This is exactly what I’ve been looking for in a riding experience! I usually have to keep an eye on the road for objects especially when riding near the curb when going through traffic or allowing cars space to go by. So swapping out the 6” to an 8” on a stock Lacroix can be done easily without having to change any pulleys?
Sorry I thought you were making the street version for flywheels on your lacroix, my mistake. Have you gotten a hold of your CNC version for your gears? Given that there’s only a handful of gear drives available like nowind’s would using your design to have one CNC’d be cheaper to do instead of buying one from the forum?
6" won’t fit, the gears are too big, the cover would hit the ground or be really close.
No, not planning any flywheel drives for the LaCroix again it’s just too small, doesn’t make sense.
No CNC version planned, sorry but I need to tighten purse strings as my second kid is here. I do plan to get them printed using a HP fusion in nylon, industrial level stuff and should be good enough for my purposes.
Also CNC only becomes cheaper if I mass produce. If I do a single piece of each of the parts it will cost me an arm and a leg.
Alright, I may just go the 3D print route as well if it comes to it. Thanks for all the input! It’s good that having the option to swap drive trains without too much trouble is there. Totally understandable that there are budget constraints for your setup as would mine be(If I’m able to place the order for a Lacroix) I’d like to experiment and try other things so the deck and enclosure will be the main stay of my build with the trucks as well while the wheels and drive train/motors I may play around abit but not till much later as the Lacroix out of the box is already such a great machine.
Huge respect for this build it’s really impressive, but beltless transmissions come with their own set of problems and when they happen you’re in for a lot more work than changing a belt or greasing a chain. I for one have yet to be convinced they are that big an upgrade, considering the cost, the noise and the added complexity.
Look at these pics for example by @DavidC
It’s totally possible to put 107mm wheels on the lacroix deck, It’s just that you would put the deck 1.5 inches below it’s recommended height, so you would need 1.5 inches of risers to compensate, angled or not depending on the trucks you wanna use.
I’m also intrigued by the geared drive. @Nowind and @ervinelin make them look sexy, but if I’m honest with myself, I’d admit that its more want than need. Especially on the LaCroix which is designed to be a urban cruiser/carver, not a mountain board kicking up dirt and rocks on every turn.
I’ve been riding esk8s for over 2 1/2 years (urban environment only) and in that time, I’ve only had one belt break while I was riding…it was 9mm belt on my dual raptor 1. I was still able to to ride home safely and it took me about 1 min to replace the belt and restart my ride.
My point is…I get where you’re coming from, I too drool over the geared drive train (especially the helical gears!!!), but we are both likely over thinking our needs for LaCroix board, belts may not be sexy, but they are cheaper, lighter, easier, and most importantly they simply work.
Thanks @philvanzu. I tried translating the page via Google and from what I understand, the dust and pebbles were lodged between the housing and wheel causing the laceration? I’m reconsidering my plans for going with 107mm wheels due to that clearance now. My concern with belts is that I’d lose control over the brakes and acceleration should it happen to snap while I’m out riding although I do know how to foot brake, It would be one less things to worry about. I don’t own a belt drive at the moment so I don’t have first hand experience with long term maintenance with them until I can pull the trigger on the Lacroix.
Your translation is right, and he also says that he’s got some kind of sealing joint problem, grease leaking out and dust coming in, aligning the gears is very difficult making maintenance a hassle and that in the end the direct drive is in no way bullet proof.
The only problems I ever had with belts is I had to replace the cheap HTD3M coming with my leiftech because the teeth werent strong enough. I replaced with Gates belt, and they are still as new one year later. You just need to ensure they are not too tense and correctly aligned then the wear stays very limited.
From what I’ve read this allows consistent tension across but doesn’t this increase wear on the belt due to higher tension? given the @philvanzu uses quality Gates belts for over a year that makes just sticking to belts out of the box much more promising.
Idlers increase the amount of teeth that are engaged in the pulleys, which is good to prevent slippage at a given tension, allowing you to slacken the tension a bit, and that’s better for longevity.
@philvanzu Oh now I understand it better so theres better contact for the pulleys and belts! @ervinelin right its still fairly new to esk8 and I think I may be better off using belts until gear drives become more tested and proven then I can switch the Lacroix belts over to gears. Lots more support as well in the forum from builders like you guys now that I realize it.
Hello, are you able to use the clamp style light mount on the front trucks as well? I’m getting ready to order prints of your mounts but was hoping I could order that style for both front and rear trucks. Thanks! Great work all around by the way.
Been drawing up some designs myself… I see metal motor gear, but assuming I get one of those, in general how do you think a nylon motor gear on nylon wheel gear would fare?
Problem with plastic on the pinion is that I don’t think they will take the torque the motor puts out… I might be wrong but I much rather stick to metal on nylon…
