I finally had time to build the board! The only thing I changed from my plan was to go with Trampa Stickies instead of cheap flywheel clones.
First test rides went fine with one exception: although I filed the hanger round the mount just wouldn’t stay in place, no matter how tight it was. So I got some Steel Epoxy and glued the APS truck adapter.
Arent trampa Stickies just a flywheel clone with a fancy name, with a higher pricetag ? They certainly look like they are.
Well, first of all they ride really well, and I haven’t tried those cheap clones but the bad reviews made me change my mind. And second, they had an offer when bought with ceramic bearings: ~90 GBP for both is not actually that expensive.
If you like them then i guess they are good, what duro are they ?
76a. It’s super soft, but the roads around my place are ridiculously bad. I’m so glad I have the soft wheels and the flexy deck!
After a few hundred km on the board: it’s really awesome! I live in Berkeley and was worried about plenty of things:
Terribly rough roads: I got to say the flexy deck and the soft wheels pay off. On top of that I added shock pads, and now it’s OK. By now I know the area well enough to avoid the worst of the worst. One of the worst is unfortunately the road to my apartment…
Then there is tons of stop and go (millions of students crossing everywhere, tons of 4-way-stop-sign-crossings. Seriously, California, why do you do this??? As a German this annoys the crap out of me!). But the brakes are plenty strong and on average I recover about 25% of the energy, which is way more than I hoped for!
Another thing is the REALLY steep terrain around here. I’m glad I didn’t cheap out on the motors, and that I went with the wide belts! Yesterday I put it to the test and rode up Grizzly Peak:
and it was a cake walk for the board! The only things slowing me down were traffic and the road quality! (Awesome route by the way! If someone lives nearby, go through Tilden Park!).On average I ride at 9.3 Wh/km (15 Wh/mile). Even though I didn’t ride the board super fast so far, I think this way better than what most people get, especially considering that I ride in constant stop and go and on rough, steep roads! I guess this is thanks to: big motors, (fairly) low KV/high gear reduction, and super loose belts! I’m glad I went with the 15 mm belts. They are floppy as hell, and my board rolls so nicely, I could easily push it (not that I ever ran out of battery). And I’ve never had them skip! Even the killer steep climb above I had an average of 11 Wh/km!
So conclusion: I’m glad I read up on ESkates on this forum before I bought some crap on ebay (which I was seriously considering at the beginning). And thanks to everyone on this forum for sharing their experience!
