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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

#141

Post by silvertab »

mynameishere wrote: post #135
k33n wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the risk of feeding the trolls, I'll bite. Who is this "obvious" to? Clearly not you, since you think it's a horrible idea. Electronic skateboards have been around for quite awhile, and until now, they've been very heavy and mostly impractical. Yet, they are a viable product in the market and popular enough that people are making money selling them. One of the reasons this product is a leap forward is because it's…

Simply stating that there is no place for this product on the sidewalk I'm not "simply stating" anything. Most municipalities have ordinances against powered vehicles on sidewalks. It's simple. It's straightforward. It's sensible. It's correct. I'm talking law and you're talking this guy's a troll . No. Please, please, please learn basic internet lingo before you abuse it. Please?

I may be missing something here but, where did anyone mention riding a longboard on the sidewalk? I live in a big city and when a street doesn't have a dedicated cycle lane (shared by not only bicycles but, rollerblades and longboards), these people just ride between parked and moving cars... I don't see how a longboard is more of a nuisance than a bicycle really? I've seen people on bicycles going at about 5mph, slowing down all the traffic, and I've seen people riding longboards at ~15-20mph (and vice versa). Sure riding a longboard on the sidewalk is not only a nuisance, it's probably a bad idea for anyone involved... but I'm not sure why they couldn't be allowed to ride where bicycles are allowed to ride?

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

#143

Post by rayiner »

k33n wrote: post #132
mynameishere wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

awesome Since when did obvious nuisances become "awesome". I hope that comments like this will start to be deleted I hope that comments referring to obvious nuisances as "awesome" will be deleted. Here's the problem, as no one has quite caught on yet: The public transport areas consist of two main areas: Those for street-legal vehicles (cars, motorbikes, bicycles) and pedestrians (walkers, wheelchairs, baby carriages…

At the risk of feeding the trolls, I'll bite. Who is this "obvious" to? Clearly not you, since you think it's a horrible idea. Electronic skateboards have been around for quite awhile, and until now, they've been very heavy and mostly impractical. Yet, they are a viable product in the market and popular enough that people are making money selling them. One of the reasons this product is a leap forward is because it's…

Skateboarders are a huge nuisance on sidewalks. They simply move much faster than everyone else using the sidewalk, and disparity in speed is a huge source of danger in transportation. I can only imagine it'll be worse with a faster, motorized skateboard.

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

#144

Post by tomflack »

nostromo wrote: post #94
jdietrich wrote: post #82

These contraptions are illegal to use in public and if they become popular the laws against them will be enforced immediately, because they're incredibly dangerous. It is impossible to provide effective braking on a skateboard. The rider has absolutely no means of impeding their forward movement, so even if the board has effective brakes it's just going to throw them off. This is a minor problem if you're rolling aro…

"More than 49,000 pedalcyclists have died in traffic crashes in the United States since 1932 — the first year in which estimates of pedalcyclist fatalities were recorded. In 2005, 784 pedalcyclists were killed and an additional 45,000 were injured in traffic crashes." http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/810617.pdf That's a huge number. By one source cyclists are 10x more likely to die per each mile traveled than motori…

What a ridiculous comparison. As anyone who has skateboarded ever in their life knows, a bicycle is a thousand times safer and easier to control. Why don't you address the parent's points - that it is impossible to provide safe and effective braking on a skateboard.

It's impossible to prove, but replace bicycles with skateboards and the fatality rate would shoot up.

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

#145

Post by tomflack »

brc wrote: post #99
jdietrich wrote: post #82

These contraptions are illegal to use in public and if they become popular the laws against them will be enforced immediately, because they're incredibly dangerous. It is impossible to provide effective braking on a skateboard. The rider has absolutely no means of impeding their forward movement, so even if the board has effective brakes it's just going to throw them off. This is a minor problem if you're rolling aro…

The part about braking just isn't true. Sure, there is a stopping limit for any braked device - a bicycle cannot stop any faster than it's wheels can hold friction. I've crashed bikes several times from emergency stops (bikes don't have abs). You can stop any type of board-device and stay on, as long as the friction between the board and the rider is greater than the wheels and the road. You don't automatically flip…

"A bicycle cannot stop any faster than it's wheels can hold friction."

Nothing can stop faster than "it's wheels can hold friction". But on a bicycle when you brake hard then momentum is transferred on to the front wheel, which is typically ahead of where the bulk of the weight (the rider) is situated.

"You can stop any type of board-device and stay on, as long as the friction between the board and the rider is greater than the wheels and the road."

On a skateboard, the front wheel is MUCH closer to the center and the centre of gravity is MUCH higher. You'll be flung off if you stop as fast as a bicycle with properly maintained brakes can safely.

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

#146

Post by malandrew »

guelo wrote: post #98
001sky wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a cyclist, 15 deg incline is steep. Honestly, steeper than all but rural roads and even then rare. There might be some hills like that in SF. Even in the mountains, graded switchbacks are not nearly that steep, for the most part. Which beings me to who and why would you want to ride down something so steep on a skateboard? I have a hill a mile from my house, thats ~200 vertical feet, and a around a 1/4 mile, its 1…

SF actually has streets that reach over 30 deg incline.

37 degrees to be exact. Prentiss between Chapman and Powhatten

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

#147

Post by damian2000 »

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.

Then you'll probably enjoy this one too: 16.5 Kw peak power with 4 motors (4WD) http://gnarboards.com/Trail_Rider.html

... with a price to match ($4000).

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

#148

Post by aliirz »

I don't think this will ever be able to replace bicycles or cars. This thing cannot be safe. Let's say Mr.A is riding one of tbethese on a busy road and has to make a quick brake on high speed. The board will come to a stop but the momentum his body has gained will make him fall seriously injuring or killing him. So its a toy, not a serious transportation device IMO.

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

#149

Post by rokhayakebe »

jdietrich wrote: post #82

These contraptions are illegal to use in public and if they become popular the laws against them will be enforced immediately, because they're incredibly dangerous. It is impossible to provide effective braking on a skateboard. The rider has absolutely no means of impeding their forward movement, so even if the board has effective brakes it's just going to throw them off. This is a minor problem if you're rolling aro…

I am pretty sure someone said the same thing when boats first came out thousands of years ago. Then cars and trains hundreds of years ago. And motorcyles. Let us not get started on airplanes. Actually I am even sure someone said the same thing to the first guy/gal who came out swinging riding a horse "Oh my God, these animals are unpredictable, they will kill you, you will fall and break your neck."

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

#150

Post by [deleted] »

qq66 wrote: post #93
zekel wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure kids with imagination get stuck on semantics like that.

Word choice absolutely does affect how people think. Terms like "intelligent design" exploit this by cloaking nonsense in the guise of logic, and if you explain to a kid that a lightbulb or an electric skateboard works by "magic" that's a lot less inspiring than saying "a kid just like you studied how things work and invented it."

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