General:
The grip tape is the rough surface you stick on your deck to have your feet ‘grip’ to the deck better.
Widely spread in the skateboard industry, they generally have a pretty small grain, so you can move your feet between tricks pretty easily. On a scooter, you can have a bigger grain, as the bar helps you to hold the scooter if you want to move your feet.
Cut:
There are some grip tapes that are already ‘pre-cut’ to fit the shape of a specific deck. However, because they are made to fit a certain brand or model, they won’t fit every deck.
Some grip tapes just have a simple rectangular shape (like in skateboarding), and the rider must trim it to the desired shape.
Installation:
First check that the surface of your deck is perfectly clean. If there is dirt on it, the tape will stick to that and not to the deck.
Then take off the rear wheel, axle and brake (for convenience,) and slowly stick the grip tape down with even pressure to avoid air bubbles being trapped.
Finally, with the help of a cutting tool such as scissors or a utility knife, cut the grip tape according to the edges of the deck. If you find yourself frequently replacing grip tape for the same deck, it may be worth your while to create a ‘template’ drawn and cut out of cardboard. This would save a lot of time cutting new pieces of grip tape for your deck.