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Boosted Boards (YC S12) Unveils Its Magical Electric Skateboard

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Re: Boosted Boards (YC S12) Unveils Its Magical Electric Skateboard

#31

Post by TeMPOraL »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #12
tmuir wrote: post #8

"all I could think was that this will change how we interact with our cities." Anyone else reminded of Dean Kamen's predictions for the segway?

This is a bit different, I believe. Segways just do not look cool, and you would be kind of embarrassed riding one, unless you really don't give a fuck what the world thinks. These on the other hand are cool enough that you are ride them without looking like a clown.

Interesting fact: in Prague there are people offering sightseeing tours on Segways; it seems to be quite popular there.

Re: Boosted Boards (YC S12) Unveils Its Magical Electric Skateboard

#32

Post by bryanlarsen »

brokentone wrote: post #20

This is way cool, but the company has a few challenges to face to be "serious, eco-friendly transportation devices that could replace your bike, scooter, or maybe even your car." I live and work in manhattan and for the summer I've been skating to and from work nearly every day (40ish blocks). According to my research, skateboards are considered "play" devices. Whereas bikes and all motorized vehicles are required to…

You may feel safer on the sidewalk, but just like a bicycle, you may be safer on the street than the sidewalk. Most collisions happen in intersections. Cars do not expect vehicles to be crossing the street from the sidewalk at high speed, so don't check very well. Being closer to the center of the intersection makes you more visible, and ensures you're coming from an area where cars expect high speed objects to be coming from.

Being in Manhattan changes that somewhat. There are a large number of pedestrians there, so that helps with driver awareness.

Re: Boosted Boards (YC S12) Unveils Its Magical Electric Skateboard

#34

Post by at-fates-hands »

"Nothing’s scarier than getting going too fast down a hill on a skateboard." Actually if you know how to power slide, going down hills is actually quite fun.

Also, is this a full electric board, or do you have the option of pushing and then you can use the motor when you want to?

Re: Boosted Boards (YC S12) Unveils Its Magical Electric Skateboard

#35

Post by awolf »

brokentone wrote: post #20

This is way cool, but the company has a few challenges to face to be "serious, eco-friendly transportation devices that could replace your bike, scooter, or maybe even your car." I live and work in manhattan and for the summer I've been skating to and from work nearly every day (40ish blocks). According to my research, skateboards are considered "play" devices. Whereas bikes and all motorized vehicles are required to…

I agree with your sentiment and would like to take it a step further.

As someone who lives in San Francisco and commutes using all three of bike, foot, and car (and back in college rode a skateboard around a large and busy campus) I don't think skateboards belong on the sidewalk - and definitely not motor powered ones.

Anything that has the potential to move much faster than a person running at full speed is extremely dangerous on the sidewalk for everyone involved: cars, bikes, and especially pedestrians. It breaks everyone's mental model for what could possibly be coming from where. Cars making a right turn do not expect bikes or skateboards to entering the sidewalk at 5-10 mph from their blind spot and so they almost never check. Pedestrians turning a corner don't expect the possibility of something oncoming that is moving too fast to stop before hitting then and so they almost never look. And so on..

As an individual YOU might be a considerate skateboarder who has learned when and where to be careful. That's great, but it doesn't change the fact that there are still idiots and assholes out there that are going to do idiotic and asshole things. The only system that makes sense is: fast-stuff in one place where everyone knows to look out for fast-stuff, and slow-stuff on the sidewalk.

Re: Boosted Boards (YC S12) Unveils Its Magical Electric Skateboard

#36

Post by ecaroth »

I have been longboarding for 10+ years, and riding Loaded boards for most of it (the company that makes the deck they are using). Loaded decks are friggin amazing, and i'm super excited to see a product like this exists. If they can make it function with similar flex as the normal loaded board, and disengage the motors as needed to ride like a normal longboard this could be the best short-range commuting vehicle ever!!

Re: Boosted Boards (YC S12) Unveils Its Magical Electric Skateboard

#37

Post by jonnycowboy »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #28
mmaunder wrote: post #22

Some context: The average electric bicycle has a 300 watt motor. These baby's have 2000 watt motors (or 2 x 1000 watt motors, I couldn't tell) that are roughly a 5th of the size of an electric bike motor. Include a battery big enough to power that motor and the fact that they're adding regenerative braking, which electric bikes don't have, and this is a seriously awesome engineering challenge.

Wow. Which leads one to ask, could you just take the motors off the board and put them on a bike? What's the new tech that makes these motors possible?

Brushless motors. You could put them on a bike but then you'd break the laws governing electric bicycles (500w or 1000w limits depending on the jurisdiction).

Re: Boosted Boards (YC S12) Unveils Its Magical Electric Skateboard

#38

Post by lancefisher »

Newky wrote: post #14

Are these boards common in America or elsewhere. Here in Dublin, Ireland I have seen perhaps one long board in my life. Is there a certain terrain or area which suits these boards or are they good for any urban street type scenario. At that price, I can see no advantage over a bike or even a small motorbike. Wondering is this something that people think will do very well in the market they are targeting?

Yes, these are pretty popular in college towns in the U.S. I live in Missoula, MT and see them all the time. I'll often see a dog on a harness pulling the rider along too. That looks pretty fun.

Re: Boosted Boards (YC S12) Unveils Its Magical Electric Skateboard

#39

Post by luser001 »

Pretty interesting idea!

Serious question by a non-skateboarer: Unlike the Segway this doesn't provide any stability assistance, right? How safe would it be for a newbie to start using this?

I'd be worried about falling off this thing. AFAIK, the Segway goes to great lengths to mitigate that risk [although GWB managed to defeat those systems :)].

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