Okay, I bought an MBS Core mountain board many years ago. Now I want to convert it to an electric sidewalk surfboard to commute to work (13km one way). Though I live in the city, it’s still Africa and the road is not smooth, has no shoulder and there is not much sidewalk either, almost off road. The wheels are the 5-star nylons from MBS and not running true, rest is stiil in good condition. I would like to get the MBS Rockstars Pro they seem quite afordable and there is no way I would be able to machine something similar locally. I have a few ideas where to start but is a complete rookie with what to choose. Helical drive train seems cool but is complicated and more expensive than a belt drive system, chain seems fine as well. For the motor, batteries and controller I have no idea. Would need advice, please.
Don’t get them. They have big quality issues with this hubs. Some people here couldn’t even fit the bearings inside.
If you decide to go with belt or chain drive you can have a look in @idea thread, he sell some nice motor mounts for mbs trucks.
Thanks! What hubs do you recommend for 8” (200x50)?
If you want to stay with mbs I would get the 5 stars as you could fit 8“ and 9“ on them. If you don’t like the white than get the rockstar 2.
Also have a look here to save some money 
Belts are a pain with electric mountain boards as, depending on your use, they can easily snap on you…no one wants to walk with a heavy board back home. Chain is a lot more durable and the only long-term maintenance would be replacing the sprockets after they were down but a bit of chain lubrication will prevent this from happening for a quite some time. Disadvantage of chain is it is a lot louder than belt systems which is sometimes a problem for some people.
Geared systems are the future but you’re right in thinking there expensive but remember there’s still gonna be high costs sourcing reliable and durable motor mounts so maybe keep an eye out in the forum as i know some vendors are working away at their own versions of geared-drives so the price should in theory go down
If you want to take 9inch wheels you can buy the trampa megastar
Much more expensive but look to be a nice wheel, the mbs 5star make sense to build within a tight budget, order you tires and tubes at the same time.
You will have to decide on which way to go after that - gear drives or belt pulleys.
Gear drives are expensive typically and most only mate to one particular bolt pattern, Trampa Superstar being the predominant pattern, so bear that on mind if you pick up mbs wheels.
@moon is going to make a 4.4 drive which should support mbs wheels
See here
If you can eat the cost $635 delivered and it’s very reasonable for a complete drive train, then you could skip buying the wheel and get on this group buy
This direction could be best if you are in a city as the build would be lighter than a ful on 8" build yet still be able to deal with rough surfaces, probably no safaris
Wow the AVIO system looks beautiful. Unfortunately I am on a very tight budget and will mostly source parts locally. Regarding this Avio system, is there a reason why they didn’t choose helical gears? Is there actually a preference for helical gears above spur in sk8-board application or is the noise of spur gears not really bothering?
I already have complete 8" (obviously pneumatic) wheels I only need hubs (maybe I’ll need a spare wheel for on my way to work… hehehe) that are a bit stronger and not wobbly. The heat of a brake disc is the other reason why Nylon hubs will not last. But that is if brake discs will be used - it seems the motor is used to brake and the re-charge the battery a little bit? Is that true? Does it brake hard enough?
From what I’ve heard properly setup spur gears aren’t that noisy plus helicals are super expensive compared to spur
Sounds good, yeah they would work good.
In fairness you could still use the Haggy wheels by themselves, the price is very good to include quality tires/tubes.
Then print your pulleys, buy your belts, motors, motor pulleys(should be metal). You’ll have to find a motor mount compatible with your trucks or make them.
Are you keeping the trucks you have? what are they?
This is the mountain board, wheels and trucks.
Hmmm… that’s true the helical is quite more expensive. Looking at the complete drivetrain; it needs to be closed and sealed tightly to keep grime out and the lubricant in. That makes it more expensive… and an optimal drivetrain.
Look this
Thx for the heads up!
I didn’t know they already out for 9“ too.
If you are going to run pulleys with belts then your options for motor mounts are from vendors on here
@Idea
@okp
@marcmt88
@Nowind
@Rithblu
etc
Those are MBS Matrix I trucks afaik. You should be able to find a wheel pulley that is compatible on thingiverse i.e.
Check first to make sure it is compatible with the wheel hole spacing before printing. Don’t try to use PLA, use Nylon, PETG or similar tough filament, better still buy a pair that are made from POM.
Alternatively you can chain drive them.
But given this is to be done on super-tight budget, check here
Also check here and search in general, good luck
Dude! So many thanks for you input!
What I’m planning to do is design and build the motor mounts… sitting on the southern part of the world (with weak currency and idiotic import duties) does not help if I’m going to import parts on an extremely tight budget. I have decided on a belt drive option.
Thus for a start and to save some time I would need some CAD (or drawing) of the MBS Rockstar hubs (I saw a drawing somewhere) or at least the side with hub’s PCD and a drawing of the mounting section on the trucks. I can measure the current hubs but I don’t trust the wobbliness.
I don’t have the hubs, but maybe this can help you in some way
You welcome, more esk8 for Africa & no problem bru🤘
You can get the hole pattern for the mounts by taking them from a design on thingiverse, grabcad.com is another good resource. Just compare with what your calipers tell you with the wheels
In fact you may be able to find a mount already designed for those trucks, just need to search on them ‘mbs mount’ or ‘mbs pulley’ & of course ‘mbs wheel’
Are you hand cutting or milling them?
Looking forward to a truely Zef build yeh!