I’m a US college student and have some friends who want to get into Esk8. I went down a little rabbit hole in order to see if a DIY Build under $500 is possible (Excluding tools, shipping, and taxes; and trying to keep those expenses to a minimum)
I have a parts list but it totals to about $700
Any thoughts or recommendations?
My reccomendation if youre going 6s is 1 motor, solo esc, upgrade with 2nd esc and motor and possibly bigger battery when funds allow?
Or grab a prebuilt and upgrade that.
Also bkb has a deck for possibly cheaper than the one you got listed?
Hey, fellow college student here. Here are some of the lessons i’ve learned trying to accomplish the same thing as you
Those trucks arent going to be compatible with 99% of pullies on the market. You’re gonna want something with extended axles, and you’re gonna want pulleys that can support a smaller axle. You’re much better off looking to buy used
Also, getting something like the BKB motors to work with a lingyi esc like that is going to require snipping your motors sensor wire, crimping on a different 5 pin connector, and soldering new connectors onto your esc and/or motors.
the 97mm mboards wheels just suck, and also arent compatible with the pulleys you’ve chosen. the wheels are rock hard (last I tried a similar generic 97mm wheel)
the BKB motors are cheap and will work fine for your purposes. They have a weird shaft, so you’re pretty much locked into using their motor pulleys. it should be fine
Propulsion deck is a good choice, you may wanna use their enclosure if possible.
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Those mboards enclosures are fragile and miserable to use
Unless you’re dead set on building something on your own, you’re better off buying something off the shelf. You will make mistakes, break things, and it will cost you a hell of a lot more than 500 dollars at the end of the day.
Single Motor’ing it would save about $90. Yeah that would work.
My thoughts with the deck is that lateron the Demon 3.0 enclosure could be used for a 12s4p down the line, and keep the same deck, but the cheaper deck would save another $65
Ooo all very good points.
Reguading the wheels, that was such a rookie move on my part🤦🏽♂️
Dang yeah, crimping and soldering would drive up over costs (which would happen eventually)
And better trucks, very much noted
I suppose used or pre built really is the best, isn’t it?
Single motor on that ESC isn’t going to make it up a hill, I tried.
Here was my setup way back when (about 3 and a half years ago), I was a sophomore in high school
At your budget, yeah. I tried to make it work, and after 4 years i’m like 10 grand in the hole with all of my boards + tools I’ve had to buy. It’s a hobby that I love to death, but if you just want something to cruise around campus, buy prebuilt.
Plenty of good deals around, just depends on where you are and how many major cities you’re near. I live in NY, and I see plenty of amazing deals on boards in Boston, NY, DC, etc.
if you’re dead set on building, you can pull off some amazing stuff used. The market’s saturated with deals as the DIY community is seeing a decline. It started out of necessity, but now you can buy some pretty damn good boards, so people are leaving this part of the hobby and selling their stuff.
This.
I have tons of stuff I don’t need that could get a broke college student going for hella cheap, and I’m just one person. There are lots of folks here. Buy used and make a WTB (want to buy) post here are my suggestions. Also make sure you follow order of operations and make sure all the pieces are compatible with one another. Buying stuff that doesn’t work together and then buying it again is just part of building an esk8, unfortunately, so pay keen attention to that and don’t be hasty to click the buy button. Also don’t plan to use anything that says “out of stock” or is otherwise not available to buy right now.
Didnt even take hills into account. 
yeah. I got a bavkfire zealot s as my first board specifically for hills going to work before stepping into the diy space. Then it became my rain board and I toasted the battery 
I know for backfire if you put something on your cart, enter your email and leave it, theyll send you a coupon for a few bucks off. Itll probably only be like %5 at the end of the day, but better than nothing imo.
That battery and esc are going to be super weaksauce.
I’m selling something that could be a good, upgradable, starting point for you:
I bought a used DIY project for my second board after I outgrew a Backfire G2. The board was a LY EVO deck and single stack enclosure with a criminally underpowered battery for the ESC and motors. My first purchase was upgrading the battery and trucks to my liking. All in all I had spent just about 1300 into a super capable 40 mile range and 40mph top speed build that can comfortably cruise up the steepest hill in my Appalachian college campus at 25mph and still accelerate. Afterward, I made a second DIY for street cruising, not as much range but a lot more nimble and on smaller wheels all in all for 800 because I had the wheels and trucks already. Starting with an already put-together DIY will give you everything to make the board move. However, it leaves infinite room for you to really turn it into your dream once you get the money to spend.
I suggest going with a good used pre-built board instead of DIY.
For example: I was able to buy a new Lycaon TRX 2.0 on E-Bay for $500. I also bought a new Ownboard Bamboo in E-Bay for $500.
The key is patience. You just have to wait for the right deal to come along.
The BKB trucks have extended rear axles, no?
Nah those are just caliber clones not bkb trucks
From the product page:
Note: These trucks have a larger rear axle to allow for pulleys, a spacer will be provided for use without pulleys.
I think the BKB trucks should work fine for your purposes. I feel bad because I snagged the last couple BKB Duo enclosures and that would’ve been an easy $100+ savings or so for you…
Their decks at $30 a pop are still an absolute steal. I wonder if you could find a cheap enclosure to go with it. The mboards one might work…?
This is correct. I still have a set.
The BKB motors don’t have a temp sensor, but I don’t remember if they come with 5 pin or 6 pin jst with an empty slot… I actually have a well used but re-habbed set for sale if the OP is interested. Plus a crap ton more of bkb related stuff.
Wow I completely missed that. I looked at the picture, saw caliber clones, and wrote them off.
