If you’re looking at a pack and esc with a fibre glass enclose that spans the lengh of the deck go for something with no flex!
I did a Backfire deck swap with a drop hammer and it has about 1200 miles on it now - only small splintering near the deck bolts arose since my buddy tightened the hell out of them, otherwise the deck has held up great.
We abused the shit out of this deck, even riding on rocky/gravel paths constantly along with the fact that my city’s roads are ancient. Drop hammer is super solid.
My 8 ply LY dropcat ended up splintering between plys near the wheel wells, I only rode it as my push board for about a month…
At one point I dropped the board from a foot or so and a small chunk of wood broke off the edge, just like the board was some cheap china shit… compared to my switchblade which has been dropped from tall fences resulting in only a large scuff.
I feel like certain LY decks are built super tough, whereas others not.
4 Likes
My deck is flexier than id like, and somewhat similar shaped. However, the enclosure on it can handle the flex. I used my thinner battery and attached it to the enclosure though, because of that. The other one had millimeters to spare and is on pcb’s, and i aint askin for trouble. I did some serious jump tests to make sure the tails arent gonna break under normal circumstances when i test mounted the enclosure and wheels and whatnot. You should always stomp test your deck before using it. If it breaks, yeah that sucks, but at least it wont happen when youre on it.
1 Like
Alright new kid, calm down. Be cool and everyone will be cool in return - you don’t need to bring the aggro attitude into every thread. Never did I say LY was a bad company.
Read some more and maybe we can have a nuanced discussion on variables that affect build longevity.
7 Likes
The thread title definitely throws undeserved shade at LY. I’m not “aggro” like you’re saying, just placing blame where blame is due. Maybe you should calm down.
Cause I was curious, here’s all the recent LY decks (available on their website) with specs:
| DECK | LENGTH (IN) | WIDTH (IN) | WHEELBASE (IN) | PLIES | STIFFNESS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATV-X | 32 | 9 | 14.3 | 7 (2 composite) | stiff |
| Battle Axe 38 | 38.2 | 9.4 | 27 | 8 | flexy |
| Charlie Horse | 35.8 | 9.13 | 24 | 7 | stiff |
| Cheese Grater | 36.3 | 9.5 | 26 | 10 | stiff |
| Condor | 41 | 9.9 | 9.9 | 7 | flexy |
| Dinghy | 28.5 | 8.6 | 14.6 | 7 | stiff |
| Dipper | 36 | 8.7 | 24.3 | 7 | medium |
| Drop Carve 38 | 37.9 | 9.7 | 28 | 7 | medium |
| Drop Carve 40 | 40.2 | 9.7 | 28 | 7 | medium |
| Drop Cat Seeker 33 | 33 | 9.6 | 23.9 | 7 | medium |
| Drop Cat 38 | 38 | 9.9 | 29.3 | 8 | medium/stiff |
| Drop Hammer | 36.5 | 10 | 27.25 | 7 | stiff |
| Evo 36 | 36 | 9.5 | 27.8 | 9 | stiff |
| Evo 40 | 39 | 10 | 32 | 9 | stiff |
| Freedive | 36.8 | 9.6 | 23 | 9 | stiff |
| Gordito | 35 | 10 | 17.5 | 7 | stiff |
| Rally Cat | 34.7 | 9 | 24 | 7 | stiff |
| Ripper | 36.9 | 9 | 24.9 | 7 | medium |
| Stratus 46 | 45.5 | 9.3 | 28 | 8 | medium |
| Switchblade 38 | 38 | 9.8 | 29 | 9 | stiff |
| Switchblade 40 | 40 | 10 | 31 | 9 | stiff |
| Tony Danza | 40 | 8.5 | 22.8 | 7 | medium |
It puts it a bit more in perspective, when the ply range is only 7-9. Flexy rating seems quite important. I wouldn’t buy anything not labeled “stiff”.
Evo, Dinghy, Drop Hammer, Switchblade… all proven
8 Likes
I’d also mention there’s other factors to flex aside from plies, like the deck contour, ply thickness, and layer orientation. That’s how you can have the Battle Axe with 8 layers be way more flexible than a Rally Cat with 7. I think flex could still work - just look at all the Boosted clones out there, but you’ll need two part or multi-segment enclosures to preserve as much deck flex as possible.
3 Likes
Not all are made equal though, my 40" Evo is a lot stiffer than my 36" Drop Hammer
2 Likes
Drop Hammer is 7 plies, Evo is 9, so that would make sense, no?
Did you mean the DH feels stiffer?
1 Like
It makes sense, but they are both classes as stiff, just wanted people to know there’s a noticable different even in a category
1 Like
Ah. Agreed. There’s a million more details to crafting a skate deck than just plies and a ballpark stiffness rating. But as esk8 decks to avoid, for me personally, stiffness rating is a halfway decent benchmark.
1 Like
If the enclosure is segmented or if you’re top mounting I think they are fine, but a long stiff enclosure on a flexy deck is definitely a recipe for disaster
1 Like
Dude my Evo feels much stiffer compared to my pinecone switchblade! Same plys I think too.
I guess cause it has slightly lesser concave
2 Likes
Well nowwww you tell me
2 Likes
Lol I didn’t know you were doing it 
1 Like
Me working on my vanguard build:
I like flex
5 Likes
Well, drop hammer is stiff for sure, I have push-carved it the whole summer season and I like to call it “rapid-plank”. Then again, maybe it is stiff enough but I feel like 7 ply may be too little for hard AT driving, I have already done some chips on edges/corners while pushing. And daaaamn, it’s short. It is really short.
Evo 40 seems fantastic, but I cannot find any second-handed locally 
Any other suggestions for some drop/double-drop 40ish deck for AT esk8?
And just to be clear - LY is a great brand, I love their boards. Had the chance to test several different models of theirs and they are solid, predictable. So as others had already noticed, the first post problem maybe just a poor deck-purpose selection rather than a poor deck itself.
I’ve been riding a Landyachtz switchblade over 3000km and it’s been amazing. Love it.
Also I’m selling a Landyachtz R5 if you’re interested, it’s perfect for esk8.
Never seen that deck before, looks awesome! Wonder how about clearance, but I guess in planned 175mm + DKP should be fine.
Nevertheless, I’m pretty sure that shipping costs from Canada to EU will kill the fun, so I won’t even ask for the price 
Thanks anyway!
1 Like
I absolutely love how you analyze this failure and give as many details as possible and try to advance the science — instead of just making a popcorn thread shitting on a vendor for the drama factor.
We can all learn from this 
7 Likes