41–50 of 174 posts
In all the startups we've funded I don't think I've seen one whose product was so enthusiastically embraced by YC partners. Three bought one of these boards. One says it "changed his life."
I can't help but think if you're willing to carry around a long board for your journey, the extra effort in pushing it manually is not much and probably more fun (I can't really judge, having not used the product). If you were really against walking or pushing, then a foldable bike would be a lot more useful, safer and cheaper.
This is one of those things that's like Google in the sense that it seems to be just an improvement on existing technology, but in fact is enough of an improvement that it's qualitatively different. In all the startups we've funded I don't think I've seen one whose product was so enthusiastically embraced by YC partners. Three bought one of these boards. One says it "changed his life."
This is one of those things that's like Google in the sense that it seems to be just an improvement on existing technology, but in fact is enough of an improvement that it's qualitatively different. In all the startups we've funded I don't think I've seen one whose product was so enthusiastically embraced by YC partners. Three bought one of these boards. One says it "changed his life."
This sounds cool, but (IMO) it's actually a bad idea. When I was in my late teens / early twenties, I essentially had a 180HP version of this. It was a lot more expensive back then: $4,000 for the 1984 Chevy Blazer and $0 dollars for an extension cord we found in the garage, but going going fast on a skateboard, no matter what the method, is dangerous. The worst part of this idea is "braking". I can assure you the on…
Are you suggesting that, because it takes skill to operate, it's a bad idea? I commute on my longboard every day between the parking structure on campus and my building, which is about a mile away - takes me 10 minutes of kicking the board around and working up a sweat. An electric longboard woud fit right into my current commute, except I'd arrive at work without my shirt soaked through. For this type of commuting,…
Jeeze, I guess I did, I must be getting old. It is a cool idea.
>But, a rollerblade version? Can you explain...
Setup aside, going fast on roller blades is much more controlled than on a skateboard. You can't bail, sure, but you also won't get the death wobbles.
At speed, you can inline your feet (one foot in front of the other) and put 80% of your weight on your back foot, since the only instability is front to back. This guards you against pebbles, cracks, and what not. You have the same side to side stability as a someone riding a bike.
Skateboards at speed have instability front to back (obviously your weight is back to guard against pebbles, etc..) but also side to side. Keeping the death wobbles away takes a lot of practice.
Behind the Blazer I got up to 45Mph on my blades, but not even close to that on a skate board (with tight trucks and soft wheels). At the time I considered myself to be about equal in terms of skill with both.
(edit for line break)
Seems like it's illegal to use in California: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21968.htm
Sounds cool, but even a 95% efficient 2kW brushless motor would be dissipating 100W of heat. Not easy to dump in a small package. I've never tried building a skateboard but I've built quite a few mobile robots (and a few battlebots). Wish they had a bit more detail on the tech.