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.

Evolve to the Coolest Kid on the Block

This weekend, for the first time, I took  my Evolve Snubnose to Saint Augustine for a few skate sessions. The end result is that I am now the King of the World.

You’ll remember that on most days, I use my skateboard to go to work and back. It allows me to circumnavigate traffic, and saves me valuable time, while looking cool. But the University I cut through has Police. And those Police have nothing better to do than to pull me over for using the bike line.

In the back streets of Saint Augustine beach, there are no police. There are only kids on orthodox skateboard. Bikinis on bicycles. Hippies with surfboard. In the back streets of Saint Augustine beach, like Ponce de Leon so many years before, I claimed the land. I was the first to ride an electric skateboard there. I was the first to be truly great.

This really filled a void in my childhood. Being the cool one, who could go faster. The one who had something that nobody else had. Hell, that nobody else had ever even seen. Some asked me if it was electric. Others asked how much, or simply said that it was cool.

For the first time, I used the app MyTracks to log the journey. I found that it worked incredibly well. According to the app, I hit a top speed of 18.5 miles per hour! (and no, that wasn’t as fast as the board would go) All while dancing the cabbage patch, throwing my hands up in the Victory pose, as well as both Superman and Ironman flying position. Truly I tell you, Evolve boards are where it’s at.

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After I got home from riding, I hit up their website. To my amazement, just after they’d delivered their new batch of boards, they updated the site. They now have people waiting on the next model. Man, these guys must’ve gotten their business ideas from Apple. As soon as you buy it, it’s old, because here’s the new one. Onroad/offroad combo with a board made out of Carbon! Damn you, Evolve, for making me want to buy a new board while the *cool* is still fresh on my new board!

http://evolveskateboardsusa.com/

The Evolve Snubnose

Sorry I haven’t written in a while. But after receiving my Evolve Snubnose, I think you’ll understand. I’ve been carving up Gainesville with my new board! So much so, that I haven’t written as much as I might without it.

Today, coincidentally, is a rainy day. Thus I have time to tell you what an awesome board it is.

I remember when I first heard about electric skateboards on a TED talk. The problem with that company, Boosted Boards, is that they still don’t actually have a product. They claimed to have the world’s lightest electric vehicle. Well I’m here to tell you that they don’t. Because they aren’t selling anything.

Evolve Skateboards *sells* the world’s lightest electric vehicle. And I have it. And it is awesome.

It’s light. Light enough to carry one handed. Try doing that with an Emad board. And it’s fast! Faster than I feel comfortable going. At least without proper safety equipment. What’s better? It rolls! The drivetrain of my old Emad board would keep the board from rolling for any meaningful distance. But oftentimes, the Evolve board can save battery by gliding like it’s nobody’s business.

It rides smoother, and quieter. The battery is so good, I haven’t even run out of juice yet! Make no mistake about it. The Evolve electric skateboard is the board you want. It’s just a matter of whether or not you can afford it.

Evolve: The Final Wait

My Evolve board has shipped. The tracking number works. My board is somewhere between here and Ohio. I should have it this Friday. I can't wait to spend the entire weekend riding it. Then next week, be prepared for through reviews.

:) !!!

One wait over, another begins ...

So I get back from vacation and I write my previous post about Evolve. And what happens the next day? I get this email:

Dear Justin,

All of the items from order #XXXXX have now been shipped:

1x The Evolve Electric Snubnose Board - Snubnose with Evolve Wheels

They are being shipped via FedEx to the following address:

XXXXX

United States

The tracking details for these items are as follows:

XXXXX

For shipping status on these items:

XXXXXX

Please allow some time for the status of the shipment to correctly display at the above address.

Thank you for ordering from Evolve Skateboards USA!

Am I some kind of conspiracy theorist for thinking that this email came the day after I wrote about the wait for my board? What makes it worse is that after clicking on the tracking number link, FedEx said it wasn’t found. Then I read that next to last line of the email, asking me to allow for “some time” for the status to display correctly.

Now, almost 20 hours later, it’s still not working. The FedEx site says to wait over 24 hours. In the meantime, we’re four days away from the magic three month period where I would have cancelled the order with my credit card if I hadn’t received tracking information. I’m so excited to get the board, and all I can do is keep waiting and telling myself these red flags are nothing to worry about.

A New Era of Waiting for Evolve

My wait for my Evolve Electric Skateboard has fallen into several eras.

First I had to wait to buy one.

Then I bought one with the promise of it being here before my vacation, and waited.

Then I hoped it wouldn’t arrive while I was out of town.

Now I’m back from vacation and I’m in a whole new era of waiting. Waiting for it to get here already.

Their webpage has a small update (which probably should have gone under their blog section)

Thank you for your patience! We've received our new axles, wheels are in, and boards should be here September 4th!

I don’t know about you, but this sentences reads like bullshit to me. I mean, they’re new technology, electric skateboards, and they’re waiting on … the boards. Not the motors or the batteries, or the electronics. The boards. In other words, Evolve is waiting on the one component of a skateboard that comes directly from it’s predecessor. The humble board. Which, coincidentally, has been around for centuries. Seriously? My order is waiting on a board? The one component of an electric skateboard which has been available since antiquity.

The three month date from the purchase on my credit card is coming up. Do I cancel the order? I really don’t want to, but I hate Evolve for putting me in this vulnerable position to have to choose. Other companies at least have the decency to charge a retainer fee before they take the full amount. Hell, Boosted Boards won’t even take that yet.

And tomorrow? When I go to work? I’ll have to walk. Like some sort of savage!