After having built my first board, I took it out on a test run without having applied loctite. This led to several screws coming loose mid ride and getting stuck in the drivetrain. This caused an immediate stop and I was thrown off the board. Causing some pretty minor psyhical injuries, but also “mental injuries” (which I will explain later in the thread). I since then applied loctite to all the bolts. I started off with blue, which did not work so well as the motor mount loosened up all the time. I therefore applied red loctite to everything except the bolts which keep the motor onto the motor mount, as I need to readjust the belt tension from time to time.
So what I meant by mental injuries, is that I have lost all the confidence in my equipment. I am constantly thinking in the back of my head that I could come to a stop any second and again be thrown off the board.
This leads to me not having a good time eskating at all, there is no enjoyment. I would be fine with me falling because of user error, then I would just take it a bit slower and learning my limits as a rider. But the fear of mechanical as even made me think about leaving the diy route and buying a prebuilt, such as a boosted board.
So what can I do to fully ensure that I can trust my equipment? Any of you that has had similar issues?
Every single diyer has been there. It’s really just time. Spend more time on the board, go slower, then increase speed as you get more comfortable. Even with prebuilts there’s room for something to go wrong or break. The quality of your diy is entirely dependent on your diligence and discipline in research and building.
Even though I didn’t fall, I was in the same type of mood when riding my board the first time.
As @Jinra said, you need to get used to it and regain confidence little by little. I would start with short testing session, like 10-15min. Always check everything before and after to make sure everything is in its place. Checking your board one or multiple times during a session is a good idea too. Then try to make the sessions longer and longer.
What I personally did was riding on cobbled paths. It gives a really good shakedown to your board and if anything is gonna get loose, that’ll do it. I did that a few times, checked my board after 5 min, had to tighten bolts that were getting loose, go home, take things apart, apply more loctite, tighten those MF down the most I could. Then start over again until I can ride 15min on cobbled road without anything getting loose.
After a new assembly, go slow, get off every couple of minutes to inspect. If you don’t find any problems you can increase the inspection interval until you feel confident.
But more importantly, realize that falling off the skateboard is part of riding it. You have to learn to accept it as part of the risk. Of course nobody would enjoy riding something dangerous, but you’re facing the same problem as someone who has a motorcycle accident. That’s the key for wearing good safety gear is that if you get thrown, the hope is your pride is the only thing that is bruised.
Listen, we are moving the human body at speeds it was never intended to do on it’s own. In addition to that, we’re doing it standing up, giving our heads the most amount of potential energy possible in case anything goes wrong. It’s a literal recipe for disaster and if you don’t recognize we are borderline daredevils with this activity then you’re bound to feel put-out.
I probably have 2000+ kms of total ride (which is not a lot compared to others in the forum) between all my e-skates and to this day I’m always thinking “don’t die” during my rides. Overtime I got used to having that constant survival mentality while still enjoying the ride.
Focusing really hard on one thing (e.g.: not falling) has a very relaxing post ride effect. I don’t meditate but I suspect it provides a similar feeling.
i had a nasty fall and got a concussion on my first board and was scared for a while. I learned on my second board, once i put hard work and a lot of time building, i wasn’t scared. This was because I knew that my board wouldn’t fail, that I put everything together meticulously and I had confidence in my board. I don’t trust a board i bought online because i don’t know what is on the inside or how much work the person put into it. Idk if the person was wasted and put it together, i don’t know if they were slacking.
I would just say, have confidence, you know how much work you put into that board, you know how hard you worked, you know the ins and outs of that board.
Thank you for all the advice. I will start doing checkups of the bolts before, after and during the ride. The cobblestone test sounded pretty good aswell.
Make sure you have a good set of gear, like full face helmet armored hoodie/jacket, knee pads, wrist guards, crash pants, if possible. I haven’t had a high speed crash with all that gear on, but I have had a few low speed crashes where I would have gotten at least a bit scraped and banged up, but came out of it without even a scratch or bruise. It has the odd effect of actually inspiring confidence in the fact that if and when you do go down at higher speeds, you will be as protected as possible and hopefully not even get a little bit hurt. Plus, the protection will allow you to be more relaxed with less fear of potential injury and only improve the riding experience.
i wear wrist splints, knee pads, elbow pads, helmet, and a hoodie and long pants most of the time i ride because it also gives me more confidence that i won’t need skin grafts.
You need to do more testing at slower speeds. If it works for 100 miles, it’s likely not going to back out again. Check your equipment often, especially at first.
My first build, last week lol, I attached all of my electronics to the bottom of the board using the velcro, Because I had read that other people have done so. Well I went on a test ride, my battery fell, yanking down everything else, and dragged my vesc across the street damaging it🤦🏻♂️. Stuff happens, we learn and do better next time
Sorry to hear about your loss of confidence but its a real thing. After any fall its a toss up between throwing in the towel or shaking yourself down and carrying on. Nothing anyone can say can help with that process. Its entirely up to you. I’ve had 3 falls on esk8 now and my reaction to each one has been different.
First was a car pulling out on me which caused me to slam the brakes on hard and hit the deck. Superficial bruising cuts etc. Mentally fine because now i am more aware of the idiots on the road.
Second was a random braking incident caused by (at the time) an unknown failure within my build or remote. Again superficial cuts and bruises but mentally I was terrified of the thing. I couldn’t work out what had happened and that scared me in much the same way you are nervous now. Was it the remote? Was it the vesc? The thing was benched for a while because of my paranoia. Eventually after running all over the forum trying to find similar cases I found a bullet on my phase wiring that wasn’t double shrink wrapped to hold it. It had come slightly disconnected. Just one and it was causing an intermittent connection which in turn made the board brake suddenly without warning. Mentally ok again because I’d fixed the issue. Still took a while before I could really open her up though.
Third time was going at least 25mph and I hit a curb transition that was too high for my wheels to bump over and I went flying into a full tuck and roll and came out completely unscathed. Mentally that fall made me more confident in my own ability to withstand a higher speed crash.
All we can do is make damn sure that what we build is as foolproof as we can make it.
My latest build is as safe as I can make it due to the help and advice that this place has made possible. If it fails it will be because of equipment failure not assembly but that unfortunately is something that takes a few builds to get right. Vibration is the key. Make sure that everything is either cushioned or secured with the proper bolts and compounds. All electronic connectors are secured with double shrinks covering the whole of the thing and xt’s are either zip tied together or shrink tubed. Your enclosure should have foam protection on all sides of all electronics especially heavy items like the battery. Cables should be routed in such a ways as to not rub on each other. Phase wires should be long enough to not be affected by the truck angles at full lock. Secure every single thing within the enclosure with heavy duty velcro and then foam every other space so nothing can move. Imagine a camera case? Thats what you want to achieve. That level of protection.
As for right now take it slowly and go over every inch of your build and think How can I make that better? Then make it better. Good luck brother and sorry for war and peace but it pains me when a fellow esk8 is teetering on the edge of buying a boosted.
I think a good way to get the board through the testing phase (which is like the first 200km), is to ride with a backpack with all the necessary tools you need to completely pull your board apart and put it back together. Every 5-10 minutes, check everything is tight. and like @louwii said, whichever one’s come loose, make a mental note and then at home, let the loctite cure for 24hrs and then go out and try again. Its alot of trial and error really. i have about 1300km on my board now and used loctite blue on everything and it hasn’t come loose. i think the trick is to use a liberal amount and let it cure for AT LEAST 14hrs
Wow, thank you for the very detailed reply! The zip ties on the xt connectors is a great idea, never thought of that before. I am going to start up my second build soon in which I will make sure it is BOMB proof. The camera bag is a good example, where it has no space to rumble around and break inside.
Any tips on where to buy foam/cushion and what type?
You have found the reason for your fall and mental block - Loctite. Reinstall all your screws, loctite them and ride again with the confidence that you won’t fall again because of initial mechanical failure. Good luck!
I’m lucky we have a chain store called clarke rubber that has all and every foam and rubber you might need off the shelf but a quick search will get you what you need. I use 3mm adhesive backed neoprene for my flat planes and open cell foam for the edges. Stuff you find in every heavy packaged item. Not the closed cell. ie little balls stuck together, the stronger plastic type stuff. Its easier to cut and shape.
Its heavier but has more resistance to impact.
My enclosure is hard to push down onto my deck so that within the foams flex is the only place any of my components can move. Like they are suspended. Trucks should have some nice soft urethane risers too but not too thick 3-5mm max so the road vibration is not transferred to the drive train. If you run drop through then thats not an option but you could use a strip between the deck and the plates. Vibration is the killer of all things esk8.
i had a bad crash when a slight dab on the brakes at 20mph+ caused a wheel lock & i was thrown off, bounced on my hip which smashed it into over 15pieces & snapped my femur & split it down to my knee-i’ve got a titanium “nail” from hip to knee now, had 2 ops, and even now-6 months later-can hardly walk. i am not yet able to get back on, but i’ve ordered an e-scooter, reckon it’ll be a bit safer…(?) thoughts?
I have an e-scooter as well. It is much simpler to control. because of several reasons. The motors are usually weaker with about 250-300W as well as being hub motors. Therefore not that much torque, which means you can floor it without falling off. The handle allows you to brake very hard and holding onto it without falling off. You can also turn with the handle, which is way easier than shifting your body weight as you do on a board.
In my opinion a scooter is not as fun as a board, but it is safer and can be more convenient. I use my scooter more as a way of transportation, while I use my board for joyrides.
yes, exactly what i was hoping (am awaiting delivery of e-scooter atm)! and yep, my e-scooter is 350watts rather than 2x350watts-i live in weston super mare and so am hoping to use my e-scooter for transport, my board for joyriding (along seafront prom)…exactly as you say😃
