Will Traditional Skaters Ever Embrace the Electric Skateboard?

It’s no secret that DIE HARD SKATEBOARDERS don’t really respect the guy who rocks up on his electric skateboard bearing the slogan “Life’s Too Short To Push”

Most “skaters” are very passionate about the art they practise… So why the hell would you ruin it with motors and nerdy electronics!

It’s been my personal mission to blend the two tribes into one big happy family… I truely believe that one day the technology will be good enough so that every skateboard will have a built-in propulsion system whilst still be perfectly suited to tricks and more traditional riding styles. Yes Even VERT RAMPS!.. think of the air time you would get!

So it’s a great feeling when the non-powered longboarding community itself hands down some acknowledgement to the Build Your Own Electric Skateboard Movement. Recently Blogger, Longboard reviewer and founder of Reviewlongboards.com David Holmes interviewed me for an article he was working on.

The article is focussing in on the maker movement that has swept across the world in recent years, specifically how new technology is giving anybody professional manufacturing capabilities in their own garage. As us “e-boarders” know, this movement has given us the capability to make our own electric longboards using common equipment found in most homes.

Through research of his own and an interview they did with me, the article goes over the mission of my company and where Enertion Boards is going in the future. You can check out the full text of the article for yourself at Review Longboards.

LINK: DIY Electric Longboards Article

Do you think traditional skaters will embrace the electric skateboard?

Nice!

I constantly stop and chat with folks who are cruising along the waterfront. They almost always want to know more about the board and how did i make it. I point them to the online community and tell them it’s easy to DIY.

I also have found giving them a minute on your board is the best way to convert someone! I know this worked for me. I rode my buddies boosted board and immediately wanted to build my own/better version!

Congrats on the interview and getting the word out to our skate brethren!

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Hahaha. No.

as nice as it sounds to all live in this nirvana where everyone gets along it will never happen. I have actually had (I presume skaters) yell abuse at me from passing cars while skating on the sidewalk.

its sad really, because I also like to ride my street deck in the park.

its the same with Cyclists and e-bikes.

Haters gonna hate. Especially in American culture where its cool to take sides and bash things you don’t understand or haven’t experienced. I can tell you this though… heads turn when you scream past people doing 30mph on a flat. “whoa, did you build that?” is something I hear a lot, and its the reason i’m now designing business cards for my custom builds.

I’ve never ridden a boosted, but based on the specs of their $1500 model, i can build something that will blow its wheels off for the same price in my garage. Grossly over-powered rocket stick indeed. Always wear a helmet and pads!

But the next time somebody screams from a car for me to do a kick-flip on this 18 pound monster i might put an elbow pad through their window lol

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HA! true that.

I rode my buddies boosted dual+. GREAT Board! BUT for the price i knew i could build better (and learn/have fun doing it). Too short of a range w/ me on it (5-6 mi). Plus have it on the deck i choose with less flex! Vanguard is a fun deck, but only one flex option does not work for me.

I especially like being able to select how fast i’ll charge vs plug it in and wait! New packs in the 5-8+ C range are awesome for quick charge when you get home and ready to ride in minutes! Worth the hassle to plug/unplug IMO.

its so uncool to ride electric or different forms of transport right now. there is a trend on instagram at the moment with #REMing where people video and ridicule people on “alternative” devices.

I dont understand why there is hate…

people will eventually have to accept the reality of things… electric skateboard will one day out sell traditional skateboards.

The knee-jerk hate reactions to alternative modes of transportation are just uneducated idiots acclimating to an escalation of non-conformist sub-cultures among the traditionally conformist and often economically middle class citizens. They sense change they don’t want, and see subtle evidence of it in ebikes and eboards, etc.

In other words, a lot of us office cubicle monkeys are getting tired of oil culture and are actively working against it in small ways, and people in their stupid gas-a-hol cars don’t get that or want anything to do with it because it means things are changing on a lower level that they don’t want to have to deal with. Newsbreak: Elon Musk doesn’t give many fucks about your oil dividends, and neither do we.

And they’re jealous. Our rigs are sick and make the appropriate genders hot for us.

My eboard is the bridge between my 1987 toyota pickup and my future electric car as far as commuting is concerned. If i can toughen up my rig enough, it will be my commuter vehicle. That’s one of the reasons i’ve recently started heavily modding it again for durability. Guess what I will no longer be buying tens or hundreds of gallons a month of?

I think traditional long boarders are much more open to the swap… but I’m an old school skater and so are all my friends and not one didn’t want an electric board for their quiver. But if your some kid who thinks skating is all about kick flips and rail slides, obviously the e-board is pretty contrary to that style of riding.

My $0.02 as an ex skater boy. I don’t think so. The beauty of a skateboard is its accessibility, low price and robustness. No way electric will overtake this. And certainly not if we keep blinging up boards with carbon fibre and flashy anodized aluminum. True skating is not about the equipment.

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I went to Rayne Longboards to look for a deck last Saturday. The owner Graham became very interested in Electric Board when I mentioned what I was building. I gave him this wwebsite and he immediately searched and told me that he will be visiting.

you also have to consider that there are many, many, many kinds of “traditional skaters”. i’m assuming we’re talking about basically anyone on a push board. But that encompasses trick boarders, downhil boarders, carvers and cruisers, dancers, sliders, commuters, freeriders, freestylers, and probably a lot of others i’m not thinking of. All of these people are very different, and not all of the things they enjoy doing will translate to an electric board.

That being said, the ones most interested in speed seem to translate well, as do commuters and cruisers and freeriders.

Then you have the people who have never stepped foot on a skateboard in their life and are still very very interested in riding electric.

Wow!..That’s very philosophical!..

I’m not sure I understand what this means. What is your definition of “true skating”

True skating was taking apart a univeral size roller skate and screwing it down to a 2x4 to get as close to surfing as possible. In the late 80s and 90s skaters just think their way is the only way. There will always be hate because people close thier minds and are not open to new and different things. I grew up surfing in hawaii. Now i live in florida and the closest thing i get to surfing here is my carver skateboard! I doubt the communities will ever come together but does it reallt matter? Lets all just love what we do. If someone wants to waste thier life kicking … we should just smile as we fly by them.

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With Daddies board shop now stocking Boosted boards I would say it has already happened.

full disclosure:

i do both. I have a Gravity 40" brad edwards with caliber IIs, bones reds, venom double barrels and 75mm these whites. I’m absolutely in love with that board and would probably never electrify it. i’ve been practicing my ollies on it because its huge and hard to get off the ground, but i can pop it up pretty good now. its hella fast and does downhill really well too. when i take it on the trails i often do 10 to 20 miles in one session.

so i have a foot in both worlds for sure.

My idea of a a skateboarder are those snotty guys with their street decks that do not even except longboarders as skateboarders. Lots of blogs online with them hating on longboarders and how they will never be excepted. I would assume longboarders would more openly accept eboarders.

i think a lot of that has to do with skate park clans. if you want to see some hate, take a mountain board down to a concrete bowl. lol

I’ve always been a street/park skater. I have never owned a longboard. I never had a reason to want one. When I hear longboard, I see transportation. The only reason I am building one now is for transportation.

I think they are completely different sports and are incomparable.

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My Definition of “True Skateboarding”

I was most heavily involved in skateboarding from the age of 12 to 17 or 18 about when I got my first car and didn’t need a skateboard for transport (its pretty sad really). It’s human instinct to choose the most efficient methods of completing a given task.

Many years later when I lost my license I got back on the skateboard.

During those early years, the skateboard was a multifunctional device used for many things! Transport, Tricks, Racing, Weapon, A Seat, Carrying heavy loads…

We would practise all disciplines of skateboarding; ride bowls, stair gaps, downhill, cruising, flip tricks, old school tricks, long distance commuting…

If I think hard enough I would say for me (and our crew) it was mostly cultural, the skateboard was a philosophical veichile into a world of adventure, risk taking, freedom, escapism, brotherhood and constantly searching for the next high… we would take our boards everywhere it was like a new body part, So deep down maybe it wasn’t about the hardware primarily.

But I can also distinctly remember arguing with makes over deck shapes, wheels, bearings, truck brands, deck weight, ride height, kick tail length & deck artwork, skate shoes and clothing…

If a mate rocked up with a new skateboard that had blank trucks & wheels he would get scolded pretty hard as being a cheapskate.

Symbolism and materialism are a strong force in our society today. People think nice things will make them happy! But in reality the experience, the connection the culture is the true medicine.

So yes I will continue to make the best-looking eboards I can possibly make, using the latest and greatest high-tech materials & techniques - for me building eboards is like doing a really technical sculpture, its art, science & engineering… is it the end product that is most satisfying for me? No, probably not… For me it’s the journey, the culture, the connection.

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