man i think i’ve spent around $600 on unnecessary extras for my board at this point 
save a little more and build something you’ll be happy with.
Im building one rn for €200 the parts I have used are:
second hand longboard MOTOR: https://www.banggood.com/Racerstar-6368-BRD6368-280KV-6-12S-Brushless-Motor-For-Balancing-Scooter-p-1117657.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN ESC: https://www.banggood.com/Racerstar-120A-ESC-Brushless-Waterproof-Sensorless-18-RC-Car-Part-p-1085232.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN BATTERY 2X: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-flightmax-5000mah-3s1p-20c.html MOTOR MOUNT: https://www.banggood.com/Electric-Skateboard-Accessories-Belt-Motor-Bracket-Pulley-For-7270MM-Wheel-p-1104585.html?rmmds=detail-left-hotproducts&cur_warehouse=UK CHARGER: https://www.banggood.com/25_2V-2A-Smart-Charger-For-21_6V-22_2V-25_2V-Li-ion-Li-Po-Lithium-Battery-US-Plug-p-1167937.html?cur_warehouse=CN Battery indicator: https://www.banggood.com/12V-6-63V-LCD-Acid-Lead-Lithium-Battery-Capacity-Indicator-Digital-Voltmeter-p-1226043.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN BMS: https://www.banggood.com/Battery-Protection-Balance-Board-5A-PCM-BMS-for-6S-22_2V-Li-ion-Li-Po-Battery-6S5W001-p-1122220.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN&cur_warehouse=CN REMOTE: https://www.banggood.com/2_4GHz-Radio-Remote-Controller-Receiver-Transmitter-For-Electric-Skateboard-p-1125575.html?rmmds=myorder
maybe some inspiration for u? iknow long ass post
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What trucks and wheels do you plan to use?
Pro tips for a cheap build: Cheap out on wheels, trucks, deck and enclosure. Not so cheap they break but you know what I mean.
Go single drive
Use a fvt 120amp or xcar 120amp esc
6s 20c 5000mah lipos work fine
Don’t buy a cheap belt drive kit from eBay. The chain kit is decent after a little modification but you should get a 10/12 tooth pulley for it
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The hobbyking kit is a good idea at this budget. I lean toward agreeing with the others on expanding your budget a little bit (my initial budget was $700 and I’m well north of $1000 right now)
If you’re intent on building it for $400 then use kits where/when ever possible to save money and reduce chances of incompatibilities. hobbyking kit is solid. You get a vesc (even though it’s not the most recent revision it should perform the same) and a torquey motor. Your experience with drones means you should know your way around lipo batteries and balance charging so stick with those to save some bucks. eBay is a really good resource for cheap decks that work pretty well, I can send you the link to the decently flexible drop through I bought on there.
You might also want to check out the offerings on diyeboard.com which is basically a retail site for the parts used in most low to medium cost Chinese prebuilts, which are actually pretty solid.
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Hey! Thank you for all your input! I did not think that I would get so many answers!
To clarify - I want to spent 400$ for ‘hard’ parts i.e. motor, esc, controller, batteries and board. All other parts like enclousures, cable management, mounts etc. are out of this amount (I already have some cables, connectors and charger as well).
But… After all of your comments I think I have to consider everything again. For all those who advise me to save a little more - what is the minimum price to start with e-sk8?
I think that parts like Sk3 Motor and FVT Esc are not bad. The thing I want to save most is board (but I am not convinced of this solution. Actually, I know that this is a bad solution, but I don’t want to spend more money).
Thank you for list of budget parts, and mostly for HobbyKing kit - I need to read some about it.
And for stats - it is not that I spent an hour reading and immediately assume the topic. I spent some time looking for different solutions (mainly last summer) and sign up when I already had my part-list;) I was also following squad and some other guys with his builds at local, Polish forum.
If you’re good with soldering, you could buy a broken VESC that needs a DRV replacement for cheap, since VESCs offer so much more flexibility and config options.
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Have you considered the $40 eBay Esc that’s been on several posts on this forum. For the $43 you get an Esc and a remote, which is a good deal imo. I have it on a cruiser board. It’s not the most powerful and a VESC will Be way better, but for a first build, it’ll work and seems to be pretty reliable, and you can upgrade it later
Meepoboard top speed 36km/h range up to 18km (more like 15km)
This would come with normal battery just plug in charge and ride! there will be much less risk factor too.
but if you really want to invest time into Diy increase your budget and spend time learning under 400$ budgets most of the time costs more than premade
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Hey! I’ve rethought my plans, and read some about trends.
My parts list now:
- Cheap longboard $45- like that: ! 2.Radio - Excellway® 2.4GHz Radio Remote Controller Receiver Transmitter from Banggood $23 - as before
- Motor - Turnigy D5035-125KV Sensored Brushless Motor - $82
- ESC - VESC from HobbyKing $71
- Motor mount - from hobbyking $7
- Batteries - 4 x 2200mAh 3S batteries from my rc models to make 6S 4400mAh $0
- Enclousures pulley, and other stuff - from my workshop $0
Sum: $228 + my own LiPo’s
What do you think about this set?
Get the whole esk8 set from hobby king including the trucks and pulleys… That way it will be way easier to make the motor mount fit and align.
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you need to buy big wheels because the smaller ones will be more bumpy,give less clearance for motor and electronics and Get ruined by torque quickly. Also 125kv on 6s will be slow Heres a budget motor for like 40%- https://hobbyking.com/en_us/kd-53-30-high-voltage-brushless-outrunner-190kv.html
Main drawback its uncensored so you have to do small kickstart but HEY starting from still takes a lot of energy and your batteries are small.
You will also need wheels and trucks, for the trucks you could use the HobbyKing trucks to make fitting the mount really easy.
Like @Blitz said I would change the motor to the keda 190kV. I use it on one of my builds with 6s and can hit 30kmh+ with 83mm wheels and 2:1 gear ratio
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IF the Trucks are decent size you can file them into a square (like im planning on) and then use the hobbyking motor mount/clamp. he seems to be a hobbyist with a garage
Filing down trucks isn’t really the smartest thing to do. Just FYI
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If you want to build it from scratch then go for it, otherwise you could check the mono/dual kit from DIYeboard. As first board I think is decent and you get a nice power out of it. Just my opinion.
If you play your cards right you can do it, my buddy is building one for $400 and might come out bellow budget due to second hand vesc and 10s3p pack and trucks and wheels
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Here have a look at my build thread. It cost me maybe a total of just over $500 Australian or around $400USD.
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If you don’t align the mount with truck and pulley correctly, your belt will rub against the wheel, will create more drag, will consume more power and will last less time. if you’re not buying the HK kit, choose another motor with higher kv. I have that KEDA and i like it. But when i tried it on 10S and 20:36 ratio, it didn’t climb any hills whatsoever. so keep this in mind. As you might know 6S 4400mah and 12s 2200mah have the same range but 12s is faster and better for the motor. Unless you’re going 6s because of small C rating of your batteries…
Whattt I run that motor on a 2:1 ratio and can climb hella steep hills. What wheels you running?