Alright, so it’s been a while since I’ve written about the world of electric skateboarding. There’s a part of me that wants to call it motorboarding. Is that too far out? I dunno.
First off, my Boosted Board broke. Well, broke is such a strong word. Especially since it still works. But one of the motors is loose. Despite realizing this at work, I was still able to ride the board home. A friend thought I could just use a hex wrench to tighten it up. But when I got home and took a hex wrench to it, it didn’t tighten. I took a short video of it on Instagram, but the upload failed. I’ll have a video of it up on Instagram @maulakai shortly. But the bottom line is that it’s a minor issue that I expect to fix easily.
That said, there’s also the matter of the belt. Which still looks perfectly skatable to me. But I still plan on buying a new belt and replacing it.
Because my Boosted was broken, yesterday I rode my Bamboo Series two to work. Yes it’s big, but I was able to take it on the bus without issue. Once again, I marveled at how well the board did over the unforgiving terrain of our campus. And once again, I found myself craving the carve.
It’s like, a large part of skating on orthodox wheels is knowing which parts of the sidewalk to skate, and which parts to avoid. Much of it involves carving around the bumps, and hitting your marks. And all of that fine tuning, all of that finesse is lost when you skate on the all terrain wheels.
Which is why, nowadays, I think of the all terrain wheels more as beginner wheels. They’re what I’d give my SO, or mom to ride on. But for me, the skill and speed of orthodox wheels is preferred.
Which is why today, to ride into work, I reached for my old Snubnose. Man is that board fun, even after all these years. I still prefer the old remote, which allows me to break with higher precision. I love the way she turns on a dime, the way she can stand up all by herself, and the way she’s smaller than the other boards.
The only real flaw in Evolve boards, is the fact that the new remote doesn’t allow you to precision brake. I’m thinking a simple remote redesign is all they really need.
I went on Facebook the other day and found a group called Evolve Skateboard Owners. https://www.facebook.com/groups/evolveowners/ If you are reading this blog, then you probably want to join that group. It is a great resource, and I can’t believe I didn’t find it sooner. After skimming the comments, I’ve learned that perhaps the number one complaint with Evolve is that they don’t seems to respond to emails -- basically their customer service. I’ve had a very similar experience.
However, I *did* get a response from them the other day. They received my broken truck, and are sending me a replacement. I can’t wait to get that and tell you how it goes.
I also want to mention that I’ve stopped logging the mileage on my boards. I know, I know, it was kind of a big deal for me. And it was a great thing to do -- when I only had the Snubnose. But now, with three boards, and multiple riders, it’s just too much. Suffice it to say that if you buy an electric skateboard and commute with it for about three years, it should pay for itself. But honestly, it’s worth buying, just for the fun factor.
