Hi I’m about to buy a deck for my electric longboard and I would really rather keep it cheap (<$70) for both the deck and a front truck and wheels at the very least.
This is for my project which you can see here:
Anyways here’s the board I’m considering. I really need it to be wheel-bite-proof on the front since I’m gonna be turning pretty much exclusively with the front truck, and shorter might be better then but it should be 39’’ or longer. since that’s about how much length I need for my battery pack and motor to fit.
http://a.co/j8ttXwD
I just wanted to know if anyone had heard about this brand and if anyone had any other recommendations. I can also pay a bit more if it’s absolutely worth it but I’d rather keep it cheap.
Looks like it ‘should’ work. You will most likely need to extend the drop through slot on the front to make it ‘bite proof’ and that might weaken the board too much. You caould get some aluminum C channel and frame the slot for the front wheel to make it stronger.
So make the slot such that the truck sits further forwards? I don’t need insane turning, it’s mostly for straight-ish lines, but I do want it to turn reasonably ok. Any insight on whether cheap-ish boards like this are usually worth it? I also mostly want to have a board that works ok for testing and might make a better one later on (or maybe one that folds up, that would be cool).
I just meant that the drop through slot is not going to give you much of a lean before you get wheel bit, if the wheel is going stick up through the slot. You might have to widen an/or lengthen it to avoid wheel bit. If you do, it could make the front of the deck weak and split. To avoid that you can use aluminum C channel to reinforce the deck by framing the slot with it.
Ive bought cheap decks that were OK and ive bought cheap decks that were junk. It really just depends on if the stars are aligned correctly .
Note that your turning radius will be about twice as large as a normal longboard with the same wheelbase and trucks, this can be unpractical. Also keep in mind your driving direction, real wheel steering is very unstable!
@Stef: yep, it’s rear wheel drive, which should make it plenty stable. The turn radius is kinda worrysome, but I have half the parts so I’m probably gonna go through with it and if it fails it should be pretty easy to just swap out the rear truck with something more conventional and get the steering back
@mmaner: Thanks for the insight. I might top-mount the front truck which should give me a tad more space to use for turning. I’m actually kinda worried now that the wheel base won’t be wide enough for what I’m trying to do… Might fall sideways if the trucks twist too much. I think I’ll just try it out (without a motor at first), as long as the deck is ok I can always buy new trucks and just make it a 4-wheel design instead. I have most of the parts anyways so I might as well go through with it.
The other solution is to just build a custom board and fix those issues myself. We’ll see if I have time, for now I just want to get the back wheel and electronics mounted to a deck and try it out.
Thanks for the insight in any case. I think I’ll just get this board and try it out.
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