i always run full bindings but anything past 30mph is done in leathers to slide, had too many concussions from not sliding
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A few croix updates.
Board is running great but it appears I’m having issues with a temp sensor. This motor also has very minor cogging upon reverse, so I’m wondering if it’s a bad sensor. A couple people recommended checking the connections, but I soldered the connections, so it’s a real PITA to check anything.
It could be a few things, but I don’t really have the tools with me to check. I’d like to swap motor sides and see if the issue follows the motor or stays on the same side, to rule out a bad sensor port on the makerx d100s. My suspicion is bad motor sensor. Until I have access to a shop to work on this board, I’m going to just turn the motor temp sensor off in vesc. I think i can do that right?
I added the calculations for efficiency in the ultimate esk8 calculator thread. Takeaway is that 4wd is dumbass powerful even if your board is geared for 50mph top speed.
My efficiency is jumping between 35 and 45 wh/mile depending if I’m cruising on smooth roads or chugging through sandy dirt paths/roads. I’m looking at a realistic 27 miles of range even with mediocre efficiency.
Other thoughts on this board:
- I really don’t like being strapped in with bindings at 25mph on the road. I am simply not comfortable with this, and I don’t know if I ever will be.
- 48lbs strapped to your feet is about as heavy as you would think it is. This is not a lightweight board.
- I’m not sure I’m sold on 4wd. The 4wd does get me though a good amount of stuff that I’d get bogged in on with 2wd, but to be honest, that stuff isn’t very fun to ride in the first place. Shitty sandy roads and rocky uneven terrain doesn’t spark joy on 8" wheels. Whenever I hit low traction areas I want to blast out donuts, and 4wd doesn’t really allow that.
- I now realize I ride with my back foot at 90 degree to the deck. The bindings don’t really allow this comfortably, so I’m going to need to re-drill the back binding holes.
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Ok another ride and a few more thoughts.
- I dug in on a sandy patch today and ate shit. I was only able to get one leg out and ended up hopping away. All was fine but I ended up pulling the bindings off for the rest of the ride. In this terrain I don’t feel like bindings are doing much for me. I’m not dropping off things or doing airs. Just getting fast and loose on dirt and sand.
- 4wd fucking kicks ass for riding up steep hills. It’s like unstoppable charging up a hill that 2wd would skitter out and fail on.
- 4wd also kicks ass for braking down steep loose terrain. I went up a big sandy hill thinking oh this is going to suck riding down… with brakes on the front it was totally chill. I’m just finding that 4wd gives you a lot more control in situations im used to losing rear traction.
- my hubs wobble because the hubba hub adapter is too fat and the outer bearing sits near the threads. Gotta swap hubs out.
- 8” tires are not cutting it in this sand. I want to try out some wide 9” tires like the trampa mud pluggers.
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You’re chasing dragons trying to ride in soft sand… i’ve come to accept it as a pipe dream
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Yeah it’s not like beach sand. It’s more like sandy dirt patches that are enough for you to dig in and eat shit. I’m not expecting to cruise on full on sand. Hoping to lessen the amount of times I crash by maybe a few
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I’ll be following closely. Going to 9 inch definitely helped a little for me but I wouldn’t rate it as a significant improvement.
Definitely curious how mud pluggers go compared to the 9 inch mbs but i wouldn’t pay trampa to find out
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As we have learned the last few years of CarvePDX beach-rally, large tires definitely help. However, aggressive tread actually leads to more dig-in, which isn’t what you want. The best tires seemed to be he wide and smooth, to spread the load and compact the sand as much as possible without cutting into it.
Of course, smooth tires means you’ll have less grip when you DO need to dig in to get traction. It’s a trade off. Another thing we learned is that loose deep sand is always going to be nearly impossible to ride on, no matter your tire size/tread.
Have you read DougM’s sand-board thread? Might be some more useful info in there.
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Yeah, I’m looking at the 9" mudpluggers specifically because the contact patch is so wide on them. It may be a marginal gain, but I’m confident it will be an improvement on my current shit slingers. I’ll definitely keep the shit slingers, as these are great for road and mixed terrain. I just don’t think they excel in sandy areas. I was also considering the CST turf tires, but I’m hesitant due to how much they weigh.
I’ll check out the sand runner thread. 
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Looking at binding alternatives. @Venom121212 look what you made me do.
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these have a LOT of flex. I tried jumping a 2wd flux with these, and the bindings had wayyy more play than i was comfortable with. Far worse than tomiboi’s toe hooks
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Man bindings are just so nice for turning while being able to keep a tighter setup. I always thought I would like the half straps too, even on a street board.
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Perfect timing, that is the concern running through my mind every time I see the freebord ones. Then I remember how shitty they were to us asking about bindings.
I think I have accepted that I’m not jumping my 50lb 4wd no matter what kind of bindings I have on there… I know, skill issue.
Yeah it’s definitely true, but I like loosey goosey trucks anyway. My pkps are a wet spagetti noodle and I can go 25 before my tire vibrations say no thank you sir…
This is the main reason I’d want it, I tried doing some 2wd offroading (real stuff) and brakes downhill are always super scary because you just slide
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Yeah, I ride loose as @BillGordon’s anus as well with my yellow shockblocks up front and orange in the rear, barely any preload. They’re so damn deformed too. So I guess tighter is a matter of perspective here. I need to try out some pkps one day.
My 2c on foot hook bindings, my very first experience with bindings was the freeboard s2s on my baja. I fucking loved them, but they do well with some padding on them, they kinda hurt a bit otherwise
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Im really enjoying this board.
It’s totally capable in a lot of places that my street boards would never be rideable.
Took it up a 4x4 trail today. Went binding free for this ride. I felt a lot more comfortable getting kinda squirrely on loose stuff, knowing I could run off if my board dug into a sandy patch.
I do think I’m running the airs a little too loose for off roading, but they are a lot of fun for carving on the street at 20mph when they’re a wet noodle.
I’m going to throw some wide 9” tires on this to help with running over rocky and sandy stuff
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Do I need it - no
Did I buy it anyway - YES
MJF split trigger on the way. @Venom121212 I’ll keep you updated.
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It’s top of my list for ones I want to try. I feel like there was some signal weirdness mentioned by a few people though (not this style specifically) so maybe read up. Hopefully I’m misremembering.
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Yup, I’ve owned a zmote before and paid attention to reports of other. It’s always tough to discern what is user error vs actual issues with the remote vs something entirely different going on with vesc.
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