What a fun(ing) experience

[itsid]

Hi there..

late September last year I ordered funing skateboard motor kit from gearbest

I got it for an exceptionally good price and couldn't resist.
(for those interested it's 50% off at the time of this post.. all else, no need to follow the link, nothing important to see)
https://www.gearbest.com/skateboard/pp_1625444.html

It arrived early November
and got mounted to a vintage deck I found in the basement.
together with a set of trucks I had laying around
and some (they were perfectly clear) soft wheels from 1993 or such
some cheap but fresh 608s and spacers... skatebaord ingredience are few


On day one the suspension cracked on me after hitting a curb

Not perfect but it still was fun .. it only struggled uphills
the wheels spun freey not making enough road contact to propell me up hill,
caused by the now defunct suspension pressure,
but on flat roads it was still a blast.

late december I went to search for a replacement part..
I wasn't in a hurry with all the coldness and such.
I didn't "wanted" to ride anyways.. so why bother.

without luck, no online shop I found had that part or even listed it
some shops had listed other parts (none was available however).. but the rear axle bracket there was none

The axle could be swapped for the "original" rear axle of the board making it a two axle board again,
a backup plan was set

Nonetheless I contacted funing tech directly,
kindly asking for a link, name or source
explaining how it failed on me after hitting a curb and how I cannot find that bracket anywhere
(Note: they supplied an extra battery bracket with the kit,
the axle bracket was obviously less likely to fail *shrugs*)

And after a few hours I got a response..
A nice Woman by the name of Tessa replied and explained that
this exact thing happened to a few of their customers and that they are currently
in the process of redesigning the whole base and brackets to prevent that happening in the future,
and that she will let me know when the new parts are available.

The orinal parts are cast aluminium and the new parts ought to be lasercut steel instead.

We talked a bit back and forth, she asking me how I installed it (I provided pics)
about groundclearance of the board (95mm it is)
and more such things and whatnot..
I was a bit curious to where that leads..
maybe they wanted customer data to make it better?

Lastly she even asked my weight
and then said that they do not have any affiliated shops for spares atm
and that she would send me the mounting brackets once they're done..
COOL!
I still asked to name a shop once they have established one,
since I might want an additional mount (for a second board)
and I might need new tyres once mine wore down and such..)

Then Jan 31st (thursday) she sent me this pic via whatsapp:


And literally Feb 4th (the following monday) the package arrived!

Frankly, I have NOT experienced any customer service that nice,
kind and quick in a very very long time!

'sid

PS installation will follow once I got the pics off my phone

 

[itsid]

So.. swapping huh?

While I was at it, I thought I'd add grip tape.. wouldn't harm I thought.
So 10" black diamond clear tape was ordered..
not easy to find 10" wide tape these days

Anywhoo cleaned the board from previous tape residue

and off we go

shirt.. it was less opaque from memory.. should've tested that on a scrap piece.

Fun side note: since you do not rub on grip tape more than once to remove bubbles,
I was on my way to the basement to search for a roller

Ah well.. sometimes


And a now dulled down previously fresh exacto blade later


I can live with that I guess.. I might heat treat it
to try liquify the glue a bit hopefully bringing the wood grain back... we'll see.

And after the front truck was back on the back got testfitted..
wedged between the spacer and the truck baseplate
..

That seems to work well, a few washers to compensate for the deck's curve and it's perfectly straight and as close to the deck as possible.

And we're done


Suspension travel increased (compared to the broken bracket from before *giggle*)

that's a 20mm.. just enough to fit the king pin wrench


Now, it WAS fun when it had the broken bracket.
I doubt it'll be less fun with a new one
But since it's 7am around here and it's still yesterday for me..
we'll not know until I get to testride it tomorrow (uhhhm later today)

see you then

'sid

 

[landuse]

That is quite an ingenious design!! It must be a blast I tried skateboarding when I was younger....it was all the rage at the time, but after wiping out several times on tar while going downhill dulled the excitement for me a little. You should get a vid of you skating on it so we can see how it handles

 

[Functional Artist]

An E-skateboard, Super kool!

Great write up too. (thanks for sharing)

Remote control? (according to spec sheet)

Yup, a video or it didn't happen

 

[itsid]

No video yet..

just got it out for a first few meters of testing..

aaaand.. I'm not heavy enough!

The rear axle does not touch the ground,
in fact the suspension doesn't even give the slightest bit,
it's so fricking hard, I ride on four wheels in a six wheel configuration.


[will insert pic as soon as I know where I left my phone ... *headscratch*]
[EDIT]

well... barely noticable in the pic now that I see it on the screen... *shrugs*
Ah well can't go back in time to take another can I [/EoE]

Now you might say four is well enough!

It is.. but not really.
it's the steering that's adversely affected.
reason being I dialed in the grommets to my weight and liking..
so rather soft just hard and tight enough to not bind.
the grommets on the motorized axle are super soft
to not affect the steering behaviour of the board too much (the ones shipped with the kit).

For those who do not know:
a skateboard uses a set of grommets to stiffen or soften the steering resistance,
you can buy them in different densities and thus hardness and the heavier you are the harder they need to be... you don't want the axles to steer inadvertently but still get around corners smoothly (cruising)..
you see kids tapping the front to get around a corner?
Hard grommets, likely paired with rock hard wheels to slide .. sounds terrible and is annoying to ride for more than a minute and a half (for old farts like me)
you see longboarders carving down the road in stealth silent mode? THAT is where I come in
​

Now lacking the rear half of my steering grommets,
the front is binding
meaning leaning into a corner the front wheels make contact with the deck..
and STOP rather violently (soft rubber wedged between road and wood..)
Not pleasant when you're not expecting that

So I got kicked off the board quickly..

I could stiffen them up a hair, but mine are close to their limits already
and it wouldn't help too much anyways.

I could stiffen the motorized axles steering to match the original rear maybe and just live with the floating rear wheels for a while.
but that's not what I want really

So next step is to install one of the previous steel springs
the one that broke the bracket has straightened quite a bit
hopefully giving me about 10mm of suspension travel (half of what it is now at).

I'll need to drill a hole in the old spring to accomodate for the new bracket and give it a try.
As soon as I know how to break free the nasty bolts that hold the new spring in place
(that doesn't feel like loctite.. more like jb weld )

We'll see tomorrow (still some work to do and dinner time is approaching too around here)

'sid

 

[itsid]

Now,
lowering the vehicle huh?

the suspension spring has to go:


And the old one has to take it's place


Too bad, it too got injured when the bracket broke


but for now a quick tack with the cheap filler-mig welder must do


I didn't bother to drill the missing hole just yet..
So three of four screws must suffice for a ride height test


but


still too high for my taste.. but at least I get one rear wheel on the ground when I lean into a curve,
so I'm less likely to lock my front wheel and get thrown off.

rode only a few hundred meters for testing and so far it's okay..

Maybe I'll try to tweak the spring a little more,
maybe I'll try the four wheel setup next
a bit scared with that tbh,
since the disfunct kicktail prevents me from trying to kick it up a curb as I was used to do...
reenabling the kicktail might lead me to fall back into this habbit.
wouldn't want to smash the battery into a curb at speed

We'll see

'sid

 

[landuse]

Looks like you are getting there. I'm sure you will get it set up just the way you like it