup it’s the same for a long time. In fact it’s the real unskatable winter here in Montréal and I am tired of the interior park. I got more fun skating a 7.5 / 44mm wheel in my garage!😂

Same thinking here about the concave-old feet situation. Been skating 8" decks this past year and, with the standard dlx 8.06" being my reference, i've tryed some other brands/woodshops because of the wb being a little too much (i tryed a couple of the Real SE 8"s but couldn't get used to the short lenght of it) so long story short got myself a girl G008 (under 32" with 14.25"wb) and while the flatter concave felt much better on my feet i missed that precious "spoon feeling" / concave on the nose-tail that dlx decks have specially on crookeds-noselides to crooked grinds in particular (haven't tryed other bbs boards recently but i assume they do have it as well). To sum it up: once i'm done with my current II krooked i'll be on the haunt for a IV dlx board or move up to the 8.12 with 14.25wb (even though i promised myself it was enough board testing when a couple years ago I started to move down from 8.5's on the "quest for the lost flatground" ). Cheers from southern Spain and keep it coming! salud!

Nice Fun video ik definitly gonna use it thnx ❤❤

Nice setup there. I enjoyed my Scum Co as well when i had it but it was a 14 inch wheelbase. My ideal setups vary between 8.5 to 9 but for sure have 14 inch wheelbase with mellow concave with a medium kick. I LOVE ace hollow af1 WITH the ace hard bushings. Keeps them so much more stable. Currently on some 90a autobahn wheels for some cushion on the old knees but love 97a spitfire f4 as the best all around wheel. Swiss or ceramic bearings with some allen 7/8 and jessup ultra ftw too :)

I would say I'm in a weird place with set-ups. I went through a bit of a set-up madness during the pandemic and played around with everything from a 8.0 deck all the way to a 9.5 as well as switching around with wheel size, durometers, contact patches,, trucks, and even grip tape. A couple things that I came to a conclusion for myself. I prefer having a much wider board for riding bowls and have found that a 9.0" with a 15" wheelbase seems to be the sweet spot with some Ace trucks and some 56mm conical full wheels. For my street set-up I'm still trying to tweak it as the timing with a wider wheelbase feels totally off with simple tricks like ollies. I've had a Santa Cruz and Anti Hero board with 14.375" wheelbase and I feel like they're just a tad bit long with my mini-logo trucks. One board that has felt good but I feel the nose just a bit too short and steep has been Hockey. I really enjoy the 8.5" width and 14.25" wheelbase, 56mm wheels, with a lo-truck that extends the wheelbase a bit. I'm not too sure where I should go from here with the street set-up. As a kid the one set-up where I learned a lot of my tricks was a Zero children of the corn board from the early 2000's but I genuinely can't remember if it was a 8 or 8.25"" board and if the wheelbase would have been 14"" or 14.25". At the time I rode the Tensor-lo trucks with the plastic slide plate and some 54mm Ricta Core wheels that had a wide contact patch. Anyways, maybe once this Canadian winter goes away I'll look at tweaking my street set-up some more. Any tips from you or the community are always greatly appreciated.

Just started skating the Nike BRSB- surprisingly comfortable and decent board feel out of the box for a cup!

First. Much love to all my PALS world wide. I would not be able to live without you fellow shoes and gear nerds in my life. Peace Love and switch Tre fakie Mannys to you and your loved ones -💙🧡😚❤️

I genuinely get excited when I see you've posted a new video.

I hear you with the "Goldilocks". Ben, I would love to see you review the new Andy Andreson 8.7 deck. I th8nk you might love it.....

I love how technical you get on the details

I actually have one of those chunky boards 😅 it is nice 👍 Mine is from the deluxe brand "There" which I got mine awhile ago so I have no clue if they're still like that.

I just moved to a small town in Southern Colorado and the local shop is very kind but has no shapes so my madness has subsided by necessity

Your style seems quite natural on a full 8.5 with some heavy indys. Suppose if you skated a smaller board on some ventures that would make sense considering ventures are less jerky and facilitiate your technique. Lately ive been skating full boards but drilling shorter wheelbases to gain leverage over my trucks. Works super well with thunders because the canter on thunders is do extreme that they still displace weight towards the kicks of the board. Currently on an 8.75 by 31.8 football with 12.5 wheelbase and thunder 151s. Cheers

Nice setup Ben, looks like my kind of deck

8.6 is such a gorgeous size, I preach it daily

Yeah, really clean session! Maybe skating indoors fits you better, easier to warm up and keep the warm in the joints. I love low concave too, but it needs to have steep kicks and rather nearly symmetrical to symmetrical.

That 8.38 shape with the 14.25 wheelbase was one of my favorite shapes I ever rode. I’m a 14 wheelbase guy and I was totally fine skating those boards on ventures and thunders. I also had 3 in a row

With the dunks, I find wearing them around for a couple of weeks (out and about, anything but skating) really helps them break in

That shape looks like a WKND shape. I know they were pressed by PS for a while. I had an 8.6 and LOVED it.

i watched gigers setup video, then this. it's fascinating to me that johnny gives 0 shits about all these details that ben can so wonderfully obsess about - and both are absolutely right.

Very nice camera angle on the mini-ramp scene 🎥* Btw Ben, you will see _Me_ arrive the skate community, after knee surgery. *Skateboarding gives me a purpose To Live!*

Zero 8.38, Indy hollow forged 149s, Spitfire 54 conical fulls, Bronsons, MOB, and a pair of Vans. Never changed the sizes and brands I use for the last 2 years. I guess when you get to your mid 30s and up, changes isn’t something exciting anymore but a headache.😅

Here’s a random question for you, and maybe a video idea. How do you store your stock pile of decks to where they don’t get warpage?

Another sick video. I went up from 8.125 to a Toy Machine 8.375 and it really worked and my local shop had a sale on Toy Machine so I bought 4 decks at 8.375 to put in the bank

I’ve been riding the same stuff since forever. Thunders, spitfires 53 classic, Swiss, mob and FA or hockey’s boards which is my favorite because my hero’s made FA.

I had board madness real bad. For the last year I've been changing what I skate a lot. I seem to have cured the madness. Started last year on a 7.75 with Venture trucks, ended on an 8.25 with Ace trucks.

I feel like you and Paul Schmitt should work together. To me it just makes sense

I like a short 8.5, on some 8.75 aces rn and thats feeling good. 53mm oj hardlines are pretty perfect for mini ramp, rails and flatground. Just getting into skating vert so expecting the madness to hit hard on that setup 😂

I’ve been riding the mellow OG shape baker boards pretty much back to back for over a year now apart one deviation to a Real full SE and then switched straight back to Baker. I don’t always love the way the look on the nose and tail (kinda pointy) but I’m used to it and they just work so well for me. I keep flirting with the idea of trying a different board but it’s hard when somethings working and you could end up just sucking for a while when adapting to that change. I do think no matter what brand I go for moving forward however it has to be mellow for me. I think Deathwish have slightly rounder nose/tails perhaps? So might be a good option to try something different with them being the same distribution as Baker 🤷🏻‍♂️ would you consider getting on a mellow Baker board? What are your top recommendations for brands with mellow boards? Thoughts on Foundation boards?? Current setup: Baker 8.25 (Casper Brooker Pro board), Indy 144 forged titanium, spitfire F4 classics 53mm, Bones reds, MOB.

another thing about deep grooves is that they enable you to hold grinds much longer

Im really into aces with short wheelbase boards (exspecially gx1000 boards lately). Can you make a review of the ace lows and/or aces hollow?

Ben degros is a certified skate maniac. He probably thinks about his setup while brushing his teeth.

Mr. Rick Howard, should've Named a GIRL deck after You, Ben!

sup ben your videos are so interesting to watch

I really like the PS Stix 8.75 standard shape. I've been riding Standard 159s with 53mm Bones V4 wides which I really like but only had a few sessions on before rolling the crap out of my ankle last Sunday. I bought a pair of Slappy standards though in a 9 wide. I was riding Ace 55s Classics before the Indys so I'm in a bit of truck madness right now but I'm thinking the Slappys will be perfect for my Goldilocks setup but if not I'll stick with Indys because I've bent 55 Classic hangers before so they're only good for transition riding for me. But the wheels and board are solid 8.75 PS Stix standard and Bones 53mm V4 Wide

I’m currently also riding an 8.6 with Indy 149 standards. It’s a Creature with mellow concave and 14.25 wheelbase. Idk what it is about the setup but I’m not getting as much pop as I feel like I should with it and I’m not sure exactly the route I need to go to make it better. In reality I probably just need to get good though

I just got some 149 forged standard Indy’s for my 9.75 Heroin symmetrical razor edge egg, and it feels pretty good. Is it ridiculous and completely counterintuitive to ever learning flip tricks? Yes, but it does stay GLUED to my feet on transition.

Riding an 8.25 SEWA board with a 14.25” WB (essentially BB / Real shape) with some Indy 149’s, and my spitfire 54’s which are probably down to 50’s. I’m trying a GIRL Twin tail next with a 14 WB, so I think it’ll help with flip tricks, and concave seems mellow. I also sand my grip down a lot, so less resistance on flicks- aiming to get my flip tricks higher to get em’ onto obstacles and into grinds/manny’s.

Literally was swapping my trucks as you said that...

Hey Ben, glad to see you skating a ton lately. Do you like to rotate your wheels? I ride soft duros and I'm having an irritating coning issue. Thanks!

What do you think about the new DLX True Fit mold decks?

Hey man how often do you skate cloverdale skate park? Been trying to get back into skating at 35 with the kiddo. It's been almost 20 years since I use to skate and it's good to see older guys still ripping it. We've been to cloverdale a few times and it's a great park. We should rip a session sometime!

I ride currently a 9’ board crafted by a local shaper. It has a 14’25 wheelbase wich I like a lot. 6’7 symetrical nose and tail. With 55 classics Ace, they turn the best. 56 conical full spitfires. An 8’5 sovrn is waiting for me. I look forward to skate an 8’5 again but with 9 inches trucks…

hey ben, have you thought about reviewing tensor alloy trucks? they're incredibly cheap, but actually very good (ive tried 2 sets of them). if you do a review, i would recommend switching the bushings though. i think a lot of people would benefit from knowing about them

I’ve found my perfect setup for now and it is April 8.125 (Its mellow and really nice) Venture Prod 5.2 Low V-Hollow's, Spitfire F4 Tablets 101d 52mm (worn down), Shake Junt lowkey grip (Perfect grippiness), Quantum Atoms (Best bearings ever 😵‍💫) and 7/8 Silverados. Sooo I’ve messing with my venture lows little bit… I want them to turn smoother and get the kingpin nut lower without the trucks being very tight so I got some Venture loose trucks conv top bushings with bones top washer and bones med bottoms with stock top washer on the bottom and mannn does that combo feel good 😫 I can skate them little bit looser than stock and still have a lot of kingpin nut clearance because of the bushing combo and with bones top washer 😁 edit: Maybe I should grind the remaining thread to get even more clearance 🤔

Has this guy ever been referred to as the Bob Ross of skateboarding? What a calm, humble, knowledgeable demeanor.

love your vids Ben

Etnies Singleton XLT Michelin are good vulc shoes!

Using a hollow baseplate on solid axle Indys right now, good weight and solid pop. Went to a STEEP 8.25x 31.5 deathwish board. I feel this is what I have needed forever now. Also riding the minilogo 101a ... almost as good as bones. and super cheap.

you taught me switch pop shove revert at centennial square in Victoria BC , with skateboarding Jordan ( skid row bro ) lol .

Front crooks pop over was buttery

Definitely prefer mellower concave now because ive also been wearing bearfoot shoes that helped me with training my arch and strengthening stability. I wear Xero Kelsos which are awesome to skate