Skateboard Design: Nose Length

Note: at the time of this article, there is not a clear industry standard for skateboard dimensions. This article presents the “SK8CAD” Standard; please note that other manufacturers and distributors may use alternative definitions than those presented here.

The “Nose Length” spec of a skateboard refers to the distance between the tip of the front of the board (the nose) and the board's front wheels. More specifically, for a deck that doesn't yet have wheels mounted, this is the distance between the tip of the nose and the centers of the nearest front truck holes.

Like tail length, nose length can be defined in different ways. In SK8CAD, nose length is defined as the projected distance between the tip of the nose and the centers of the front truck holes closest to the nose. “Projected” means we're looking at the distance from directly above the board, and ignoring any bends in the board.

Another way to define nose length is the distance along the board's surface between the tip of the nose and centers of the nearest truck holes. In this definition, we must consider any curvature of the kicknose in our measurement.

Longer noses provide more space for your front foot ahead of the trucks, which allows you to pivot or pop from your nose, or simply use the nose of your board in the same ways as the tail.

Shorter noses, like shorter tails, make the board shorter overall, a little lighter, and increase the pop angle from the nose. (For more info on pop angle, refer to the previous article about tail length.)

 

Typical nose lengths:

Street decks: 6.5" - 7.1"

Transition decks: 5" - 7"

Longboards: 2" - 6.5"

Surf Skates: 3.5" - 5"

Cruisers: 2" - 5"

Freestyle: 5.5" - 6"

Recommended ranges for goals:

Maneuverability (flip tricks, pivoting, quick movements): 6.5" - 7.1"

Stability: 2" - 7"

Dancing: 5.5" - 6.5"

Pop: 6.5" - 7.1"

Speed: 2" - 5"

Start designing: https://sk8cad.com