SKATE SETUPS
Bowl

Bowl Skater Setups

Bowl skating traces its roots to the empty swimming pools of 1970s California. Modern concrete bowls reward speed, flow, and aggressive coping work.

55 pro riders
street park vert

What Defines a Bowl Skating Setup

Bowl skating traces its roots to the empty backyard pools of 1970s California, and modern concrete bowls keep that DNA: tight transitions, real coping, continuous lines. The setup is closer to vert than to street. Wider decks help with foot placement on tile and coping grinds, larger wheels keep speed through long carves, and trucks are tuned for predictable response in tight pockets. Bowl pros also lean heavily on Independent trucks — a reputation built decade by decade in concrete.

We track the complete setups of 55 professional bowl skaters in our database. The numbers below are aggregated directly from those verified setups.

What 55 Pro Bowl Skaters Actually Ride

Decks

66.7% of pro bowl skaters in our database ride decks between 8.0" and 8.5" wide. The most common size is 8.5", chosen by 18.2% of bowl pros. 8.25" (14.5%) is the next most popular. The average bowl pro deck is 8.59" wide , with Powell Peralta the most-ridden deck brand at 12.7%.

Trucks

Independent Trucks leads truck choice at 70.9% of pro bowl skaters. Thunder Trucks is second at 7.3%. Together, the top two brands account for 78.2% of all pro bowl truck choices , with Ace Trucks (5.5%) the most common alternative.

Wheels

The average bowl pro wheel is 56.1mm. 60mm is the most-ridden size at 10.9%, followed by 54mm at 7.3%. Spitfire Wheels dominates wheel brand choice at 32.7% of bowl pros, with Bones Wheels second at 16.4%.

Bearings

Bones Swiss leads at 12.7% of pro bowl skaters with verified bearing data , followed by Bones at 12.7%. Pros consistently choose precision bearings over budget options because performance under repeated impact matters at this level.

Shoes

Shoe choice is more distributed than wheels or trucks. Vans leads at 41.8%, followed by Nike SB (10.9%) and Adidas Skateboarding (9.1%). Treat shoe data as a quality signal across the top brands rather than a strict recommendation — sponsorship plays a heavy role here.

How Bowl Setups Compare

Bowl shares a lot of DNA with vert and transition: wider decks, bigger wheels, Independent-heavy truck choice. The differentiator is wheel hardness — bowl skaters tend to favour slightly softer durometers than pure vert riders to grip rough concrete and handle long carving lines. If you skate pools, deep ends, and full pipes more than parks or street spots, the bowl setup data is the most useful baseline.

Component StreetBowlVert
Deck width
8.29"avg
8.25"median
8.59"avg
8.40"median
8.86"avg
8.55"median
Wheel size
53.1mmavg
52.0mmmedian
56.1mmavg
56.0mmmedian
57.9mmavg
58.0mmmedian
Top truck Independent Trucks (41.5%)Independent Trucks (70.9%)Independent Trucks (71.4%)

Bowl Setup FAQ

What deck size do most pro bowl skaters ride?

The most common deck size among pro bowl skaters is 8.5", ridden by 18.2% of the 55 pros in our database. The average bowl pro deck width is 8.59", and 66.7% ride somewhere between 8.0" and 8.5".

What truck brand is most popular for bowl skating?

Independent Trucks is the most-ridden truck brand among pro bowl skaters, chosen by 70.9% of the 55 pros in our database. Thunder Trucks is the next most popular at 7.3%, with the top two brands together accounting for 78.2% of all pro bowl truck setups.

What wheel size do pro bowl skaters use?

The average pro bowl skater rides 56.1mm wheels. 60mm is the most-ridden specific size at 10.9%, and Spitfire Wheels is the dominant wheel brand at 32.7% of the 55 pros tracked.

What shoes do pro bowl skaters wear?

Vans leads bowl skating shoe choice at 41.8% of pros in our database, but the field is more distributed than wheels or trucks because shoe choice is heavily influenced by sponsorship. Treat the data as a quality signal across the top brands.

Browse All Bowl Pros

Browse by Discipline

Street Park Vert Transition Bowl Freestyle