Smallest build challenge inspired me to take a swing at bringing back to life my most favourite board ever - Lou.
As you can see I had the board running in 1Wd configuration with Board dynamics gear drive and truck system. I had a single Makers vesc running it from a 10s2P battery with no BMS.
Functionality wise It would be stupid to reduce this set up even more, but I also just bought the MK 1 Pro, so I can alow myself to have the Lou as a novelty item, but a working one
So I wanna drop some weight from it. I am probably keeping the 10s2p, but would like to change my transmission.
Gear drive to a plastic pulley and a belt.
BN truck to a more narrow one and the Paris truck to the Alu one.
The wheels I had are crazy heavy, not sure on size / style for now.
So I have a few questions:
The lightest motor mount is the carbon one from exertion? That is unabtotinium?
What’s the second lightest?
Thought of going single hub, but probably no single hub actually worth it?
Should I go for an even smaller motor and just gear it crazy high?
How’s the compatibility of components these days?
For reducing weight your primary concern should be the weight of the wheels, as there’s 4 of them and they are probably the heaviest part to begin with. I suggest looking into either some ~80mm LDP wheels or Ahmyo Akasha wheels (76mm, kegel core, and suprisingly good comfort with similar or perhaps just a tiny bit better grip to orange orangatangs)
Good tips so far, thank you guys. Now I am a bit sad I sold my blue kabinamas, they where very light. I should probably do a bit more research, since the board is fairly stealth l looking I’m thinking of going a single hub way, I doubt I would find a loaded hub setup. The meepo single hub board is in my mind.
Could someone in general recommend a light hub and a light rear truck? Probably aluminium.
Chatgtp Found a listing on a German site from a local guy selling Lou 2.0. So this miracle arrived today. I can’t believe I fitted a 10s2p battery seeing how small the original is.
Battery is good for probably 2km. But never the less I love it. Not really sure on the game plan here, parts are not really selling and I don’t wanna buy something while putting something to collect dust.
I think the Gen 1 version will be converted back to It’s “original” form with a gear drive, 10s2p battery and makers vesc, so I only need to make a battery pack and the thing is moving. I forgot how hard these ride on cobble stones tho..
Probably putting blue caguamas back on it, price and weight vise.
On the Gen 2 I am definitely keeping the original hub motor, but the original battery capacity wise is not cutting it, would love to keep it as much as possible in an original form, but that esc will probably be gutted and I probably will need another one of those tiny makers X vescs to fit another 10s2pack. Not sure on the future wheels still.
I am actually after another Gen 1 board, which if bought would change the plans a bit. I need to re check if the carbon decks are actually just a bit beeper and 20700 battery might fit.
But nothings unfortunately decided/bought. I am very interested in a single belt drive configuration with venoms and 50** size motor with a 15mm setup.
Lou has a smaller hub motor. I will weight all the components separately, but I believe my single BN steel gear drive with 6355 seems heavier actually.
I did managed to buy one more Gen 1 board.
So the current plan would be the one with geardrive stays with geardrive, the carbon one will get a second hub motor from the one just bought, and some small vesc, and the one just bought will be made as light one as possible.
If you want light weight, look into the HW motors used by Exway Ripple, or the ones on the Backfire Nalu, or the ones on that meepo crusier board that also has a 75mm dia. Those 2WD 75mm could probably get you some better weight and performance compromises than just running a 90mm 1WD.
I will keep the original hubs on one board, and the other will get a caliber truck with trammpa carbon mount and pulley system, and probably maytech 5065 motor.
Also. Anyone ever needed to shim their BN Street gear drive?
At the torque point the gear drive is not moving on the truck, the wheel is harder to spin, if I release the nut JUST A TINY BIT wheel spins fine, but the GD wobles on the truck.
Shim that baby - i like to use brass shim stock and cut a strip that is long enough to wrap the adapter to lock it in place. Make the shim so that it has two bends in it - one small bit that bends towards the axle and the base plate side i bend up away from the hanger. Kinda makes a z shape. You might want to split the gap and do two thinner shims if it feels better. Seen people use aluminum tape/foil too but I’ve always had brass shim stock handy.
Check it after riding a bit to make sure it’s not working it’s way out or gets loose again from wear. I think some non compressible epoxy like jbweld might work but ive been close enough to shim and haven’t experimented
those hangers do look kinda big, proof is in the ride though - function over style imho
So width wise, it has a 6355 motor, a more narrow truck would make the motor hit the base plate, so I am kinda limited by that, these wheels are fairly wide, board looked much better with kegels.
I think the only solution would be a different truck / hd system, but I am definitely not getting 3d nano drives, so don’t know what to do, the flipsky GD seems feasible, but can’t buy a single setup.
Jbweld does work, I’ve used that on two boards in the past and it’s holding up very well. But you are never removing the drives ever again from the hanger once that’s cured.
I actually want to design a gear drive relatively soon that’d support small wheels and space the motor further out from the hanger/baseplate with an idler gear. Would be perfect for narrow DH-like setups. Probably gonna get a prototype set made early summer. So if you don’t find anything till then, hit me up how it’s going
