Hey everyone – just wanted to share a build that I think a few of you old-schoolers might appreciate. Call it my Raptor Tribute Build.
I unfortunately bought a Raptor 2 off eBay right before Enertion went under. Seemed like a killer deal, and I loved the idea of a DIY-ish board with FocBox. For a few months, I was in total heaven, it was the most badass board to me.
Of course, it turned out to be a total POS. Flakey remote connections, tons of motor issues, etc…I sold it off pretty quickly, but always loved the idea of a build based off of one.
Well, I recently found another Raptor 2 listed on eBay. After a few months of pestering the seller and watching the listing, I finally snagged it at a price I felt okay about and was finally able to make one of my own. The deck and the truck baseplates are the only Enertion parts used. My goal was to keep the overall vibe of the original.
I was a bit torn on wheels. I have a set of Enertion’s original 90mm R-Spec front wheels I could use, they just felt so tiny. I ended up going with 110mm TorqueBoard wheels for now.
How does it ride? It looks much more useful than when in factory spec.
I have one of these, bought it for less than a new FOCbox would have cost at the time, but the battery is getting a little tired now. I’ve only ridden it a dozen times, and wasn’t overly impressed with the ride quality and performance.
For a long time I’ve been considering making a glass enclosure and doing a rebuild similar to this, or with an evolve stoke. What’s it like to ride now it’s got a wide rear end and doesn’t have those poxy rough as guts hub motors?
It’s definitely a blast to ride—an absolute rocket with the 6374s and 12S!
That said, ride quality is still a bit of a challenge. I was hoping that switching from hubs to those soft 110s would help smooth things out, but it’s still pretty harsh. Probably just the nature of the short, stiff deck.
One thing that surprised me was the ride height—I thought it would bother me a lot more, but I actually felt quite comfortable on it. It’s nice not having to worry about scraping everywhere like I do with my daily.
I wouldn’t want to ride it every day, but the build was absolutely worth it. It’s great having something more portable to grab and cruise around with the family.
Totally agree—there’s definitely something kind of dead-feeling about that deck. Always looked like a total hotrod to me though, probably the nostalgia talking since it was one of the first esk8s I owned.
Also gotta say, those bracket board setups look wicked.
