Hello everyone! First of all, great forum, what a community here!
I feel like I’ve read every topic on here regarding Trampa and other mountain boards and felt it was time to make my own to ask a couple questions.
This will technically be my second build, though my first was kind of cobbled together from my old longboard to get into the hobby. It was a stiff deck, home-made fiberglass enclosure, 97mm polyurethane wheels.
I have found that most of the places I ride have rough pavement, cracked sidewalks, shallow curbs over side streets, cobble stone, and packed dirt paths. So I’d like to go in the Trampa deck and pneumatic tire direction.
Electronics wise, I already have an Ollin VESC, single 6085 200kv motor (also Ollin), and 12S Flightmax 8000mAh LiPo with BMS (3x 4S 8000mAh, E-bike BMS). eRPM is limited on the VESC.
My questions are: should I go with something like the Trampa Urban Carver setup or a mountainboard deck? Because of my ride locations, I’d like to mount my batteries and electronics in something like a Pelican case on the tail of the board for peace of mind. Will there be enough room for this with the Urban setup or would I need the extra width of the Mountainboard?
I also wouldn’t mind a recommendation on board thickness. I’m 185 lbs, 6’4".
Am I on the right track or up a completely different creek? Maybe Frank @trampa could help me out?
maybe I can help you a little bit with your decision.
I have a Trampa MTB and a urban carver. With the MTB I had about 600 joyful kilometers but right now I reassemble almost everything. My urban carver build is not finished yet but I’ve tested it without motors.
You can’t really compare it, it’s different.
The most important thing is in which way you wanna use it.
Do you live in the city or countryside?
Is it a daily commuter?
The MTB is unstoppable (beside sand or very loose ground) and is very stable. You need to use bindings and it’s not possible to make sharp turns, that’s why I wouldn’t use it in the city only. And it’s bulky and not that easy to carry around. But it’s the king on all terrain, can’t describe the feeling riding offroad, it’s so unreal and endless fun.
The urban carver you can ride without bindings and you have different spring positions for the trucks. With springs in inner position you can do unbelievable ridicolously sharp turns but can’t ride too fast. You can change the positions of the springs and/or add dampas. I’ll use this board as daily commuter in the city because it’s not that bulky and easy to steer. And you can mount longboard wheels which is genius. But I wouldn’t use this board for very rough terrain or offroad.
Hi Rich, thanks so much for the comparison, that actually helps me a lot!
This board will be a city commuter for me. The pavement and sidewalks here are pretty rough, hence the trampa build. Maybe only 10% off road, and even then, it’s packed dirt paths.
So your description of the urban carver covers all my bases.
Is your urban board going to be single or double motor?
For the urban carver I have dual 6355 130kv motors with 15T/60T pulleys on 10s. You could start with single motor setup and upgrade later if you want. Of course dual is more fun, better acceleration and stronger brakes but if you don’t live in a hilly area then one motor should do the job. With 12s and 200kv motor you have high top speed but you could use 66T or better 72T wheel pulley.
My urban carver has 14ply, I’m 74kg (163 lbs) and can use it as trampoline , it’s very flexy but I like that, maybe not at higher speed and a bit more tricky to ride…
I would go with 15ply or if you don’t want too much flex then 16ply, compared to a stiff longboard I think the 16ply still has flex.
If you want to mount a case on the tail of the board it shouldn’t be too wide otherwise you’ll hit the pulleys on turns. Something like the shape which trampa offers. Also maybe you want a spare battery because with pneumatics you have abot half range (or a bit more).
Just finished my urban carver build and love it. REALLY like the enclosure under the board but it would still work well with the trampa battery box they offer and you could use you lipo’s then too.
the only think i don’t like, it’s hard to take sharp turns, i usually run without dampas and footstraps, maybe i recommend you to go for the urban carver
@rich Dual motors would be pretty killer, though I’ll start with one, there are almost no hills on any of my routes, so no concerns there. As for the speed, yeah, 12S is pretty nuts, I was going to go for the highest efficiency in the hopes of not needing to make a second parallel pack. I suppose if my range isn’t good enough I can always buy a couple more Lipos and make an 8S2P or something. Is having a BMS for charging with a 2P pack dangerous?
@atenner That is a gorgeous board!!! And thanks for your input, I think I’ll be happier with the electronics on top. My current board has a bottom enclosure and I’m always worried about curbs. Plus the 16 screws to take it off to fiddle with anything is driving me absolutely insane.
@tueboard Also a beautiful setup you have, I imagine its a ton of fun. I’m definitely going more towards having better steering over the mountain board now since I’ll be in the city a lot.
@trampa Awesome thanks. Does the Beast Box go in the middle of the board then?
I don’t think you would like the weight Better a spare in the backpack.
When you have too much weight on the tail it affects steering and riding.
Even better for performance would be a box in the middle of the deck but it could be tricky to route the cables without bindings and maybe you don’t like it there.
Personally I am no fan of parallel charging for lipos but many do it, with Li-ion you have to.
But I would stay with 12s and don’t downgrade to 8s.
Ah, okay, I gotcha. That is a good idea, to bring a spare battery if it’ll be a long ride. Maybe my next battery pack will be something with a higher mAh rating for the longer ride time, or a li-ion build.
Its looking like with the size of the 12S 8Ah battery plus vesc and bms I might need to do the box in the middle anyway. Like you said, the power lines will need to be creative, but I can figure something out. Is that why people usually have the batteries in the middle and the controllers at the tail? To keep the phase wiring shorter and more protected?
I guess for safety reasons and it’s easier to wire. But then you have to add capacitors. I’ve read that it’s still better to have short battery wires and longer phase wires. On the MTB I’ve made a DIY case for battery and 2x V4.12 in the middle. I had 80cm (31.5") long phase and sensor wires and had no problems at all. But now I switch to 2 boxes and pelicase in the middle because it’s easier to swap batteries or whole cases when they are separated. But I still prefer all in one box, you should isolate the V4.12 from the battery because of heat (eg. with a silicone sheet).
The Beast Box sits on the tip (rear end). It fits two 6S Lipos and the Vesc Six + has all cable outs sorted. If you browse our instagram site you will see it. I’ll post an image today, since we made a beautiful setup yesterday, which hasn’t been photographed yet.
@Mox Nice board! Thanks for the share. Based on what you said as well as others, I’ll definitely need that extra steering that I’ll get from the carver setup.
@trampa That sounds like a great solution. I would love to see the picture of your new build. I’ll check out the instagram too.Thanks Frank!
Hey Frank, do you have the internal volume dimensions for the Beast Box? I couldn’t find them on the product page. My lipos aren’t the compact ones, just the normal blue flightmax ones and I want to make sure everything will fit.
but you could use 66T or better 72T wheel pulley.
, it’s very flexy but I like that, maybe not at higher speed and a bit more tricky to ride…
I would go with 15ply or if you don’t want too much flex then 16ply, compared to a stiff longboard I think the 16ply still has flex.
Better a spare in the backpack.
When you have too much weight on the tail it affects steering and riding.
Even better for performance would be a box in the middle of the deck but it could be tricky to route the cables without bindings and maybe you don’t like it there.
