Recommendations for a prebuilt for my son?

Prebuilt Board Discussion
#49

Hi Mike, welcome to the forum!

Since I owned, or at least rode, almost every complete on the market, during the R&D time of our own ESK8 brands, I would like to share my experiences with you.

First thing you need to decide is what kind of board your son would enjoy to ride most. You have basically 2 categories with 2 sub categories. You can choose between an AT board and a street board. Since your budget is limited to 1k you need to stuck with Chinese street boards. To get at least a minimum amount of service and warranty, I would go with the big 4 (Meepo, Exway, Wowgo, Backfire).

Next step is to decide if you want to go with belt or hub drive.
All 4 brands have now both options available. So let’s see what we get.

Exway Flex

The Flex is a high quality budget board with awesome trucks. Their new Trist trucks are the only forged trucks you can get from those brands. The board is also the only one with an additional App and comes with a smart battery. You can turn the board on and off by remote. Third cool thing is that you can choose between belt or hub drive. Those are all unique features. Range, speed and acceleration is similar to all other boards in this category. What you really ne to consider is the deck. It is very flex and has a very aggressive concave. So if your so is heavy (over 200lbs) and/or has large feet, it might not be the right board for him. Same thing if he prefers a more stable and less playful board. Price wise it is the cheapest of those boards.

Meepo NLS PRO/Belt


The NLS is a reliable and fun board to ride. It has a flexy deck, strong/reliable hub motors, a high top speed (hub version) and an average range. The 100mm wheels and the flex deck makes it a quite comfy board. It has all basic features, nothing special (besides push to start) and I would say it’s an solid over all board. Since the belt version is very new, I didn’t hat the chance to test ride it yet. Anyways, I wouldn’t recommend getting the belt drive, at least not with stock wheels, since it is low on top speed (might be a safety feature for your son). The wheel quallity is also not proven. A youtuber had lost a big chunk out of a wheel after the first couple rides. The range and the price are similar to the other boards. Keep in mind you will get with the belt driver a better acceleration, than with the hubs.

Backfire G3/Zelot


The backfire is also a more premium approche of a skateboard comparable to Exway. It is again a very flexy deck with average acceleration, top speed, range and good brakes. I prefer the deck over the Exway since it is a little wider and has less concave. It has all basic features you need, but nothing special. I need to mention that some customers had problems with the hub motors but nothing unheard of. The price is also average, the Zealot being a little pricier.

Last but not least the Wowogo 3/3x (8Ah)


The wowgo is arguably the most basic board here.
It is a booted clone like all other boards above and it has no special features. But it has very nice Paris trucks though! Acceleration, top speed, range and price are again comparable to the others, while the belt version is a little bit more expensive but on par with Backfire. The deck is again very flexy and you’ll get all the basic features.

So how to choose the right board now, since they are all very similar? If your are has rough terrain I would probably go with a belt board. You have more opportunities wheel wise and you will get a smoother ride. If you want to get the benefits of less maintenance, a quiet, low profile and a sleeker looking board take the a hub version.
If you can’t decide go with Exway and get both.

My favorite would be the Exway 2in1 with the Backfire deck.
But also the NLS PRO with the Wowgo/Paris trucks could be a nice combination.

I hope I could help you a little further.

7 Likes
#50

If you ever need for real, my wife and I do this shit on the regular.

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How old is your son @bikeMike? Sorry if I missed it.

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#51

Actually this might be the way to go now that I think about it…build his own board that way if something malfunctions he can swap it out himself.

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#52

Backfire is a good place to start. Depending on your son’s age, a G2 black at $419 is a solid board. After you know he is committed to the sport then you can get a longer range more expensive board.

1 Like
#53

The Meepo V3 is a KILLER deal at under $400 with slow shipping. Its a solid budget board - I use one as a companion board so my friends can ride with me. 10/10 would buy again.

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#54

Looking harder at the BKB or revel kit (for reasons you guys specified-learn how to build and maintain it himself). That way if anything malfunctions (at some point components will fail) he can repair it himself…If he goes this route, does BKB/revel sell solid components, any recommendations? @longhairedboy more than happy if he ends up using the garage, would be good to have him out there with me while I tinker:) Willing to spend a little extra if he can build/maintain it himself.

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#55

I got the BKB tayto, @BuildKitBoards Jared is super helpful and all, highly recommend.

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#56

direct drives are whack

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#57

They take more of a beating than you would think. We’ve never had a Revel returned because of a broken direct drive motor that I’ve seen.

I was worried about this at the beginning too but as long as you stay above 90mm wheels it shouldn’t be an issue.

Revel doesn’t sell components, I think BKB does tho

2 Likes
#58

Exway Uses SEISMIC AEONS!?

Instant cred points.
I put an aeon on my boosted, and it was the best thing I ever did.

If they’re going to invest in legit branded trucks, you know they’re doing something right.

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#59

Yeah there was some kind of discussion on here about how they look just like them, forgot what the situation really was.

My buddy is finally expirementing with bushings and carving faster and living it.

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#60

Honestly the only drawback for Aeons is not having access to Riptides for them.

I’ll probably end up emailing Seismic, asking them if they’re real. Because if they are, that’s super awesome. Aeons never really seemed to have gotten any traction at all since they came out.

Edit:
Confirmed by Dan himself.

the Exway X1 Pro has always used real Aeon trucks, sourced directly from our factory – with modifications so they can mate with Exway’s hub-motor system.

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#61

Exway Uses SEISMIC AEONS!?

Only for the X1 and X1 pro. The Flex uses a new in-house truck, the “Trist”. The Trist apparently is forged and CNC’ed, but it could be forged chinesium. I don’t have any of their boards, and I have not heard anything bad about either choice though.

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Exway Flex Front Truck?
#62

Isn’t that the edited image I made? :rofl:

Yours looked like this, I thought?

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#63

Doh! That’s right. I was riding a unicycle at the time and everyone thought i was a heretic.

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#64

I find it extremely comical that my edited image slipped in there :rofl:

You can tell because they last guy’s torso is all jacked up

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#65

i had to use google to find my own image, and then it wasn’t even mine.

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#66

This reminds me that a Russian history textbook has the vampire Keanu reeves meme as a photo in the industrial revolution section.

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#67

A Heretic God maybe.

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#68

What’s crazy is how much makeup they had to use on keanu to make him look like a teenager in Bill & Ted. We all know he’s like thousands of years old. Its the only explanation for his gun-fu skills.

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