It looks like a good starter kit but would like to see if anyone has any review
If you can get all of that for a price that low, itās a red flag to me that somethings not right. Good motors will run over $100 USD each, and the decent ones are slightly less than a $100. A full mono drive kit should be around $200 USD, and since that is basically a third of what I feel a high quality kit would be, they are doing something to save money to make it cheap.
Skateboards are dangerous. Through a motor on it and it becomes 5 times more dangerous. Use cheap parts, and its now 100 times more dangerous. I would not want a part to fail mid ride.
Besides the safety concerns, most of us have been victims of the false economy. You buy cheap to save, but it costs more in the long run when you get 5 uses before it breaks, and your forced to buy the higher quality parts anyways. Thereās a lot of forces involved in these mounts. If itās not well made, it will break quickly.
I would suggest looking at other vendors on this forum. Many of us became vendors over the last few years due to the lack of high quality parts on the market. Most of these direct from china parts are garbage. They donāt test them in the real world very well, if at all. Enertion and psychotiller both have high quality motors and motor mounts.
Remember that you also have the hub motor option. Thereās carvon and hummie who both make great hub motors (I own both of their motors). Hubs can be a simpler option, especially if your not a mechanical person by nature, as theres basically no maintenance.
Iām trying to convince myself that itāll be better to build a board with less money and as reliable as a Koowheel, but everytime I try I get a higher budget, even though people on this forum defend the DIY route, myself included, I think the DIY market is not ready to compete against the chinese.
Iām really pushing all my friends to get an e-board but only one or two could afford US$ 1500 on a quality build or a built board and I know for a fact more than 80% of them will buy one if itās US$ 600
So the final question would be: is it possible to keep a budget within US$ 600 to build a board better than Koowheel?
On a side note Humie hub motors are still not ready for sale and Carvon hubs raises the budget too much. so my build wonāt be able to compete with Koowheel
Iāve used his gear and itās all good. Will fill in with details shortly.
youād be surprised how many things here are from the same supplier/firm and just rebranded. Some guys make a shit ton of moneyā¦ I can partly speak Chinese and price quoted for wheels, trucks or motors ā¦ Wow. but lets not get into thatā¦
I agree that these parts are way too overpriced, but disagree that complete boards are cheaper for me. My first build did cost <350$ and koowheel shipped to Finland is about 800$. And I can build quality board few hundred dollars cheaper than buy evolve or boosted, because shipping and taxes are real pain in the ass.
OK - (was on my tablet and dont like typing much on that). I very much have first hand experience with these Chinese kits.
The parts you linked - I have. I bought a complete kit which was mounts, trucks, wheels, motors, from the same ebay seller who is called Dicky (A Chinese guy - very helpful, decent chap). I went to him direct. I bought 2 kits for a dual drive board.
The mounts work with a little extra effort. They have three grub screws that bear down on the truck shaft. This isnāt enough to take the torque of the motor. I drilled three corresponding holes into my trucks - takes seconds, so the screws go partially in. Then, and this was necessary too, I put JBWeld around the truck where is meets the mount. Once set, with the grub screws, it is rock solid.
I have a dual drive board that cost very very little, works perfectly, and is smooth as butter.
Someone telling you that cheap = dangerous is trying to sell you something more expensive. Nothing wrong with making money and having a markup for local supply, but less of the bullshit.
I would say a good decent board that can last long would be a DIY route that will cost at BEST. Minimum ~~$650.00. And thatās At best. Board=50_100 Trucks=30-40 Wheels=30-40 Mount=40-60 Motor=80-160 Vesc=90-150 RC/TX=20-30 Batteries=100-400 Case if you wanna be fancy=50-80 Shipping would be roughly 30-60
In my honest opinion, if I gave you a range, then I would pick the highest as worse case scenario, which will mean you will have a safer board and weāll built board. I would say get the absolute max you can spend, and find the best best parts that will cost up to your absolute max budget.
Yes my numbers donāt add up, but I donāt have my spreadsheet with me so I donāt have the exact prices.
I already built 3 boards, doing my fourth at the moment, all of them were between $1400 and $1800 plus huges amount of time which I wonāt add to the cost at all. The challenge Iām setting for myself now is to build a board, better than koowheel with a lower price tag, so I could make them for all my friends and keep them from buying the Koowheel, if they end up being $600 o will build them myself, 6 of them already confirmed they will pay for all parts, Iām just pushing the hobby around my town and making no profit out if it as I love to build boards
First off, I have no financial incentive for you not to buy this. I donāt sell motors or motor mounts.
If your goal is to built cheap boards for others, by all means, try it. Itās possible it will work flawlessly. Just donāt have high expectations.
You guys are obsessed with āexpensive = value/good qualityā. It can be, but it 100% doesnāt mean that cheap can be good value/good quality.
My latest board costs:
From Dicky (the supplier of the parts that started this thread: Trucks, Wheels, drive train (belts pulleys mount etc) $205 (delivered to the UK) (Ā£162)
Remember - thatās two wheel drive.
Longboard Deck Ā£25 from Amazon ESCS (2 x FTV 120amp with programming card) Ā£93 RC Ā£20 Batteries ( 2 x 6s 6600Mah) $80 (Ā£55 at the time) Case - I printed it - Ā£3
That comes in at Ā£358 All in - ready to roll. $447 USD at the current exchange rate.
Lets call it USD $500 when adding decent Bones bearings (the chinese ones were junk) and risers, plus some JB Weld adhesive.
Thatās $500 - real money (not an estimate) for a smooth board that rides wonderfully. Iām 90Kg and I get 8 miles out of one charge, It does 25mph - and Iāve geared it that way as I donāt want to go faster. It would easily do over 30 with different gearing.
Iāve ridden it many times a week since August last year, usually on 15 mile runs (I have a second interchangable battery pack). I also ride it to the pub on rough UK country lanes frequently.
The ESCs are waterproof (as are motors by default) so I dontā have to worry about frying an ESC. I can make regular ESCs accellerate smoothly - just needs a gentle touch, and the braking is fanstastic. Vescs are indeed super smooth from standstill, but they are eye wateringly expensive, and super fragile and I can kick start - if you canāt you really need to rethink skating.
$500 , reliable, light, fast, smooth. If a motor fails, they are pennies to replace.
Wow, I must say that the pictures you sent in. the mounts in them look quite superb! At least from the looks it looks like they are quite durable! I assume that is not aluminium but perhaps steel?
Non the lessā¦ I will reply to the rest of the replies soonā¦ I just wanted to step in and confess that I had been looking at these kits / mounts for a while tooā¦ also trying to decide whenever they are any good or notā¦
Besides that - I think the chinese market is rapidly growingā¦ so they offer their parts to the rest of the world - for their pricesā¦ as everything is just cheaper in china, unfortunately
Also @RogerD can you throw in how the JB Weld works for you? I assume you just sqeeze both parts outā¦ mix them together, then fill the empty spaces between the mount and axis - or just apply a coat on both surfaces (mount/axle) so that they āāstick togetherāā more?
Some inside info on this one would be great!
With these new Hub Motors from Maytech that are like $90 you could probably build a mediocre board for $350 (without the cost of a deck). Iām planning on building another board using a Maytech hub and itāll prob com out to around $250 for me cause Iāll be using the old ESC from my current board.
The mounts are steel.
As for the JB weld, just mix it and smear it on the truck shaft. Slide on the mount, then the glue will ooze out a bit. You have plenty of time to clean it up.
Why not buying a chinese board and substitute the ESC + controller.
Would you please post the link of the 90 dollar Maytech hub motor?
Because I want to choose my board, wheels, bearings, trucks, batteries, gearing, and motors.
here is the maytech hub motor
keep in mind that you will need a specially made truck for that motor.
ya, need use their truck to fit in the motor.