Bamboo Series Two Skate Wheels

This Sunday, my friend came over to skate. I took the Evolve Snubnose, and gave him the Boosted Board. Before we left, I checked the light on the Boosted remote. It was green.

We skated off. But we were barely on campus before the terrible happened. His remote, the Boosted remote, ran out of battery.

I almost couldn’t believe it. That was the second time the Boosted remote had run out of battery on me. Ever since then, I’ve been very careful to check the light on the thing. It was certainly green. And yet, still we lost power. I called my girlfriend to come pick us up.

I think there may be a design flaw in the Boosted remote, where it lights green when it doesn’t have enough battery to match the board. We took the ride home and set it charging.

While we were waiting, I decided to switch out the wheels on my Bamboo series two. It felt like time. It was quite an undertaking, and for a moment in the process, I thought I had lost a part. But when I was done, I was very happy with the board I was holding.

We went out for another ride. It would be the ride of my life.

I often write about the “roll” of a skateboard, and how the all terrain wheels don’t really have any of it. How the Boosted Board, with it’s dual drive belts, has less roll. Well the Evolve Bamboo Series two has more roll than anything. It carves for days, now that it has its Kegel wheels back on.

Yet that might not be entirely accurate. Because I know part of the equation are the trucks. Both Bamboo Evolve boards ride very similar. They just feel different from the Boosted, they carve so much better. A part of me knows that  part of it is due to those Evolve trucks.

Either way, I rode that baby like I would Scarlet Johanssen. We had a great skate. And for the first time ever, I skated faster than him! Even though he was on the Boosted, with its two more powerful motors, I still managed to go faster than him. I knew the Bamboo series two had a strong motor, but I didn’t think it was that strong. Still, when I get the software update for the Boosted, I expect it to retake the title as the fastest board. In my collection, anyway.

There is one bad point to speak of. The intermittent throttle when in fast gear. You’ll remember from an earlier post, this was an issue I’ve heard about from two separate riders. I was hoping that with the normal skate wheels it wouldn’t happen. But it did. Several times. In our nearly hour long skate, I estimate it happened three times.

I’m skating along, and the power goes out. Just for a moment. The temptation might be to squeeze the throttle even harder. But I go to neutral, and then gently throttle up, and it comes back.

That momentary loss of power is a strange beast to deal with. As an experience electric skateboard rider, I might not even notice. It’s the equivalent of going over a small gap in the sidewalk. But for a new rider, it’s very off putting.

I’m tempted to buy a new remote control, just to see if it fixes the problem. But you’ll remember that I’m not particularly fond of the new remotes they’ve made, and if it didn’t fix the problem, I’d be a little disappointed.

On one level, I hate to ride so much about the minor problems of owning an electric skateboard. My biggest fear is that someone who is thinking of riding an electric will read this blog and not get one. So please, don’t take me wrong. Electric boards have changed my life. Boosted or Evolve, battery or no, I highly recommend skating on an electric.

I just want the uninitiated to have a realistic idea of what they’re getting themselves into. I’ll end by saying that my Bamboo Series Two is my new favorite board. I rode it the other day over eight miles and not a low battery light in sight. I can’t wait until the holidays are over and the normal bus schedules resume, so that I can ride it on my usual commute.

May you ride more than you carry.

Mom's Ride

So it’s been what? Two or three weeks since I discovered the unreliable fast gear on my Bamboo Series two, all terrain board. I still haven’t heard back from Evolve. I guess it isn’t the biggest deal in the world.

But I was going to take off the big wheels and see how it skated orthodox. Until my mom begged me to ride it. So last weekend, I let her give it a spin. I was kind of scared, because she’s big and slow. But to my surprise, she was able to ride it around her block without any trouble at all. Slowly, for sure, but without any trouble. She really enjoyed the smooth ride it gave. She wants the board.

So in a way, I might change my official stance on the board. Because I used to think that those cheap Chinese boards were the best for beginners. In a way, it’s still accurate to say that they’re slower and safer than the Evolve board. But if my Mom can ride the big wheels Evolve board, I feel comfortable saying any can.

That same weekend, I took a picture of my Snubnose being held together with duct tape. It was my most popular Instagram picture ever. It even got the attention of Evolve, who offered a new casing.

While I’m happy for the offer, it’s something I’m going to decline. First off, I’m already on my second case. What’s a third going to do? It’s going to last a few months, and then break, just like the others did, that’s what. I mean, I already used silicone to seal the screw holes. I spent hours trying zip ties, velcro, and finally duct tape, to hold the damn battery on.

But I really like the way the duct tape make the board feel. One of the most common questions I get asked when riding my electric boards is, “Did you make it?” Usually I’m honest and say no, but potential is there to lie and act like I’m some kind of engineering god. The duct tape means that in a tiny way, I’m not lying if I say yes. Maybe I didn’t make it, but I certainly repaired it enough to call it my own.

The other reason why I like the duct tape is because it sticks out. Without it, the board is easily mistaken for an orthodox skateboard. But with the duct tape, any layman can see and easily understand that I’m riding something new, something they’ve never seen before.

Repairs

So over the weekend, I finally decided to repair my old Snubnose from Evolve. I did it using the technique I should have used from the state. I used duct tape. Honestly, that stuff works great. I don’t know why I tried so hard to attached the battery pack without it.

The other repair the board needed was the belt needed to be tightened. If you look at their old, discontinued Snubnose model from the bottom, its got a lot of surfaces that run at 90 degree angles to the surface. After adjusting the position of the motor to tighten the belt, it became clear to me how the belt got loose in the first place.

Letting one of my friends ride it, they probably tried to clear a speed bump or some such thing that they couldn’t. This would have caused the motor to smack against the rock or speed bump. Which would have knocked the motor back a centimeter or two.

I’ve long thought the solution to this is to have the motor up and behind the board, like Evolve did with their Bamboo Series Two. But it’s also interesting that my Boosted board doesn’t have that problem. Even though the motors, battery, and electrics are under the board, they’re designed much more aerodynamically. So that if you hit something, you’re more likely to bounce off than to get stuck. Also, I’m a better skater, I guess that has to factor in somewhere.

After noticing the tear in the belt of my Boosted Board, I emailed Boosted. They said the belt probably doesn’t need to be replaced, but gave me a link to where I can buy new belts for $25.

After keeping a close eye on the tear in the belt, I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re probably right. The tear doesn’t look like it will be much of a big deal. But it’s still a scary thing to skate around on, to know that it’s your face on the line, in the event that it is a big deal.

I showed the tear to a friend at work, whose dad used to repair vacuum cleaners. He said he’d seen plenty of belts like that. His advice to me? “Wear a helmet.” I don’t wear a helmet. So yeah, I’m probably going to order the new belt, but continued to skate around on it anyway.

About the same time, I also emailed Evolve asking about the motor intermittently cutting out when on high gear. So far, no response.

This weekend, I also did a not so random act of kindness for myself and the neighborhood. You see, every day, the most dangerous part of my skate is when I go down 20th avenue on my way home. There’s a bike lane on this two lane road, but the traffic is so close, it can be scarey sometimes.

But what makes the whole situation even more dangerous is a particular intersection which has been littered with … nails! It’s hard to believe but true. One day, while skating down the bike lane in front of some of the ghetto apartments, I ran over debris. The next day, I took more notice and saw nails. I figured someone would clear them up eventually, but nobody did. So Sunday morning, after fixing my Snubnose, I skated over with a broom and swept up the nails. Yay me. You’re welcome.

Worst. Skate. Ever.

Last night my girlfriend’s friend came over with her son. I take him on electric skateboard rides sometimes. Besides being really cold, it felt like a typical skate for us. But little did I know it would turn into the worst skate ever.

Usually I let the boy ride my Snubnose. But the battery pack still isn’t secured to the board. And the drive belt is still very loose. So that wasn’t an option. I figured I’d make him ride the Bamboo series two with the all terrain wheels, since I’m very territorial with my Boosted Board.

So we skate onto campus, and we don’t get very far before I get a funny beep from my Boosted remote, a beep I’d never heard before. It took me a minute to figure it out. The remote ran out of battery.

At first I beat myself up. How could I have been so stupid? Usually I’m really good about charging the remotes. But this time, I guess I forgot. It flashed through my mind that, if the remote used Micro USB instead of Mini USB, my chances of charging it would have been higher. But with effectively no change at charging the remote, I was forced to go home the old fashioned way.

I had to get back on my Bamboo series two and make the boy kick that Boosted Board home. I thought the Boosted might give him a little trouble to skate, but he said it rolled like a boss. Not only that, but he really enjoyed skating on the Loaded Deck. I don’t think he’d ever skated on such a high end board before.

That was the epic fail on my part, involving the Boosted Board. But there was another event which happened that night.

As he was skating the Bamboo Series two, I noticed he was staying in low gear. Why? He was experienced enough of a skater to max it out on high gear.

“The connection keeps cutting out in high gear,” he told me. I thought that was bullocks. I told him to try holding the remote in a different place, like behind his back. That didn’t work. I told him to try pressing the remote either looser or tighter, finding the trigger’s sweet spot.

“Nope. It keeps cutting out when I’m in high gear,” he told me. So when we switched boards so he could kick home on the Boosted, I got to feel it for myself.

Would you believe he was right? I had a bit of an epiphany at that. I’d never noticed the difference between high and low gear, because I never use low gear. When my girlfriend skates the board, she always uses low gear, and I confirmed with her that uses low gear for the same reason. I had to admit that even I have had the board cut out on me on high gear, but I was blinded by my love for the board.

So something is wrong here. It might be in the board, it might be in the remote. My hunch is that the culprit is the new remote. But I plan to write Evolve and get to the bottom of this.

Longest Boosted Ever

So the other day, my friend Austin comes over to skate with me. Usually, he rides the Snubnose while I take the Bamboo series two.

But this time, the Snubnose was out of commission. The zip ties that hold the battery pack onto the bottom of the board have been breaking. It looks like I’m going to need a better solution to holding it onto the bottom of the board. In addition, the drive belt is very loose. So we would have to use the other boards. I’m very territorial of my Boosted Board, and Austin has never rode the AT wheels, so I figured I’d give him a taste of the all terrain.

We skated from my house to the restaurants across the street from campus. The plan was to get some food and skate back. It was a run I’ve done many times on my Evolve boards. First time doing the run on my Boosted Board.

It’s worth mentioning that the ride to campus, the run we were doing, is mostly uphill going there, and more downhill coming home. But by the time we got to the Pita Pit, I checked the battery left on the Boosted. Two of five lights. Meaning I’d burned through more than half of the battery.

Now this is a kinda scary feeling. I’ve never kicked a skateboard anywhere in my life, so as an electric skateboard enthusiast, the scariest thing in the world is the idea that you’re stranded somewhere and you have to kick push home. Or worse, carry the board. I wasn’t sure what to do. Maybe I’d make it home. Maybe I’d only make it part way. The only thing in my favor, was that there was more downhill for the ride back.

So we started skating home. About halfway we stopped and did another battery check. I was down to my last light, but still perhaps two miles from home. Austin, thirty pounds lighter than me, suggested we change boards. He was more interested in riding the Boosted, but I agreed. What difference does thirty pounds make? Well if it would get us both home, I was willing to give it a shot.

Austin wasn’t scared to maybe have to kick home. He raced the Boosted home, wasting more battery than I would have dared to. But guess what? We made it home. Not bad. I checked the GPS. 7.73 miles. It was the longest run I’ve ever made on the Boosted. Remember they advertise about six. I think it’s fair to say it would really go eight miles. And that’s up hills and carving for joy.

So I just want to give another kudo to Boosted for giving their customers a conservative estimate of the range of their boards.

Slower, no matter

So I’ve been skating around with Austin for a while now. Usually I ride the all terrain bamboo series two, and he rides the snubnose.

But lately, we’ve been switching it up. He rides the snubnose and I ride the Boosted. Part of the reason why is, Austin is faster than me. I’m fine with that. It’s okay to be faster than me. Most of the time, he’s faster because I’m breaking because I’m not comfortable with going as fast as him.

So I did a ride on the Boosted, specifically to prove that I can smoke him. There was just one little problem. He was still faster than me! Even though he’s on a single engine, and I’m on a dual engine. I could max out the throttle, and still he’d zip right by me.

Fine, I thought. I’d just have to race him up Center drive, the biggest hill on campus. Maybe he could be faster than me on a flat, but no way a single motor could beat dual motors uphill. Well guess what? Racing up Center drive, it was pretty much neck and neck.

“Austin, how much do you weight?” I finally had to ask. He weighs about thirty pounds less than me. Thirty pounds. And here, I don’t know what to think. Thirty pounds is thirty pounds. But dual motors should still smoke a few pounds, right?

I guess it’s only right to mention the value of skill. Austin is a much better skater than me. I’m sure skill makes a difference. But how much of a difference? Does it make that much of a difference?

The whole incident makes me only more excited to get that speed upgrade from Boosted. Then we’ll see who’s fastest.

How to attach a battery pack?

So the other day, I invited a friend over to have a skate. Don’t bring your board, I told him. He could use my Evolve Snubnose.

So we go outside, and everything looks good. You ready? I ask him. He’s ready. I hopped on my All Terrain Bamboo series, and begin to roll off. He was holding my Snubnose vertical, and slammed it down to riding position.

The only problem was, the battery pack was being held on by zip ties. He slammed the board down so hard, it actually broke the zip ties. He apologised, he didn’t realize he shouldn’t have slammed the board down. That’s how he was used to doing it with every other board he’s ever skated.

I was a bit upset. Despite being an older electric skateboard, and being a discontinued model, it’s still a great board. It still has a great, run roll to it, and I really love that board. I thought I had fixed the problem of the battery pack with the zip ties and a few nails a long time ago. But when he slammed down the board and broke the zip ties, it was like opening an old wound.

So I took the board inside, and put on even more zip ties. Four this time. We go out for a ride, and wouldn’t you know by the time we were back home, only two of them remained.

That board had gone months with only three zip ties, no problem. I guess the problem lies in the differences in how people skate. He was trying to dance on the board, while most of  my electric riding involves stationary feet. In other words, inexperienced with electric boards, he innocently was doing everything you probably wouldn’t want to do on an electric.

Like most orthodox skateboarders, he didn’t want to ride on the all terrain wheels. And in a way, I can understand that, because the all terrain wheels do give a very different feel to one’s skate. But I know he didn’t like getting the orthodox wheels stuck in a gap in the sidewalk pavement. I know it’s not fun to roll over tactile pavement on those wheels.

At the moment, the Snubnose is laying belly up in my living room. I want to throw on more zip ties. But I really want a better solution. How incredibly difficult this slight design flaw has been, on what would otherwise be a fucking awesome board. A friend of mine offered me $400 for it. I’m not sure if I want to sell or not, because I feel that $400 is a little low. I think it’s worth more. But certainly not if the battery case keeps coming off.

So in the end, I’m happy that they discontinued the Snubnose. Look at the bottom of all the current models, and you won’t see a boxy design like that anymore. I mean, I have a Bamboo series two, but I can’t even figure out how they attach that battery pack on there.

Boosted's New Models

I haven’t gone anywhere, I’ve been skating the entire time. Most of the time, I wonder about the different models of board I ride. Specifically, the all terrain bamboo Evolve, and the Boosted.

They represent opposite ends of the electric skating spectrum for me. The Boosted is the more orthodox ride. It’s smooth, it’s fun, it’s the endless skate. I use it to commute every day it’s not raining.

But when I go for a joy ride, I always grab the Evolve for the all terrain tires. They allow me to ride over any surface, to not worry about cracks and branches. But it’s true, you lose something when you ride with all terrain wheels.

You lose a certain roll that orthodox boards have. A board with all terrain wheels has very little, almost no roll. That changes the feel of a skate. Basically, it’s all motor.

Maybe there’s room in this world for both boards.

Then Boosted goes and releases information about their new models. They’re making a cheaper model with only one motor. Cool. Then they’re making a cheaper dual motor design. Awesome. Finally, they’re giving people with their original design a software update! That’s me!

It doesn’t surprise me that they can make my board faster with a software upgrade. When you skate the Boosted, especially on inclines, you can *feel* the extra power it’s holding back. This may also be the first time I’ve ever had a RL object that got a software upgrade to make it better. Which makes me happy, in a way. Although it does mean I had the power all along.

Slowly, but surely, Boosted has won me over as the must have electric skateboard. From their superior hand held remote, to the superior braking system.

Electric Bubblegum

Here it is. Another electric skateboard on kickstarter. This one promises to be the cheap savior for my favorite passtime. Worth a look. 

Game Day Skate

The other day, I went for a skate with the son of a friend of mine. Of all the skates I’ve ever done on campus, this one was the one that blew my mind. It made me realize that all this time, I’ve been doing it wrong.

Because yesterday, we took a skate on campus, and it was game day.

I guess you can’t blame me. I was never really into football. Or drinking. So I’d never really done much tailgating. But yesterday, the University of Florida was jam packed with people. College girls were everywhere, in their short shorts and orange and blue, and it was a sight to behold.

From a purely skateboarding point of view, it might have been a more difficult skate than usual. Because the sidewalks were clogged with drunk people. But by now, I know my way around campus enough to find the right roads to go down. And with breaks, it’s really not that bad. We only had to carry our boards when we walked across University ave to grab a bite to eat.

I’m anxious to do this again on the next game day, when I can go with my SO, and maybe do some real tailgating. I mean, people were everywhere. No small patch of grass was too small for someone to set up a tent and start drinking there. No parking garage was empty from people who wanted to celebrate in the shade.

I passed one group in the back of their pickup truck who said, “I thought it was *drones*!” Which made me laugh. It was true. With the acoustics of the parking garage, the way the motors of the skateboards sound, we did sound like drones. Until you saw us.

From now on, I think skating campus on a game day is going to be mandatory. It’s almost like a big skaters amusement park, complete with hot dogs and hot girls. Our experience was completed with not one, but two college boys asking me if it was “an electric.”

My canned response? “It’s the only way to fly.”

Boosted vs Evolve

So I’ve settled into this routine where I use the Boosted Board for my commute during the week, and the Evolve board on the weekend. Every Saturday, it’s the same feeling.

I feel like I’m skating crooked. Like the board isn’t going straight. The feeling only lasts a moment, and is gone just as soon. But I’m pretty sure what I’m feeling is the difference of the single drive chain of Evolve boards versus the double drive train in Boosted Boards.

Don’t get me wrong. The difference is slight. A couple of degrees or less. As soon as you catch onto a particular board’s charistics, you naturally lean a bit differently to compensate. But the difference is there.

And while I’m talking about the difference between drive trains, there’s something else I have to mention. Remember when I bragged about only the Boosted Board being able to skate up Center drive? Well, it didn’t occur to me until I skated there with my SO, but I’d never even tried to skate my Evolve Bamboo Series two board up Center drive.

That night, she was skating the board. She weighs a good thirty pounds less than me. But I’ll be damned if she didn’t make it to the top of Center drive. So technically, Both Evolve and Boosted boards can make it to the top of the steepest hill around campus.

But the win really is on a technicality. Because the Boosted Board can *fly* up the hill. The Boosted Board makes it fun to skate up hill. The Evolve board really has to try to get you up there. It almost makes you feel sorry for it, the way the motor strains and carries you up at ‘leisurely walk’ speed.

Remember how I said that the Boosted Remote has grown on me? That I’ve come to see the genius behind its design? Well on a similar note, the new Evolve remote has gotten even worse for me, the more I use it.

The problem is that the way you have to hold the trigger, it isn’t comfortable. On long skates, I always feel like my finger is starting to cramp up a bit. Also, the trigger is so sensitive, I’m pretty sure next skate I’m actually going to use the original remote.

I still haven’t fallen using either of the new remotes. But I’m worried about how the remotes will take the fall.

I still dream of the day where I can control my electric skateboard and wear skating gloves at the same time.

Night Skate With SO

So the other night, I decided to go on a night skate with my girlfriend. Before we left, I asked her which board she preferred. She chose the Bamboo Series Two, the one with the all terrain wheels. 

“Why do you prefer that one?” I asked her.

“Because my feet really become one with the board,” she said.

She’s probably not experienced enough of a longboarder to understand how much those wheels help with giving a smooth riding, and correcting flaws in the surface we skate on. But the bamboo series two, unlike the carbon series, is a board she feels stable on. 

I chose my old snubnose to ride on that night? Why? Well I still like to ride it every once in a while, even though I no longer use it in my daily commute. Also, my snubnose is pretty scratched up by now, and I have no problems about banging it up on a night run. But my Boosted Board, well, I’m still babying her. 

You’ll remember an elaborate problem electric skateboards can run into. Where, if you break on a downhill you charge the battery. But if the battery is already full, you can damage the battery if you continue to put power into it. 

For that reason, we started at the bottom of the parking garage, and skated up to the top, first. She took forever. I think she went the whole way up on the slow gear. On the way down, she used the brakes the entire time. 

Her feet hurt by the time we got to the bottom. I skated with her on part of a baby hill on campus before we went home. Not even two miles, but quite fun. The last time I went to that parking garage, I was learning how to skate from a longboarder friend of mine. That night, I was the teacher.

I guess it’s worth talking about the problem my board had. It appeared as though the remote was breaking. This is the big, clunky, original Evolve remote we’re talking about here. I’ve fallen on it a few times, and on some level I think it’s perfectly understandable if the remote was on the fritz.

But part of my problem is the way the board responds to losing connection. It brakes. It seemed as though my signal was really weak. I became scared to skate with my arms out, because with my arm fully extended, I was losing signal. 

I started skating with the remote held behind my board, in my sacrum, to keep it in a good spot. But then, even there, the remote lost signal and the board auto hit the brakes. 

Finally, I examined the bottom of my board. Remember, the screw fittings on this board are long since broken off. The battery pack and electronics are held in place with velcrow and zip ties. But while you skate, the battery pack tends to drift to the front of the board, for some reason. I remembered, when I opened it up, that there was a silver antenna patch under there. I pushed the battery pack closer to the back of the board, closer to its original position, and tried again. 

Perfect signal. I had no other issues all night.

After thinking about it, I realized that a well positioned nail or tack could hold the battery pack in place. Where’s my hammer?

I also discovered a new way to use the board. If you turn off the remote, but leave the board on, it will engage the brakes. This is useful if you want to go slowly down inclines. Say you’re at the top of the hill, but the hill is too scary for you? What do you do? You could carry your board down, like a chump.

Or you can do it in style. You turn off your remote. You skate down the hill like you’re in slow motion, and when you get far enough down that you feel comfortable, you turn on the remote. It’s a nice option, because the brake you get from doing this is more convenient than if you have to hold the trigger out on the remote.

Marbel Board

So yes, it’s true, there is a new brand of electric board on the market. It’s called the Marbel. http://ridemarbel.com/

One of the points about the Marbel that I’m most excited for? The fact that it’s built here in Florida. I’ve already emailed them to see about riding on a demo.

Based on the videos, what’s clear? The design of this board is the greatest yet, to really disguise the electronics in the skateboard. They do this by having the motor mounted inside of the rear truck. And, I assume, the battery inside of the deck.

On some level, I’m going to be skeptical of the design. I don’t know how long you’ve been reading my blog, but there was a meaningful difference between Boosted’s Kickstart and the board they actually shipped.

I’m also going to guess, based on the video, that Marbel uses a single wheel drive. Not such a big deal. Remember, this is a Florida made board, and Florida is a mostly flat place. But still, the skateboard begs to dive down hills. Anyone who owns a skateboard knows it’s only a matter of time before it goes down one. After riding my Boosted, and given the surfaces I ride on, I feel dual drive trains really is the safer option.

You know that I also prefer an electric skateboard that lets people know it has power. Just today, I was skating up a small hill to work. I passed a car, where the man looked out his window and yelled, “Pop a trick!”

My real trick was skating uphill, which he didn’t realize. He mistook my Boosted Board for an orthodox board that you can do tricks on. I prefer the stares of the people on the bus, at the motors and electronics.

When I think about the electric skateboard market today, we have champions in several categories. Evolve sells the best off road board. Boosted sells the best last mile vehicle. Maybe, just maybe, Mabel will have the most affordable board.

Thoughts of an electric longboarder

Saturday morning. Time for my morning writing session at Starbucks. To be a complete hipster, and since the Starbucks is only a couple of miles away, I don’t take my car. I reach for my electric skateboard. But do I reach for the Boosted Board, or for the Evolve All Terrain?

In this situation, there’s no hesitation. I reach for the Evolve. It’s a real door-to-door board, as opposed to my last mile vehicle. Meaning, if I don’t have to throw it in a car, take it on a bus or train, the Evolve board’s size becomes an advantage. There are no hills on the way to Starbucks, but the surface is complete garbage. On my Evolve, I can ride over the worst sidewalk with the impunity of a bicycle.

But this morning, a bonus treat. Blocking my way on the sidewalk was a father and his two sons. Both sons had skateboards. The surface was so bad, one of the sons simply carried his board. It gave me the opportunity to use my go-to line, “Excuse me, pardon me. Can I pass?”

Then I watched their drooling faces as they saw what the coolest kid in the neighborhood was riding. When I looked over my shoulder down the road, I saw them going into the pawn shop. Poor kids won’t be riding an electric anytime soon.

***

At work, I went to sign out. Sunglasses on, Boosted in hand, I entered the room where our supervisors are.

The new girl was there, the hot one. She looked at me and said, “Look at you, the cool guy. With your cool guy hair, and your cool guy sunglasses, and your cool guy skateboard.”

This is how people see me now. But the funny thing is, I had the hair and the sunglasses before. But nobody called me the cool guy before. Somehow the longboard is what really pulls everything together. Thank you Boosted, and thank you Evolve.

***

Riding home from work. Just past the student rec center, there’s a downhill by the volleyball courts. It’s a game day weekend, so the street is clogged with cars. I’m skating past them all on the sidewalk. My Boosted Board lets me take the downhill slow enough to check out the volleyball girls. When I pass them, I release the brakes.

Then an RV turns right -- in front of me.

I hit the brake button. I roll the wheel back slightly, and come to a complete stop on the hill. I shake my finger at the RV, he probably can’t even see me. When he’s clear, I skate on.

Had that happened with an orthodox board, I would have had to jump off, and likely the board would have gone flying, maybe even run over.

Had that happened with an Evolve board, I would have been able to slow down enough to hop off and retain control of the board.

Braking

After having a few weeks to use my Boosted Board, I feel like there’s one important point left to discuss. Breaking.

Let’s start by talking about the history of breaking on skateboard, and work our way to Boosted.

For orthodox skateboards, there were no breaks. Because you had to kick the board, you didn’t want much resistance. Most of your rides were about getting speed, not losing it. Skateboarders had to use their skills to break. They had to use skate gloves, turns, and a maneuver called a Coleman to slow themselves. In other words, orthodox skateboarding is kind of dangerous.

Then came Evolve. They had breaks. For me, this was a great crutch. I’d compare Evolve’s breaks to training wheels on a bicycle. I could slow down the board. While those breaks didn’t stop the board, they allowed me to slow the board to a speed where I could probably jump off without an issue.

But there was some skill involved in stopping. I still had to be able to run my board into the grass, or hop off, if need be.

Then Boosted came. At first, I trashed their remote control design. And for that, I am sorry, because the remote is designed brilliantly. Due in part to their dual drive chain design, a Boosted board can break, similarly to the Evolve board. But even on a hill, it can bring itself to a complete stop. It can even go back uphill if you want to. That’s the genius of the ‘mouse wheel’ remote design.  

Boosted brakes don’t just slow you. They’ll stop you, or reverse you. That’s a trick Evolve has yet to learn.

And one other thing about the breaks. When you’re going downhill and need to stop, is where the dual drive trains add safety.

When I took my girlfriend to the Payne’s Prairie bike trail, she got into trouble on a downhill. She was riding the Evolve Carbon Fiber series. She used the brakes. But with only one drive train, braking at speed can be very asymmetrical. She fell off that day. Of course, I had her wearing full safety gear, and it wasn’t much of an issue. I believe that if she had been riding their dual drive wheel board instead, she wouldn’t have had a problem.

Boosted took the braking system on Evolve boards and … evolved it into something superior in every way.

I’d like to end this post by cursing Sanjay Dastoor, the man behind Boosted Boards. At first, I had planned to buy one of their boards, test it, and return it. But he knew me better than I know myself. He knew that I was just like Frodo. I could take the magic ring to Mordor, but I’d be unable to throw it away. I’m keeping my Boosted Board.

All Terrain Bamboo

I feel guilty about yesterday. It was a holiday, and the buses weren’t running. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for, practically the reason why I bought the Evolve Bamboo series with the all terrain tires. Because if I have to skate all the way to work and back, it really is the only choice. Especially with the nastiness of construction that I have to skate through.

But I checked the weather report, remembered that on holidays I can park in the garage for free, and took my car instead. It didn’t rain.

So when I got home and saw the sun still in the sky, what did I do? I reached for that All terrain bamboo series, of course. Joyride time!

For yesterday’s ride, I did a little more off roading than usual. I took the grassy footpaths that couldn’t even be attempted with normal skateboard wheels. The board handled great. About the only thing I didn’t want to ride over, were big tree roots. I guess its worth saying that skating over grassy, sandy areas isn’t nearly as fun as skating on asphalt. But the board did get me through it.

The area with the shortcut where the road isn’t quite connected? The Bamboo series with the all terrain tires went right over it. No issues, where normally I’d have to walk a board with regular skateboard wheels over.

Once again, I can’t help but feel such a difference in how you skate depending on what wheels you use. With regular wheels, you’re dodging cracks in the sidewalk. You’re avoiding rocks and branches. Half the fun of skateboarding was learning how to avoid those obstacles. Learning how to swerve around them and look cool doing it.

The all terrain wheels take that away. And in a small way, it makes skateing less fun, because suddenly you don’t have all those obstacles. But in another way, it makes it more fun. Because now you can carve to your heart’s content, and it’s all about style.

The other thing is the surface. The all terrain wheels make the bumpy surface skate like a dream. When I ride a board with orthodox wheels on my commute, there is a one block stretch of sidewalk that’s perfect. That I ride down smooth as a summer wave. The rest of the ride, I’m working around the conditions. The all terrain wheels make every surface smooth as a summer wave.

I have to compare this point in electric skateboards to the early stages of the automobile. At first, it was a horseless carriage. They added a motor to a carriage, and got around just fine. It took years before someone realized that carriage wheels worked, but not as good as an inflated tire. Even after tires, it took longer for the designers to arrive at the modern tire we know today.

Similarly, electric skateboards have started life using what they inherited from orthodox skateboards. They added a motor to the regular wheels. I think its safe to say that at this point in time, we’ve already made wheels and tires in every shape we could want. It’s just a matter of time before we ditch the usual wheels, for the more modern wheels that are better.

The all terrain wheels let you skate with the impunity that you would ride a bicycle. And that’s a great thing that our sport needs if it’s going to attract a new generation of longboarders. If you want to have a carving session that’s all fun, no obstacles, grab a board with all terrain tires. You won’t regret it.

Boosted Commute pt 2

A few additional thoughts on the Boosted Board.

First, battery life. I know that my commute puts four miles on my board. The Boosted remote has five lights for battery life. After my first commute, I had two lights left. Just less than half. But after riding the same path the next day, the battery read three lights. Just more than half. It may be too early to tell, but I think it’s safe to say that my commute takes about half of the charge of the board. Which would put its total range, at about eight miles. Boosted advertises six miles. In other words, Boosted is the real hero. They’re the first electric skateboard company I’ve found that under promised, and over delivered on their battery claims.

After leaving work yesterday, one of my coworkers saw me and asked, “You’re not skating home on your electric today? Going it old fashioned?”

“Of course I’m skating home on my electric. This is the new one.” I said, and held it up a tad higher.

Why had he thought I wasn’t skating on an electric? It might have been the colors. My Boosted board is a gray/black and orange to the usual bamboo and red. But I think he was fooled more by the way I was carrying the board. With one hand, easily, like any orthodox boarders would carry his board.

When I used to commute on my snubnose, I would carry it vertically, only lifting it a few inches off of the ground. The Boosted Board can be carried like an ordinary skateboard.

Or maybe what threw him off was how slender she is. That loaded deck is only a few centimeters thick in the middle. Boosted really did a top notch job of disguising their electric as an orthodox.

Then again on the bus this morning, the woman standing next to me saw the orange Orangatang In Heat wheels and commented about how she used to skateboard. She never noticed that it was an electric.

Here I have mixed feelings. Because showing off the board is half the fun. I suppose the angle, for her, was just so. But still, the fundamental of the design is the same. Boosted makes a top of the line electric board that is as close to an orthodox board as can be. And I’m in love with it.