The State of DIY - Where it is now and where it's going

Your thoughts?

Are prebuilt esk8 the answer if replacement parts or after market parts are available to upgrade and modify?

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I donā€™t think the diy world will ever be completely gone, I do think that prebuilt are selling a lot more right now mostly because of the amount of new people giving up on their diy boards or not even trying. Thanks to ā€œpropagandaā€ by some companyā€™s that their boards will beat diy boards in many aspectsā€¦

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I think one aspect of esk8 is always going to be DIY. Simply because some people would rather build custom or better than what is available. I personally donā€™t have a board over 4 months old because I either rebuild it I to something new or someone offers me more money that I can turn down for it.

I sold a Vaugenhausen with x2 TB 190kv motors and TB VESCā€™s with a 10s3p 25r pack for 1000 bucks just riding at the park one day. Went home, orders parts for a new build, grabbed another board and went riding some more.

Iā€™ve built 12 +/- Jeeps over the last 20 years, now I build rocket powered murder boardsā€¦for fun :blush:.

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IMHO there will always be DIY because when you do it yourself, the only limit is you.

Thatā€™s why we will keep discovering unseen ideas and crazy setups. DIY allows the freedom companies canā€™t usually afford to offer with their products.

And if you played Legos when you where kid, chances are high you want to play something else today.

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What got me started in Diy was choice. Mainly deck choice. I wanted to be able to hand pick my deck and not just accept what was offered. And that was just the beginning. The ability to choose every component and build a totally custom board. I donā€™t know if you can even put a value on that. And right now Iā€™m gonna go for a spin on my totally custom 6000 watt board with dual 6374s and 11.5" x 32" wheelbase :sunglasses:

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Letā€™s face it, building a diy board is a lot of work and requires a lot of tools and know how. Itā€™s not for everyone. Letā€™s give credit to the few makers of complete boards that are not willing to sacrifice quality and performance for mass sales but rather cater to those who are willing to invest in a quality board but donā€™t have the ability to build their own. Still, I believe that Diy will live on because there will always be those who can and will build their own.

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Agree with all sentiments shared so far. DIY teaches you so much about yourself and your ability to innovate, solve problems, balance your checkbook (lol). I am taking up CNC machining, 3d printing, CAD/CAM, etc. It develops a unique set of skills across many disciplines to do this. Maybe it will just be a hobby, maybe you can turn it into a business, definitely worth being part of the electric vehicle revolution that is soon to pick up more and more steam to mobilize 7 billion people as oil reserves will disappear in the next 20+ years (and cost of exploration is prohibitive compared just using electric vehicles).

In reality though, this is an adrenaline electric vehicle sportā€¦ the average person isnā€™t going to ride an electric skateboard. Itā€™s for the young and those young at heart. You can buy a Tesla, or Leaf, or an electric scooter if itā€™s purely about EV mobility, that will likely do for the average Joe.

Itā€™s a piece of wood (or carbon fiber weave blah blah), 4 wheels and a dream for motion.

My friend has an Evolve GT but when he saw my Trampa E-MTB he was blown away, inspired even. Evolve and pre-builts provide a quick fix of adrenaline but not the understanding and pride of building your own.

Itā€™s like when you buy a car they say the reason you are happy is at that very moment, you are free from desire - itā€™s a moment of liberation from the consumption-happiness driven world we live in. Thatā€™s what itā€™s like buying an Evolve or Boosted or what-not.

:wink: Got to get back to making food for my lady friend so that when she passes out I can get to my workshop :wink: muhahaha

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DIY innovates more than prebuilts! A lot of what is prebuilt is just a cheaper and easier to manufacture by the masses version of what was once DIY originated.

DIY will always exist as many do it not always for practical reasons, but just for the enjoyment of making something yourself. It is just a part of the hobby for a lot of us, and I hope we keep growing :smiley:

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Thank you for not excluding us old guys. (young at heart)

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this is going to make me sound old as hell but iā€™m afraid a lot of young folks these days (not including the young-uns on here already) donā€™t care about learning new skills or putting in time to hone a craft.

it know itā€™s a broad generalization, and my observations are strictly anecdotal, but there seems to be an anti-exceptionalism thatā€™s broadly accepted across the younger generation. and i can see why. the prospect of prosperity is becoming increasingly out of reach. but setting aside social economicsā€¦

if iā€™m a kid right out of high school, or attending college, why would i waste my already thinly spread time to build something i could easily buy? and look, casey neistatā€™s so cool on a boosted, i want the same thing.

thereā€™s always room for diy, but nothing beats flashy packaging backed up my multi-million dollar marketing campaigns.

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A production board, the Yuneec E-Go2($700 when I got it,$350 now) was the first skateboard I ever stepped on in 28yrs, was an e/bike guy my whole life.After it proved to be an effective and reliable method of transportation and a few months of riding at full throttle(13mph :unamused: ) and understanding how it all worked(after having to do a few repairs), I started looking for ways to upgrade. That led to me getting a vesc which garnered another 4-5mph top speed. That was sufficient for a short while. Now Iā€™m on a complete DIY doing 25mph and upgrading to dual this week :yum: Oh and itā€™s a much better form of exercise than I ever imagined, best shape Iā€™ve ever been since I started esk8ing. Some of you might find this amusingā€¦I donā€™t know how to ride a skateboard by pushingā€¦:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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really? how so, you just stand there. not sure how thatā€™s exercise.

I engage my core and legs quite a bit, ā€œjust standingā€ would leave me on my ass and my board flying away :rofl:

Check out the video @Michaelinvegas posted below that too, ā€œjust standingā€ doesnā€™t describe what heā€™s doing :yum:

Personally I like building more than riding. Actually I almost never ride (with esk8ing being illegal in Germany I am scared of getting caught) but always find something to modify or change or whatever. So for me DIY is a hobby just like yoga might be for others.

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I do find the building to be equally or more enjoyable at times but my esk8 is my primary form of transportation so itā€™s gotta be in running order before I leave for work and when I leaveā€¦thus Iā€™m building a 2nd board that will be the ā€œletā€™s see what we can tweak todayā€ board and the 1st will always be ready, set, go :grin: Theyā€™re not really legal here in NYC either, I just try to obey traffic laws and not give the cops a reason to notice me. I pass a police station twice daily 6 days a week for almost 2 years now without issues.

Iā€™m the contrary : I prefer riding but I HAD to get in DIY because what I want doesnā€™t exist ! It is satisfactory to successfully get something working (for example soldering my VESCs and compiling own firmwares etc, I learnt a lot).

Still what fueled me these past years was : Iā€™m closer and closer to take this to the streets!

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Unfortunately, I have to agree with you on that, most of us just try to scrape by by doing the absolute minimum, NOT taking the time to understand what theyā€™re typing or saying or writing. I just watched 3 hours of videos about differential gears so I can try to figure out a way to do 1 motor, 2 wheel driveā€¦

Some people just arenā€™t interested :cry:

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i mentioned this beforeā€¦ but Jenso, Nowind has mentioned a few times some guy on the german forums who actually built a single motor duel drive mtbā€¦ and it workedā€¦ just sayingā€¦ i bet it works a whole lot better than duel diagonal :wink:

LOL, I was just using that as an example so that al you oldies new that us youngons arenā€™t all so badā€¦

But I am, and have been, working on prototyping a differential that people could put on basically any motor for dual drive with a single motor.

Sounds crazy, but thatā€™s why I like it :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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