Prologue - More like…pro-long… GOTTIM!
To this build, I owe a lot. A new friendship, the last push to open an eskate repair shop, and the beginning of a very bitter distaste for gear drives. ← That last one is for you, @jack.luis 
As usual, this is a bit of a story, one that started probably a year ago.
I’m part of a small private Onewheel social group, since the greater “official” NYC Onewheel groups aren’t really for me. After several riders gravitated towards one another, a small group branched off, and slowly expanded. We now have a mellow riding group that all still share interest in riding our Onewheels, but also act as a social circle where we root for one another in the rough journeys of life. We also chat about other PEV interests, including eskates. My friend who is mainly an EUC rider ended up buying a used Kaly 1.5 (or something like that, as it was a V1 with a something something gear drive). There were videos shared, it looked cool, hooray.
Ultimately, it was sold to someone else, and another EUC was bought in its stead. Expected. And not too long down the line, an impromptu group ride took place not far from me, and the rider who now had the board was there. He was a very chill person, mild-mannered, and super trim. A good 60-70 lbs lighter than me. He was getting a bit less range than everyone else, and at a charge spot he and I started chatting about the board and his riding history. Prior to the Kaly, he had only ridden a Boosted board, and was glad to have upgraded. Finally seeing this Kaly in person, I wasn’t entirely sure it was an upgrade, but politeness prevented me from saying as much.
Later on in the year, after being more active in the Tele chats (something I’m much less so these days), he’d appear with questions about range, battery life, maintenance, etc. He and I would chat, I’d answer questions to his satisfaction, and that’d be it. Shortly after, he appeared again, having had an accident with the board.
A minivan ran over the front. Truck was busted, axle was bent. Not surprising, it was a 9.5253468238723mm titanium axle from Trampa. Not a bad truck, but not surprising that it bent. I mean, going under a car, anything would probably need to be replaced, so I’m just being cheeky here.
I mention I can fix it, and he brings it all the way over to my neck of the woods. As anyone here in NYC can attest, I don’t live very close to most folks. I’m near the border of Long Island where there’s only 1 NYC bus, and the Long Island Rail Road. No subways. It’s a shlep.
I order the part, fix it on up and check out the rest of the board because…how can I not?
Ho. Ly. Crayap. This thing was ripe. I mean, yikes. I’ll get into the roughness later, but before that, the rest of the tale.
After the owner comes by, sees the fix, is appreciative, and we chat, I come to learn that he’s the 5th owner of this board. It was owned by various NYC riders beforehand, and at a couple points in its life, was “fixed” for some other issues. The fixes were reportedly performed by a now defunct (far as I know) PEV repair spot named after some nonsense EUC machismo horse shit, and after looking inside, I can see that the work matched the ethos of that endeavor. Sub-standard and without pride in the work or respect for other people’s property.
ANYWAY
The interaction concludes, we shake hands and part ways. Until two week later. The board had been run over again, front truck is damaged. The same axle is bent.
Kismet.
It returns, I look at it, and we sit and talk over tea and coffee for a couple of hours. I express my concerns with the board in general, and most of them are already confirmed by how it’s been behaving. We discuss ideas I have for an upgrade, and possible costs, and the owner decides it’s as good a time as any. I bring the guy home (he walked the board over to me…which must have literally taken an hour and a half), and I put the thing on the queue.
Chapter 1 - Why…!?
This will be short. The board was REALLY rough. Not just rough from the life it had, but rough from how it was put together.
The internals weren’t pretty, but not exactly unsafe. The battery build was lazy, and seemed to have some approaches that essentially fell under “eh, it’ll work.”
Balance wiring wasn’t compressed, but just haphazardly laid about. There appeared to be an attempt at cell-level fusing on the positive end of the P groups…but really with was just a bunch of differently cut, thin nickel pieces with 2 welds onto the cell.
There wasn’t any padding, and two P groups had dented cans when I lifted the battery out of the tray. This assembly didn’t stay long in my home, I brought the whole thing to recycling quickly, because I suffer from both anxiety and a mild case of battery paranoia.
I didn’t personally care for the single piece of 1/4" copper braid as a series connection, especially on such a flexible deck (and completely cracked enclosure).
I realize that this is an older board with an older battery, and I’d like to think that it was shortly after that things improved in these boards, but I do not think that anymore. Since starting on this particular project, I’ve have 4 total Kaly’s come into my shop, an XL40, an XL 2.0, an XL50+ and another V1. Their batteries were in essence, the same. Two of those boards had battery issues, one was from water damage, the other was strictly balance wiring problems. The were abraded away and disconnected from the P group, causing charging problems, and the other was kind of rusty inside, along with having what seemed to mainly just be a cold solder of the negative discharge at the pack terminal, so it was having sag issues.
Those are all the main reason I no longer work on other people’s batteries. Those, the 2 EUC batteries I’ve worked on, and lastly, the nail in the coffin that was a Trampa Orssum. Not the fauly of Trampa, this battery was just disgusting and I needed it out of my life. Never again.
Anyway, back to this build. I did say this section would be short…my bad.
The motor wiring was just plopped out the rear through open holes that kind of look like how I would draw zeroes on paper if I had no lines to write on.
The BMS was…ew. The balance connector was bent and the housing was pulled a bit from the pins. I’m fairly sure I’ve seen this BMS in use before, and the connector didn’t sit at this far an angle so I’m mildly certain it’s not supposed to be this way. Or maybe it is?
Now…the drivetrain…well, shit. I’m glad it’s dead.
Every single screw and bolt was JB Welded on. One of the POM wheel pinions had a crack in it, and the rear truck wasn’t salvagable…because the mount wouldn’t come the hell off. Not with heat, not with a 3 ton arbor press.
I just can’t go through every thing I hated about the rear assembly of this board. Too much frustration. The long and short of it was that the owner mentioned issues during braking, including a sound that was very unlike the sound of the other side. I poked around, finally got it open, cleaned it off and found a crack. Later found out that the parts were no longer made for this specific drive. Blah blah blah, weigh options, this gear drive isn’t making it onto the new board.
Here are some photos of my personal hell.
I realize I didn’t take any more. This day of work was very much a “screw this, I’m done” kind of day. My apologies for having so few pictures. I really just wanted this whole thing over with. And now it is, and I’m happier for it.
The enclosure was going to be scrapped anyway, so no real commentary there.
Fast forward, and the owner asked if I could change the hub colors out since so much is being redone, and asked about the new enclosure and how it’s going to fit on the deck. After some insert removal, it seemed that the holes in the deck needed to be filled and the deck redrilled for the eBoosted enclosure, and after some back and forth, the owner wasn’t entirely comfortable with how close the new holes would be to the older filled holes, and was worried about longevity, given how much heavier the new enclosure would with a battery twice the size.
So…deck is scrapped. Maybe by now, the title and name of the board is starting to make sense.
Let us now dispense with the stewing in old bones, and get to the meat and potatoes.
Chapter 2 - New Life, New Body
Trampa Carver deck, eBoosted DS enclosure. Yessir.
s
Checking clearance…in case this one gets run over again, how much of a buffer is there?
Let’s mount the enclosure the eBoosted way, which I admit, is a favorite of mine.
For a few reasons, I elected to panel mount the motor connections. Specifically for ease of repair and replacement, should the need arise.
Chapter 3 - The Battery; New Body, New Spirit.
The choice of cell here was the Sanyo GA 18650. The rider weighs 120lbs, and rides fairly conservatively. Tuned to his weight and preferred ride feel, this cell works perfectly. In practice, the board doesn’t pull more than 5-6 amps per cell, and in this case, the extra capacity will indeed be reachable.
Stealing the idea from @glyphiks , I put a printed spacer betwixt the P groups to make the segments one cohesive unit and give a bit of extra space between alternating cells.
The spacers were also glued into place, and so far seem to be holding well. I have indeed checked, and I’m mildly convinced they’ll last fine given how it all went together.
I haven’t gotten THAT many battery build pictures, but there’s not much here that’s out of the ordinary at this point.
I kind of regret how not-that-round-and-pretty the solder pools ended up. The joints held very well, but they could have ended up much nicer looking. My main regret of this board.
Oh look! Unwelded cells. They’re so adorable.
Finishing it up.
Don’t mind that last picture…I totally didn’t build two of these batteries with different cells at the exact same time and use a picture of the other one.
Chapter 4 - New Spirit, New Energy
I’d say that soldering GX12 connectors onto the motors was a massive pain, but it really wasn’t. I just took care to make sure no pins bridged, the joints were solid, and that no undue stress was placed on the wiring before the insulation was fully cured and the strain relief of the housing was in place.
And a big nod to the sensor wire sheath that Flipsky uses on their BH motors. That stuff is great, very robust and flexible. Also, nothing seems to stick well to it.
After the joints were done and checked, I flowed a few layers of Starbrite Liquid Electrical Tape onto the connector. It works really well as a semi-potting compound since it dries fast for reapplication and cures really nicely. Stays strong and robust, but still mildly flexible.
With the connectors all set, it was time to set up the internals…kind of.
At this point, one of the very few things left on this board was the Unity. This is actually where the name of the board comes from. Since the owner and I ended up talking very often, one of the things he said along the way was, “I’m getting strong Ship of Theseus vibes from this whole thing…how much of the original board is left?”
For those of you not familiar with the Ship of Theseus, it’s a thought experiment. It was recently highlighted in the Marvel show Wandavision with regard to Vision.
It was because of this, that I tossed together a graphic to lay on the center of the deck, in the place of what used to be a serpent eating its own ass. Which, for some reason, people think is cool looking.
Incidentally, it was shortly after all this, that the Unity died during testing.
Oh, sweet Unity. You had a rough life. You can rest now.
But the build must go on. Best laid plans of mice and men.
BMS adhered in with VHB, given time to mould and set.
I ended up not needing the extra layer of gasket, so it came off. Ignore it here.
I flowed some insulation onto the exposed solder terminals of the ESC and added conformal coating to the rest of it, which is a Flipsky Dual 6.6+. I have had good luck with them, and so occasionally I use them, especially when there are space constraints. Despite the comically large 8awg power in wires, they’re just fine. The one inside my Sportster build is running strong after a year and a half of lugging my fat self up hills every day. And I have a spare in case this one doesn’t last as long as I expect it to.
Chapter 5 - New Shoes
IDEA Mounts, and new hubs. By the way, the tires are the same from the old board. So there’s that.
Chapter 6 - Hot It Up
Grip tape is usually last for me. Since it’s a matter of taste in many cases.
After some test riding on a very slick surface (the top of the deck, that is), it seems ready for grip.
This grip tape is padded, and bought from 1wheelparts in Texas. They started with foam grip tape for Onewheels, and then branched off into offering grip that fits Evolve decks, and then a universal board package. It’s really great stuff, very coarse and robust. Not like the flimsy stuff that sometimes ends up on eskates. The grit is just a notch below Vicious grip. Not as coarse and sharp, but very coarse. Most akin to The Float Life grip tape, which is incredible. I love this grip, it contours around the edges of the shoe sole, and really locks in. The pattern was made with just hexagons, and some slight mods to those shapes.
Chapter 7 - Final Adjustments
The stock motor pulleys for these motors weren’t really working how I wanted them to, and there was some belt bias. I swapped them to other pulleys, specifically the 15t pulleys bore for a 10mm shaft. Generally these 10mm D shaft motors include a pulley with only a single flange, which can be problematic since there’s no wheel pulley flange to offset the bias. On most boards where these motors are employed, there is.
So, they had to be swapped to a motor pulley with two flanges to true up the belt. Tension was kept loose since there’s an idler pulley, and it keeps things nice and buttery.
I also added extra foam inside, on top of the battery. It removed some of the hollow sound that the board would make going over large bumps or road cracks, which gave me a bit of anxiety as I visuallized the battery somehow breaking free and smacking a hard surface.
Fixes were added, it was test ridden again, and all sounds and feels good. Time to say goodbye, old friend.
The ship must sail to its forever home.
(Side note, I keep blue painters tape on the enclosure until I deliver boards to their owners. It minimizes scratching and scuffs during the test rides, and in one case, protected against goose poop).
