I think it’s because the BKB uses (or seems to use, I haven’t ridden one) fairly generic commodity deck, generic trucks, commodity motors from a brand I’ve never heard of, that kind of thing. They certainly use expensive stuff in places, the molicel batteries are v good and the xenith perfectly acceptable, but in general having Rusins’ loaded deck, Boardnamics trucks, caguama wheels, and name brand motor is what is meant by quality I think
And yup, also in agreement here, but this is what was meant by “they picked price and performance”. Speed, range, acceleration, those performance metrics are pretty hard to beat with DIY. But quality of life stuff like above is the tradeoff
Seeing as a 12s5p P42a goes for $700-800, a Xenith is $300, and then you are getting a deck, enclosure, remote, drivetrain for an extra 3-400… The duo Type R is a steal
Lol my drivetrain, deck, and enclosure combo for the princely sum of €16 is sitting smugly in the corner. Ok without wheels actually, but trucks, mounts, motors, bushings, deck etc all came assembled
The $950 version is 10s3p p26a, which is a decent deal since it comes with a xenith.
It’s far more modular than any other prebuilt since you can easily swap out parts with other diy parts.
I got a bkb duo v1 when they were around $700. Piecing that board together, swapping out components, and playing with vesc tool all taught me a ton. Bkb is responsive with any questions.
If you want an easy on ramp to diy (and not spend 6 months to a year running into issues you weren’t aware of) I highly recommend BKB. It will get you up and running in a weekend and is heaps of fun.
Looking at what the Duo offers I would say its a good deal for the parts and a good experience (if you made a similar board from scratch it would easily be 1.5 to 2 times the price, also kit stuff is neat and its easy to deck swap it) but its not an objectively great board, its certainly better than most boards in the price class and is the only one that is actually going to be easy to service but most of it isn’t high end (can get better everything really easily)
The model shown isn’t 923 it’s more around 1500, and for 1599 you could get the TB complete diy that’s gonna have all the upgrades im gonna do to the bkb anyway, longer single stack enclosure not one rear heavy double stack, widen the trucks, change the wheels, change the gearing ratio, and change the deck to a drop down. For 1100 you can just get the build and buy your own battery for your choosing of price.
Torqueboards has had a rocky history the past couple of years
Sub par customer service, undelivered goods, lack of addressing issues, etc. They aren’t what they used to be, they could still come back, but no signs of that yet.
Some people have been lucky and had no issues the whole time.
If you ask this on the BKB facebook owners group you’ll get a reply real fast. There is an active community of BKB owners there.
Also, I’m 99% sure the new type R deck is basically the same width as the original Duo and it is much wider than a vanguard. It makes deck swaps pretty annoying, as not much will fit width wise and you need clearance for the double stack battery.
