Carbon Series - Big Wheels

Sunday night, I decided to convert my Carbon series by taking off the regular skate wheels, and putting on the big wheels.

The process took me a little longer than I thought it would. I had been thinking that I could simply take off one set of wheels, and put on another. It wasn’t until I tried the conversion that I realized, exactly *how* the board converts was never explained to me.

But the process involved taking off the wheels, removing the motor, and dicking around with a new drive belt, and the cover to the drive belt. So I definitely got my hands dirty. When I had to work on my old Snubnose, I bought a set of L Wrenches (I hope that’s the right name for them) because the screws on Evolve boards aren’t standard flathead or phillips. It was a good thing, too, because I needed two more sizes of L wrenches out of that set in order to convert my board. I threw those two new sizes of L wrenches into the little repair kit I like to keep in my backpack when I skate. Just in case.

The hardest part of the conversion, for me, was getting the damn belt on. You have to thread it through the motor wheel gears and the wheel gears. I threaded it through the wheel, but couldn’t get it onto the motor. I was almost ready to admit defeat, when I tried threading it on the motor first, the smaller gear, and the wheel second, the bigger wheel. That was the trick, as doing it in this order made the process *much* easier.

Then I actually put the big wheels on. This was rather straightforward, although I felt much apprehension since I’d never done it before. The big wheels have two sets of bearings on them. But when I was done, the wheels turned reasonably well. Of course, the wheel with the drivetrain felt like it had much more resistance than it had with a regular skate wheel.

I took the board for a test run around my parking lot. Wow. My parking lot has a terrible, bumpy surface. I hate to skate on it. But with my big wheels on, you’d hardly be able to tell. It might have been a freshly paved road, the way that board road without any bumps at all. I was impressed.

But these wheels are filled with air. I tested the pressure and found that they needed more air. So I skated across the street where there’s an air pump at a gas station. While I was filling up, two college students watching me told me how cool that board was. They said they’d seen me riding around. Such is the life of an electric skateboarder.

One thing I think is important to note, is that the big wheels really make the skateboard feel bigger. It makes you ride higher. With those wheels on, it would really be a stretch to take the board onto the bus with me. It would also stick out much more, under my desk at work. Basically, it takes all of the inconspicuousness and innocence out of the board, and turns it into a much larger object.

But finally, with my wheels at 60 psi, I was ready to roll. I called a friend over, and we skated on campus.

It was the best skate of my life. The board rode like a dream, everywhere. So much of skateboarding was learning where to skate. Learning to avoid certain cracks on the pavement, and what speed I could take different patches of tactile pavement at. With the big wheels, none of these things concerned me.

I could skate over the cracks, the bumps, the roughness and the imperfections, even the tactile pavement. This board could all of that up, and you wouldn’t even know you skated over it. In other words, with that one ride, I was instantly convinced that air in the tires is the way to go for electric skateboards. If you had to push, those wheels don’t fly. But if a motor is doing the work, you’re probably going to want that comfort.

It was a great ride around campus, with my friend taking my old Snubnose while I rode the big boy. Until 6.4 miles into the ride, according to my gps. My board lost power. It wouldn’t come back on. It hadn’t given any signs of failure, no low battery light or anything. It simply cut out.

My friend skated back to the car, and we drove home.

I plugged the board in to charge the battery, really the only thing I could do. And when I did, I noticed the place where you plug it in felt loose. But the board seemed to charge fine. Until the morning, when I unplugged it.

Here I want to note that I’ve been charging this board by the book. That means, annoyingly, plugging the charger into the board, and then plugging the charger into the wall. When unplugging, starting with the wall first, and the board second. But when I unplugged the charger from the board, sparks flew out! I also felt that the plug was indeed, loose, or possibly it had come unattached.

Needless to say, my Carbon series is now dead.

Kudos to Evolve, however. Because they responded to my distressed email straight away. They’ve asked me to return the board, and they will replace it with a new one.

It’s a shame that electric boards are as fragile as they are. But it’s nice to know that if you do shell out the bucks for one, that the company will have your back. Thanks Evolve! Still I can’t help but wonder. Did my board break due to a simple defect? Or was it the shoddy packing job that caused damage during shipping?

Even now, as I rush to mail the board back, I simply don’t feel right, sending it back as it was sent to me. I feel obligated to pack it better than that. Stay tuned, and we’ll see how this unfolds.