DIY for sure. You get to do more and learn much as well.
1 Like
Ignoring everything else, you have one picture that really gives you your answer. You have a picture with a rack of 6 boards for two people. And I am guessing there are more.
For the same reason you have at least six boards for two people you should go completely DIY. You are a builder and you will want to change setups for different situations and build new boards for different reasons. You dip your toes in the water and buy a prebuilt and that’s money wasted for a builder, because you’ll be selling it off at a loss for parts for a custom build two weeks after getting it.
Jump in with both feet. The waters fine.
11 Likes
I think you would do best to steer clear of these products. I get the appeal of a curated kit that someone else has already arranged and confirmed fitment of, but with a little bit more research you can definitely plan out something much higher quality.
For example, here’s a super high quality gear drive kit from a super cool dude in the community named Kevin (AKA @Boardnamics):
It’s going to be way more bulletproof than either of the kits from the companies you listed, and Boardnamics have proven they stand behind their products. If you look around his website they actually sell everything you need for a full drivetrain other than the wheels, all at excellent prices.
Really I would just recommend doing a bit more reading here on the forum, look at lots of build threads, and see what parts experienced DIY’ers are using. Not everything is super expensive, and there are also lots of great deals on quality used parts here in the marketplace categories.
If you want a simple, turn-key solution then there are some great pre-built options out there. If you want to DIY, dont take any shortcuts with cheap parts kits like mboards.
That’s my two cents on it anyway 
Either way, welcome to the community and I look forward to seeing what you build 
9 Likes
Good to know the only horror stories i have come across so far in my reading has been the unity stuff. The creepy spokes guy in the mboards videos probably should have given it away though.
3 Likes
Actually household of 5 everyone but my wife has a board and hers is going in the vacuum press soon. We have been doing nightly longboard rides over the last month or so becoming a nice family activity.
Top to bottom on the rack
My Longboard
My sons Longboard
Middle daughters Longboard (Unicorn and rainbow theme should give that away)
Youngest daughter (the mini long board as she is only 4)
My skateboard
My sons skateboard
and there may or may not be a couple more dead boards screwed to the wall above that rack 
5 Likes
Most of those are hub motor kits I believe and I am not super keen on that from a repair/service aspect of things.
I mean you could go in the middle and buy a completed DIY. Be careful on what you buy of course, but just an idea. I happen to have one for sale if you’d be interested.
Edit: You’ll save a few bucks too!
What do you have?
About the keenest priced kit I can think of. You could buy one of the kits, flog they deck and enclosure and make your own?
Honestly, after seeing how he handled my friend’s kit’s issues, I’m not sure I can recommend anymore 
4 Likes
Ah, I better temper my recommendation. I wasn’t aware.
1 Like
The bkb kit is a good intro to someone without the requisite skills and has some good components for sure but I’d say @SputnikRSS is beyond the kit especially when he can make his own battery and would likely diy the board and enclosure. The battery was the real shortcoming of the kit imo.
1 Like
I’m going to go a little different here. For most people, until they build a DIY, they probably will have a hard time understanding what they are paying for. I’ve built one and damaged it. I have that one and another in pieces in my shop. I’ll finish them eventually and I’ll ride them. I already put several thousand miles on my first DIY. But given your experience and profession you already understand what you would be paying for so that advantage isn’t as big for you.
The kits I don’t see the point of. Sure, you know they will work together but you are paying a markup for a middleman profit on every part.
I don’t have the aversion to pre-built boards that a lot of people have here. I had an Evolve Bamboo GTX and still own an Exway (battery pretty well kaput) and a Trampa. 9 times out of 10 though I pick up my Lacroix Nazare’ I bought a few months back. I design and build electromechanical systems like these boards for work. For satellites. That means they have to work first time and every time. No repairmen out there. The single biggest cost for us is testing. We test these things senseless to be sure they will work in orbit. That’s what you get from a production board. I find the cost similar to DIY for similar performance. However, I know the production boards have had thousands of people riding them shaking out the bugs. I have also ridden my production boards thousands of miles and honestly, other than expected maintenance, never had a problem.
All depends on what you are looking for.
4 Likes
Full DIY is surely the way to go for you, considering your tools and skill set. For me, making and building is as much fun as riding itself. That said, it can be a great source of frustration, especially if you are at all a perfectionist, and want to ride that thing!
One option would be to buy a cheap ($300-400) prebuilt that just runs, so that you can ride it here and there while building the board you really want. Best of luck.
8 Likes
Fan of this advice.
5 Likes
You are not the onlyfan.
Having a known running board as a backup is a real frustration saver. I third this advice and with that, it is inscribed in the minds of all who read these words
2 Likes
I got a couple items for what I would think is a good price that would be part of the DIY build. (yes I’m trying to get a sale on my archived stuff)
I already have there website bookmarked from when i was doing my parts searches. Good to know they are a quality company. You of course have a battery ready to go for reasonable price to compliment the drive kit 
Big fan of this … My exway flex did this for me until I got my first diy bulletproof
Looks like I have a line on a local lightly used(1yr/250km) evolve GTR bamboo for my son. Might need to get started ordering some parts for mine.