Electric Skateboard Specs and more: 10 Tech Questions About E-board
1. Can I take an electric skateboard on a plane?
Most airlines state that you can travel on board an aeroplane with a lithium-ion battery between 100 - 160wh. Our Standard Battery can't be taken onto any plane due to their large size. Our Travel Battery can be taken onto a plane with airline approval before boarding. Follow these points to ensure you have a simple and safe journey:
- Every airline has its own policies. Ensure you confirm that your airline accepts lithium-ion batteries before booking your flights. Then, notify the airline during check-in (or in advance) that you have spare batteries in your possession.
- Disassemble the travel battery from your board and store it in your carry-on luggage. Most airlines require the exposed plugs to be covered with a piece of tape (be sure not to take the tape roll on board).
- Store the rest of your board with your check-in luggage. (Tip! Travel with the original box if you don't have a suitable bag).
- All the technical information you need to travel is on the battery itself.
You can carry a maximum of 2 travel batteries per person.
2. What percentage do less range AT wheels get over street wheels?
It's around 30% less, roughly. When you're talking different riders and different wheels, it's going to come down to riding styles, environmental conditions.
3. Will any street set up grip as well as all-terrain tyres?
The short answer is no, simply because they are made of different materials. A hard urethane is never going to grip up as well as all terrain tyres on the road - it just won't. However, there are ways to combat this. You can either go for a street wheel, which will serve the purpose as best as possible. With that, you'd be looking at probably a larger wheel with a larger contact patch so in a larger diamond and a larger width, or there are other wheels out there that are more of a rubber compound in a solid design. Check out the image below about the pros and cons of each street wheel type.
4. What could you do to ensure you're getting the most life out of the all-terrain tyre?
Tyre choice, firstly. The standard black all-terrain tyre, the one without the knobby tread, is a good, long-lasting tyre. That's not just from us; that's recognised quite across a few groups. Start with that, and then look at your tyre pressures, where you're riding, and how you're riding. If you're carving hard and you're drifting, the tyres wear a little bit each time.
Rotate the tyres around the board to get even wear and get the longest wipeout of the whole set. The rotation is not just front to back but also side to side because if you're carving hard, you're going to be getting sideways wear on them, and that force from each side is going to change. It's good to rotate them around, get a bit of mixed wear on them, and that'll get the best life out.
Another thing to note is that black tyres have an additive called 'black carbon', which was introduced in the early days to improve the integrity, durability and longevity. This includes car tyres, bike tyres and our tyres. It doesn't mean that the rubber is harder or softer; it just means that the black carbon component gives the strongest wear. This is partly the reason why you see cars only with black tyres.
For aesthetic reasons, coloured tyres do not contain black carbon. Otherwise, they would be black. Their benefit is offering a grippier and softer ride, perfect for cruiser riders and/or beginners.
5. Can I ride in winter in subzero temperatures?
Yes, but don't expect the same performance. Batteries, in general, suffer with cold weather. Because of their chemistry, lithium batteries are probably a bit more noticeable.
They will work, but performance won't be quite there. If you're riding in subzero, you can pretty much expect a performance loss of up to 40%. Additionally, that's potentially also what it can output in power as well.
6. Can I somehow repair out scratches and scuffs in the carbon fibre boards?
As for getting rid of scratches, it depends on how deep it is. If it's superficial scratches, you can use a buff to polish out the scratch itself. And then, probably if it's a little bit deeper, you can touch it up with clear nail polish. If it's deeper into the carbon fibre, you're not going to buff it out. Again, you can buff that clear coat and smooth it over. Then your best bet is to use something like nail polish. If it's really bad, you can use epoxy, which will create a clear coat and a seal over it to protect the carbon fibre from any moisture or environmental aspects.
7. What's the best way to adjust the electric skateboards' trucks?
It would be best if you were running your trucks lose enough to be able to do nice tight turns but not so loose that the board is sloopy. The minimum tightness we recommend on the electric skateboard trucks is to expose two full threads on the kingpin.
In terms of getting the adjustment right, that's a big personal preference. Suppose they're finding themselves tightening the standard bushings a lot to get the feel they want. In that case, they need to consider a stiffer bushing set-up so that they're not over cranking down the bushing because that's not always going to give them the feel they want just because they're making it tighter.
If you have to tighten them up so tight that you're looking at your bushing and they're bulging into an oval, that's not correct. You want to take that out, replace it with a harder compound bushing and put less pressure on that and let the urethane do its job.
8. Why do we need pivot cups in electric skateboards?
The pivot cups, when you look at your truck, you've got your base plate on the bottom and then your truck arm in the middle and the strut or the hanger closest to the ground. The truck arm and the strut have a little pivot point. It looks just like a little rounded pin, and it goes into what looks like a plastic pivot cup. They will give you a lively yet responsive ride, and as they are self-lubricated, they are ninja quiet!
If you're replacing them, you can use a screwdriver, pry it out, put a new one in, away you go. It is really important to keep them clean because most of the noise is probably coming from. If you're not replacing it, you can clean it out with a Q-tip or cotton wool or just some kind of rag, clean it out and put a little bit of lubrication in there.
9. How often should I change my bearings?
There's no set time. You should be doing checks on your board pretty regularly, especially if you're riding off-road and then part of those checks should look at the bearings' condition. You don't even have to pull the bearings out of the wheel - just use a finger, put some pressure into the centre of it and turn it. If it feels a little bit rough, not smooth spinning, then it's a good idea to replace it.
Servicing your skateboard bearings will prolong their life of it. When you're doing these checks and maintenance, you can watch some of our videos, pop off the seals, clean out the bearings, put them back in after you lubricate them, and that'll extend their life. For example, we heard that some customers who are always on top of their board maintenance got 10,000km out of their bearings.
10. How do you clean an Evolve board?
This one really comes down to how much effort you want to put into it and how safe you want to be with the board. Let's be real, if you want to clean the board briefly, quickly after you've been out for a run through the bush or it's dirty, something like that, the best way, get some grip gum or sandpaper cleaner or something like that you can run down the top of the deck, get all the dirt out of the grip tape, debris. That'll clean all that down. As for the underside of the deck, some kind of spray cleaner and a cloth, we can wipe all that down, spray it, get the dirt off, debris and all that.
If you want to clean it properly, we have done a comprehensive tutorial with a breakdown of exactly what you need to do to keep your ride in the best condition possible.
We have almost 300 videos on the main YouTube channel. There are videos on everything from bushings, bearings, changing tyres, cleaning grip, changing grip tape, pretty much everything you could possibly need to do on an Evolve board. Check them out 👇
