Build for a 5 year old kid

Well, since my kid is obsessed with my eskate and snowboard (we are riding together on my board every single day), I have come to idea to make one for him. He already can ride my bamboo GT by himself, but it is simply too long/wide and heavy for him, and with 13kg of his weight he does not have enough weight to make it turn, so basically he can only ride it in a straight line. Other issue is that it is way too powerful for his age.

So what I am looking for is a short, light deck with super soft trucks that he could steer with.

I have some 5065 collecting dust, so that would be the motor of choice for this build.

Is it possible to make a board with single motor, with 6s1p battery and limited motor current to limit top speed at somewhere around 10km/s?

What are the softest trucks you have ridden?

This deck looks tempting:

https://buildkitboards.com/collections/decks/products/jet-spud-29-bkb

Thanks

4 Likes

I I recommend an Land Yachtz Dinghy. My son loves having the kick tail, he is 5 too.

I put on the smaller calibers with the softest bushings I could find. Double cone up front, barrel/cone in the rear.

I did 6s3p with a Focbox. There is a giant 6374 on there now, but I will be changing it to a 6355. Anything really. They weigh nothing (5yos that is).

I made the battery myself and made the enclosure out of fiber glass. And skinned the deck in some cool Star Wars fabric.

22 motor max -18 motor min 25 batt max -8 batt min.

These settings are great for him, and a Nano x remote fits his little hand nicely.

20180712_193143 20180712_193103 20180713_104848 20180512_120811 20180512_120838 20180512_120845

34 Likes

I love that build :grinning:

4 Likes

:scream: 22,369mph. Why does he need to go that fast? That is above orbital speed. Your going to need a much larger motor for that.

Maybe try one of these. image

11 Likes

Hahah, because then he can be the fastest in school, and that is important to him :smiley:

1 Like

My guys board goes up to 18 mph (of course I have set the bushings and motor settings for myself sometimes :grin:) but limit the the speed to about 13/14 via duty cycle.

Its really great to see a father so invested, willing and able to help their child persue his/her interests, shout out to you for that :slight_smile:

6 Likes

I heart this post. My 10 year old son just asked me to build him an ESK8 and we finally have all the parts we need. I’m strongly considering starting a thread for his extreme budget build, and this post convinced me to do it :slight_smile:

3 Likes

I would use a 10s1p instead of a 6s just for the fact that it will have a longer range and you can up the speed through the settings as he progresses and gets older

2 Likes

My kid is about to turn 16, we started skating together when he was 12, started building esk8s together when he was 13.

He scares the shit out if me sometimes, but it so much fun building and tiding together. Plus when he gets cocky, I lower his duty cycle via Bluetooth so he can’t keep up :grinning:.

13 Likes

You gotta win while you still can…

2 Likes

No doubt, I think he hits 35 just to scare me :grinning:.

1 Like

​ Don’t tempt us

4 Likes

What si size is the board ?

One option is to get a regular double kick skateboard deck and mount some longboard trucks (calliber2) on the kicks. This gives them a steeper steering angle to make it easier to turn for a lightweight. Double kick decks are super cheap. The only downside is low ground clearance for batteries and you loose the kicks.

2 Likes

Thats a good point, actually I have Bamboo GT battery that I dont use anymore, it’s 10s1p if I am not wrong.

Maybe I could use that one. The only thing i need to check is the size…

what deck is this? o.o

Are you going to use calibers?

It is a Landyatchz Dinghy that I skinned with Star Wars fabric and epoxy

@Blacksheep it is 28.5" IIRC

2 Likes

This is great! I’m working on a build for my 9 y/o son. There is a cheap (~20$) maple board from aliexpress down there somewhere in the thread that some people said looks ok.

@Sender and others: one question I can’t get an answer to, is what is a reasonable “Avg. Energy Use” - set as default to 18W-hr per mile in this calculation. I assume I can lower it significantly for a small 30kg rider, but I’m not sure how much.

1 Like