Top 3 Skater Trainer Review | Honest Guide of 2023

Skateboarding with the right helping tools, like a skater trainer, can be a lot easier. So, to give you a better understanding, in this skater trainer review, I will talk all about skateboard trucks, discuss a few options, and answer some common questions about them.

I bet you have already seen tons of blogs or YouTube videos where that told you just how easy skateboarding is. But to be very honest with you, skateboarding is not THAT easy as they have shown you there without any learning tool. For that matter, let’s see how a skater trainer can be helpful to you.

What is a Skater Trainer?

For a beginner, balancing one of the wheels with slippery bearings is the hardest part. Because with a bit of movement, the board starts to slide, and the skateboard trainer sort of works like a brake for wheels and stops it from rotating at normal speed.

Skater trainers are basically square-shaped rubber or plastic casing that work like a casing for the wheel. With the skater trainer on, the wheels still spin, but far less than before. Therefore, the balancing gets easier.

1: Skatertrainer 2.0 Review

• Brand: SKATERTRAINER
• Material: Rubber
• Color: Black
• Wheel Material: Rubber
• Wheel Size: 65 MM
• Item Weight: 0.21 Pounds

As we mentioned before, the skater trainer is a new face in the mix as a learning tool and gadget, so the number of manufacturers with good skater trainers is very limited. Among them, SKATERTRAINER (Yes, that’s the manufacturer’s name too) is the most common and famous one.

With thousands of good reviews from its users, this is one of the best skater trainer sets ruling the market right now with excellent quality at an affordable price.

For starters, any skater trainer’s build is pretty simple, and this one, too, is no different. This set is made out of quality rubberized plastic material to provide you the perfect durability and stretch. Also, with a weight of less than 3 ounces for the set, these skater trainers won’t mess up the weight distribution of the board.

For compatibility, you can use this on any board’s wheels, whether it’s a longboard, cruiser board, or an old school board. Any size between 48 to 65 mm will fit in these skater trainers. As a beginner, if you are worried about installing them, I assure you that it is pretty straightforward.

Last but not least, you get to choose between three different colors to match your existing wheels’ color.

Overall, as a beginner, if you have limited space where you are learning or don’t have safety gear to save you from injury, these skater trainers can be the perfect choice to build upon your journey.

2: Skateboard Trainer Review

• Brand: SKATERTRAINER
• Wheels Size: 48MM
• Color: Black & Red

Again a similar set of skateboard trainers, this time from Activ Life. Unlike the first option here, these skater trainers are new, yet their average rating already reflects how good their products are.

This skateboard trainer, too, like the first one, comes in a pack of four. There are four color choices you can choose from.

Starting with the build, this skater trainer is made with ultradurable TripleTech PVC, which will serve you for hundreds of practice sessions with the trainer.

I have personally seen beginners struggle to learn skateboarding tricks in tighter spaces like in their garages. Some use safety gear to prevent any fall injury on the concrete surface they are practicing on.

If you are one of those guys I talked about, purchasing this skater trainer will be a great help for you.  Also, Activ Life’s lifetime free replacement offer is another indication of their excellent quality.

Each of the four skater trainers is flexible, and you can stretch them to fit any skating wheels from 48 to 65 mm. I think that’s a pretty standard range to cover, like 99% of the size ideally used by any skateboarder.

It can be an excellent gift for someone within your family and friend circle learning skateboarding within a low budget.

All I want to say is just try these skater trainers once. Considering the price and features it’s one of the best skater trainers for tricks, and I assure you won’t regret getting one.

3: Arcade Skater Trainer Review

• Brand: Arcade
• Material: Polyurethane
• Color: Black
• Item Weight: 4 Ounces
• Wheels Size: Up To 56 MM

This final product on our list is a little different from the conventional skater trainers yet serves the same purpose. With a relatively new take at skater trainers, we have available; Arcade has done a great job reinventing skateboard trainers.

Instead of working with the wheels and stopping them from moving, this skater trainer gets attached to the skateboard truck. As a result, these heavy-duty PU-made trainers can take all the pressure with the flat surface underneath when it comes to landing.

The advantage of these skater trainers is that they have a more stable base and don’t involve wheels, eliminating any chance of messing up the bearings.

As these trainers work with the truck, you no longer have to worry about the wheel size. No matter the size of the trucks, you can attach these skater trainers easily just by snapping them in seconds.

Besides all these features, Arcade provides a 2-month warranty and 30-days money-back guarantee, further assuring you about these skater trainers’ quality.

In short, these skater trainers are no less functional than regular cover-like trainers. If you are looking for something different with a more stable base, you should definitely go for this skater trainer set.

Who Needs to Use Skater Trainers?

With the ever-growing popularity of skateboarding, more and more people are getting into skateboarding every day. As a result, skateboard accessory manufacturers are also coming up with gadgets and learning tools to ease the initial learning curve for beginners.

One fairly new gadget in this mix is the skater trainer, and I think there are two types of people who would find a skater trainer helpful.

Firstly, skater trainers are for kids and older guys who can’t potentially afford to fall on a concrete surface.

Secondly, if you have a fair grip on a skateboard but struggle to balance when you land after a trick. As the wheels tend to slip viciously if your balance is not on point, you can try landing with skater trainers and see how it goes.

Upside & Downside of Using Skater Trainers

This is where the skateboarding community is divided, and each party makes a compelling argument supporting their view. Now, I am not going to be the judge here for you. All I am going to do is pointing out the upsides and downsides so that you can make an informed decision about whether you should use them or not.

Upsides

• Of course, there is a significant difference between learning a trick stationary or on moving wheels. As a skateboarder myself, I remember the hard time I had and using a skater trainer can ease up the process for you.
• While learning skateboarding, you have to accept the fact that you’ll end up falling now and then. It’s pretty evident that falling from a stationary position and a moving board is not the same; the impact damage will be different. So this is another point to consider.
• If it’s your kid or you are an older guy, it’s normal to be scared at first to skateboard. Knowing the board won’t slip off your feet can be a big confidence booster.
• For this one, I am assuming you are totally okay with falling. But if you have a small place to practice, falling in a congested area can lead to severe injuries, and skater trainers can stop that from happening.

Downsides

• The first Downside of using a skater trainer is that you might not learn to time your tricks correctly. However, practicing on a moving skateboard gives you brain and muscle memory of when to jump on and off a surface or object, and it’s a crucial part of learning skateboard tricks.
• Wheels and bearing are specifically made to spin at the highest speed. So, if you overuse the trainers on them over time, it’ll cause damage to your bearing.
• You have to accept the fact that you can’t learn skateboarding without falling on your face. If you avoid it by using skater trainers, the chances are that you’ll still be afraid later.
• You can reduce the wheel rotation slightly by tightening the wheel nuts too. Use that extra money on getting quality wheels instead.

 

Do Skater Trainers Work Really?

Aside from just balancing, if you are learning tricks as a beginner, you might be familiar with the skateboard slipping out when you land. You might have noticed some tutorial that suggests trying the tricks on grass or just holding on to something when landing after tricks, but they are not as effective as a skater trainer.

While grass might sound like a safe option, it doesn’t have the pop you get from your tail when trying tricks on a concrete surface. A grass surface can also mess up your bearings.

When it comes to holding on to an object, it has drawbacks too. For example, when you try a backside flip, the skateboard doesn’t stay under your feet as you stay still holding something.

Considering all these different methods; I have to say a skater trainer works pretty well.

 

How Do You Make Homemade Skater Trainers

If you are on a budget or just want to try out how skater trainers work in general, you can also try making skater trainers at home. I will show you two very basic and easy methods, both of which will limit the wheel rotation to avoid losing your balance.

They don’t provide complete stability or wheel stoppage like traditional skater trainers, but their performance is quite impressive for a DIY skater trainer.

Method 1: This is more like the traditional cover-like skater trainer, except this method utilizes tennis balls to wrap up the wheel. All you need for this method is four tennis balls and a knife or paper cutter. Then, just cut in the middle of each tennis ball wide enough to insert the wheels in them and install them on the wheels of your skateboard. So there you go with an easy method of making an effective skater trainer at home.

Method 2:  This method is more straightforward than the first one. For this method, instead of using tennis balls, you use your old or spare socks to cover up the skateboard wheels. With the socks on, the wheels will stop rotating. If you strictly want to stick with things available at home, this is the best method.

Are Skater Trainers One Size Fits All?

Assuming you already know what a skater trainer is and how it works, you probably know the answer to this question. Skater trainers, for the most part, are unisize. There are different sizes of skater trainers available in the market, depending on the wheel size. However, the fitting also depends on the material too. As discussed in the skater trainer review above, it can be stretched to fit different wheel sizes is made of a rubberized material.

Last Word

A skateboarder trainer can be a convenient learning tool for beginners. There is nothing wrong if something helps you progress in skateboarding safely. After reading my skate trainer review article, I hope you got a better overall understanding of skateboard trainers.

Now that you know how to make one, you can skip buying from outside and just make one for yourself at home too. If you are new and finding it hard to balance, I definitely recommend you use one as it will make balancing and landing on a skateboard a lot easier initially.