Parts of a Longboard

After some casual cruising, I noticed that my longboard was making a grinding/scraping sound whenever I rode it. I asked my friend Jordan about this, and he said that I was probably my bearing/trucks, and that they needed to be tightened. This made me come to realize that I know nothing about repairing a longboard, or even that much about the parts themselves.
This post will be dedicated to describing the parts of a longboard.

The Deck
The deck is where you stand on the board, where most of the action happens, and obviously an essential part. There are three main types of decks. Drop-through, Top-Mounted, and Lowered. These types of decks differ because of how the trucks are attached to them. Drop-through decks have holes where the trucks can protrude to the top of the deck, and connect from top down. These boards are generally carving, cruising, or trick boards, and are lower to the ground. Top-Mounted decks have the trucks attaching to the bottom of the deck, connected bottom up. These boards are usually higher up from the ground, and are cruising, or downhill boards. The Lowered decks are a combination of the two, and are attached bottom up, to the bottom of the board, but then decline in a concave fashion, to get the rider as close to the ground as possible. These are generally a mix of the two styles. Longboard decks can differ greatly from one another, from flexibility, length, width, grip, concave, wheel and less importantly, colour and design.

Slightly concave deck

Drop-through deck

The Trucks
The trucks act as the axel to the longboards wheels, so where the deck and the wheels are connected. This is also an essential part of the longboard. Longboard trucks can be tightened or loosened, so that you could either carve faster/harder (loose), or slower and more controlled, especially useful for downhill (tight). These can come in different designs and colours, as well as small variations of shape, although both not of utmost importance.

Trucks

The Wheels/Bearings
The wheels on a longboard are attached the trucks, and inside of the wheels are bearings. This is what makes the longboard move. The bearings are often overlooked, (as I certainly overlooked them), but they are also an important part. The type of bearing is not specific to your riding style, but it is generally a good idea to get a decent pair of bearings. The wheels on a longboard can be chosen by what style of longboarding you prefer, such as sliding, cruising, or downhill. The type of wheels are not that crucial to the board, but once you find your style, it would be wise to seek out the appropriate wheels.

Bones super redz bearings

Wheels with bearings inside