I didn’t think I’d ever actually see one of these kits in person. I’ll dispense with my usual long-winded narrative, and just get to the story.
A friend of mine runs One Stop Board Shop, a PEV shop in New Jersey. I’ve known him for years, his shop is good and does well. They’re a good resource. A customer of theirs bought an MBoards kit, and tried to put it together, and from what I understood, had trouble configuring the ESCs. It came to him bringing the board to the shop and saying “I just can’t anymore, please just make it work.”
One Stop mostly services Onewheels, Evolves, various scooters and ebikes, etc. So, after digging through this box of random parts, they reached out and we chatted about the kit. Long story short, I went out to the shop to help them and take a look. It was a good hangout excuse anyway.
Turns out, it was the Interstellar kit, and they had issues assembling it. When I tried to…it was clear why.
I was told that the customer was only met with 2 options on the order page, relating to battery size. 10s4p or 12s4p. Naturally they chose the larger battery. The issue is that the parts they sent, don’t at all fit in the enclosure. They sent two single ESCs, plus an anti-spark switch, and some of the longest leads I’ve seen for a switch.
So…nothing fits. Also, one of the motors had malfunctioning sensors. Not necessarily their fault, but annoying nonetheless for a kit that’s aimed at an average inexperienced user.
The trucks and motors are what you’d assume. Caliber clones and older style Flipsky motors. I actually like Flipsky motors, and did before it was cool. So, no real complaint here.
The dangerous part is something that I really can’t believe they haven’t thought about.
The deck is flexible. Really flexible. As in…bouncy. The enclosure, however, isn’t. I’m not sure if it’s ABS, but it’s a standard plastic enclosure in a rigid shape. The plastic itself is twisty and maleable, but when it’s bolted down to the deck, the shape doesn’t flex. It’s a single tray, with the weight of the rider on the standoffs contained in the enclosure.
Any heavy rider will eventually (likely rather quickly), cause the enclosure to crack as it stresses from the weight. If it stays in use, the flexing weight of the deck will contact the battery, which is also not at all flexible.
If a rider of my weight (190lbs), or the customer (200lbs) actually managed to assemble this, and rode it, it’d eventually become a danger from the breakage of the enclosure and the stressed transfered to the battery.
I am unsure of the failure rates of their kits…but this doesn’t instill confidence. Not in the product, and not in their business. It shows a serious lack of wherewithawl to offer people a usable kit, when their website doesn’t know what parts are incompatible, or to offer something with no thought of longevity.
Unforutunate, frustrating, and kind of dangerous.
