Pivot Cuffs

So the other day, I’m carving home. Going past the volleyball courts, where the biggest downhill is. I used to break like a sissy there. But after riding on Hawthorne Trail, I’ve matured. Instead, I was thinking, this isn’t much of a downhill at all. I looked to my right, at the volleyball courts. College girls in short shorts a plenty. I enjoyed watching one serve a ball before looking back at the road.

At which point I saw the curb at the end of the downhill. Oh yeah, I thought. That’s the reason why I usually break. Not for the speed, but for the transition to the road. I hit that transition a little faster than usual. It didn’t feel like a big deal, except at that moment, something in my board changed. A wobble that shouldn’t have been a problem had me off the board. I came close to falling, but managed to stay on my feet, and laughed as I picked up my board, and continued home.

I finally got around to taking my board to the shop. Freeride Surfshop, just a few blocks away from UF campus. Their man behind the counter spotted the problem in a second flat. It was my pivot cuffs. I’d blow out three, and either completely lost the fourth, or my board never had a fourth. Either way, my board was fixed in no time flat and I headed home.

Back at that same downhill, something was different. There was a barricade up … for no apparent reason. Along the downhill, a bunch of sand that looked completely out of place. I don’t mean to be some kind of ego maniac, thinking all those obstacles were put there for my ‘safety’. But why else would they be there?

I wonder if any other longboarders have a similar story?

Balance, Evolve, and Boosted

So I’m riding with my longboarder friend again, trying to master the art or riding downhill without hitting the breaks.

The secret, he tells me, is to lock my legs in a funny position with my feet very close to the front of the board. I’ve seen him do it a million times, but for me the technique seems to need some work.

No matter how close I inch my feet to the nose of the board, no matter how I lock my legs, I hit about 20 miles an hour and I feel the wobble, and puss out and hit the brakes.

After the run, I let him try my fancy new Evolve Longboard and guess what? He felt a bit of a wobble, too. Then a lightbulb goes off in my head. Maybe it’s not my technique that’s wrong. Maybe its the board.

While he was riding my board, I took a few kicks of his board. I couldn’t help but notice how balanced it was. My board almost can’t be balanced. It has this asymmetric brushless motor and truck on the rear wheel. Inherent to its design, it really can’t be balanced.

Then another light bulb went off in my head. Boosted Boards. They’re currently the only electric skateboarding company that I’m aware of which has both rear wheels motorised. At first, I wondered why they would go with such a radically different design than their competitors. Supposedly, if you have two motors, it gives some kind of elaborate engineering problem with turning.

But what about balance? Supposing they fixed the turning problem, their board would be perfectly balanced. It makes even more sense when you consider that they’re based out of San Francisco, where there are downhills a plenty.

Now, suddenly, I want my boosted board. Of course, they’re not even shipping their first run until next year. By then, I could have an Evolve Carbon Fiber, if I wanted.

Emad Fails Again

The first board I bought was the Emad 400w Concrete Carver. It advertises a 7 - 10 miles range. But I soon learned that it didn’t have enough juice to take me to work and back. (I live 3 miles from work)

Shortly afterwards, the controller broke. I sent the board back, and they fixed the controller. But now the board could hardly even make it to work one way. I tried to get the board fixed, but nothing worked. Until I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. After that, the owner, Jerome Claxton, promptly took my board in for repairs, where they installed a new battery.

But the board still never went much more than 3 miles for me. And that’s being generous, as the board really ‘limps’ when its charge gets low. I sent the board in a third time. But Jerome, aka Emad, claims it is working just fine.

His logic? That I’m too old for the 400w model, and that I should have purchased the 600w model. Despite the fact that I weigh 170 pounds and the board says it can carry a load of 225. He put an employee of his, who weighs 150 pounds, on the board, and had him go 5 miles on the board around the lake. Then, he declared my board to be in working order.

How Jerome Claxton can bullshit this hard, I’ll never know. 75 lbs under weight, and half the advertised distance, and he thinks everything is fine.

TL;DR

The bottom line about the Emad 400w board is simple. It’s a very heavy board, which is good if you’re a beginner. The weight makes it easy to step on and off from. It’s cheap, which is good for anyone. But it won’t go half the range of what the box claims. Use it, have fun with it, if you want a good idea about how far you can go, please watch this youtube video I made, draining the battery from full, going once around my neighborhood. It’s not really a watching video, just a documentary on the battery life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5N57j964Dc&feature=c4-overview&list=UU9SqB3KdC5gse8Fv2RNRnsQ

Hawthorne Trail

This weekend, for the first time, I went long boarding with a friend. Until now, I’ve just been a nub on his new toy. But finally, I had a real skater, showing me the good spots and, in general, how the sport is done.

We went to a Hawthorne trail, mostly bicycles. The advantage to this place was that there are plenty of hills.

I honestly don’t know how orthodox skateboarders manage to kick their boards. I still don’t really know how to do it. But my friend, he managed to kick, even up the hills, like a pro. All the while, I didn’t even break a sweat, simply squeezing the trigger of my skateboard.

He would prove the winner going down hill.

I’m still somewhat of a pussy when it comes to down hills skating. The first time I ever stood on a skateboard, I was in a parking garage. And quickly ate asphalt when I tried going down the ramp. The time after that, it was Center drive on UF campus. Similar result.

So there on Hawthorne trail, on a downhill, I still had some fears. Even giving me a head start, I didn’t really want to use my accelerator at all. Soon I found my self using the break. Then holding the break for the entire wild ride. My friend passed me. He’s good. Even manged to do a few tricks while he was at it.

From using the app MyTracks, I’ve been able to determine that I don’t feel comfortable going any faster than about 18 mph. He went over 25!

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hzcXVjgDF6E

Rattling sound -- Fixed!

So I finally fixed the rattling sound on my Evolve board. Turns out if I was a little bit more of an Engineer / Handyman, I probably would have fixed it a long time ago.

After taking the thing apart, I failed to realize that there was a gear piece on the motor which also comes off. If this gear is even slightly loose, it will make the clicking noise I had ‘suffered’ from. After using about four drops of a Loctite, a type of superglue, my board is back to ninja stealth mode quietness.

I know I was a difficult customer to help troubleshoot. But the Evolve handled me brilliantly. Some of the best customer support I’ve ever had.

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In other news, I’ve been in contact with a friend of the man behind Red Rock Board Shop. http://www.redrockboardshop.com/

Unlike Evolve, Red Rock focuses more on selling the gear you’ll need to convert an existing board into an electric. At the moment, it’s slightly unclear what the ultimate price would be, but should I get the chance, I’d love to test one of their products. Instead of storing the battery on the board, I believe they prefer to run a wire to a battery in the backpack of the user. More on Red Rock later.

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But the best was getting asked on the bus today, what my Evolve remote control was for. It was a hot college girl who asked me. Her boyfriend sitting next to her kept silent.

I can’t say it enough, but this is kind of interaction is what I live for. Feeling the ears of the other people on the bus perk up, as I explained to her (and them) my new toy.

Rattling sound, reduced range

So I’m riding around on my Evolve Snubnose the other day when I hear a kind of a rattling noise. Typing the story now, I guess that sounds kind of scary. Carving around town at speeds of up to 18 miles an hour (I won’t push it faster) and then hearing a rattle coming from the motor. But the sound didn’t seem to affect the board. And you could only hear it at a certain, low speed.

The other day I wrote Evolve about the sound, and they wrote back, asking me to take off the cover plate and check that some screws hadn’t come loose. Turns out I needed a star shaped screwdriver to do that, which I didn’t have. But after I got one and took the board apart a little bit, I thought I’d found the culprit.

I’ll link the pic I took on Instagram: http://instagram.com/p/e6BeQ9vVar/

Problem solved. Right? Wrong. Turns out, my board still makes the sound. Which, according to their email, means I’m going to have to give my board some more love.

Crazy as it sounds, I really liked working on my board. Compare this to my Emad board, where whenever something goes wrong, they have me ship the board back to them. Right now, my Emad board is at the shop. For the third time. I’ve lost all faith that it’ll ever work as advertised.

But with my Evolve, I’m part of the board’s maintenance. I keep the thing running, and I feel good doing it. Like I’m leveling up my Engineering skill (WoW throwback!).

However, one disturbing complication has arisen. I always log all of my rides on my electric boards. The reason why I’ve been sending back my Emad board, is because it doesn’t travel 7-10 miles as advertised. I’ve only ever gotten 3 miles out of it.

Now I’ve been riding around on my evolve board long enough to find that it’s range might be something like 8 miles. Problem is, they advertise 18. So in a way, the Evolve board has the exact same problem as the Emad board. They only get about half their range.

Now in Evolve’s defense, they recommend doing several things that I do not. They recommend kick starting the board, where I usually let the board do the work. So that’s wasted mileage right there. They also recommend flat surfaces, which Gainesville is not, and not using the brakes. But I have to use the brakes. There are stop signs and pedestrians everywhere, demanding I use the brakes.

Now let’s keep in mind that my board is still rattling. So that could affect its performance too. But just like I hounded Emad, I feel Evolve owes us an explanation as well. How do they get their range of 18 miles? Was it in a lab? Did it come from an Engineer’s paperwork? Did get get it on a trail, or in a park, or simply riding around their neighborhood?

I vow to find the answer. For me. For us. For all electric skateboard enthusiasts.