Which electric skateboard should I get?

I’ve been on this electric skateboard kick for what now? Two years? The most common questions I’m asked are:

Does it have a motor? Yes

How much does it cost? Enough to probably make you lose interest

Which model should I get?

In all the time I’ve been writing, I never had a good answer for that third and most difficult question. But now, after yesterday’s skate, I think I finally have a simple answer.

Yesterday was perfect weather here in Northern Florida. I never realized before how awesome February in Florida could be. While the rest of the world has record heat, I happen to be in the one small pocket of record cool.

Again, I was riding with my friend, who has years of experience riding his orthodox longboard. Again, he prefers the Boosted, and I prefer the Evolve.

This ride, we decided to go a little farther into campus than usual. He was able to keep up with my Evolve board by supplimenting the smaller Boosted battery with some good old fashioned leg power. Which is really quite incredible when you think about it. I have this superior battery in my board that can take me for rides in excess of ten miles. And he’s got this smaller battery that’s really only good for six or seven miles.

And yet, he was able to skate all the way home, simply by assisting the Boosted Board with a few good kicks. It was almost like he was doing a magic trick in my presence. He’s become skilled in the art of milking the electric skateboard battery for everything it’s worth.

So to answer the question of which board you should get, all I need to know is one thing. Are you already a skater? Have you put more miles than you can count on your deck? Or are you a person with little to no skating experience, for whom the electric board is your draw?

If you are already a skater, you want the Boosted Board. The main reason is for the balance. It’s the only electric board that truly skates like an orthodox board. It’s the lightest board, it’s easily kickable, and you won’t mind the smaller battery, because after you’ve been riding it for a while, you’ll be able to supplement the battery to effectively increase its range to whatever you need. Downhills will be just as enjoyable on the Boosted, because of the balance.

If you’re just getting into skating, you’ll want an Evolve board. You’ll probably never really learn to kick a board, and instead plan your trips around the board’s battery life. You won’t mind or even notice the slight imbalance in the board, and you’ll likely ride the brakes down any steep hills.

Of course, all eyes on the new Zboard coming out soon. I’d really like to ride this board, because I’m anxious to see how skating using foot pads, and not a remote, feels. But the same logic still applies. An orthodox skater probably won’t like the Zboard, because it requires you to place your feet in a particular place. That, and the board clearly isn’t balanced.

Mom wants the big wheels and Zboard 2!

So my mom wants to buy my Evolve Bamboo Series Two. She likes riding on it, much better than the Emad board. How much will I sell it to her for?

I already had another friend want to buy my board from me. I said no. But my mother? Well, maybe I could make an exception for her.

Since I’m all about using that board with the small wheels, I figured I could sell her the big wheel board, $1800, for the price of the small wheels board, $1600. She’d get a discount on the more expensive product. I’d get a brand new board, and of course, I have my Boosted and original Bamboo to keep me company until then.

In a way, I’m a little scared of giving it to her. Because, if she were to hurt herself skating it, I could never forgive myself. But she tells me she actually felt safer on the Evolve All Terrain board than she did on the Emad. I wasn’t expecting that. In fact, up until now, I had been saying the only virtue of the Emad was that it was better for beginners.

Having heard this woman in her 60’s tell me she prefers the Evolve, I’m not writing Emad off the list.

While we’re on the subject of different brands of electric boards, check out the new Zboard. I saw this on Twitter. You see, I used to diss the Zboard for being essentially an Emad board without the remote. But look at their new series. http://www.zboardshop.com/

It uses a more conventional deck. They don’t say what kind of battery, but clearly the board is a next generation board. My favorite feature of this board, that no other maker has, is lights. They have head and tail lights, as well as lights to show battery life.

The motor is located underneath. Which kinda disappoints me. That’s the worst spot for a motor, that’s where you put it if you want it to scrape against speedbumps. It’s also makes the board more easy to mistake for a conventional board. I feel like having the motor in the rear is the superior choice, unless that makes the board too big for you.

But the real test of this new Zboard will be its range. They’re claiming 24 miles. I’ll believe it when I ride it, but damn. Why don’t they give us battery specs if they’re claiming that kind of range?

Anyway, can’t wait.

On Remotes

So, with the new wheels on my Bamboo Series, the board is much smaller. Small enough to make it easy to take on the bus for my daily commute. Having rode my Boosted, I decided it was time for a change.

This week, I’ve been riding the Bamboo Series to work. But the first day I took it out, I noticed something when using the brakes on a downhill. I heard a clicking sound. I’ve been riding electric skateboards long enough to know that that means. It means the belt is skipping over the teeth in the drive gear. The drive gear is made out of plastic, and they’re expensive, for a piece of plastic.

Not to mention that it means I was skating with greatly reduced braking. So when I got home, I tightened the belt. The Bamboo Series two, with a loose belt, rolled really well. But with a tight belt, the roll has been significantly reduced. But that’s okay, because I’d rather have perfectly working brakes.

There are a few downhills on my way to work that are often filled with foot traffic. I’ve grown accustomed to skating down these hills at just the right speed to weave through the college students without making anyone scared. At least on my Boosted I was able to do that.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my Bamboo Series Two. But it’s biggest flaw has to be that damned remote. The brakes are either not sensitive enough, or way too sensitive. When you first hit the brakes on their new remote, it’s not a break … it’s more of a slightly slowing down. But when you push the brake harder, its a strong brake. I find it’s effectively impossible to fine tune the brakes on my Bamboo Series Two to the degree that my Boosted can.

How fucked up is that? The Evolve board has the motor, it has the battery and the power, but the remote doesn’t let you use it effectively.

Then, add to that it’s cold here in Northern Florida. Record cold. So I want to ride with my hands in my windbreaker pockets. But the way the Evolve remote is designed, the trigger can easily catch. It’s another kudo to the design of the Boosted remote, which I never had problems using in my pocket.

Then, even when I am using my Evolve remote in my pocket, it constantly loses signal. I tried to put my hand behind my back, and it lost signal there, too. Basically, the only way I could effectively ride my Bamboo Series Two was to keep my hand in the wind. I felt like I almost got frostbite!

I want to try and make an Instagram or youtube video to demonstrate how this remote can lose signal, depending on where you hold it. And I sincerely hope that Evolve comes out with a third version of their remote, one that is the equal of the superior Boosted remote. One which allows the rider to fine tune the amount of brakes the motor applies, and even lets the rider smoothly transition in reverse.

Finally, please don’t take my bitching about Evolve too negatively. I still love their boards, and I’d still buy them in a heartbeat. I love you, Jeff Anning! I just need to tell it like it is.

Cop Stop

So the other day my friend came over for the usual skate. I had been thinking we would skate on my Evolve boards. Reason being, they have the bigger batteries. When you’re on a full electric skate, you’re only as good as the range of your smallest battery board. That would be the Boosted.

As we prepared to skate, I took my Bamboo Series Two, my new favorite board. My friend reached for the Boosted. Why the Boosted? We could go on a longer run if he took the Snubnose.

It came down to the balance of the board, he told me. He just didn’t like the way the Evolve board can get a bit wobbly when going down a hill.

That’s right. My friend, an orthodox longboarder, preferred to take the Boosted Board over the Evolve, on the basis that its balance allows better, safer, downhill rides.

When I go down a steep hill, I typically charge my board. That’s a euphemism for using the brakes.

There’s a stretch of road, over about half of my daily commute, which has just been repaved. That ride was the first ride we were able to skate over the new pavement. It was so sweet! I can’t wait to skate over that way, every day.

Now for the bad part. On the way home from the skate, a cop car, which had been creeping up on us the entire ride, passed us yet again. We tensed up, but it didn’t seem to mind us. Until it pulled ahead of us, and pulled over, the officer waiting for us to pass.

Unlike the last time I got stopped, this cop was totally cool. He gave us a quick rundown about how we aren’t allowed to ride our longboards in the bicycle lane. Then he asked us all about the boards. It was, perhaps, the greatest asking about my electric longboards, ever. Because we had the two best boards in the world for him to see. The Evolve Bamboo Series Two, and the Boosted Dual+!