Rain and Compare

Today the gray clouds are in the air and the sky is as gloomy as can be. The weather report says that it should have started raining an hour ago. But outside, the ground is still dry, and the air still has a slight chill to it.

According to the weather report, it should rain for the rest of today and tomorrow. Normally, I would leave my skateboards where they are, put on some headphones, and walk/bus to work.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I asked myself, it today were the last day of my life, would I walk to work, or would I ride my board? It’s a silly question, because if today was the last day of my life, I wouldn’t even go to work. But despite the faulty logic, I rode my board to work. Our time in this world is limited, and you never know how much you have left. The weather report can be wrong. And besides, I can always leave the board at work and walk home, if its raining this afternoon.

I want to mention the ride I had on my boosted yesterday. Now, with the upgrade, the board has three speed modes, up from two. On low gear, the board is pretty tame and great for beginners. The old low gear was so slow as to be useless.

I had used the medium gear to skate to work yesterday. It was unremarkable. I intended to use the fast gear home. If there’s one fault to Boosted’s speed switching system, it’s that it’s really hard to hit the remote button three times *just right* to change the speed. That being said, you’re probably not going to change the speed setting that many times.

I *flew* home. Yeah, it wasn’t so much faster than before, but it was fast enough for me to feel. As always, the brakes are the best part of the Boosted board, and a great thing to have when you’re sharing the sidewalk with pedestrians unaware.

I want to talk about this review I found:

http://ego-cruiser.com/en/vs-boosted-boards/

But I’m out of time to type. In the meantime, have a look.

Yuneec Cameo

Much has happened this weekend. First of all, I went  back to my old stomping grounds in Miami. For whatever reason, it’s the perfect place to skate. It has flat roads, plenty of shade, decent surface, and little to no traffic. Plus, my grandma lives just a short skate away from my dad.

I don’t think I’ve ever skated so much in my life! Trading between my boards, my knees and joints hurt from skating so much. It was awesome.

During my time there, my original Bamboo series Evolve board did something it hasn’t done before. It died, suddenly. I was only a block or two away from my house, but I had to kick home, which is always a weird feeling. Kicking a skateboard is one of those things that is completely backwards for me. I probably haven't kicked a skateboard even a mile. But after skating electrics all this time, I felt like I was kind sorta getting the hang of it.

The biggest problem is that skating with a motor is so fast, such a free and liberating experience, that if you are forced to kick a board, it’s always slow and dull by comparison.

Of course, Evolve mailed me back a new truck to replace the one which had broken. I’m not sure what to think about it, because they mailed me back only a single truck. I was under the impression that they would send me a new set. One of the Evolve guys said that those trucks had been recalled. If that’s so, why do I still have to skate around on a recalled truck?

But I didn’t have the time to install it, so my Bamboo series two is still on the all terrain wheels. Which turns out to be a good thing, because they’re repaving one of the roads I take home. So the all terrain wheels are quite useful at the moment.

Then Boosted returned my board after fixing that loose part. They also gave me a speed boost, and they changed my belts for free. Yay Boosted!

So imagine this morning, when I’m getting ready to catch the bus. There are my two best boards, the Boosted and the Evolve, side by side. Which do I reach for? I really should take the all terrain Evolve, because of the road construction. But I took the Evolve. I just wanted to ride her again, after our long separation. I wanted the easy board to hold on the bus.  And besides, I could skate around the construction.

So here I write to you, using my Boosted as a foot rest, and I’m happy to have her back.

Oh one more thing. My mom sent me a message on instagram. She never uses instagram. Either the armageddon is coming, or she had something important to show me. She had stopped by the Ron Jon Surf Shop, the biggest surf shop here in Florida. And she saw the Yuneek board on sale there. I’ll try to get pics on my instagram. But yeah, electric boards are now officially on display in Florida. And it’s neither a Boosted, nor an Evolve. Man do I want to give that board a test run.

Race and Range Anxiety

The story so far.

If you haven’t been keeping up, one of the parts on my Boosted Board came loose. I put a video of it on my Instagram @maulakai. Shortly thereafter, I was contacted by Boosted, who invited me to return the board for a repair. They even furnished me with a return mailing label, so it didn’t cost me anything.

I was very impressed with their customer service. Remember at the same time, one of my Evolve trucks broke. They asked me to ship the broken part back to them, at my own expensive. After a wait and another email, they finally said they’d be sending me a new set of trucks.

I’m still waiting for both the Evolve trucks, and the Boosted Board. It’s a strange waiting game. It’s almost become a race in my mind. Which company’s return will reach me first?

In the meantime, I’ve been taking my old Evolve Snubnose. I can’t say enough about what a good board it is. To this day, I really love the way that board can carve, the way it rides. It’s so much fun, and its been very good to me.

Yesterday was such a perfect day, I decided to ride around a little extra. My usual commute is approximately four miles. Maybe I added a mile to that, going down a nice road, and doing figure eights in a parking lot.

I was kind of surprised to see the low battery light come on before I got home. I’d always estimated the battery life of that board closer to eight miles. The board completely ran out of battery just as rolled to my front door.

It’s hard to say what’s going on here. But probably, the battery is old, and losing some of its range. Which isn’t really a big deal, but its the kind of thing you have to keep in mind. So I realized that electric skateboard might also get what Tesla owners get: range anxiety.

I mean, if you’re using your board to commute, you probably know what you’re capable of. And if the battery loses range over time, you’d know it before it would ruin your day. But if you just want to take the board out for a joy ride, then sure, range anxiety comes into play. Because no one wants to end his ride by kicking his board home that last mile.

Update

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.

The Trouble with Trucks

Let me explain the situation with Evolve. A long time ago, sometime last year, if I remember correctly, I bought a Carbon series from Evolve. Now any electric skateboard you buy today is going to take a long time to actually ship, and the carbon series is no exception.

When I finally got it, I only used it a few times before the electrics on it went dead. Bummer. I wound up returning it. They send me another Carbon series, which also went dead. The Evolve representative asked me to do some work on the board, opening it up, checking wire connections, etc. At the end of it all, they told me to return that board, too.

At that point, it was public knowledge that Evolve was coming out with a new Bamboo Series Two. I asked them for a Series Two, having been soured on the carbon series. Also, the Carbon series was a bit long for my liking. Since the Carbon series cost more, they offered to refund me the difference. Sounds great.

Fast forward to August of 2014, when I got the Series Two. I rode it a few times with the regular skateboard wheels, before putting on the all terrain tires. I skated it like that until recently, when I put the regular wheels back on. I estimate I only rode the board about a dozen times, total, before I went to take a picture of it. And noticed the metal was damaged.

Now I put the picture of the broken truck on my instragram @maulakai. Would you believe Evolve responded on their official account to contact the distributor for a replacement?

I contact the distributor. He isn’t the same guy I had been doing business with in Michigan. Now it’s some guy out in California. I check one of Evolve’s email newsletters and see that they have changed their American base. New location, new management. Awesome.

But the guy I’m emailing asks me to mail the part to them, says he thinks a replacement is $40. It cost me $20 to mail the damn broken part, but I did it.

Meanwhile, Evolve on Instagram says I should have been issued a new set of trucks a long time ago.

So now I’m stuck in an awkward place, wondering what’s going to happen. It’s a bit like a good cop / bad cop routine, where the guy on Instagram says everything you’d want to hear, that it’s all a big misunderstanding that they’ll take care of. While the guy writing their email says how much more money he wants from you.

All of this, and I never did get the difference in cost between the Carbon and the Bamboo Series Two. I’m not sure if the prices have changed, but we’re talking a difference of $450, according to the Evolve webpage today.

So Evolve on instagram says I should email him. Of course, I don’t have his email address, but I’m going to see if I can’t get a hold of that man, who may or may not be Jeff Anning (the CEO of Evolve).

I hate to write such posts that shed a bit of a dark light on the situation. But when I started the blog, I promised to chronicle the journey of an electric skateboarder, so that people new to the sport would have some idea of what to expect. I want to make it clear that despite all of the bumps along the way, I absolutely love my Evolve boards. If I could do it all over again, I would have purchased their boards even sooner.

But I’m trusting you, Evolve, to make this right.

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.