Conquer Electric Skateboard | hacked Arbor board (now planning a custom deck) | 83m flywheel clones & 71mm Sucrose Initiative | 149kv SK3 | Chaka VESC | ̶3̶x̶ (one died, but is now resurrected 4s 6.6ah 99wh Turnigy LiPo | GT2B | duct tape enclosure

The story of my board starts when I worked at a juice bar in Santa Monica and had my bike stolen from my balcony in Westwood, which I thought was a nice enough area to be able to store my bike outside of my living room. I didn’t even have the bike for 2 weeks before it was stolen!

fast forward a month of two of commuting by bus when I met a very short term coworker that was a semi-pro downhill guy that had just moved here from Texas with the intention of just skating in the mountains in Malibu for the rest of his life. I asked him if he could make me a board with all of his used stuff that he gets for free from his sponsors since I’ve never skated in my life before hand and had no idea if I’d even like it, and he was like sure, $40 bucks. I got some awesome wheels, solid raw Randall trucks, great bushings, a great board, and some AMAZING bearings from him.

I was totally in love with the board and how convenient/quick it was, but I was also getting tired of the negatives of having to push myself all over town. I was ruining a pair of vans every three months and was always showing up sweaty wherever I went, which wasn’t okay as my go-to way to get around. I wanted the speed of a bike, but I wanted for it to never leave my sight. Thus began the search for an electric board.

I frequent Reddit and found the small esk8 subreddit, which eventually led me here around February/March when it seems like a new board was being posted every few hours. So I read through all of Jasons posts on what things affect what and why, then decided to start looking for parts.

I wanted my board to be as efficient and effortless to operate as possible, I wasn’t worried about top speed. I also wanted a board to travel with, which put limitations on the batteries. After much reading and research, I repeatedly read over several sites that the lower kV a motor has, the more efficient it runs and the less heat it generates, which sounded perfect. I went to hobby king and found the 149kv SK3 ON SALE for $48, so I immediately purchased it.

For the batteries, I knew that 12s was the most powerful we could go, but I still needed to keep my batteries under 100wh, which led me to buying 3x 4s 6.6ah batteries and wired them in series in such a way that still allows me to charge them individually. This allows me to travel within the FAA regulations without sacrificing performance.

For the wheels, I wanted the smallest wheel I could possible get, since it’ll take less energy to move them. However, I knew I couldn’t go too small because then you’re putting your components closer to the ground. I decided on white 83mm flywheel clones for the front, and for the rear I used two of the 71mm Sucrose Initiative wheels that I already had. Local skate shop sold me a set of spacers for 4 bucks, which enabled me to reap the benefits of the small wheels without putting my components too close to the ground. A++

For the VESC, I was originally going to buy from Enertion, but after the nutroll regarding the pulleys I bought from him, I worried about corners being cut with the production of enertions vescs and decided to buy a handmade one from Chaka, which I cannot say enough great things about.

I originally bought a paris truck to mount the motor on, but after chatting with Dexter from Torque Boards, he informed me that its way better to use caliber. I asked Dexter if he could make it an option on his site to just buy one truck, since most of us only need one, and he was cool enough to do it! So I got my caliber truck and motor mount from him.

Everything has been working magnificently, with the exception of the motor mount. I need to find someone to weld it to the truck, since I can’t seem to get it to stay secure in place, even with the heat shrink they recommended I use.

All in all, this board is excellent. I’m baffled by the range, the torque, and how well it handles hills! I was nervous taking it up the first big hill, but it completely ate it alive and the motor wasn’t even close to being hot. I think the next step I’ll take is having the batteries slimmed, and trimming the board down to 21" so that I can put it in the overhead without anybody complaining, and maybe adding another vesc/149kv motor combo. I also really need to paint it and build a real enclosure.

Pics coming shortly! My phone is busted and I’m waiting to get a new one.

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Great story! Trimming the board down to 21" though? What’s that about?

Well most airlines will limit your carry on item to i think 22 inches, so I wanna eliminate that problem before it happens. I might just buy another cheap board and hack it down to size. I have an insane amount of airline miles I need to spend by next April and I wanna take my board with me

Nice Mike. Sorry, your having issues with that clamp. I’ll email you. Want to checkout how you set it up.

@torqueboards or @itsmikeholland Why is caliber better than paris trucks?

The clamp fits better on caliber i think

paris trucks are shaped like an O that tapers off closer to the wheel. Caliber trucks are shaped like a D and are the same thickness all the way across the hanger. The motor mount is able to grip onto the flat side of the calbers and will stay in place once firmly attached. Paris trucks are difficult because of the tapered hangar, and because they are O shaped, they don’t have a solid platform for the motor mount to stay fixed to.

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Last day as an acoustic skateboard. Not sure if im more excited about having an electric board, or not destroying another pair of white shoes…

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currently trying to order a custom deck. stay tuened. VESC gave me flashing red lights and some sporatic cut-outs after I accidentally when through a spot of water on a dim morning ride. I don’t think I killed it, but after it finally acted up this morning, I need to get a proper board and enclosure. I want a 21" long, 10" wide THICK board that I can fit in the overhead cabin, embed my wiring, enclose my VESC, partically recess my honkin LiPo’s into, but still keep them separate, modular, and ready to go. Here’s the deam:

^^^ This is my board as I currently ride it. I’ve had no issues bottoming out except for when I intentionally tested the limits for how big of a curb I could roll up. It’s similar in shape to the Phat Matson; the only thing I want to do different is to chop straight across where the inner edge of the truck base is. I don’t want it to look like a drop through like it kinda does, more like a traditional board with squared off edges.

^^^ The front nightmare. So much empty space, so much duck tape, and so much money ready to be wasted. I stripped the screw trying to remove my motor mount to add some duck tape under the trucks and better secure it, but that obviously failed. So for now it’s just slightly wobbly; the duck tape mess on each side helps keep the wobbling to a minimum until I can take it in a shop and get it welded onto the trucks.

^^^ The current battery configuration nightmare. I have a velcro strap that I wrap around the board. Keeps everything together, but not protected from rocks and debris.

^^^ Right now this is the clearance I’m dealing with, which, like I said, hasn’t caused any issues, but I’d rather get some more space under there and clean up the appearance.

^^^ cleaning up the cabling will give us MUCH more clearance.

^^^ Even without any recession, the batteries are still higher than the trucks. So now if a debris or curb can pass under my trucks, they can pass under my batteries.

^^^ This is the wiring and internal routing schematic I thought up. I want to be able to easily remove each of my batteries so that I can still follow the FAA’s 1x 100wh battery and 2x 100wh spares that I can put in my bag when traveling. I think ideally the batteries would plug in to the truck side of the board instead of closer to the vesc. I think it’s a safer call to have the wire openings facing the rear, rather than have them facing forward ready to clog with dirt and debris. I think I’ll opt out of a traditional full enclosure since this way allows for air to flow completely around each battery. I’ve no issue with them getting hot, but I feel like more ventilation is always better than none.

^^^ The batteries would plug straight into the board like this. I can shorten the connecting wires so that they lay flush like…

^^^ This.

^^^ The VESC would plug into the board like this, I have an idea for a recessed angled route, similar to the top mounted ibanez output jacks on guitars.

^^^ for example

^^^ Here is my vesc, plugged into the reccesed input jack on my jackson. This was where I got the inspiration. I think this will give it a much sleaker look than if I were to plug it straight into the board like I am with the batteries. since the batteries are already hardcased, we can save materials and just construct a mini vesc enclosure.

^^^ This would be the dream. with the recessed connector, the wires would be flush with the height of the vesc.

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