A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home • Hacker News Board

Re: A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home

#81

Post by loeg » Sun, Apr 22, 2018, 2:22 PM UTC

grogenaut wrote: post #52

loeg wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, lack of brakes on a 50 km/h vehicle is a problem. And in the case of skateboards, lack of handlebars too. That said, disks aren't essential for good bicycle stopping performance. Good rim brakes (like most mid or high end road bicycles) stop just as quickly as disk brakes in dry conditions . Rim brakes are not really an option for long boards, though.

Why not rim brakes, or disc brakes for that matter? Other than lock up which you can control. And why do you need that over e brakes?

> Why not rim brakes, or disc brakes for that matter

I don't know how you'd mount a rim brake on a tiny longboard wheel.

Disk brakes seem feasible.

I'm not a long board person, I don't know what the state of the art is here.

Re: A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home

#82

Post by donkeyd » Sun, Apr 22, 2018, 2:47 PM UTC

lesss365 wrote: post #76

Lifelong skater here. Learn to actually skate. Electric board riders look like dufuses. Seen quite a few in NYC. Their stances are always way off and unbalanced, seen many who couldn't stop manually, and it goes against/disallows for most of the reasons for having a skateboard. You can't get true ground/board feel while carving, its weight and form prevents execution of flip tricks, it takes away trial and error lear…

I used to ride a longboard through the city all the time, not for tricks, but for transportation, is that wrong too?

Also, electric skateboards look hella fun to me.

Edit: This post reminds me of people laughing at me and telling me I hold my board wrong, because I 'mall grab'. Why can't you just be happy that people want to ride a board, there's no need to be a snob about it.

Re: A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home

#83

Post by opencl » Sun, Apr 22, 2018, 2:51 PM UTC

CyberDildonics wrote: post #77

paulcole wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I wasn’t asking hypothetically. I wanted to know what they actually used to record their speed.

There are some exotic cars that use GPS to measure their speed to save weight by not using a typical speedometer.

Do you have a source for this? It doesn't seem to make any sense because the speed sensor is normally used as an input for the engine and brake control systems. Not to mention the fact that the sensor is already extremely light because it's just a rotary encoder. GPS is also wildly inaccurate for speed measurement at low speeds and near tall buildings. I can certainly see using it in addition to a normal speed sensor for better accuracy at speed but as a replacement for weight savings it seems very unwise.

Re: A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home

#84

Post by nukeop » Sun, Apr 22, 2018, 3:47 PM UTC

lesss365 wrote: post #76

Lifelong skater here. Learn to actually skate. Electric board riders look like dufuses. Seen quite a few in NYC. Their stances are always way off and unbalanced, seen many who couldn't stop manually, and it goes against/disallows for most of the reasons for having a skateboard. You can't get true ground/board feel while carving, its weight and form prevents execution of flip tricks, it takes away trial and error lear…

This sort of teenage gatekeeping is why nobody will take your advice seriously.

Re: A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home

#85

Post by nojvek » Sun, Apr 22, 2018, 3:52 PM UTC

allsunny wrote: post #79

My suggestion to those of you that are interested in this sort of thing: make sure you know how to ride a skateboard the old fashioned way first. I grew up in Southern CA, skateboarding nearly everyday, to school, back, for fun, etc. There are a lot of basics that you'll want to pick up at slower speeds (how to bail, dodge pebbles, speed wobbles, slowing down, running from rental cops, etc). Chief amongst these is "h…

I can use a normal skateboard, but there’s no easy way to brake other than use your legs or “eat shit”. Not great for your knees.

Electric skateboards (one I have) has regenerative braking and it’s amazing.

Being able to control your speed is a pretty big feature.

Re: A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home

#86

Post by nojvek » Sun, Apr 22, 2018, 3:55 PM UTC

lesss365 wrote: post #76

Lifelong skater here. Learn to actually skate. Electric board riders look like dufuses. Seen quite a few in NYC. Their stances are always way off and unbalanced, seen many who couldn't stop manually, and it goes against/disallows for most of the reasons for having a skateboard. You can't get true ground/board feel while carving, its weight and form prevents execution of flip tricks, it takes away trial and error lear…

Same arguments skiers made about snowboarders when they came out.

It’s just a different thing, get over it!

Re: A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home

#87

Post by grepthisab » Sun, Apr 22, 2018, 4:58 PM UTC

z3t4 wrote: post #68

truculation wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, high speed can definitely ruin a wheel(!): https://twitter.com/machinepix/status/969654857895301120

not fair as those water jets can cut through just about everything.

In this case the water jet isn't cutting anything, just spinning the wheel very, very fast.

Re: A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home

#88

Post by Relys » Sun, Apr 22, 2018, 6:02 PM UTC

donkeyd wrote: post #82

lesss365 wrote: post #76

Lifelong skater here. Learn to actually skate. Electric board riders look like dufuses. Seen quite a few in NYC. Their stances are always way off and unbalanced, seen many who couldn't stop manually, and it goes against/disallows for most of the reasons for having a skateboard. You can't get true ground/board feel while carving, its weight and form prevents execution of flip tricks, it takes away trial and error lear…

I used to ride a longboard through the city all the time, not for tricks, but for transportation, is that wrong too? Also, electric skateboards look hella fun to me. Edit: This post reminds me of people laughing at me and telling me I hold my board wrong, because I 'mall grab'. Why can't you just be happy that people want to ride a board, there's no need to be a snob about it.

Haha, I thought of "mall grabbing" too when I read his post. Electric Longboards are a totally different application. It's like comparing apples to oranges. FYI I come from a background with experience in Snowboarding and Wakeboarding and that's what an eboard feels like except we're not restricted to water/snow anymore. This is great for people like me who have office jobs/family and just want to shred for a few hours after work to chill out. I also had a traditional trick Skateboard when I was younger, but was never very good and was always afraid of hurting myself. When I go to my local park where everyone goes for downhill skating I always laugh at the guys on trick skateboards and penny boards who look like they're going to eat shit at any moment. I often see some nasty bails and think to myself "well that's going to eventually turn into arthritis down the road". Hell, even traditional longboards look scary in comparison to my eboard (which has regenerative breaks). :) I can bomb step hills (and also climb them ;p) without worrying about getting pancaked by a car at the bottom. I can literally go anywhere a bike can go with my eboard. :D I like it better then my bike because I can instantly switch from "bike mode" to "pedestrian mode" and can drag it into a store/restaurant with me as opposed to worrying about locking it up and getting it stolen. I also build/fly drones too, so eboards are a great transportation method to enable that hobby.

Re: A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home

#89

Post by kbar13 » Sun, Apr 22, 2018, 7:10 PM UTC

nojvek wrote: post #85

allsunny wrote: post #79

My suggestion to those of you that are interested in this sort of thing: make sure you know how to ride a skateboard the old fashioned way first. I grew up in Southern CA, skateboarding nearly everyday, to school, back, for fun, etc. There are a lot of basics that you'll want to pick up at slower speeds (how to bail, dodge pebbles, speed wobbles, slowing down, running from rental cops, etc). Chief amongst these is "h…

I can use a normal skateboard, but there’s no easy way to brake other than use your legs or “eat shit”. Not great for your knees. Electric skateboards (one I have) has regenerative braking and it’s amazing. Being able to control your speed is a pretty big feature.

what about in the case of a hardware failure

Re: A guide to building a fast electric skateboard at home

#90

Post by weaksauce » Sun, Apr 22, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

allsunny wrote: post #79

My suggestion to those of you that are interested in this sort of thing: make sure you know how to ride a skateboard the old fashioned way first. I grew up in Southern CA, skateboarding nearly everyday, to school, back, for fun, etc. There are a lot of basics that you'll want to pick up at slower speeds (how to bail, dodge pebbles, speed wobbles, slowing down, running from rental cops, etc). Chief amongst these is "h…

This is great advice. In my youth I was on a skateboard every single day for years barring any injury or sickness. In that time I became well versed in falling like a cat to avoid injury. Shit still happens but the ability to bail is huge and you only know when you are on the threshold of losing control by experience.