Electric boards : a new opportunity for mountainboarding?

[Flexboardz]

Electric boards, skate or mtb, have made a lot of progress in the past years : ligther, cheaper, better integrated,... and are getting more popularity as a transportation mean...

Do you think that this new e-boards market could be a development opportunity for the mountainboard industry? (mtb wheels, decks or trucks are much better/safer/efficient than skate stuff when it comes to making miles)

[kitemechanics]

This is a project I was thinking of taking on. With the development in lithium bats and brushless tech it is looking more and more credible as a means to commute. I have a little experiance with rc cars and the tech is much the same, I will do a bit of research and see what unfolds. I was thinking all wheel drive for my project for maximum power and breaking, should also give good traction and even drive. When we have done im sure we will post the results here.

[Flexboardz]

There has been many DIY models using RC components and there are now few good electric longoards on the market.
I imagine that a mountainboard format (tires, length) will be more suitable for transportation. But it's not yet available on the market....

[kitemechanics]

Aggreed, there have been some attempts at a gas power model but not great ones. We will be prototyping something soon to get a feel things, as we say "you dont know until you try it". We are hoping with all wheel drive to have an efficiant and speedy ride accross the dirt and also be able to commute a fair distance also. Only time will tell what this project holds, but im sure even if there is no future to it, we will have lots of fun along the way. Besides, I will enjoy my commute even if the rest of the world does'nt

[Brennig]

I am all for electric boards, but more in the sense of opening more terrain to ride. The main aspect of freeriding/down hill is having a hill that goes downwards (obviously), but a powered board would open up the possibility of riding up hill as well. I would love to blast around forestries for an hour without getting off my board and taking a step. Going up mountains would be awesome too, being able to climb a 1000 meter mountain would be simply sublime!

I'm not too sure about their commuting ability though. It would be hard to convince people to step off their bikes and use a powered mountain board. The majority of opinions go that the bicycle is the simplest and most effective commuter so don't f**k with it.

But the ability to transform down-hill into down-up-and-no-hill is darn cool.

[Gaz]

If either of you guys could make a powered board either gas or electric power which is a viable, robust and reliable form of transport in all weather at a reasonable price you could have a good product.

[Flexboardz]

Brennig : you are right about bike and e-bike and the majority of the market but there is still space for e-boards and other alternative products for various reasons, storage, trend, fun, theft.... (think that they manage to sell Segways ).

"...more in the sense of opening more terrain to ride" : that's exactly it but in a much wider sense...basically, it brings the terrain to new users. You are already a convinced rider but simple commuters might discover the pleasure of riding or carving through simple commuting...

[Brennig]

Brennig : you are right about bike and e-bike and the majority of the market but there is still space for e-boards and other alternative products for various reasons, storage, trend, fun, theft.... (think that they manage to sell Segways ).

"...more in the sense of opening more terrain to ride" : that's exactly it but in a much wider sense...basically, it brings the terrain to new users. You are already a convinced rider but simple commuters might discover the pleasure of riding or carving through simple commuting...

Good point about the segways, ha.

Think about all the people in disadvantaged countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark, how can mountainless countries mountain board? Well now they can.

[Flexboardz]

for mtb, disavantaged places are so common....
When you consider how much powerkiting contributed to the mountainboard development (at least regarding number of riders), anything that can free mountainboards from its gravitational prison is welcome...