i was thinking along the lines of hiding all the cables and coming up with some 12s swapable battery solution to bump performance and range - but i never built with an integrated deck so… im talkin out of my ass 
Wow, thanks a lot for all your replies. This really helps me. It might seem trivial to you but for me it’s exactly the small steps I need to do right now 
@olsyke I live in Switzerland. So yes, I would love to keep a low profile. The build should be elegant and stealth. I could imagine using an enclosed board, but it would need to be a board I like - I am looking for a pintail at the moment…
@visnu777 I will definitely also consider direct drives. You said, they have less heat problems: how problematic is heat in hub motors?
Did you ever have an issue with Hummies hub motors?
@Goldrabe thanks a lot for the links. They are much appreciated
@Acido Good to know I can get a custom made battery from you 
Do you work with Lipos or Li-ion or something else?
Li ions only, any cells any shape 
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The motors you have linked get hot quickly even in flat terrain.
Considering that you are in Switzerland Hubmotors might not be the best option. How long and how many hills do you need to go up?
In my opinion, I have a Direct Drive board too, there is not much gain in the heat department over Hubmotors. The biggest gain is comfort.
How much of a budget do you have?
@Acido Perfect. I will PM you when I am ready with all the rest… this could take some time tho…
@Goldrabe I decided to not include a budget yet. I would hope to stay around 600$ without the deck, but this might not be realistic - and then there is always this itch for more performance… So no budget yet, but I won’t build anyhting over 1.5k
If I understand you correctly, heat is negligeable between a hub and a direct drive?
About the hills: I’m not going to climb mountains. I stay in the city or near the city… But there are some ramps nearby… I guess 20° should be enough…
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With hummies I had only one issue: They have too much torque 
but when used to it its pure joy 
I tried several hubs, started with the cheap ones from ebay (-), Meepo V1 and V2(+) style (from evil diyeboard), Mad hubs(-, One side got hot, I think it was because of wrong winding, I sold them and never got any complaint from the buyer so I guess they’re ok now :)), Landwheel(++, I toasted one set with 12s and 60A per motor and bigger sleeves) and finally Hummies(+++). You want low KV values for mastering the incline, your target speed is no problem. -> http://calc.esk8.it/
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Yes in my opinion heat development in Hubs vs. DD iS negligible.
If I would start from scratch at the moment I would go with these gear drives from @avX .
They are quiet come with good trucks, you can choose between Urethane or All terrain wheels.
But they are pricey, you will likely hit that 1500€ mark.
Herringbone Gears Avio MK2 Gear Drive
Another thing I would consider is the enclosed belt drive by @Boardnamics. Since it’s enclosed it should be quieter than traditional belt drives and his stuff is affordable.
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@Goldrabe I think the Herringbone is a bit too expensive.
The Sealed Belt Drive is an option - but I somehow still think I might prefer a Hub or a Direct Drive.
I found the following sites / setups which to mee look fine. Can you judge them and let me know what I could improve?
Setup 1: Kit Builder from mboard
https://www.mboards.co/collections/kits/products/kit-builder
Setup 2: Individual Parts from Meepo
https://www.meepoboard.com/collections/motors
Of corse I still would like hummie motors after reading your inputs… but that does not seem to happen anytime soon…
Btw: I also realized in the Kit Builder, that Direct drives are more expensive than hub drives. Is that usually the case or is it just because of the pricing of this vendor?
Might get hate for this but Meepo makes some pretty good hubs for the price. I started with a Meepo and for a newb its quite quick specially of you pair it with a Vesc.
Belt is sweet but not really stealth in comparison imo.
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i think i heard bad things about mBoards and its also not on the trusted vendor list
this is not the ̶d̶̶r̶̶o̶̶i̶̶d̶ shop youre looking for 
also, buy cheap - buy twice is a common saying around here too
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Scrap mboards, he has a history of not delivering or delivering wrong items and not replacing them.
As mentioned above, out of the Hub options which are available now, the Meepo hubs might be your most convenient option.
@jeffwuneo is going to produce a second batch of his Hubmotors which are adaptable on any truck. The first batch ships right now to members of this forum. If you are a bit patient you can wait for the outcome and get on the second batch. I am considering buying them myself.
Direct Drives in general are more expensive because they are mechanically more complex compared to hubs. The cheaper Direct drives are coming only with Double Kingpin Trucks, which are a sort of specialty truck, people hate them or love them. In general they are not as stable as usual RKP trucks. I have set mine up with stiff bushings and got used to them, but would still prefer RKP trucks.
Don’t rush yourself into buying stuff too early, I did spend a lot money because I started replacing parts after one week due to underwhelming performance.
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Thanks once again for your help.
@fallingdown No reason to hate this
So you think my Setup 2 posted above should work fine but with another ESC?
What ESC could you recommend?
@olsyke Thanks fo the link to the trusted vendor list…
@Goldrabe Then I might opt for Meepo Hubs.
Do you think my Setup 2 is strong enough for my goal (30kmh, 35km range, 20° uphil - all including a 90kg rider)?
I am not sure about the ESC and the Battery yet. Any suggestions?
@Acido what is the benefit of a Li ion over a Lipo and vice versa?
To add to the build: I really enjoy this arbor deck:
https://skate.arborcollective.com/products/fish-groundswell?_pos=10&_sid=4e1ca5567&_ss=r
but it might be a bit tricky to find an enclosure… still looking
Will confirm again here that mBoards will continue to say that “he’s improving” or “it’s been rough lately” but time and time again he just continues to disappoint. He has a history of bad service at this point, so we don’t recommend that people purchase from him at all.
Meepohubs with the meepo ESC would definitely work for this but if you want more power but still user friendly try to get a hold of a focbox unity but they are like 250-300$ if you find one. There is options that’s coming out but none that I know which are tested and easy to get.
I weigh 92kg +/- a kg or two with gear on and my meepo got me easy 20km pretty hard riding so a 10s4p with l sanyo 20700B cells should get you 35km but might go up to a 5p if you want to ride hard all that way but 35km i far on a esk8 especially with hubs 
Your feet if going to be dead lol
I have a hard time to find an enclosure that fits a pintail deck.
It should be elegant, but it should also still allow the board to flex - so I am thinking about two enclosures, one on the top for the esc, one on the bottom for the battery. But then I would have a cable going from top to bottom - not ideal.
Does anybody have experience with building your own custom enclosure? If so, what material would you recommend?
@ShutterShock I ditched all the stuff from mBoards. Thanks!
@fallingdown good to know the specs should work with a meepo
What meepo do you have? How is it different from my setup2 ?
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Search around on the forum, there are tons of examples. I have built them in the past out of ABS, Kydex, and 3D printed parts. It depends on the build really.
The meepo list is missing a truck for the motors, they need a special one
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@ShutterShock
Ok, I had a short look before but then I need to look more in depth.
@visnu777
Wow, thanks a lot for pointing this out… I would have missed that one!
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I messaged Meepo and told them that I was thinking to use the same components from the Meepo V3 but on my own deck. The answer I got was:
Honest speaking, it will much more expensive than buy a V3 board directly.
So I took a look at the components and it is true. It would propably double the price if you include the charger and all that stuff.
The V3 comes with a 20R 10S2P battery. Is this enough power? What does 20R stand for?
I am not sure about the approach to take a Meepo apart and mount everything on my own deck. What do you think about this? Pros and Cons?
And the a last question: What is the difference from the Meepo V3, V3 ER and Halloween edition?
Thanks 
20R stands for the battery cells used in the battery pack. In this case Samsung 20R.
If I remember correctly this pack is good for 15-17km range.
The ER version has a battery with more capacity eg Extended Range.
I am not familiar with the Halloween version.
If you are not so much into building things and you aren’t sure e-skating is for you, buying a cheap prebuilt is completely understandable. The cheap Chinese market place improved a lot in the last two years.
I for myself like building stuff, enjoy to make my own enclosures and have something that is unique to me with the specs to my liking.
You made some choices which made it kind of awkward for you in the beginning. Building a board with 35km of range based on a Pintail deck is doable but certainly not easy.
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