Introducing the 2nd Generation Boosted Board | Hacker News Reader

Introducing the 2nd Generation Boosted Board

boostedboards.com

198 pointsjpb0104187 comments

I have over 200 miles on my Dual+, and I have to say it is still so much fun to ride. As far as quality and design goes, they really do great work. I took the controller apart once to see how it worked. You can see they really put a lot of thought and durability into the feel and use. Also, when the belt loosened up a little on me I assumed I would need to take it apart and retighten everything. Nope, you just loosen one allen screw, and a spring pushes the belt to the proper tightness, and then you re-tighten the screw, so easy and well engineered throughout. My only gripe was that you could only go 5 miles (in the fastest mode) riding the way I do. But I see they've addressed that.

I just pre-ordered the new one and I can't wait to ride longer distances.

Can you or someone else on here offer your thoughts on the safety of these?

I used to be a big longboarder, and after shattering my collarbone coming off a hill, I had to sell it. (My second big accident on it.)

Obviously, not much can be done about the physics of a big-headed, top heavy primate toppling, but do these boards have a way of governing their speed going down hills?

If so, I'm looking forward to buying one. I miss skateboarding.

I've broken both arms in the first 6 months of riding. First time was from a steel plate on the road that made the board stop dead (didn't notice how high it stuck up). Second time I just fell backwards after getting hung up on a bump.

Still ride it almost every day though :)

Me thinking: This looks fun, I might want to get one of these!

> I've broken both arms in the first 6 months of riding.

Me closes the tab, backs away slowly....

Somewhat comically when I went to pick up my boosted board from their shop in Mountain View the guy I met shook my hand with his left hand which I thought was weird, but didn't think much about it.

A bit later I asked if he commuted on his boosted board and he said that he did everyday until recently because he had surgery after shattering his right elbow.

I asked, "Not from the boosted board right?"

He smiled and said he had hit a bit of oil.

Didn't exactly inspire confidence.

I don't really think there's a way to make a skateboard safe at speed. Ultimately if the skateboard stops suddenly, you continue to travel at the speed it was going, and unlike a bicycle, nothing is going to absorb damage except your body.

Thanks for sharing this. I was beginning to wonder if I should substitute my bike for a boosted board for my daily two-mile commute, but then your comment reminded me that riding this on the awful streets of Baltimore would be suicidal.

(I used to be a skateboarder. I know how much pain a tiny pebble can cause.)

I ride through the absolutely horrible streets of midtown Manhattan and I have gone down a couple times, one time where I was digging dirt out of my palms. But really, I think if you are smart about your speed and keep your eyes on the road, the danger is mitigated somewhat. One thing I always do is keep the motors engaged at all times, which is less energy efficient, but at least lets me know if my remote has lost connection with my board since you can feel the sensation of the motors disengaging power.

Ooh, that's no good :/ the controller loses connection when you're riding - is that a fairly common occurrence?

It's not common at all. I always keep the belt engaged because it also keeps the deceleration constant, and I do not know how to brake normally -- so the brakes are the only thing that will save my ass if a car jets out in front. Never had the remote cut off except the one time I forgot to charge the remote. But the beeping about 10 times before it cut off was ample warning. I have never really fell in love with a product before as much as the boosted board - and this is coming from someone who had zero skateboard/longboard experience. Maybe I'm a natural, or maybe it's just dumb simple to learn. I still can't cut corners very well and have problems figuring out the right tightness for my trucks, but that's my hangups, the board is still a great piece of engineering.

The 75MM In Heat wheels are pretty good about small cracks and pebbles. Totally different than regular skateboard wheels. I use them on a traditional longboard and have to hit something pretty big to snag up.

It's only partially the case. I've taken pretty bad spills before because of unfinished road tar that pretty much "ground me to a halt", like quicksand, and also from curbs that I thought I could brace, but instead sent me forward head over heels. Skateboard accidents can be a lot less forgiving than bike ones if they are the kind where your board stops and you keep going.. Though they also can be a lot more forgiving since you are closer to the ground. It's a mix. I don't wear a helmet -- helmets makes me more clumsy. But at the same time, I don't really go in the street much, mostly a sidewalk skater.

You'd be surprised at how much stuff the bigger wheels on a longboard can roll right over. Maybe see if you can find a friend with a longboard to give it a try :)

Still a problem though because you have to be a lot more vigilant on board versus a bike. A bike can somewhat "hop" an obstacle that the wheels might not be able to roll over. The board on the other hand will most likely send you forward as it abruptly stops.

Yeah, bigger, softer wheels + higher speeds + 2000 watt motors doesn't compare to a regular skateboard with small, hard wheels.

That said, it also doesn't compare to bicycles with ~26" air-filled tires. You definitely have to pay close attention to the road surface.

This is the best/worst product testimonial ever.

Probably appeals to the thrill seekers ("you could break an arm but its so fun you'll want to do it again!").

Yes, it certainly appeals to me. I like the idea of doing things dangerous enough that one must actually focus and pay attention.

I went right back to motorcycle-riding after the bolts in my thumb healed up. :-)

wow! that's heavy duty. I've had about 3 falls over 2k miles or so. The first version was a super product with creat fit and finish. I'm assuming v2 will be even better.

San Francisco ER doc here. See a lot of older dudes who weren't skateboarders to begin with breaking bones on these and more traditional longboards. I am a former skateboarder, and certainly don't think that longboarding is inherently unsafe but when you add in a motor and make it easy for someone to learn to use a skateboard without putting in the time (and inevitable falls) at lower velocities, and compound that with a hilly city with a lot of unpredictable traffic, badness occurs. Just be careful, wear a helmet, skate defensively and please don't play in the streets until you're ready.

The only semi-practical suggestion I have would be to spend a few months at a dojo that teaches safe falling from a height such as judo or aikido. The kinds of falls I'd expect (fast deceleration of the lower body) seem like good candidates for the kind of reactionary falling that judo and aikido do.

I've received this specific advice from legendary ultra-distance inline skater Eddie Matzger, who said that this very training has saved his hide many, many times.

From my own experience skating and teaching skating (inline, not board), one of the easiest ways to get injured in a fall is the "stick your hand out" reflex. Fall training mitigates this, ingraining habits to allow much larger areas of the body to take the impact, and ideally take it rolling. If you're going forward (doing the "superman") and have wrist guards or palm sliders, arms out can be ok. If you end up going more down than out (esp. many backward/side falls), it's likely a broken wrist or arm, right through any guard you might be wearing. (ask me how I know that one...)

Long time street-skater here (30+ years). Not sure that stuff would help as it's pretty different rolling around in a gym vs. getting thrown off your board at 20mph. It also might actually make you ride over your head because you think you can bail and not get hurt. I also don't think pro skaters (inlines/etc...) are good examples because their skill level is already so high; they are operating on a totally different level. They already know how to fall really well because they've fallen a ton. Also, if you are worried about getting hurt, you probably shouldn't ride a skateboard.

The best preparation is just to get a regular skateboard (not a long board) and skate around on it on the sidewalk. This will help you get the balance and board handling down.

I highly recommend learning how to ollie on the regular board. The falling you do in learning how to ollie will help. Even if you can't ollie a boosted board, the board control you learn will help you manage riding over rough pavement. Also the ollie motion of shifting your weight can be used even on long boards to manage obstacles.

Finally, on the regular skateboard learn how to power slide. This will teach you how to balance your weight if the board is sliding sideways.

I did some adult parkour classes. We learned how to break our landings outside on concrete.

No reason you can't take your gym training outside and start falling on hard surfaces.

Would it help to wear full motorcycle-type gear?

This is exactly what many downhill longboarders do. Typically with suits made by places that do motorcycle racing leathers. It's absolutely not a substitute for fall training, however. See my earlier post in this subthread.

Probably, though I'd guess the additional gear would be at odds with what I suspect is an appreciation of minimalism in the product.

While it might help, you will be falling to much harder and uneven surfaces than the training mats in a dojo.

I've taken hard falls on concrete before. It's not fun per se, but it's way better than reacting by posting an arm and having said arm break. Road rash + bruises > pins in arm.

Eventually they teach you to do a fall from a full body height above the ground (~6 feet) which is ~22 km/h fall. Granted, the angles are diffent and forces are somewhat less. But, 20MPH with good gear and technique is generally not that dangerous.

Closest I have personally experienced was a fall off the back of a large horse onto hard packed dirt / loose gravel at a fast trot ~8 - 10mph + 5 vertical feet. But, with the right technique it was basically painless and I did not end up with a bruise or anything.

I doubt that a judo roll will do any good when falling on tarmac at 20mph...

I did a little judo when I was young (only 3 years IIRC, from 6 to 9) and it saved my life many many times, falling from horses, bikes, motorbikes, anything really, at reasonable speeds and with almost no protection.

When falling from something that's moving, you will continue to move when you hit the ground; to limit hurting yourself you need to roll and not skid. The way to do that is to put yourself into a ball, and to do it by instinct (as of course you don't have time to think about it).

It would prevent you from falling with locked wrists and breaking your arms.

You'd still get scraped up and hurt, of course, but falling at 20 mph and not running into a brick wall doesn't have to result in broken bones.

Actually, it does a whole lot. If you have a jacket on, you will avoid getting scraped. And I've fell actually going 20-30 multiple times on the boosted board, as long as you don't fall stiff armed, and have some torque to "roll off" you will be fine. I'm only about 150 pounds though and 5'8", so different body types might not have such a sane strategy.

You should always wear a helmet when riding one, 22 mph + falling or other cars is no joke! I've had to jump off at full speed before to avoid hitting things that would have made the board stop. Like riding a bike there is a risk, so you just have to be aware, try not to ride close to cars, and know how to fall safely. I think you can rent them at a few places--might want to look into that. Be warned though, once you try one you will want to buy it.

I've fallen hard ~5 times over the course of ~1000 miles, but it's a lot less frequent now that I've learned what to watch out for. You do need to be very vigilant on rough/potholey roads + light rail tracks, and very aware/defensive around other vehicles, of course.

If you're going fast in a straight line it can handle a fairly rough road. The slower you're going the more likely an obstacle is to stop the board and throw you off, but of course the faster you're going the more it will hurt if it does :)

Carving + powered wheels + debris also makes it more likely for the board to slide out from under you.

Basically avoid all potholes/rough patches/sand/etc at first and over time take them on more aggressively as you get comfortable. When in doubt go around or stop and walk across.

And wear a fucking helmet.

If you learn to "run off" the board, you'll never get hurt. The reason people get hurt while longboarding (electric or not) is not because of poor balance or environmental hazards, but their inexperience with simply continuing to run in the direction they are traveling if the board comes out from under their feet. This is by no means an affront to those who have been injured longboarding, as I myself have been situationally unaware and injured myself.

You can practice running off the board by riding into a garden hose (this will also prevent damage to the board or trucks). You can make the hose more or less taut to make the stopping intensity higher or lower. What you are trying to do is maintain your momentum in the direction you are traveling, and your goal is to make this such a natural reaction that your body will automatically do it when something unexpected knocks the board out from under your feet.

I used to be a hardcore longboarder. I'd burn down mountain roads. The worst injuries I experienced were the super sudden stops where human reflexes just aren't going to cut it.

"Making it a natural reaction" simply doesn't jive with physics when you're going a certain speed. Sorry, but what you said is dumb hippy logic.

I definitely wasn't writing this to the hardcore longboarders, it's my training strategy for city commuters and it has been quite successful in practice.

If you're burning down mountain roads my advice would shift to suggesting knee and elbow pads.

This only works if you're going slowly, otherwise you eat asphalt...or whatever it is you have in front of you.

I've racked up 3000+ miles riding up and down the hills in SF (530 vertical feet over 3.7 miles). 4 falls, 1 going too fast downhill and overcharging the battery (dislocated shoulder), 1 crossing tracks perpendicular slowly, and twice slipping on wet metal. Except for the first time I only managed to get banged up.

Take safety seriously and remember that things can go bad any time, so go slow (but not too slow) when it's riskier. Knowing how to foot break and fall safely are also musts.

It does have brakes (regenerative!), which usually work well, unless you need to stop extremely quickly, or there's RF interference and the remote momentarily loses connection (which is pretty rare and usually in the same location every time), or the battery is fully charged (thus nowhere for the energy to go)

But seriously, the brakes work pretty well. You should still learn to footbrake.

>or there's RF interference and the remote momentarily loses connection (which is pretty rare and usually in the same location every time)

o_O if the remote loses connection it doesn't default to gently applying the brakes?

Considering how everyone raves about how much thought has been put into these boards, that seems like a really big oversight!

Yeah, I'm curious why they don't do that. I guess part of the issue is how gently should "gently" be? If you're not expecting it to start breaking it could throw you off. If it's too gentle then there's no point.

If the remote emitted a warning sound a second before it started braking, then slowly started braking, that could work.

Also in my experience RF interference is extremely localized. Chances are it will reconnect once you travel ~15 feet.

BTW here's a map someone started of "dead zones": https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1BSgoslQB-0i16l...

Exactly right. It's hard to arbitrarily pick the "gentle" braking point, and unexpected braking is not great.

Only if you choose an absolute value. Start gentle and then ramp up over the course of 10-15 seconds. It would be easy to add a slight high frequency oscillation to it as well, to make the board vibrate a little as a prompt to explain what it's doing.

It's kind of ridiculous to present that as an unsolvable problem dude.

For me, it seems to be safer than biking. I had one fall in two years and ~2500 miles of riding, and usually I find that if you hit something, you start naturally running before you even notice you're off your board. I used to have a bad bike crash about once a year, and have been pleasantly surprised so far on the boosted.

I've actually lost balance a couple times while on my board going around 20 and at those speeds I've been lucky to just kind of sprint off the board still standing. It's definitely an art though, I don't think it's always possible, especially at higher speeds

Were the crashes with cars or obstacles/terrain?

Another anecdote here, no prior boarding experience, I've put over 500 miles on my boosted board and only fallen once. I ride full speed in the street ~90% of the time.

I've done about 700miles on mine in a year. Amazing to drive, only had two spills. No real damage.

One thing I do suggest to everyone is to get a proper full-face helmet. The longboarding kind, not motorbike (lighter). It makes the ride less windy and cars take you more seriously in traffic.

Plus, at 22mph you can do some serious damage to your moneymaker. A $200 helmet will stop that. Totally worth looking like a bit nerdier.

Can't wait to get the new version of the board. With daily riding, it amortized against Uber in 3 months.

Since you seem to ride one of these a lot, I'm curious if you ever used a long board before. How you would feel if you had to use a long board instead of a boosted board for a day?

It seems insane to me to charge a skateboard, but since I've moved to a very hilly area it does make sense, just maybe not at 1500 bucks for me.

Hi - one of the founders here. I'd never skateboarded or longboarded before working on this project. I found I used a Boosted board very differently than I would use a longboard - for me it's replaced many car trips and many Uber/Lyft rides. This made up for the price quite quickly.

It's replaced my car, so $1500 was absolutely worth it for me. Solves the last mile problem perfectly and ALSO is incredibly fun.

I did longboard before - not sure why skateboarders seem to dislike the idea of electric boards so much.

It might sound like a lot of money but once you try one you're going to see how much fun they are. They really are well built too. I think the same loaded longboard without a motor or batteries is over 300 dollars. Boosted didn't go cheap any aspects of the board, it very well built and designed.

I have used a longboard and I also grew up skateboarding/surfing/snowboarding/etc. I also have a carver board. I love all types of skateboards, but this one is something else. I would say it most reminds me of snowboarding, especially when carving at high speeds.

I'll buy your old one once you get the Gen 2

I'm happy to see Boosted continuing to develop their product.

Yesterday morning, I came off the Caltrain (walking my bike), and there was a guy with a classic short board with flat gray tape.

As I heard that telltale clack-and-roll and watched the guy kick down the sidewalk, I overheard two guys joking that it was really strange to see a guy with an "old-school non-motorized" skateboard coming off the train.

Congratulations, Boosted, you've reached male-SF-techie hegemony!

That loser probably only paid $30 for that retro-board too. ;)

I never can get over the price for a Boosted board. $1500. Wow.

$1500 may seem like a lot for such a small piece of hardware, but it is a form of transportation. As someone else mentioned in this thread, in 3 months they reduced their uber bill by $1500 after only 3 months of owning a board.

That's not exactly a fair comparison. Compare it instead to a bike, which can be bought used for under $500, will last much longer, is much less likely to break, and doesn't need to be charged daily.

Or, as parent implied, compare it to a skateboard: Under $200 new, no recharging, fewer things that can fail, lasts for years (might need to replace the deck a few times, $50 each), easier to transport, doesn't make you look weird.[1]

[1] I know in places like SF and NYC nobody will bat an eye at somebody riding this, but in cities like Baltimore, the owners of a Boosted Board probably number in the single-digits.

Founder here.

Actually, we see people using it because they prefer it to a bike in certain situations. It's compatible with most public transit and ridesharing, and there's little to no risk of theft. Compared to a normal skateboard or bike, you also don't risk being sweaty when you arrive at work. Bikes also require more regular maintenance, which isn't expensive but can be time-consuming.

We've seen it enthusiastically adopted in many cities outside SF and NY.

You just said that it removes a bikes greatest feature: the possibility of exercising while commuting. It's a lot healthier, greener, and a better use of my time.

Agreed. But we've discovered from users of the board that in hilly or hot areas, having exercised on their way to work and arriving sweaty is a non-starter.

> Agreed. But we've discovered from users of the board that in hilly or hot areas, having exercised on their way to work and arriving sweaty is a non-starter

Non-starter - really? How many workplaces don't have showers? I'm in a developing country and we have showers at our office.

In the US, many many workplaces do not have showers. It's a huge annoyance. They are not part of building codes to have in offices.

And yet cars seem to pervade your point of view... Exercise is hardly a magic bullet for health. And stinking at your job due to sweat, feeling uncomfortable, and being less productive is a tradeoff for most people. It's still somewhat of a workout to ride the boosted if you set the trucks tight, calf muscles definitely get a workout. But even so, your POV is a bit narrow sighted.

It's a totally fair comparison if Uber is what Boosted Boards are replacing, which it has for me as well.

Anecdote: the other day I had lunch with coworkers 2 miles from our office in SF. I happened to have my board, so I rode it back while they Ubered back. We left at the same time. I beat them back to the office by 5 minutes.

That probably wouldn't have happened on a bike or skateboard, but if it did I'd be sweaty as hell. Plus I'd have to lock up my bike in the garage.

I'm convinced electric skateboards are the fastest, cheapest, most convenient, and most fun (albeit dangerous) form of transportation in a dense city like SF.

The uber comparison is more fair than your comparisons. Ok, yes the bike. But the bike isn't something that you can take with you everywhere, it's not nearly as easy to bring it on the train or grab a bus or if someone is picking you up somewhere you'd need them to be able to pick up your bike. An uber solves all above mentioned issues, however it's exepensive. A skateboard does solve as well, but using a skateboard as a means to get from point a to point b is less than ideal and the lack of brakes and numerous other options make it a non-option for a lot of people and why skateboarding is a culture instead of any everyman type situation. Enter the boosted board now you have a relatively easy way to get around on a skateboard and people that were turned off by the inconvenience have now a much more convenient and even more convenient way of doing things that is extremely portable you can pick it up and carry it with you don't have to worry about finding a spot to lock it up. The original comparison is not exactly fair you are right, but your comparison relative that isn't even remotely fair or showing of an understanding of why there is a market for electric skateboards.

Comparing a $1500 electric skateboard to a used bike isn't a fair comparison either (especially with assumptions like the bike will last longer, less likely to break). I can show you a list of a few hundred to thousands of bikes that are more expensive than $1500. I could also show you a list of electric bikes that are more expensive than $1500.

My point is that to comparable products or modes of transportation, electric bike, segway, car, uber, taxi's, $1500 isn't a ton of money.

Have you guys ever thought about selling a solar recharger for the boards, or is that completely impractical (like, it would take all day or something)?

I ask because a board like this would be pretty neat for long boarding long distance like my brother and me have planned this summer (riding from Miami to Key West), where you might want to just rest while the board does the work for a few miles, every once in a while. If it could solar charge while manually riding in a matter of 90 min or something, that would be pretty epic.

I think that would be pretty tough given how large the solar panel would need to be (~100 watts to charge the 99 watt-hour battery in 90 minutes), and the need to keep it oriented towards the sun.

I'm not the founder, but he/she is present in this thread - may want to redirect the question to him.

My bikes cost $2000 and $3500. So while you CAN get a bike for $500, that is not what most serious bikers spend ;)

How much did their medical bill go up in those 3 months?

Someone else in the thread mentioned breaking both arms on this:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11730920

broke both arms in six months of use! Assuming the person was in a cast for six weeks and didn't use the board while in a cast, they spent half the time not using the board as they did using it.

People can break arms on regular skateboards as well.

The $30 skateboard is also a form of transportation. As is a bike, as are a lot of things that cost less than $1500.

It's a yuppie toy. Sure yuppies need toys too, but let's not pretend this is something it's not.

A skateboard is not a very efficient mode of transportation. It's about as fast as jogging. The boosted board is more like a bike...specifically, it's comparable to an electric bike, except that you trade off range to get greater portability (pretty useful to have in areas where bike theft is common).

Calling it a 'toy' is silly, and obviously intended just to be insulting. If someone buys a nice road bike to get to work, is that a 'toy'?

I own a first gen. The only negative is the disdain people show you while riding. I get shit from skaters and random people. The high price tag was manageable for me but it causes people to put you in that "rich techie" bucket and talk shit. Though maybe I'm just too self-conscious.

It's super fun to ride though. I was comfortable on a normal longboard before getting one. I'd say it's worth learning the ropes on a regular longboard first so you can get comfortable with braking without the engine in case things go south.

I find this sentiment incredibly odd. It's my commute, and it's super fun. Why would I possibly care if some skater kid thinks it's "cheating" and what would that even mean? It's such an inane point of view, I feel pretty comfortable ignoring it completely.

I've found the opposite, get nothing but interest when riding a boosted. Everyone wants to know what it is and where they can get one :)

It's a mix. I do get those same positive interactions too. Especially when I skate by parks with families. Lots of former skater dads want a spin!

I think the negative situations just stand out more.

This is the only reason I haven't bought one - I see people in SF riding them all the time and they look like so much fun, but I get enough techie hate as it is :\

FWIW, I've only gotten shit for it once. A person yelled "Get a real skateboard" to me, but he was in a cab (who the fuck rides a cab in SF in 2016?) so I just laughed. Most people seem to think it's cool. Even without startups/techies, Boosted Boards still seem very fitting for San Francisco.

Sometimes I like to blow people's minds by gently pedaling once before engaging the motors. Bystanders are visibly baffled by how one kick could produce so much momentum.

Something tells me Casey Neistat already has 3.

Came here for the Casey Neistat replies to be honest, but it got me thinking, why didn't they collaborate with Casey to announce the new board? Maybe today's episode will reveal more. Wouldn't it be great marketing to have an internet celebrity and #1 boosted board fanboy announce your new and improved product?

I bet they did. Would he really meet with the CEO because he left his remote back in NYC....

Yup! He actually just asked where he could get one, and I was close enough that I dropped one off with him.

But you also dropped off one of the new boosted boards didn't you?

Nope, just rode my 1st-gen board over to see him, dropped off a remote, and rode home.

Right. And the premise the used to explain his trip back to SF was, let's be honest, thin at best - I like me some travel, but even I won't fly transcon just to stay in a nice hotel room. This makes a lot more sense.

Google I/O is currently on and he's buddy-buddy with the YouTube folks, so it may be that he's managing to attend to a few different matters while he's out there.

(Also, he's going to hit 3 million subscribers in the next day or two. It's a big week for him!)

He was going to SF for Beme meetings presumably, and the hotel offered to make it up to him the next time he was in town. It just happened to be only a week later.

You're right, I bet we'll find out later today

But you still can't ride slowly downhill for too long without it cutting out the brakes to prevent overcharging?

This is only an issue if the battery is already fully charged. I live on a very steep incline ~18%, I know if I charge my battery 100% that I can't ride it downhill for the first leg of my trip, I simply unplug it a few minutes early to leave room for the extra charge that comes from riding it downhill first. Really not a big deal at all.

I can't believe this is an actual problem. Too much charge...

Anyway, wouldn't it make more sense to walk a bit when you are on a downhill, less tiresome than going uphill.

I mean you're generating energy. It's like your filling up a bucket. Once the bucket is full what can you do with the excess?

Someone mentioned already that trains do that, but that would require a heating element, maybe a fan, and of course the chance of melting things, or catching stuff on fire if not designed properly.

No shortage of air to move over the heatsink since you're only using the brakes if you're moving, so you shouldn't need a fan.

But there's definitely a fire risk if you're not careful. And you'd have people burning themselves when they pick up the board.

Talking from a position of extreme ignorance here, but assuming they've got some genre of H-Bridge in their brushless DC driver they should be able to pulse the motor in reverse to support braking. (also making assumptions as to how the regen braking is hooked up here...)

They could switch to brakes that drain energy. That's a lot more work I'm sure, and maybe they needed an MVP. But for version 2 I'd think they'd make it a priority.

I think this board is really cool but until they fix this I'm not in the market.

I've got 500 miles on my board and it has never been a problem, just something to be aware of. Adding mechanical brakes would involve one or two servos, two sets of brake disks and pads, and a few dozen more parts. That's a lot of hardware for a problem that few experience so it will likely never happen.

I've been seriously considering buying one, but can't decide if the brakes cutting out will be a problem.

I live at the top of a steep hill, so it sounds like I wouldn't be able to leave my house on a full charge. Maybe I could just do a bit of trial and error to figure out how much "room" I need for the downhill?

The main issue with this style of brake is dissipating the huge amount of energy generated from a person riding down a long steep grade, in braking components that need to remain small and lightweight.

If it were an annoyance, sure, but this is a safety issue.

If they at least gave you a clear warning of some sort that would be okay actually.

There is a clear warning. The board will start beeping like a m'fer. I live in Seattle and there are lots of hills that I go down. I usually make sure to charge the board to 90% instead of 100%. I agree that the brakes could be better - having the motor brake instead of an actual disc brake does sometimes cause a bad side-turning skid, but it's nothing that can't be dealt with diligently by knowing how to ride. I've never fell off due to the brakes.

You already have a friction brake when riding a long board, it's your foot (with a shoe on it)

True, but soft rubber shoe soles aren't exactly the most sustainable replacement for brake lining. Source: I've ruined several pairs of shoes this way.

Yeah, gotta pay to play but skateboarding is fairly cheap as far as hobbies go (if you can stay out of hospital !)

Resistive dissipation like trains.

Does anyone here have any experience with one of these in a hilly city? Does it work, or is the utility so compromised that it's no longer worth it? I wouldn't mind one but I'm in Seattle and afraid that our inclines would severely crimp it.

I've clocked over 400 miles on my Dual+, most of that has been in the hills of SF. I go up a 20% grade at ~15MPH just fine. Best part is, you gain a lot of that charge back on the way back down :)

I'm in Vancouver, BC and the Dual+ can handle any hill here

Sounds good, although I have something of a weight problem as well and so I bet it would struggle with me. Maybe this can be the reward I promise myself if I manage to actually lose weight. Thanks!

I believe it was actually developed in San Francisco with hills in mind.

Their FAQ says the Dual+ can handle a 25% grade.

Are there advantages to sticking with such small wheels on a powered board like this? I'd think that something like this [1] but with a motor would be way more usable on real-world streets.

In general though, I really do think that these kinds of "personal transportation" devices are the way of the future. I ride my self-balancing electric unicycle [2] from the light-rail to the office any time it's nice out and I'm not hauling anything in. It's the best way to get around in the city as far as I'm concerned.

I feel like it's a better solution because of the big, pneumatic tire. I can ride it up a bump of about an inch without even thinking. I feel like it'd be quite a challenge to ride something with wheels that small on the roads/sidewalks/trails around here (Minnesota).

[1] http://imgur.com/jm5NoCJ.jpg

[2] http://i.imgur.com/lHoVGQ3.jpg

Edit: I will say, the one thing I'm really jealous at with the boosted board is that it's half the weight of my wheel and apparently has the same range. Carrying this thing around for extended periods of time can get tiring.

The primary reason you don't use those large wheels is the same reason that the boosted board has the same range as your monowheel at half the weight: large wheels (especially air-filled ones) with tread have incredibly high rolling resistance, which has to be constantly overcome by the battery.

I think the weight is due to having 4 much smaller diameter wheels, which means the torque moment of force and motor size is much smaller

With wheels like that it would no longer handle like a long board. I suspect it would be much less agile.

I'm really interested in trying this, but have little skateboarding experience. Is there a steep learning curve to riding one of these in a dense city?

I tried a non-powered longboard as a more-compact supplement to a bicycle for city transport. The handling isn't hard to pick up, but riding with traffic is more challenging, especially without a brake. I ended up just sticking with my bike.

These boards appear to have engine braking, but they also note that it's subject to fail on a steep hill or when the battery runs out: http://boostedboards.com/faq/

So— it'd probably be useful for a flattish, quietish commute of up to a few miles where storing a bicycle would be difficult. The learning curve also probably depends on your skills with reading traffic, e.g. if you've biked or motorcycled lately. (Driving helps too but won't necessarily give you an appropriate fear of big busy streets)

I had never skateboarded before getting a boosted board. It took me a week of commuting (20 minutes each way) to get somewhat comfortable at the top speed. There are three speed caps, slow medium fast, so you sort of level up after each ride or two. I don't think riding on a street is a good idea (seems super dangerous if there are any cars around), and my commute follows a separated-from-the-road bike path.

Riding is super fun :)

> I don't think riding on a street is a good idea

How are sidewalks with curbs?

In a lot of places it's illegal to ride motor vehicles on the sidewalk. I think the sweet spots for this are trails and low-traffic streets.

I've commuted a little over a thousand miles on mine. When I first got it I was worried that I might not be able to use it, but you get comfortable on it pretty quickly and it's pretty easy.

Watch out for manhole covers.

I haven't rode an electric, but thought a longboard would be good to cut down the 15 minute walk from the office to the subway in nyc, thinking the ability to carry it on the train would be great.

I bought a nice ~$200 made in brooklyn longboard and started to use it.

It did cut down the commute time, and I liked riding it, but then I hit a pebble or something and was thrown forward, the board sliding across a busy street.

I am laying there, with a yellow cab having to swerve to not hit me, people honking, its amazing I didn't break anything, and me or my board didn't get run over.

Longboard wheels are just too small, too easily stopped. I gave up on it and just walked, not worth broken bones or a broken skull, and having to carry a helmet negates some of the benefit anyhow.

I would ride one if it had larger pneumatic tires and a foldable handlebar that would let you take a bump and stay on the board.

Boosted rider with over 500 miles so far here. 0 boarding experience prior to purchasing my Boosted Board. The learning curve will be steep if you have no experience commuting on something like a bicycle.

A lot of the challenge is in learning the roads and behavior of the drivers. I biked for ~ 3 years prior to getting my boosted board which contributed a lot towards knowing some of the "safer" routes.

That being said, your legs and calves will hurt like hell until you start to adjust to riding every single day. I go the gym 5x a week and still get achy calves from riding long distances.

I've only taken a single spill thanks to losing and regaining bluetooth connectivity going full throttle through a turn (mostly my own fault).

I can't recommend Boosted Boards enough. Extremely reliable piece of tech.

Haven't tried the Boosted Board (yet) but I've started riding a Penny board when I was 26, and all my life I was horrible at skateboarding or snowboarding (I was always an inline skater). The carving potential definitely helps and it takes getting used to, but nowadays I can use it to ride at an airport or in the city - give it a try :)

You should probably wear a helmet :)

and a wrist guard

The critical skill you learn as a skateboarder isn't so much how to stay on the board, but how to wipe out without hurting yourself when you inevitably get spit off.

I think it is easier to ride a Boosted because you don't have to learn how to push, balance, or stop. You just stand on it.

Sure it's easier to start off with one if you've never ridden a skateboard before but you will want to learn those things if you want to: (1) still be able to ride it when the battery is dead (2) not hurt yourself if the brakes fail (and Boosted specifically tells you not to rely on them)

I doubt people learn to do that. Even in college with everyone riding longboards, only a small number of people were proficient at pushing, and most did not know how to footbrake.

Those are what are known as 'kooks'

Don't ride faster than you can run until you can slow yourself down without any braking device

Also how does this compares to regular skateboard?

Really glad to see Boosted survived through YC and the 4 years subsequent.

Looks like a great redesign - the waterproofing alone makes it worth it.

Good job to the team!

Looks cool. Very much dig the approach to having modular components. Gotta say seeing this kind of evolution is exciting for my own pursuits as well (personal mobility with power assist).

But one thing sticks out to me: The 80mm wheels - polyurethane? No mention of different wheel/tire combinations for different terrain though? Like, I get there may be dynamics and clearance issues with feet, and some rolling resistance / unsprung weight / geometry to consider, but I don't like the idea of the wheels.

Are there any thoughts regarding making a strong rim and high quality rubber / treaded tire (inflated?) that would reflect influence from automotive technology[1], versus the holdover from the skate/longboard world?

[1] For reference, I see Ford is about to "mass produce" carbon fibre composite wheel rims (still very limited) and I've followed tire tech through various racing outlets, and would probably contact Michelin as my first choice.

I see a number of used ones on Craigslist and I was surprised to see there is not much of a a price discount.

Most of these are asking $1000+

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=boosted+board&s...

I'm glad to see "The Bluetooth radio that connects the board to the remote is upgraded for improved signal strength and security." I read an article a while back about hacking into a few brands of electric skateboards: https://www.wired.com/2015/08/hackers-can-seize-control-of-e...

Also, be sure to wear a helmet. Unlike riding a bicycle, various seemingly small obstacles can cause a longboard to come to an immediate stop, sending you flying. I'd love to see a board that address this problem somehow, as that's a big safety concern for me.

I have to admit that when I saw that their remote used Bluetooth my jaw dropped. As a radio protocol suitable for controlling a moving vehicle, it's not one! Aside from security issues (although it's gotten better) it's hardly what you'd call robust. I notice someone upthread who mentions hurting themselves when their remote lost connectivity, and I'm only surprised there's only one.

I wonder what made them pick Bluetooth?

Although not exactly a board, onewheel has a pretty awesome solution to the small obstacle problem.

Whoa, looks pretty nice:

https://onewheel.com/

If it had a range that was further than 10 km, I might’ve considered getting one.

I was thinking that adding some basic 'suspension' components or re-vising the wheels from hard polyurethane skateboard type to "miniturized rim/tire combo" would offer numerous different potential terrain and handling dynamics. I like to think many would be improvements.

There are actually various types of off road longboards, which usually also add a manual brake. I don't think any of them are powered, though. Living in a hilly city makes longboard commuting not worth it.

I've visited SF and NYC, not frequently but I know how to get around, so I'm surprised they sound like such target markets (other than $$$).

Where I live and work (Dallas area), there are actually quite a surprising number of longboard riders in various areas. For a very car-centric culture in Texas, there is a big local push to make things more pedestrian / low-key friendly - best example being the music & arts hotspot (now gentrifying yay) called Deep Ellum. Lots of Ruckus scooters, long boards, beards and piercings kind of area.

Honestly I think the Boosted Boards would be great for the general North Texas terrain - flat! - but the condition of the pavement / concrete and gaps caused by high heat and brief winter freezes leaves the conditions very sub-optimal. I have friends into RC cars and seeing the different wheel rim & tire combinations made me think "Why not apply this kind of tech to this board here?" because with a general upgrade I think a Boosted Board would work a whole lot better. Offhand and all, but gut instinct.

Off-road longboards with pneumatic knobby tires are fun on downhills, but like the difference between a mountain and road bike, the flexion of the tires and rolling resistance of the treads would seriously cut into the range on a Boosted Board.

The urethane wheels on a skateboard, longboard, or roller blades are really very efficient.

Fair points, and I was thinking something that looked more like a DOT legal "racing compound" [1] than an all out "Off Road" knobby tire. That might need a bit of 'suspension' though to work effectively, I'm not certain. Sidewall flex to consider/design/etc. Yet another thing I've seen would be an integrated tire/wheel/flex approach like shown in some larger scale, experimental use cases [2].

Also, wouldn't higher grip/friction ratios enable using less tire material to get the same contact patch/grip otherwise achieved? Kind of seems like a logical hypothesis to me, though if there's a reasoning flaw hey would be game to see it for sure!

[1] http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/toyo/toyo_proxes_r888_p...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wAvxQfusWU

Decreasing the tire size increases the internal air pressure and ground pressure (a problem if you want to go over dirt), but modern tire construction is up to the task.

Also, grippier rubber is usually a trade-off between tread wear and friction. Though with the price of a Boosted board, I imagine their customers would prefer more grip and a few percent of their purchase price for new tire replacement every couple hundred miles.

I was just about to order a inboard due to the international shipping limitations on the first gen boosted. It seems to still have the classic belt based design instead of wheel based on on the inboard.

Is anyone here with more insights which board might actually be better?

Looks like a fun toy, though its target market is relatively limited. You're not going to see many 30+ year-olds on this thing.

I'm holding out for one of these babies:

https://youtu.be/kwXWTsQh3F8

I have tried a lot of products in this space, and this one is my favorite without a doubt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNqOU4jx62I

I really like the large wheel size on this thing. It definitely lessens concerns about sidewalk cracks or foreign objects on roads suddenly causing the dreaded "sudden stop" of a skateboard which basically launches the rider.

I have seen plenty of 30+ year-olds on Boosted Boards in SF.

Same in NYC (I'm one of them)

Anecdotes don't make data, but I'm 36 and recently bought a regular old skateboard so I could keep up with my kids on scooters/bikes. I get some strange looks from other parents and my friends give me some shit but it's all in good fun (they're secretly jealous I think!).

I would definitely ride a boosted board if I could justify the $1500.

Ive been waiting 13 months for my marbel board (http://ridemarbel.com). They're ignoring all attempts to get refunds too. Time to try and get a chargeback and get one of these.

Damn, they haven't tweeted since Jan [1]. And their last FB post is the same time/related [2]. Seems like they went AWOL.

[1] https://twitter.com/RideMarbel/status/693081497264373760

[2] https://www.facebook.com/ridemarbel/videos/vb.75887281080344...

Same here, still chasing them for a refund but not holding my breath. My feeling is that they have a great product but can't get their production groove going, hitting delays, defects and requests for refunds. Wouldn't surprise me if they went out of business soon. The irony is that I chose Marbel over Boosted for the better range over a year ago!

https://www.reddit.com/r/marbel/comments/3s0i7v/successful_r...

You're well beyond the normal limits for being able to initiate a chargeback i'm afraid.

But no harm in asking your card issuer to see if they can help.

>International customers will be responsible for shipping fees and additional local duties or taxes.

Would've been great to see at least a cost estimate. It's hard to tell how large the packaging is and how much the weight is.

And dropping $1000+ > just to get slapped with some unknown shipping fee is a bit strange.

Edit: Nevermind, just checked the laws. Because the board is faster than 6km/h, you would need lights, bell, reflectors, insurance, a license plate and a drivers license in Germany. Yikes. Let's hope that gets changed.

Competition really heating up in this space. The other leading electric skateboard company from Australia just announced their second generation too and it has a whopping 31 mile range.

Evolve Carbon GT:

http://www.gizmag.com/carbon-gt-electric-skateboard-review/4...

Solid find. I haven't seen them yet. They may interest me for my personal needs. Thanks!!

I'm looking for a rubber tire long board, looks like they have a decent model. Woot! :)

This isn't a product for me but its always good to see more transportation options and see folks trying to innovate, and iterate.

Congrats to the founders, Boosted is truly a great product. I've been using a (less expensive) electric skateboard, but I think I'm going to sell it and grab one of the 2nd Gen Boosteds for commuting around Boston.

I was hoping that there would be a more compact version for improved portability. @skdoo -- any chance we'll see something like this in the future?

Thanks! The problem with more compact designs is decreased wheelbase, which affects stability at speed. We've prototyped some, though.

I'd definitely consider one if it was available. My current board is an Original Apex 34 [0] which though not as flexy as the Loaded is a great size for zooming around the city, hopping on/off trains buses etc

[0] http://original-longboardshop.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/im...

Yeah, I definitely get that. Still, if it was an option, a few of my friends and I would be all over it!

http://boostedboards.com/?ct-referral-code=ua109zfz- if anyone is considering pre-ordering the 2nd gen boosted board, here's my referral link which will get you $100 off!!

Congrats! Comment about your website: I tried seeing the pricing and where to order/buy, but clicking the "hamburger menu" at the top-right of the screen did nothing. (I'm on an iPhone, latest version of iOS).

Here is some pricing info from the site. The blog post says "Starting today, you can reserve your board with a refundable $100 deposit." and the total board price is Dual+ $1499, Dual $1299, Single $999. Extra $100 for "Extended Range" battery.

Just a thought I've always had about these is that it would be cool if the front and rear had a slot for a GoPro camera option, so that you have vids of each trip, and evidence of anything goes awry

Can't you just use a GoPro Session with their flat adhesive mount? I never used it so I don't know, but seems as though it could work.

http://shop.gopro.com/mounts/curved-plus-flat-adhesive-mount...

The whole deck (top) of the board is grip tape which is a glue paper covered in sand, so almost nothing will stick to the pebbled surface. A company makes an aluminum mount but skateboards rattle like mad and like to destroy mounted electronics eventually.

In my experience, the vibrations on the board are far too strong to get any type of decent video while riding down the road. Always comes out looking extremely shaky.

A shaky looking video might be useless as entertainment but still may have forensic value in the event of a crash / etc.

its interesting that people have used this as a commuter solution, i never thought of that. i guess bikes make more sense to me, and i live where there are lots of hills. now it makes sense to me how the pricepoint works. i have a lot of recreational toys, but couldnt bring myself to pay $1800 for an electric skateboard that didnt go all that far. cool to see the technology improving and the different uses it has shown.

I agree the $1800 price tag is a bit much. Not only that, if it truly were a 'commuter solution', it wouldn't need new wheels so often. I don't think this company is thinking about long-term and sustainability enough. Why not rubber tires? I wish these companies would stop the incremental long board design and just think different.

Why don't we have cheap, semi-durable, electric long boards? Or Tesla's patents in use for long boards? bikes? Motorcycles? I wish I had the skills, I'd do it. Sure, R/D is a high cost but...there are better models to disrupt an industry than this snail-pace innovation.

If boosted boards could merge with E-glide [1], we'd have a bad ass true commuter solution. Then maybe pool resources to improve the battery and we'd have a product that disrupts things.

EDITED: Since I'm getting down votes, let me clarify. Replacement wheels cost $105[2], motor belt $25 [3]. On their website, they say [4] that the belts should be replaced every 200-400 miles. I doubt the wheels will last that long with normal use but let's be generous. 800 miles on the wheels.

If this were to be truly disruptive and would replace local commuting, it would need to do about 5,000 miles per year based on 20 miles a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year. (this would be 250-500 charges per year).

Adding up the entire maintenance costs (735 yr in wheels, 300 in belts = 1,000 year in maintenance), I feel electric long boarding is only after hobbyists and not disruptive enough.

[1] https://e-glide.com/electric-skateboard-store/electric-skate...

[2] http://shop.boostedboards.com/products/replacement-wheels?va...

[3] http://shop.boostedboards.com/products/motor-belt-service-ki...

[4] http://boostedboards.com/faq/

if the battery can be recharged on the move(e.g. you're on a slow down slope, or just leveraging your body weight on the board, use these natural forces to recharge the battery), then it could be "revolutionary"

It has regenerative braking (see http://boostedboards.com/faq/ towards the bottom of the Product tab)

This looks like a neat product.

Where's the throttle/drive enable?

You use a special handheld Bluetooth remote to accelerate and break.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com