I’m really considering going the DIY route for my second Eboard I’ve never DIYed before but have been browsing the forum and the Esk8 reddit so I know this will be a monumental task but I’m willing to give it a try. I know I want an E-MTB similar to a Kaly and to what alot of the other builders like @okp or @Nowind are making which are beautiful pieces of work. I unfortunately have a small budget and would like to know if this is possible and where I can even begin to realize this custom build of mine.
I know I want:
A customizable setup that I can switch wheel sizes 7"-9" depending on where I want to take the board.
A Belt drive that I can eventually switch to a gear drive system.
A 2 in 1 that I can go from the primary AT setup to a street setup that can do 97mm+ Street wheels or Gummies.
Decent water resistance. Enough to go through damp roads or small puddles.
Regenerative breaking
Thats more or less the things I would like to have. As for performance, I don’t need the highest top speed or steepest hill climbing, just something that I can take and ride anywhere and have the best carving riding experience with. My largest constraint is my budget and would like to know if this is possible to achieve with $1000-$1500 the lower the better but without sacrificing safety of course in terms of the quality of components. I would love to share the experience of building an awesome board and be proud of the effort that you put in for it.
Edit:
Updated the title to better reflect the needs of the build.
Thank you for the feedback. Love this forum
Cheers!
So I am also planning a similar type of board, but some of the other items that are going to help dictate this are:
How far do you need/want to go? Batteries are expensive but it is almost worse to run out when you are 2/3s through your run. Adequately size the system and that will help.
Edit: Also, if you are TIGHT on a budget, you can also go LiPo over Lion. They will likely sag, but they can save you ~200 on your build if you disconnect them each ride and balance charge them each time. Look at some 6s1p’s and wire them in series to get ya to 12s.
How fast? KV and size of motors matter. Getting 6383’s are far more $$ than 6360’s or however.
Otherwise, I would stick to looking at the used market for boards, mounts, trucks, etc. Also LaCoix (LaCroix?) sells their wheels at cost, that itself could save you $50-100.
IMO…
The only real way to save a few bucks is to get a bargain on a second hand “Trampa” or MBS" board, but still you will more than likely hit or go over that 1500 on a Trampa 18650 battery Gummies and pneumatics setup, unless you can get cheap/secondhand parts on the Esk8 marketplace or have some parts/tools/safety gear already.
What you want is quite top end so its going to be hard sticking to a budget but can be done.
Thanks for the input! Sadly, I don’t have any parts/tools on hand at the moment Do you mean just getting the board, batteries and wheels will already set me up for $1500+? I could actually go for something less but at least have the core components to build on to get the full potential out of what I’d like to have.
I see. I haven’t seen alot of posts about air wheel maintenance to be honest which is why it never occurred to me to consider it. Would 97mm or above help out with smoothening out a ride over really rough cement roads? Are there any pros on using airless types of tires as well?
Well cheap would be aluminum or 3d printer parts, and they ware out so, High maintenance.
Or an unbalanced hub or something you need to keep adjusting, that’s what was in my mind when i said it.
Air tyres are less efficient and you can run a flat.
But you don’t have to worry about bumps so much, and it absorbs vibrations better.
Wow okay air tyres have a lot of other things to take ito consideration as well. I went straight for them because using 90mm street wheels on my roads still hurt alot and cause my feet to cramp up so I wanted to dampen the ride or reduce the vibrations as much as possible. Starting to have second thoughts about it given the amount of care and consideration when running pneumatics now
You should get used to the vibrations, Maybe @b264 could give some input.
what are your roads like?
and are you running basic 90mm abec clones?
do you have a rubber riser between your Trucks and deck?
are you running cheap Chinese trucks with stock bushings?
That’s unfortunate I don’t have a “workshop” that’s got similar tools that some builders use. I didn’t think the costing of just the basic equipment would already set me back a fair amount.
Would it be possible to go with street wheels that can reduce road vibrations to a tolerable level? I’ve run 90mm street wheels with hubs on rough cement roads in my area and I can feel my feet cramping, my front foot first then eventually my back foot from the vibrations. It’s limiting my rides so much that I can’t really maximize the range of my board
Roads are rough cement. The kind with patches of the sediment/rock in the asphalt making it very uneven. Yes I believe they are basic 90mm clones. It’s my first eboard, Ownboard w1 cause I wanted to know if eboarding was something I would like before I spend on something more serious which leads me to my current dilemma now haha
I’ve been considering just doing this as well. Could you recommend a belt or similar that I can use to swap the hubs with so I can use those wheels? I know Ownboard is in the process of producing an AT motor hub though going DIY is going to be worth the experience even if I don’t build it from the ground up :
you can get second hand trampa completes fairly cheap, put some work in it make it look sexy
i got mine for 90$ deck wheels trucks tyres
the biggest expense is the drive train and the battery from there
Do you mean just getting the board, batteries and wheels will already set me up for $1500+? I could actually go for something less but at least have the core components to build on to get the full potential out of what I’d like to have.
