Boosted gets a new CEO as the company tries to grow beyond electric skateboards | Hacker News Reader

Boosted gets a new CEO as the company tries to grow beyond electric skateboards

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78 pointsdwynings99 comments

Electric scooters and mopeds are the future.

I have a Glion Electric Scooter -- I can go 15MPH for 15 miles. It costs $800, is super safe and easier to use than a skateboard (I used to have a Yuneec Ego Skateboard). The best thing about is it that I can take it indoors and just put it under my desk at work. It pays for itself easily in NYC.

They need to make scooters. Better yet, a $2000 electric moped with proper turn signals and brake/front lights. The minute someone makes an electric scooter that can hold two, go 30mph for 100 miles a charge with a removable battery I will buy it. The RadRover is pretty close, but no dice (it's too slow and doesn't have proper brake/front lights with turn signals).

I've been thinking about getting a 50cc gas scooter (think Vespa or Genuine Scooter) since it technically meets all of the requirements I mentioned there, but I hate needing gas. Oh well.

> The minute someone makes an electric scooter that can hold two, go 30mph for 100 miles a charge with a removable battery I will buy it

there's a vast gulf between 1-pers/15mph/15mi and 2-pers/30mph/100mi. increasing just one of those variables by a factor of 2 would require a 2x heavier battery, let alone what you're asking for.

You're right. I will point out that the 15MPH limit is generally a legal restriction as opposed to a technical one. The Juiced Bikes Cross Current S costs $1200 and can go 28mph with pedal assist. It's not inconceivable to have a new form factor that can fit another person and double (or triple the price).

$2000 is probably aspirational. What I'm asking will likely cost like $4000. The problem with that price is that you can get a very nice 50cc gas scooter for $4000 that will likely be better in most ways.

The Cross Current S costs $1700 and has a much stronger electric motor than the previous Cross Current. You're probably referring to the Cross Current Air which comfortably cruises at 24-25 MPH without heavy pedaling.

(source: waiting for my Cross Current S order to be delivered)

Ah you're right. Yeah, I was referring to the Cross Current Air.

Let alone, speaking as someone who has crashed going ~25mph on a bike, A LOT of safety considerations to take into account.

I've recently bought xiomi scooter [1] from aliexpress for around $500 (incl shipping) after an extensive research on what's available on the market. For some reason they don't sell them in US and the cheapest comparable scooter in US is sold for $900+, but it's still head and shoulders above the competition, it has ABS on the front break! Also disk breaks on rear wheel! On a scooter. It also has a smartphone app which really well designed that shows you range, speed and other useful info. And it's built like a tank and not heavy at all. I am now using it for 90% of my commute. It can go up to 30 km in range and at a decent speed. I am so tired of searching for a parking spot for my car everywhere I go, so this scooter is a perfect solution for me.

[1] - https://nis-store.com/electric-scooters/xiaomi-mijia-electri...

Cynically, Xiaomi products often aren't sold in the US until they are re-branded and sold through an indiegogo campaign (a simple search for Populele is a good example)

I still have a hard time seeing them completely take over in places where 3-6 months of the year it is miserably cold outside. Sure, I know that "there's no bad weather, just bad clothes" but I still don't quite see that catching on as easily.

That said, if 90% of inner city driving was people on scooters or super small, lightweight, enclosed vehicles I would totally commute to work on an electric scooter, and probably make it work even in the winter. That said, when there's ice on the road and it's snowing, I'm not going to want to ride a scooter when there's a Suburban behind me trying to brake...

I hope you're right, though.

There are boosted boards and electric bikes, and scooters/mopeds are bridge products between the two. I really question the need for that.

For many people a scooter will be important if they can't skateboard/have no interest in trying. I think the majority of people who are willing to commute on something like that will prefer a board though. I imagine it's more stable at low speeds, it's got better ground clearance, it's faster to pick/fold up/carry, but probably most importantly it does look a whole lot less dorky.

There's some reason to prefer a scooter to an electric bike, but I think the infrastructure around bikes makes the convenience kind of a non-issue. I would also prefer a bike to a scooter for long distance or higher speed, or if I had to go in a bike lane or the street. A moped on the other hand takes way more room to park (no bike racks) and is too heavy to be picked up. I think there are very few reasons to prefer that to a powerful e-bike with a good suspension, disk brakes and strong frame.

Also, my own nomination: electric rollerblades. Still not much of a defining use case, but personally I'd prefer minimizing the form factor as much as possible. Make the wheels lock so you can do stairs without taking them off, make them convenient to remove, and make them small enough to fit in a drawer.

Well I think of it like:

Walking - E-Skateboard - E-Scooter - E-Bike - E-Moped/Gas Scooter - E-Car

Let's ignore skateboards for a minute, which are significantly more difficult to learn than any of the others. With this you have scooter vs. bike vs. car. A moped's main advantage is speed. A bike has exercise and familiarity. A car has cargo capability and can take more than one passenger.

In general, the main tradeoff is weight and size. Anyway, I digress. I think the main reason to prefer a moped to an electric bike is because of turn signals and proper front and back lights. Once that's resolved I'd agree, there's less of a point of a moped/scooter. Unfortunately adding good lights and turn signals is nontrivial while preserving the lightness of a traditional bike. Safety is the most important thing and turn signals are key.

There's a company called Jetson that has an interesting take on it, though.

Mopeds are step-through primarily to allow room for the engine under the footrest or above the rear wheel. For the same reason they have small tires and relatively high rake angles. In a lot of ways that's a straight downgrade: it makes the handling much less stable (which is why rake must be high), it makes the frame weaker (so it is constructed heavily to compensate) and it makes ride quality worse.

Electric motors and batteries have very flexible envelopes so you can fit a very powerful powertrain in a bike with no problem- the battery just has to be very skinny. The big wheels and responsive handling mean slow speeds are very controllable compared to a moped, and the handling and bike weight is much lighter.

What I think is really needed is an e-bike that is meant to be an actual road vehicle, IMO specifically that has a lot in common with a motorycle. Something with a much larger battery, streamlined wheels, a headlight and turn signals, and a comfortable seat. That would be just lovely. I still strongly feel that having a scooter form factor is not necessary to have those things, though. For instance the Haibike Xduro Trekking Pro[1] managed 32 mph and claims 30 miles range, but that's with pedaling (the bike provides 275% boost power). It also has front and rear lights, but no turn signals. Pretty good 51 lbs,and the frame looks like it's extra low to facilitate picking it up. Still, I wasn't able to find anything that provides the weight/power/range of an e-bike with the features of a motorcycle.

[1]: Warning, spammy subscribe popups: http://electricbikeblog.com/haibike-xduro-trekking-pro-2015-...

> Mopeds are step-through primarily to allow room for the engine under the footrest or above the rear wheel.

Surely you meant the other way around?

Engines are generally too wide to fit between your knees, since an engine is usually a vaguely cubic shape. In early mopeds the engine was below your feet[1], so there was no point in having a crossmember where your knees would be.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ZweiRadMuseumNSU_Hildebra...

Aren't they simply step through because that's more comfortable for casual rides?

With motorcycles, and many mopeds for that matter, they seem to be able to put the engine between the legs.

Maybe an e-dirt bike. Based on your preference of the ride of a bike over scooter, a dirt bike may be what you are looking for. The ones I have seen are built for actual tracks and off-road, but they might make some street legal versions or certainly you could install the light features and other equipment required to comply with your specific state law as many do with traditional gas powered dirt bikes.

Edit: I probably should have mentioned cost as the e-dirt bikes are not really in the same range as any scooter or e-bike I've come across.

Something I've never understood is why skateboards and mopeds and vespas?

Why aren't we all moving around on something small but stable like an electric fourwheeler/quad/atv or whatver you want to call it?

I've never received a good answer why the more stable, easier to ride, less likely to topple quad hasn't been adapted to city use or even made street legal, when mopeds and vespas are everywhere.

You can still park many of them in the space of a car and many more people would be capable of driving them. To me the electric quad seems like no brainer city vehicle.

Small four wheelers are super sketchy at scooter speeds. The short wheelbase makes for quick and flighty steering and the narrow track makes them tippy. You have to lean to maintain balance, but leaning is not initiated and controlled via steering like it is on a two-wheeler, so it feels less natural.

You also have a big increase in cost and complexity. Twice as many wheels which means more bearings, more suspension components, etc. You need a differential and drive shafts and CV joints, which are expensive. A solid axle would be cheaper, but a solid axle on the street makes for some tricky riding dynamics. It is heavier, so the parts need to be stronger. The motor is harder to get at, which makes maintenance harder.

And no matter what, a scooter will always be smaller and so will always have better places to park.

Scooters are easier to fold and carry around too.

I imagine because of the european market on scooters. In The Netherlands for example electric skateboards are illegal out of the box and require a licence plate (because its a fully motorized vehicle) scooters and vespas are already ingrained in culture and have a market.

Not sure how that's better than a bike. 15 miles round trip is a perfectly reasonable bike commute (mine is about 12 miles). It seems like all the benefits and drawbacks of one apply to the other, except that you're only getting a bit of exercise on one.

While I tend to agree with you, it could be much nicer if it's very hilly. 15 miles on a flat course is pretty nice, 15 miles on a hilly course is pretty taxing.

Not everyone wants to exercise during their commute (for varying reasons, including that some of use are more prone to sweating) – in fact, seeing as cycling has always been an option for many, it would really seem that perhaps only a minority want to exercise during their commute.

I certainly don't, although I also readily admit that any option that leaves me exposed to the elements would be a major step down for vast portions of the year. But for many days an e-moped might be a reasonable option.

It is reasonable, but why would you want to arrive to work sweaty if it's not necessary? It's easy to forget that the average person doesn't have access to a shower at work. Also, a kick scooter is significantly safer and more maneuverable than a bike in my experience riding a road bike. An inch clearance off the ground makes it pretty safe.

I have the same scooter as the parent comment and I have to say I feel significantly safer on my bike. I like the scooter and it's fun and useful for quick errands where I don't want to get sweaty. However, the breaks are not nearly as instantaneous (I'm sure there are scooters with better breaks though) and I can't maneuver it nearly as quickly as I can my bike in the event of an emergency (or even just general travel).

My experience may be a bit biased though, considering I'm both a pretty experienced cyclist and I have to deal with the crazy San Francisco hills.

EDIT: Also, I do a fairly regular 12 mile round trip bike commute. Have only done it a couple times on the scooter for fun and it was terrifying compared to my bike.

Ah, in your case a scooter would definitely be more dangerous. I doubt any scooter could stop on a dime down the kind of hills you're encountering. Even cars have trouble stopping quickly.

I'd actually say all forms of transportation are significantly more dangerous in the bay area, haha.

It's not just you, a bicycle will always have much more responsive handling. Mopeds have small wheels so they need a long rake and wide tires compared to a bike, to make the steering stable and the contact patch larger.

Higher rake means the bike pitches in response to the wheel turning, because the contact patch is less in line with the handlebars. Wide tires multiply that even more. That gives stability at high speed but when you try to turn the whole vehicle moves the wrong way, making steering lag. It also makes it harder to stay up.

If you ride slow enough, or don't wear too warm clothes, you won't sweat. Here in Copenhagen 40% or so commute on bikes, including all classes of society from homeless and gypsies to lawyers and managers. 99% of them do it in their work clothes.

Kick bikes are incredibly unstable compared to bikes at their typical low operating speeds, and positively unusable at anything approaching biking speed.

Copenhagen has the fairly unique advantage of never really getting warm or humid and being basically completely flat.

Copenhagen never getting really warm?!? Last time I was there, it was like 25°!

Exactly, and we get at least 10 of those days every single year.

I can't tell if I am missing the sarcasm in this thread, but 25°C would be considered a cool day in the summer where I live. Today is cool and overcast, and the high is still 28°. Last week it was even hotter.

And that is not even considering humidity. There are some days you can just open your front door and you are immediately sweating.

Unfortunately, if you live somewhere where it gets legitimately hot outside or your commute involves a substantial hill, sweating is non-optional. I work in San Francisco so the weather is good for biking, but my apartment is at the top of a big hill. I do bike to work, but on the way home I often work up a sweat and have to change. However, I did recently order an e-bike which I'm very excited about to avoid that issue!

I never get sweaty when I ride, unless I'd get sweaty walking in the same conditions. It's not a race for me. No need for showers, stretchy clothes, etc.

Not sure about the safety. The fall to the ground isn't what gets you as a vulnerable road user: it's the car.

I don't think bicycles are allowed on sidewalks.

A scooter is more space efficient, both in your apartment and at the office.

Neither are scooters, if bikes aren't.

I'll grant you the second point, for sure. You could always do a folding bike, but that's a whole new set of issues.

> Electric scooters and mopeds are the future.

No.

I just got my Immotor Go electric scooter off their indiegogo campaign. It is pretty awesome since it folds up pretty small, so taking it to a store allows me to just stow the thing under the shopping cart. 16mph max speed, 16 mile range. It has a pretty nice headlight and some taillights that increase in brightness when braking. Also has swappable batteries which would increase its usability if you had a charger at work/home.

It is far from perfect though, it is inexplicably heavy (nearing 30 lbs.) The "casing" of the handlebars is made of plastic, so it creaks a lot in use. The ride itself is fine, but with small wheels and a tiny suspension you feel every bump. Riding over a brick sidewalk feels like you have your feet in a massager.

What I want is a folding electric scooter, with the option of pulling up a seat. Larger tires, weatherproof, and the ability to be locked up to a bike rack properly.

I'm also looking into electric bikes, I'm probably going to try and convert an old hybrid bike of mine to try it out.

Boosted hit peak market growth and they know it IMHO. They got in early and had a lot of high profile YouTube Vloggers repping their brand. Unfortunately I think it will be very hard for them to compete with what's currently coming out of Shenzhen. Source: I own an eboard that's like a third of the price with more or less the same specs. Unless you're dealing with a premium carbon fiber frame there is absolutely no reason to pay over $600 for an eboard.

Can you make any recommendations for quality boards at that price point? I have twice now gotten halfway through ordering a Boosted Board but quit before finalizing the purchase because I couldn't stomach the price.

If there is something that is similar in specs but $500 I'll order one today.

+1 to the above. I'm looking for alternatives but they seem to be even more expensive.

I have a Boosted[1]. There's a lot of competition but when you look at specs, they don't really quite make it. They're either slower, or can't do hills, or take longer to charge. Build quality on Boosteds is amazing as well. Thing's build like a tank.

With my usage pattern (commute to gym and back 4 times a week), it pays for itself every 4 months.

And yes, it gets me there faster than a bike or using public transit. Even Uber is just 3 minutes faster (on a 15min trip) because of traffic.

[1] I actually have two. If anyone wants to buy my old Gen1 for half price, ping me.

What do you do with it when you get it to the gym?

Prop it up against the wall next to my backpack.

Nobody steals a longboard. They’re afraid of riding them and the used longboard market is weak.

Plus there’s gym cammeraderie.

Atom Electric boards work just fine: https://www.amazon.com/Atom-Longboards-Electric-Longboard-Sk... https://www.amazon.com/Atom-Longboards-Electric-Longboard-Sk...

The $600 one might be underpowered depending on your use case but hard to beat the Amazon return policy if you don't like it.

Metroboards - priced around or under boosted price. Built like tanks. Not as sleek looking.

Meepo - ~350 shipped, as fast as boosted. Not as much torque as boosted but at least one boosted owner on r/electric skateboarding has commented that it is surprisingly capable of climbing hills. Con - not much info about reliability

Pulse echo- another new seller with hub motors - uses high quality motor controllers ~700 bucks

Raptor 2 - priced under boosted for now I think. Beastly hub motors (about 30 mph).

The space is getting really competitive so there are many more great options. R/electricskateboarding is ok for suggestions but the real knowledgeable people hang out at electricskateboard.builders

I cannot emphasize how wrong you are, on every point.

They are not even close to peak market for their longboard. Ride one around any non-NY/SF metropolitan area for long enough and you will realize no one has seen these things before. You get stares. You get people asking to ride. You get people who literally cannot help but smile when they see you fly by.

And then put someone on the board and get them to the point where they are maxing out Eco mode; This is how a friend of mine convinced me to buy one, and afterward I've directly influenced four boosted board purchases. I haven't had a single person get off without smiling and laughing, even the ones who were initially scared.

There is so much room for growth just for the board. Primarily: Eco Mode is definitely fast enough for commuting purposes. Create a cheaper board which maxes out around there. Moreover, there's room for the price to drop on all their boards.

Let me tell you why someone will pay more for Boosted: Safety. This is why Chinese cars have never been able to compete with the West/Japan, its why Toyota and VW are the #1 car manufacturers, its what Tesla blasts all over its marketing. Safety is stupidly important in this space, and China has never given a damn about it.

Cheaper boards fall apart. The decks are lower quality, so they split. The drive motors fall apart. A belt breaks and you lose braking. The bluetooth connection fails and you lose braking. A bearing comes out and you lose a wheel. A battery connection crosses and your feet are on fire. You knick a puddle and water hits a PCB. Go on Youtube and you will find even mainstream competitors like the Inboard having connection issues, and they're not even cheap. Boosted, by and large, doesn't have these issues anymore.

Boosted is going to continue to grow the longboard product by dropping prices and introducing more models, that much is certain. They have the best product, and second place is so far behind you'll need binoculars to see them.

I've ridden a boosted in NY and own two Chinese boards. I think the biggest problem with Boosted is that the vision they sold in their TED talk isn't very realistic. The main issues I have:

- they need bike lanes. You could ride in traffic like Casey but it's super dangerous. Sidewalks are ok but unpleasant (bumpy) and slow.

- they're heavy. Once you're at your destination, carrying around a 15lb weight is no fun.

After 3 years my observation is that e-boards are essentially bikes with different drawbacks, rather than a new category of transportation. In NYC the best places to ride a Boosted is in central park and the bike route that rings Manhattan. To get anywhere in the city you're basically carrying the thing.

The OneWheel is a much better alternative to electric longboards. It is crazy fun to ride, like carving on a snowboard. Works in grass, on the beach, and off road trails, and curbs are okay. Long boards are a pothole death wish... small wheels and limited turning radius. One wheels are the future. It will be great when quality Chinese knockoffs appear because they are currently $1400.

https://onewheel.com/

I prefer the failure modes of multi wheel vehicles.

What failure modes? One wheel on a boosted longboard drops in a hole, you are screwed. Actually being able to steer more than a few degrees is a helpful feature for safety.

I don't really understand your comment. The "regular" version of the boosted board had a single drivetrain.

The higher-price one had a dual-drive train but if you are doing any speed at all and one of the drives fails.. you're going for a tumble.

I have ridden both, waited forever for the long-range boosted that was always promised as "any day now" and switched to onewheel and am glad to have done so.

You can also get a cruiser deck, add on some longboard wheels, and for good measure put in ceramic bearings. It gives you many of the evasive actions of a regular skateboard, and the comfort + endurance longboards have. Skateboards have been able to handle curbs for a long time :) I guess all that's needed is for someone to add an electric drivetrain to one of these setups.

> Boosted, the company known for making the best all-electric longboards on the market

There's some serious free press. Are they indeed all that and a bag of chips, or can Verge be bought that easily, or what? No agenda here; genuinely curious.

If you go on the subreddit for electric skateboarding this would be quite a controversial topic. No I don't personally think they are the best, unless we talk about marketing, then yes they are the best at that. You can find faster, longer distance, and cheaper boards from other manufacturers. They do make a well refined product from a visual standpoint, however they were rife with problems (this is not something exclusive to boosted boards either).

This product segment will take a couple years to get better I think. It still feels very 'beta' product all around.

I'm interested in getting an eboard. can you name some of the better competitors? particularly faster.

At a minimum, they must be the best at marketing because I have absolutely no experience or knowledge in this space (electric or non electric boards) and I have heard of their company/product.

How much of that is from all the overheated Hacker News and YC Partner boosting (pun intended) of them back when they first launched and were going to reinvent personal transportation rather than just be a sub-type of skateboard?

It's definitely more contentious than saying Apple makes the best smartphones, but they do have arguably the most refined product; it feels a lot less like something from a kit compared to their most serious competitors (though their serious competitors can beat them in one or more technical categories).

Saying Apple makes the best smartphones has been very contentious for years now.

I agree, but it's more contentious that Boosted makes the best electric skateboards (sorry if that wasn't clear).

Journalists often use "best" and "most popular" synonymously, although they shouldn't.

That press probably wasn't free. This article reads like it was written using a press release as it's sole source with the author doing a favor to someone at a PR agency.

I think they are pretty good at making electric skateboards. Youtube star Casey Neistat is always seen riding a boosted board. He has test driven a lot of electric boards and has told that nothing else comes close to the boosted board multiple times[1][2]. To be honest Casey Neistat appear to be a type of guy who tells what he belives in even if it means loosing subscribers. He gets a lot of hate sometimes because of that.

[1]$450 BOOSTED BOARD REVIEW - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zDZ3clucMI[1]

[2]THE ONLY THING BETTER THAN A BOOSTED BOARD - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2JbfugMGP4[2]

I'd like to know why people downvoted you, I can't see anything wrong with your comment.

Because "I have no experience with the product but here is what I think based on what my favorite youtube star says" is not a great contribution to a conversation.

He is an adviser or is on their board or something like that. Big surprise he likes it. It seems on the surface like a scam designed to avoid FTC paid endorsement disclosure requirements: just give the ("non")endorser a stake in the company instead of money.

That's not to say he doesn't also legitimately like it.

88% of the 200 buyers which made a review on Amazon give the boosted board a score of 5 out of 5 stars. That's not something you see everyday.

https://www.amazon.com/Boosted-Dual-2000W-Electric-Skateboar...

>We will, without question, continue to innovate in the electric skateboard category, and we have a lot of exciting things in the works,” he says.

I mean, not much has changed in the "things on wheels" category in a long time. All are just modifications of things that already existed - razor scooters were just smaller form factor scooters, longboards were just longer skateboards, etc. Then we stuck electric motors on it.

I mean, what else can you do other than find new things to stick electric motors to? And I guess make things smaller/more foldable, lighter, whatever.

Boosted board owner here, I did a market research survey a while back asking me about my opinion on electric skateboards, scooters, bikes etc. Pure speculation here, but there's a chance they go into bikes. Bikes are a much bigger market segment than longboards.

e-bikes feel pretty saturated right now. You can get very pricey made in america brands, or very cheap made in China brands. What is there niche?

I thought the fixie scene was saturated in 2007.

Mid-level pricing America brands manufactured in Mexico?

> very pricey made in america brands, or very cheap made in China brands

Trek, Specialized and Cannondale all manufacture in China. Waterford and Vanilla don't make electric bikes. Even Stromer, with $10k bikes, only does final assembly in Switzerland with Chinese components.

Maybe you meant that historically-North American-branded expensive e-bikes (with in person support at local bike shops) vs. came-out-of nowhere brands with poor support and great prices? [Schwinn, Cannondale, GT & more are owned by Chinese conglomerates]

The middle path seems to be smaller North American aggregators/assemblers that sell direct or to bike shops that aren't tied to big-Co. exclusives (if thou wants to carry Specialized, thou shalt not carry XYZ) such as Rad Power and Juiced.

I mean I personally feel like there is a brand vacuum. There isn't really a 'Tesla' of e-bikes right now. And something like 30-40% of Dutch people bike, so it definitely doesn't have to be niche.

Well, off the top of my head...

Add some ML, get luggage/groceries/whatever that follows you.

Use omni-wheels, correct for user error, make safer devices that are harder to fall off of.

Self-balancing fold-away rollerblades? How does the market change when your wheels are something you put on in the morning and don't take off all day? Like shoes.

Use a rocker-bogies to make curb-climbing practical (electric skateboards that can climb right up a flight of steps?).

Dynamic shock absorbers that read the terrain in front of it, and provide steady performance over rough ground. Maybe curb and stair-climbing.

Those wheels from snowcrash.

>Self-balancing fold-away rollerblades? How does the market changes when your wheels are something you put on in the morning and don't take off all day? Like shoes.

Like Heelys, but "smarter"?

I was imagining more of a bracer sort of thing. Bigger wheels, self-balancing, straps to your shin.

Better ankle support since these things are going to be powered. Not built-in to your shoes, so you don't need to replace it as often and you can stash it if for some reason you don't want to look like a weirdo. Bigger wheels, probably just one wheel per foot, probably self-balancing. Jump and flick to deploy or stow, large single-wheel moves to the back of your leg when stowed.

But yes, I suppose like heelys.

>Those wheels from snowcrash

Who do I give all my money to for this

edit: regarding " get luggage/groceries/whatever that follows you," I do recall now my first day in San Francisco seeing someone on a jog near the wharfs with a little robot on wheels following him with his keys in a bucket on it. Looked very homemade.

I suspect dynamic shocks and a few more wheels are a better solution. A row of like 6 wheels on the leading edge, offset from one another, should be able to accomplish a lot of the same things.

Self-driving longboards

Or, more seriously, the broader class of self-driving vehicles for disabled: driver assistance for quadriplegic wheel chairs, segways for the blind (self-navigating, or just obstacle avoidance with tactile feedback for manual navigation)

> Add some ML, get luggage/groceries/whatever that follows you.

Oh god, they're going to put skateboard wheels on Big Dog

One thing I love about the Boosted board is the modular design. For example, if the belt from the motor to the wheel breaks, you can buy a relatively inexpensive kit from their website that contains a new belt, four screws, an Alan key, and a link to a 10 minute Youtube video guiding you through the repair process. Their customer service is also outstanding and super responsive, which is especially important when your customers are shelling out over a thousand dollars for your product.

At the age of 34 I decided to buy an electric skateboard (Evolve Bamboo GT).

After 1 week... speed wobble in my neighborhood, black eye, concussion (I was wearing a helmet), horrible road rash (I was wearing a winter hoodie but it rolled up on me).

They're fun, they're cool, but they're so simple to use you forget about your abilities.

Have you ever had any experience before with skateboards? Skateboards are one of those things that look so so easy but in reality have a very steep learning curve (however I haven't tried any electric one).

Arizona State University has a ton of long-boarders. There are board racks with built-in lock rings in front of most buildings from what I can tell. Every once in a while I see someone zipping around on an eboard. Seems like a fantastic way to travel across campus. I think building one is going to be my first real project once I've salvaged enough 18650s from laptop batteries.

If you are looking into a good electric vehicle def look into electric unicycles (EUCs.) There is a steep 3-6 hour learning curve but once you can ride one well it's hard to see other options as better alternatives, I love mine and it's a super versatile way to get around.

Failure modes suck - if battery or motor or logic board fail you will faceplant. Not so with bike or scooter.

Not necessarily true -- failure modes aren't great tho. You can run off and also can do a controlled fall. If you go over your handlebars on a bike you are probably in worse shape (but going over handlebars seems less likely than having to run off the wheel.)

I am looking forward to next gen wheels which will offer more redundant components. I've been lucky to only have had a few falls during learning phase where I was padded up. Once your muscle memory is set basically hardware failure seems the only way I could imagine taking a huge spill. Generally speaking obstacle avoidance and so on is subconscious, you can get yourself out of a lot of bad situations due to tight turning radius, responsive speed control, offroadability, etc. For example going off a curb or onto grass or up a hill is no problem vs a boosted board.

I remember when asked on interview what was one of the most promising startups from previous YC batches Paul Graham saying that was Boosted, probably the early vision never materialised.

These guys got the foot in the door at the right time when Vlogging on YouTube really took off. Perfect example to showcase the benefits of a product in a (mostly) natural way. With a single channel making millions of views each day it seems like a (short term) good customer acquisition strategy. Wondering if sustainable growth mid/longterm though?!

Just a shout out to safety... Be very careful when riding e-boards, people. Helmets are not recommended, they are absolutely required.

Also, you probably shouldn't buy an e-board if you don't have the fundamentals down on a longboard. You will, without a doubt, end up in a lot of pain.

Be safe!

I bet Casey already has the new longer lasting battery

>splendiferously

why

i'll never understand that need people have to not exercise anymore.. even more on a skateboard... Wall-e here we come.

I don't really get the snark here, exercise and fast travel arn't mutually exclusive. In fact, one might find more time to exercise by making it faster to get from point a to point b in general?

Getting commuters out of cars and onto these will have a net positive effect. They're for getting around, not exercising.

I'm all for getting commuters out and on the road, even it means more e-bikes and e-skateboards. That said it's about the exact same speed. I have a cruiser deck with longboard wheels and ceramic bearings, when you factor in traffic lights I usually wind up catching up with Boosted Board users (talking about SF traffic here). Now where Boost Boards can beat me is a long stretch of road with no traffic or lights, but that doesn't describe most urban commuting.

You must be fast, I was relatively leisurely biking to work in Oakland, usually about 14-16mph, and a guy on a e-skateboard zipped right by me.

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