Having 2nd thoughts on going DIY vs Pre-Built

2 year warranty rocks! what is the warranty on LHB’s builds?

I gotta get some ZZZZZ surfs up tomorrow

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I think 1 year? But knowing @longhairedboy though, I’m almost certain the guy will stand behind his products for sure.

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Enertion has a pretty good setup for first timers mate, buy a space cell from them (unless you have a curved board, I wouldn’t) buy the dual drive kit from them and then get a VESC from Chaka

it seems like the best prebuilt is still boosted, but you already had that. The new battery should help, but pretty much everything else is the same.

If you want to try out my diy board let me know, its only a single 6374 but i can hit 24mph, pull up hills, and get 12 - 15 miles per battery pack. swapable and cheap!

You are in Pasadena right?

close by in la, pm me

Curved boards are fine, it’s flexy boards you can’t use with the space cell

If orders are up to date and shipping isn’t an issue, I would recommend the Enertion gear. I’ve got a single drive and its perfect for me. I weigh 95kg and I’ve clocked 39km per hour. Touch wood no issues so far and best of all. It’s one of a kind ( with a slight resemblance to @Jinra board).

Not for someone who wants easy I can tell you from experience that they are a pita if your board is curved, because the BMS hits up against the board after mounted. You have to make some form of standoff. I used pipe insulation for this

my board is curved, i have no problems. You’re not supposed to torque down the screws, you only screw enough for the weather seal to firmly touch the board.

I’m aware of that :slight_smile: If you place a flat piece of wood across the space cell enclosure you will note you only have about 1 or 2 mm space between the wood and the BMS

Hey just wanted to chime in here. I’m also a similar build to you, 6ft and 140 lbs. Since you mentioned hills I’ll omit anything with hub motors. The way I see it, you have 4 options.

  1. Buy a quality commercial E-board (boosted dual+ v2 with extended pack or the evolve carbon/bamboo GT are the best two currently available ones). These will have great customer support, they will have refined software, and there is a huger user base for them. This is probably the easiest route if you want to just unbox and go out for a ride and don’t care about anything else like understanding how the board works.

  2. Buy a complete made out of DIY parts. 3 main ones as of right now, the enertion raptor, the ollinboard freeride, and an LHB custom. I basically got them all lol. The ollin isn’t delivered yet though. But if you have any questions about these 3 let me know and I can fill you in. Especially about the LHB and the raptor since I used those for quite some time. And in fact I’ll be doing a second build from LHB as well. LHB is unique because you can customize it pretty much anyway from the deck to the battery size to the wheel size to the colors, and I even saw people sending him decks to build things on. Just email him and he can fill you in.

  3. Buy a plug and play DIY kit from Enertion or Torqueboards. These are “semi” diy, mostly just plug and play. It will give you a bit more flexibility because you can use whatever deck you want, and play around with different combinations. This is probably what most users on this forum do for their DIY builds. Buy components and put them together. You can learn how to do this by watching lots of videos and doing lots of reading. It will definitely require more time and effort and trial/error than the above 2 options.

  4. Go complete DIY, make your own motor mounts, battery packs, etc etc. This very few people do, but hey if you can then more power to you.

I went the high quality commercial board route first, and I had a good experience. No complaints, except the performance just wasn’t there. I wanted more range, more speed, and more acceleration. And I wanted to support the DIY community. Then it came down to choice number 2 and 3 for me because I definitely don’t have the time or skills for choice number 4. Even for choice number 3 I would have had to purchase tools that I didn’t have, and I would need more time than I was willing to put in. So I went with option number 2.

I ordered a raptor and later on found out about LHB so I ordered a board to my spec. The raptor took a couple of months to come in while my LHB took about a month. I went from a boosted dual+ which went 20 mph max and had 4.5 miles of range to an LHB build that went mid 30 mph speeds and had a 30 mile range. I was blown away. Not long after I got my raptor, which was light and had ridiculously fast acceleration and hill climbing ability. Top speed was a respectable 27mph. And I’m sure my future ollinboard will not disappoint either. And my 2nd hub motor/super high top end speed LHB board will be killer as well.

Comparing experiences between going with option 1 and option 2, I would say you definitely will have to be more patient with option 2. Things may not be perfect (example my raptor was missing a few screws, other people had other issues. My LHB needed the VESC settings fine tuned). But if you’re patient all issues will be resolved and you will be happy. I cannot comment on enertion because I didn’t bother with the missing screws etc, but LHB has AMAZING customer service. His warranty is a year, but if a part ever fries even after that I’m sure he would fix it for you and just charge you the cost of the part. Having these DIY completes I also saw how everything is put together, I learned to open up the drivetrain and adjust motor mounts and belt tension etc. So I’m very happy that I went with option 2 instead of option 3, which would have been more of a pain…and probably would have ended up costing the same if not more after I factor in the time and tools.

If you’re into building things and love tinkering with things, if you already know how to solder and have tools, then sure build your own board. You can also have the satisfaction of saying “yep I built this”. But my personal recommendation if you just like to ride rather than build is to go with either option 1 or option 2. Option 2 is my personal choice because I value performance and range (though the range on the evolves is actually good, their top speed still isn’t as good and I don’t like their double kingpin carvy trucks for high speed).

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Here’s my warranty in a nutshell:

warranty phase 1) 90 days no questions asked (except the usual what happened and holy crap) i replace anything that breaks and I pay for shipping and labor.

warranty phase 2) after the 90 days is up i pay for shipping and labor but if an electronic part fails i charge for it at my cost, not retail. In my experience if electronics are going to fail due to defect it will happen within the first month if not week. otherwise they last a very long time. Typically failures beyond that require physical damage or what i like to term “user intervention.” Phase two lasts the life of the board, meaning until the deck is destroyed. If you want a fresh pack down the road i will build you one for cost of cells plus a couple of hours labor.

99% of the time so far the issues have been my fault and i have covered those people completely. There have luckily so far been no electronic failures, just stupid shit like busted solder joints or box replacements.

I will also extend the warranty to the next guy if you sell the board. I’ve already done that once and his board is back in the shop for VESC tweaks and a new box.

So yeah, i try to stand behind them as best i can for a few reasons. One, my customers like to help me get the bugs out of my processes, especially if i’m nice about it. And two, its the right thing to do. You can’t sell what basically amounts to one-off prototypes and not stand behind them.

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