I can’t get over the idea that Ollin got everything right with their all integrated deck.
To my knowledge there’s only @evoheyax and the very few FR owners out there with this amazing design. Enclosures are lame.
Why nobody developped this concept a bit more ? expanded it to the market ?
I decided to make one. But I do not have the skills. I contacted a small company that make custom deck to do it for me. it’s called Fluidelongskate https://www.fluidelongskate.com/
They are very friendly but I have to design the board first with all the compartments and then they will build it ! Quite amazing !
The freeride deck is a masterpiece. I think the design is pretty challenging to produce but in riding many different boards I think it’s the best way to do it.
Even getting someone else to manufacturer it may be challenging, there’s a lot that goes into from the custom lid and hatch to all the thoughtful design elements that keep the weight distribution balanced. The FR can balance on a coke can at it’s center point.
You should talk to @chaka. I know they’ve been out of stock for some time but that may change soon.
Yeah I figured that out. The design would be much more simpler and less perfected for sure. Can’t achieve what chaka does. I think I can achieve something similar to evoheyax 4WD hummies. Won’t be top notch but nice enough.
Yeah I tough of this option 1 year ago. First I live in france the shipping would be a bummer; Then the waiting time is at least one year. If I could buy one and recieve it within 2 - 3 month i’ll do it, . I just don’t think it’s possible. And i have a main concern with the FR it’s the very narrow trucks ?
In my wildest dreams Ollin sells the deck alone heh
Trucks are standard width - 180mm. Basically the width of the board.
Here’s a picture of a boosted board truck on top of the freeride. I couldn’t really see a discernable difference in length, the boosted may have been 185mm but it was hard to tell. The Freeride’s lean and camber feels similar to more traditional DH boards. If you’re coming from boosted there will be more lean on the FR because the boosted board is a setup to be very stable; the deck width is shorter than the truck length by about an inch on each side so you’re underleveraged relative to a standard setup and the deck is also dead flat.
Honestly, it’s a nightmare to build. This is why no one is doing it. Plus the money is in the masses, and the masses want cheap. Hollow core decks will never be cheap, so from a business stand point, there’s not enough money in it and they will make more from an enclosure in the long run (especially because it’s way cheaper than a hollow core deck). I however, am not catering to the mass (obviously) and neither is chaka, which is why we are both pursing this design.
Insofar as the only customers looking towards this design will spend the right amount of $ for such a deck, only peoples looking for the best would look into that.
But afterall the only thing needed to lower the costs is some scaling.
There’s definitely a niche. Inside a niche hehe
Do you plan to build a few in the future ? ( maybe years from now ! )
I just think it’s the right and best way to do things. I’ve mentioned this before but the original macbookpro with the first unibody design shows that large scale production like this can be done and also be very profitable from a business standpoint. When the unibody idea first came out I’m sure they faced the same challenges - a market used to lower prices, obsessed with internal performance and not really thinking about the laptop holistically.
The market keeps growing and I think more consumers will come to appreciate the FR deck. It’s definitely never going to be easy but I think it can be done and be good business.
I still plan on building some. I am planning on making a new mold, likely during winter break when I actually have some time again. So much of my time lately has been between school and hummie motors.
It’s so rigid and light because it’s pressed as a single huge block and then routed out. Then it’s got glass layups in all the right places… THEN it’s sanded down until it’s gorgeous… just crazy time consuming. Even making the alum hatch fit seems so challenging
agree with you on that. You know for what you want to do you don’t need to try to clone his design - you could just do what most people are doing and get the CF/composite tub-style deck (Still one piece hollow) with a hatch on top. So much easier. Yes, it won’t be as amazing looking, but you’re looking at one mold vs several presses + hours on a CNC machine, which at any point could go wrong and fuck up your whole build. And once you have that mold you can bang out tub after tub. And your hatch doesn’t have to be bent (got a brake?) you can just laser/mill out a chunk of whatever. Way more manufacturable if you are for real about building and shipping decks. AND do you really want your innovation to be “hey I copied ollinboard”
I don’t cnc the battery compartments, this is where chaka and I differ. I will cnc the truck pattern, but not the battery compartment, which is a curved compartment. I press in 3 stages with my current method. The problem I’ve been having though is just with the crappy mold I made. I need to make a better one, then things should move smoother.
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but why not just invest in a carbon fiber deck with a hollowed out center? Our Banshee uses a similar concept which affords us a very thin and lightweight profile.
My first real esk8 was the raptor 1. I will NEVER EVER ride a CF deck again. It’s the worst idea you can have with a esk8 in terms of vibration and foot fatigues.
A CF deck will be 1000 x less comfortable than a classic deck. + While being structurally stronger CF is less resistant to shocks than true maple wood.
Edit : i rember I bought the R1 for good sealing and all integrated components, since then i’d rather lose lots of time to extensively seal everything up. And use a chunky enclosure. I know some pples like it but CF for me is a absoulte nononono. We are all looking for a skateboard with lots of power a skateboard can’t be Cf. You can’t reproduce the feeling of gliding on some piece of wood and that’s the main pleasure of esk8.
I have two Raptor1 builds. I agree with the vibration. Using 97 flywheels helps. I think 6 miles is when my rear legs get tingly. Next build will definitely not be CF. The built in enclosure is great but I’m stuck with 10s3p max
Is there’s a limit of layer you can press for a deck ? My stpuid first tought would be to glue all the ply then press it as a whole unit and then CNC the inside or just dig inside the wood like evo
There is a deck coming soon (probably this month) that I’ve been working on with a small family owned wakeboard/wakeskates manufacturer for about year now…and it seems like I’ll might be able to have it manufactured in larger quantities. It took us a year to come up with a good design. We have started out with foam/carbonfiber version which was super expensive to make and had terrible ridding quality. Final deck is inspired by JET SPUD/POTATO shape, is made with wooden core and carbonfiber layers. It is opened from top and uses no screws to lock the lid. It opens up with just one press of a button…and it looks awesome. It’s finished in black matte. I’ll post some details soon.
Dunno for him but I have a pretty good stance with basically no weight on the back foot yet the vibration kills the back legs. I can ride 30 km with wood without fatigue, less than 10 km with CF
