Radium Performance


Hello all you awesome builders and creators on here.

I figured it’s about time I showcase some of the parts I offer at the moment, talk a little about what’s coming in the future, and give a bit (ok, a lot) of history as to how I ended up here in the first place.

This venture began when I used to ride longboards and got sick of pushing, so decided to build my first DIY board back in 2017 in my final year of high school. Initially I scoffed at the prices of all the parts, and managed to build a single 6374 motor board for about 500 USD (okay, not including the vescs that blew up and fake lipos I had to replace with real ones). In a delusional attempt to save money, I also made my own motor mount. It was quite simple really, all I did was 3D scan the paris truck, design a mount, 3D print 8 revisions until it fit, glue foam channels to the print, pour a plaster and sand mould around it, build a small coal foundry with a forced air blower, melt down a bunch of old aluminium pots and pans, and pour myself a motor mount.

And for this reason when I quickly decided to go for dual 6374 I just forked out the money for premade motor mounts and trucks that are square (TB218) which I thought would be a piece of cake for motor mounts to attach to. Also added an electronically retracting spoiler and active RGB brake lights/indicators cos yolo.



It turns out though that the motor mounts would be the bane of my existence. Everything else on the board worked great but the mounts kept having problems with the non optional idlers bending and also wrecking belts, stainless steel button head screws stripping, the clamps coming loose all the time, thin motor plates flexing under load causing excess belt slippage even with idlers, etc. I used to get made fun of before group rides, people asked me if my board was going to make it the whole way this time. And I couldn’t take that when it was all caused by a part someone else made.

Thankfully the high school I had graduated from (which I was now working at as a support staff) had just received a Tormach 440 CNC milling machine. So I designed and machined a set of motor mounts out of 7075-T6 alloy, and before I even got to put them on my board, @mynamesmatt wanted them even more badly than I did. So I sold them to him, and he only had extremely positive things to say. After initial setup he hadn’t touched them for over a thousand km’s. He told me how he stood his board up in a public toilet, and it slipped and smashed a wall tile with the motor mounts, but they were unscathed. The mounts completely exceeded my expectations, and with almost no design modifications went on to become my first product.

First ever mounts:

Mostly aesthetically refined version:


Since then my dad and I built a decent sized shed and I convinced him to put a Tormach 1100M on the mortgage with the promise that it would pay itself off in no time (LOL) I soon realised that CNC machining is nothing like 3D printing, something I was very experienced in, and it took around a year of using the milling machine to start to become confident at making things somewhat efficiently and without lots of screw ups. I’m still a novice when it comes to machining large quantities of parts efficiently, but at least I’ve worked out how to make stuff look and function great.

Second generation motor mounts:


During this learning period I was also working for MRC Waterjet cutting in order to fund the development of esk8 parts. I switched to a casual position at MRC and dropped back to 3 days a week to spend more time on Radium, and then 2 weeks later covid happened, and there was no work for me. But miraculously at the same time Radium orders went nuts as people had too much free time on their hands with government pay, and so I no longer needed to work for MRC, and a few months later when I was asked if I could come in again, I told them I’m too busy making esk8 parts and they need to find someone else.

Now in 2021, I have a business partner with a lot more life experience and some great skills that he brings to the table. For nearly 2 years we have been working on a unique carbon fibre board that I’m confident will be something never seen before in the skateboard world. I am really excited about it but its been a huge learning curve as we made the difficult choice to learn carbon fibre and build the boards ourselves instead of outsourcing it overseas and ending up with a design that’s the same as everyone else’s because the R&D is too expensive to try something that’s never been tested before. We’re also working on a unique truck design, motors, and our third generation of motor mounts. Here’s a sneak peak:

The objective for Radium is to always take things to the next level. Whether its making something lighter, easier to use, perform better, or just look cooler. Preferably all of the above (but often that results in something which is not even the slightest bit profitable😅). You will find this mindset across all of our products. Copy and paste is not what we do.

While we have tons of stuff in the works, we’re pretty severely limited by cash flow. Sometimes I can’t afford to buy food for a few days😬. So we have made some products that weren’t too R&D intensive in order to help fund stuff like our next gen motor mounts, trucks and our carbon fibre board.

Website: https://radium-performance.com/
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53 Likes

Really cool story guys, looking forwards to your future

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Those motor mounts look slick as fuck

Don’t think I’ve seen that notched design before, makes for a lot more adjustability without having to sacrifice bolts slipping over time. Me like

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Do you have a video of the motorized spoiler? I gotta see that :laughing:

Excellent craftsmanship! Your stuff is easy to recognize amongst the competition, and that definitely says something!

P.S. Since so many of your product photos contain pretty looking titanium bolts, I was wondering why don’t you offer them on the store, so you can be a one-stop shop for people’s luxury board hardware? :smiley:

Also, you forgot to link your web-site in the main post:

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Happy to see you here. Your work is top notch, from the subtle details on your batteries to the branding you do on decks, you guys are one of the most polished vendors in the scene.

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image

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Well, I suppose it’s what’s under that counts but I was going by this sort of thing.

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I think it’s some of their earlier work, I doubt that they still build like that. I’d take that photo off the site if I were them.

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Quality stuff and easy to work with. Waiting on the stock in of those titanium bolts before I order the anti sink plates.

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Thanks for the kind words guys! It’s always motivating

Probably because it sucks to machine and was super tricky to design with the unique clamping system which is also a first as far as I’m aware. Already got a pile of paperweights, up to like revision 7 before they are even ready to go on a board for testing.

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I agree. So we have Ti hardware being custom made for us at the moment. Probably a couple weeks out😁

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Thats what I got you for :wink:

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Yeewwwww!!! Nice one dude!

Have fondled the gen 3 mounts, can confirm they are very cool.

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I’ve managed to score a set of your mounts from Chris La on Oz FB page. Can’t wait to get them on a board!

And obviously the TB hangers you’ve sorted for everyone with bendy issues!

Awesome write up too. Love what you’re doing :fire:

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What’s cooked is that after thousands of km’s, they STILL haven’t moved!


love what you’re doing Liam and can’t wait to see you you’re up to in the future :love_you_gesture:t2: we’ll meet one day i swear :joy:

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Me too :star_struck:



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We will! When the Radium board is launched I will likely do a tour of Australia, and you better be free for a group ride when it happens.

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Sex🤤

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Nice story! Keep up the awesome work!

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