Maintenance/Repair Poll

General Discussion
1

Wanted to take a poll on how much time it takes all of you to maintain your board each week. Tinkering/upgrading doesn’t fit in this category. I’m more wondering how much time you spend just keeping your board in running condition. I know there’s a lot of talk of false economy and what not and think this is a consideration. I chose 100 miles since it’s roughly equivalent to 2-3 weeks of riding for most of you according to a previous poll. Let me know if this should be asked differently or if you have feedback.

  • I spend less than an hour per 100 miles maintaining/repairing my board
  • I spend at least an hour per 100 miles maintaining/repairing my board but less than 5 hours
  • I spend 5-10 hours per 100 miles maintaining/repairing my board
  • I spend over 10 hours per 100 miles maintaining/repairing my board

0 voters

Thanks!

2

One you get your board right, and make it reliable the only thing you need to do I charge the battery and occasionally look at the belt.

3

Thanks JLabs. How long does it usually take to finetune a board to make it reliable?

4

  • my vanguard, my evolve and my tesseract only got regular maintenance on the trucks for extra smooth turning (about 200-500km), only kingpin off, bushings cleaning, some thin silicon grease in pivot and thats it

  • about every 500-1000km I seem to need a new belt

  • once a year I open up the enclosure, remove dirt, check cell drift and maybe switch a motor, because Im curious about other motors mostly and not because my old motor failed

3 Likes
5

At the beginning when I build my V1 board, almost after every ride things went wrong. From wire disconnecting, box falling to the ground, bolt coming off, water splashes and other too many to even type. While my V3 versions, almost only wiping out moisture after riding in the rain. The only problem I have now is that my deck is cracking into pieces and rust is killing me.

6

I am doing small tweaks (sometimes for testing purposes) after every weekend fun ride.

7

Thanks everyone, your input gave me a lot of perspective and was really helpful.

8

I do maintenance at least every 100 miles, but it’s preventative maintenance.

So I check the trucks to make sure they screws don’t wobble, which over time warps the screw holes on your trucks (I’ve done this to so many trucks on my street board over the years).

I check the wheels to make sure they aren’t moving too much or too little side to side (the ever so slightest side to side is perfect. They can clamp down on you and tighten as your ride. I have killed bearings like this before.

I also check my lid, since it’s held on the board by a 13 screws. They can come lose over time and I worry what lock tight will do to my threaded inserts when I try to remove the screws, so I don’t use any. probably every 200 of so, I’ll look under the lid and make sure my heatsinks on my vesc are still screwed down tightly. I check wires to make sure nothing looks prone to failure (I’ve had the phases wires snap while riding a few millimeters away from the vesc board because I left a few too many millimeters of wire much exposed).

And I look for anything out of place.

The whole process takes a few minutes at most. And usually, I catch 1 or 2 things that could be adjusted. But in time, I hope once everything gets broken in, I don’t have to do anything.

1 Like
9

My first board took about 6 months. That’s with parts in hand. After that smooth sailing. I’d say now I can build a reliable board really fast (with parts). It’s all about learning, reading, and more reading.

10

Your screws are on-top right? This is a persistent one for me, I lose screws all the time, particularly the one nearest to the motor. You can probably use epoxy to hold the inserts in place.

11

I used fiberglass starands and resign. But I don’t know how strong it is. And since they Are covered by a layer of wood. If one were to start spinning I would be screwed.