As I was browsing around Reddit, I stumbled upon a thread on the r/Longboarding subreddit that asked: “How do you [Longboarders] feel about electric boards?” As one might expect, there were opinions a varying variety, some hate, dislike, appreciation, etc. What caught my attention was this comment thread.
Simply put, what the comment thread spoke of is that, from a longboard perspective non-mechanically wise (as in deck, structure, etc), ESK8’s are poorly designed. Here’s an excerpt of his opinion:
An unfortunate feature of the market for electric skateboards is the actual gear included in every production model I’ve seen is generally poorly designed.
The electronics may be well thought out, but I have yet to see a deck or trucks that are remotely designed around electric skateboarding. Every electric board I see is built around a poorly designed deck that would be marketed towards a complete beginner.
Making a functional skateboard requires expertise in molding a long history of functional cuts, concaves, and techniques. An understanding of why boards are shaped the way they are only comes from a few places. The first and most important is skating. Skateboarding a lot. This is why companies employ team-riders. The years and years that the skateboarding community has spent making minor tweaks to designs has brought the sport such a long way.
The companies who make electric longboards have not skated much. They have not seen the dilemmas and problems associated with skating. Therefore, they cannot solve these problems, or even recognize that improvements are necessary.
A lot of individuals and groups don’t know how to make a good deck, and the worst part is they don’t care to learn. They don’t know why slalom decks have pointed noses. They don’t know why W-cave is better in the back. They don’t understand why measuring the cutouts in a freeride shape is important. They don’t know the advantages of new-school drill patterns. They don’t understand the difference between angle and rake! All this knowledge that could allow them to make something beautiful and new is waved aside for a 2-ply pintal with a nonfunctional kick and an attached flashlight.
Electric board companies do not employ team riders to improve their design. If they do, then they do not listen to them for the purposes of easily improving their design.
This is frustrating because the gear and decks that would be ideal for electric skateboarding are abundant. The longboarding industry has been innovating for years, and has legitimately improved the sport through intelligence, trial, and error. Electric board companies do not draw on information that is easily accessible to them.
This results in badly designed boards that are unappealing to ride for anybody who has stepped on something nice before.
My question to you all is: What do you think of this? Do you agree? Disagree? Why or why not and what do you believe from a non-mechanical perspective that companies should focus on?
I totally agree with this article. This is the reason why I went for a DIY build. I’ve been through the beginner’s process of choosing boards and now I get very picky over which board I ride. Personally, boards like the bustin sportster which have all the right curves (imo) are the only ones I would ride. I would like to be on a well trusted and familiar board going 30kmh+.
He makes some good points but…I’ve been riding skateboards for over 40 years. Former skateshop proprietor with access to every mass manufactured (and many hand made) piece of equipment available. My current quiver consists of six distinct skateboards. Which one do I grab most often? A 36" flat piece of solid oak with a wedge kicktail. Stiff as a board, no concave, and yet it provides me with endless hours of fun, time and time again.
@Jc06505n I completely agree with this - it’s why I started designing and building (and selling) my own custom decks for Esk8. The deck is the heart of every build and the rider should connect with it technically/physically and also aesthetically.
If one has overlooked deck design thus far, there is a whole world of steez waiting for you to explore!
Just checked out your page. That Black Caldera is fucking beautiful. I would love to get It Rich Black or even Vanta Black if that’s even possible. Danm woulda got this before getting the “Laying It Down” deck.
I shared that exact same opinion in fact I could have written that thing myself and I feel that I written something similar in the past here and other places this is why I got into electric skateboards and using my skateboard knowledge and knowledge of Electric Power Systems to bring them together and bring more skateboarding into the electric skateboard Market this is exactly what needs to happen there’s not enough thought going into the actual skateboard it’s a whole lot of people writing off the existing skateboarding industry as insignificant to this when it’s the heart of it
I bet 70% of people on this forum have never used precision trucks, and are more then likely running stock bushings over tightened on whatever cast trucks they bought…and more then likely running clone flywheels. I bet closer to 98% of people(worldwide) that own electric skateboards haven’t setup their trucks or wheels and have left it all stock… because they know no better because they didn’t skate before.
Decks, trucks, bushings, wheels, bearings…the heart of an electric skateboard can’t be overlooked. It is the most important piece. I agree with @squishy654, you can’t just write off the skate industry and knowledge before us…
While that might hold true on the subreddit , that holds quite the exaggeration when It comes to this forum especially. And in terms of the ESK8ters outside of this community: probably . It’s like a car, there’s probably lots of stuff an average consumer could do to get better performance, but If the stock accessories works or is adequate enough for them, then they have no business modifying their stock Board, much less care about things such as precision trucks and bushings. And you can’t really blame them. They bought a product to do a task and if It does the task , power to them. If they want that “true” essence of ESK8ting that requires the innovations that Longboarding and skateboarding has created, then they come here where expert DIYers can advise and help them.
Truck type, top vs rkp bushing duros are alot different. If your riding for speed you should be using RKP. So let’s just focus on width. Standard 180mm trucks that would fit a dual 6355 setup. You’ll have less leverage on this then a wider truck such as a SurfRodz 200mm with long axles. So bushing duro should be softer for the narrower truck, and harder for the wider truck. Also remember deck to axle height changes leverage as well…ie drop through, top mount, top mount with riser…the further the deck from axle the more leverage you have
Again, speed, if your making a sub 20 Carver setup I’m sure using cones is fine. But if your gonna hit 25+ I’d suggest a double barrel, or a barrel/wedge or barrel/eliminator setup. More urethane gives better return to center and more stable of a truck while the truck is moving with the wheel around road obstacles.
Skill… basically you want to run your trucks as loose as possible. This means running them at optimal engagement with the right duro. Loose trucks don’t suit everyone but ya need strong ankles. Truck kingpins should be tightened to the point at which you can barrel spin the bushings with your fingers…then ridden.
So for example.
I’m 127lbs
On Caliber 180mm
Rear: Blood Orange Wedge 86A board side with wedge washer, blood orange barrel 86A roadside with cup washer
Front: blood orange wedge 86A board side with wedge washer, blood orange 83A barrel road side with cup washer
On SurfRodz 200mm w/ 80mm axles
Rear: Blood Orange Wedge 89A board side with wedge washer, blood orange barrel 89A roadside with flat washer
Front: blood orange wedge 89A board side with wedge washer, blood orange 86A barrel road side with flat washer
See with the wider truck I needed to stiffen up the bushings to get the same feel. But I also don’t want it to tight as the higher duro is a bit much for my weight, so to lessen restriction I use a flat washer instead of a cup. In both instances the kingpins are tightened basically just to engagement tight enough that I can just barely spin the bushing by finger with tight tight grip. This will increase your bushings life and also allow the bushing to perform how it is supposed to vs being precompressed and more then likely binding on the kingpin.
Also pack your pivots and wax your bushings for the surfy steez
If the consumer is already satisfied with the stock trucks, deck, bushings , etc, then there’s no need for them to do so, just as if someone were to order a longboard on amazon and be satisfied with the stock, then there’s no need for them to change. Skateboarding/Longboarding/Electricboaring is what ever the boarder wants It to be and just because they don’t partake in a usual custom doesn’t make them any less boarders than you , me, or the pros.
I didn’t say that…did I? I said most people don’t setup their stuff for them. Your talking about $15 bucks of bushings and washers that changes everything about how a board rides and perfoms under a person’s feet. Go ahead be satisfied, or whoever be satisfied with the stock bushings. But if your to cheap for $15 after spending hundred or thousand on a board and you can’t turn your board and it never feels “right” under your feet…don’t be cheap. Lol
I think there is a large gap between why we do certain things. For me, the reason i started skating as a kid was because i could only afford to buy a skateboard to get around my neighborhood. It became an obsession (going fast!) and I went as far as the technology could take me.
With alot of the people I know who got into e-sk8, it was the opposite. Alot of it in my area, so far from what i’ve experienced (which I’m still new so I could be soooo wrong and I hope I am) the people buying them now don’t care about that stuff. They don’t care about pushing their boards to the limits or figure out a way to carve a certain turn that no matter what, you wipe out on every time.
I don’t think this is a bad thing though…since I’ve gotten back into this (still buying the parts to build my first e-sk8 board), there is SO MUCH MORE available to the people who want to tweak and push their set ups.
I found that setting up my bushings to my likeing my board seems to turn very well at low speed and be super stable at high speed. I’m using riptide bushings 90a board side front and 98a Street side front back trucks are 97deck side and 98 Street side I’m a 300lb rider though so this set up feels nimble to me.
This is a thoughtful comment and brings questions in my mind, are there articles available to educate oneself onto what to start with then tune with our own body?
Like weight and size for deck recommandation.
My current understandings are : speed above 20km/h calls for limited flex deck or stiff deck and as I’m tall, nothing shorter than my shoulders.
Bushings, I’ll learn what’s posted up there.
Wheels and bearings, well it is also budget relevant for most people no?
This is something I really want to do. But to to honest it feels overwhelming. There are so many combinations, brands, duros and shapes. I feel that to really know what I like, I have to try a lot of combos making it quite an experiment and quiet a investment. Quality bushings cost a bit taking into account they are “just” rubber “things”. And if I need lots of sets to be able to dail in my liking in will end up being some investment in bushings I might only use once for a short period.
But I have some Khiros lying from when I tried to dail in my LDP board. Think I would start playing around.
I would like to experiment with Riptide, but where to start
I really like the thing only tighten the kingping to the point where you can still turn the bushing. Never thought about that. It makes so much sense.
. It’s like a car, there’s probably lots of stuff an average consumer could do to get better performance, but If the stock accessories works or is adequate enough for them, then they have no business modifying their stock Board, much less care about things such as precision trucks and bushings. And you can’t really blame them. They bought a product to do a task and if It does the task , power to them. If they want that “true” essence of ESK8ting that requires the innovations that Longboarding and skateboarding has created, then they come here where expert DIYers can advise and help them.
