Long Haired Boy Scarlet Black Metal edition: Review

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Hey all, I’ve had a longhairedboy black metal scarlet for a month. Many of you may have seen me posting here, but for those who haven’t I have had (or tried out) quite a few E-boards. I was an avid skater prior to E-boarding. About 3 years ago I started doing downhill but transitioned to E-boards. I’ve had boards such as the boosted dual plus, yuneec E-go, And the enertion raptor. Future plans are for faster and faster builds :slight_smile:

I’ll keep my review format consistent, and break it down into categories.

Warranty/Customer support: The best customer service in the business. I never had to wait more than a day for responses to any questions or concerns. He has resolved any issue I have had quickly, and answered all questions (and believe me I asked him a lot of things). The post purchase support is awesome as well. Got a problem? Let him know, and if it’s an issue that isn’t your fault he will send you a shipping label right away to make it right. He’s pretty flexible with other things as well, for example he offered to upgrade my VESC to the 6.0 when that comes out just for the cost of the new VESC.

Update: customer service continues to be amazing, down to him covering round trip shipping and even fixing some scrapes and normal wear/tear on the deck for NO charge. He replaced my steez remote no charge even though it was my fault for destroying it. I seriously offered to pay multiple times but he wasn’t accepting it.

Delivery time My delivery time was approximately 6 weeks due to an issue he had with the first deck. I would say it will take anywhere from 4-8 weeks for your build. It seems like lot of it just depends on the specific build and the parts he has to acquire.

Quality control/Packaging All the nuts and bolts were done well. The wheels were tightened perfectly, usually they’re either too loose or too tight. Belts had the perfect amount of tension. This board was truly ready to ride! It came in a box with plenty of protective styrofoam as you can see in my unboxing video.

Aesthetics/handling Well it’s a custom board. I picked the colors and aesthetics so of course I love it. You can pick any style of deck and color combination you like. The deck is extremely stiff, there is no flex at all. It is a heavy set up weighing in at 21.3 lbs overall. The enclosure on the bottom is holding up okay for now, but I wonder if it is too thin at the points where the screws are holding it up to the board. I’m glad it has a kick tail, they’re beneficial in my opinion. As with all boards I feel most confident riding this on good quality tarmac. Compared to the boosted I had, there are a lot more vibrations in this due to the stiff deck, but the stiff deck also feels more stable at higher speeds. The deck itself is pretty long. It is longer than my enertion raptor and my boosted board.

Performance This board is all about high speed thrills! Measured with the iphone app Strava I have hit a top speed of 38 mph. Keep checking my video list at the bottom of this review, I’ll post an updated video with GPS overlay so you can see how accurate this 38 mph is. Acceleration is good, but not to the point that you can’t stay on the board. The Enertion Raptor accelerates and brakes much more aggressively. The gear ratio on this scarlet is optimized for top end speed rather than acceleration. The brakes are gentle so I usually give myself more time to brake than I would on the boosted or the raptor. The hill climbing ability is pretty good, it can tackle any hill in my area. I have to test it on steeper hills that are greater than 20% grade. I did a test with a moderate hill that is about 15% grade at its steepest, see video below.

Update: After LHB updated VESC settings and threw more current at the brakes, the brakes are very touchy now… I’m almost scared to brake because they come on strong with the slightest touch of the throttle. So I’ve been coasting a bit to let it slow down some and then applying brakes. This is all VESC settings that you can adjust yourself after you learn to use the BLDC tool.

Throttle response The throttle is actually not very touchy like it is with the raptor or the evolve GT, again that goes back to this being geared for high end speed rather than low end torque. HOWEVER, there is a point at around 24-27 mph where it just hits a turbo boosted and all of a sudden just takes off. The first time it happened to me it was scary, but now I’m expecting it so it’s actually kind of fun getting a sudden acceleration boost at high speeds.

Update: LHB updated some VESC settings and the acceleration is much better now, it’s not as fast as the raptor but I’d say it’s on par with the boosted (except this keeps going and going whereas the boosted after 20 mph).

Battery life/Range Range is amazing. If I’m really pushing this board hard it will still get 16-20 miles. And for regular old cruising, I can get 20-30 miles with ease. Charging time is less than 2.5 hours.

Reliability To be determined.

Other things I liked so far The board coasts pretty well because there isn’t much resistance from the belts, much better than the boosted. I like the fact that I’m the only person who will have this specific board. The wheelbase of the board is pretty long, so that means stability at high speeds. The little extras that longhairedboy gives you are a nice touch, for example the t-shirt and a very nice tool kit. The tool kit will allow you to take the whole board apart if you want to. I loved how I could watch the board being built step by step on the build thread and on his instagram account. And of course I love that this is the only ready to ride board delivered to you that can break 30 mph no sweat.

Things I didn’t like I think this is a VESC issue which will be resolved, but braking really hard while going down hills at fast speeds causes brake failure. In fact braking very hard from fast speeds causes the brake to intermittently cut out but then come back. This will be resolved after the VESC is upgraded supposedly. The board is big and heavy so it’s not the best to carry around, you want to keep this under your feet

Update: I sent my board to LHB to try to fix the brake issue as best as he could. I got my board back and haven’t braked hard while going fast, but brakes are very touchy now. It brakes hard with the slightest touch of the joystick. I let it coast now and then mindfully pull the joystick back carefully to apply brakes. I prefer the settings of the raptor in terms of braking, they feel strong but still linear.

Overall thoughts I’m satisfied with the board overall. It is what I use for when I want to go fast! I’m not sure if I would use it as a slow speed cruiser because it’s not very portable or light, but it’s nice to know that on open roads you can go 30+ mph. I wouldn’t recommend this board for beginners due to the high speed and risks that come with it. I wouldn’t want some teenager who thinks they are too cool for protective gear to have this board. For the record I have a full leather race suit I wear if I’m doing max speed runs on this board. Out of all the boards I’ve had, my two favorite ones would be the raptor and the LHB. I’d take the LHB board for top speed thrills or the Raptor for low end torque/acceleration.

If you want a board customized to your specifications and you don’t want to build one yourself, or if you just want the board with the highest top speed outthere, then I highly recommend a build from longhairedboy.

Here are some of my videos and tests. Subscribe to my channel if you want to see more videos and comparisons with other boards (like the boosted dual plus or the Enertion Raptor).

Unboxing and information (might be a bit long and boring, sorry!)

Moderate grade hill test

Moderate speed braking test

speed test (33 mph on flats w/o a full aero tuck)

Scarlet next to raptor

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Nice job LHB!

Lot of nice touches and well thought out.

What is the battery pack?

Are the VESC’s going to get overheated without ventilation on longer or harder rides?

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Cool! I watched the whole thing

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Woah! That beast look like a switchblade. Stay safe out there man.

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Looks awesome! Can’t say I’m surprised based upon his build threads.

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If this is the videos your going to do with the Raptor that would be great. Just check your cameras focusing. Id say the Raptor combo should be slightly lighter than the black scarlet. Also will say that the throttle response probably will be more aggressive then how LHB set the vescs up for you. Be interesting to get your comments when you do that comparison video. The Raptor settings can be changed which you will likely do. Having the Scarlet to get use to the power of the Enertion motors will help you when you get the. Raptor.

The Raptors battery meter is handy on the top of the deck, so you can see the level as you ride. Great to see the regenerative braking work. Did the board come with any instructions and warnings. Looks like you are covered with the full face helmet. Make sure you where the other safety gear as well.

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Hey this is a quick unboxing video, I put little effort into it really. Sorry about the focus, I didn’t check it even. Just put the clips together and uploaded it. Anyhow future videos will be of actual riding so they will be more interesting. With raptor I’ll also do a boring unboxing/first impressions video, then the riding videos will follow. I may do a comparison video between the two boards.

The scarlet is heavy, I’m sure the raptor is like 5-6 lbs lighter. Which is why I’ll have the best of both worlds, wood board and a light carbon fiber deck. The scarlet did not come with any instructions, but LHB gave me plenty of instruction about everything via email.

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Nice man… Enjoyed the walk through. The deck looks very unique and the build quality is on point. Nice work @longhairedboy! No doubt this latest build will generate a lot of interest with other peeps.

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Thanks, this was really my first non cell phone Esk8 video. Hopefully future videos will be even better, and more interesting since i’ll be riding the board.

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Great video, just thought Id mention about the focusing as this is a big thing for me when I watch these things, Appreciate the artistic out of focus work if need be. Cant wait for the other videos to come.

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I put a lot of faith in this board and LHB. I was hitting up to 34 mph this morning. If ONE thing goes wrong with any of the electronics or hardware or if the VESC over heats or something… Im toast. At the speeds I go any unexpected behavior from the board would send me flying. I’d be in the ER from skin loss, I need to start wearing leathers. @Mr_Mahal I know what you meant by not wanting to throw on leathers each time you ride now. It’s a pain, specially in the summer. But I’m gonna have to force myself to do it in case something unexpected happens with the board.

@CSN you asked about the VESC overheating because of a sealed enclosure without any air flow, my answer is “I hope not!”.

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Nice run! May I suggest some elbow and knee pads as well. Speed is awesome but even @longhairedboy will tell you that you’re playing with fire once your going over 25mph+. I probably sound like Dad these days but just don’t want to see anyone get hurt. Be careful out there!

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Please don’t die. I need all of my customers alive and happy. Also I’d like to build you another one at some point in the future, who knows what kinds of cut out shapes i’ll have going on by then.

Overheating VESCs has not been an issue so far, but i am working on something that would allow me to integrate a lightweight heat sink into the box that can be shared by multiple components such as the BMS and the VESCs. Once i have this company i’m in talks with building my boxes, i’ll have more time to experiment with that kind of thing because i won’t be spending so much time and energy hand laying fiberglass, which i really kind of hate doing.

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We all have to sound like dad now and then. Keeping the community safe is everyone’s job! I’m glad you started this helmet initiative and i’m taking it to my customers as well. We all need to set better examples where that is concerned.

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@Photorph I’d rather wear something like this that cost about $150 than drop $1500 on leathers Or jackets with a similar touch that aren’t as airy for more abrasion-resistance, but really this combined with some abrasion-resistant pants and some low-profile kneepads is a lot more bang for buck and easier to take on and off than leathers (I would think, I’ve never owned leathers). Looks badass too :stuck_out_tongue:

Also, side note: didn’t you crash in your dh6? What part took impact? Are you still using the same one?? The hard foam could’ve been compromised and will probably be less effective if it’s taken hard impact once already.

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I did, so it turned out it was more scrapes rather than hard impact. The sides are scraped and the bottom of front chin is scraped and slightly bent, hard to tell in video. What took most damage was visor and the hardware screws to put those on. I contacted predator and sent them pics, luckily they sent me a free visor and the screws so those are all new. Based on pics they saw, they said no need to buy a new one.

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Also I already have leathers.

What you posted is armor meant to be worn under something. Good impact protection but leathers are better for abrasion. But having anything is better than nothing. I think you will need that armor for the raptor, you’re more likely to fall on the raptor because acceleration at low end of raptor will be much more vicious. At full throttle the LHB has the same or even slightly less acceleration than boosted to start, it’s when the board gets moving that’s when the power hits. It’s like it takes some time for the torque to kick in, that’s just how he must have tuned the VESC settings. It works out good cuz that joystick on the steez remote is sloppy compared to the ring on the boosted remote. I can imagine having some mishaps while starting from a dead stop on the raptor if there is a lot of torque right when you tap the joystick.

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Good to hear it was only light scratches, would suck to have to replace. I’m hesitant to wear mine now until winter because that’s when I would be need it the most.

Yeah I was saying that or something more abrasion resistant like an actual abrasion-resistant jacket/hoodie (ex: http://www.revzilla.com/product/icon-anthem-2-jacket) would be good. Saw plenty of abrasion-resistant jeans.

The raptor is just as tunable as yours. I imagine the only real difference in power is that yours should have more torque / speed potential while not sacrificing range due to the bigger battery / ollin vescs right? If I can learn how to tweak the VESC settings without frying it I will be able to make it more manageable – current owners have for the most part deviated from stock settings, so it does not have to be a “death trap”.

I’d never want the take off to be as slow as Boosted. I’m a very get up and go guy so when I step on that thing I’m ready to fly. I guess most people are just not used to that or don’t have the balance. As long as the grip tape is solid and I can tune the remote response to be predictable I believe I can handle the torque.

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SOOO FAAAST! :dizzy_face:

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Thanks my friend, it certainly is fast. Although the raptor I have on order has more acceleration from a stop. This has the same enertion 6355 r spec motors, just tuned differently.