It is true that the vanguard deck forms a tiny gap between the drive and the bottom of the deck. That gap can be problematic becasue the drive plate can slap the deck rapidly. It can create a very loud sound and a lot of vibration.
Fortunately it is easy to solve. Some people would add extra neopreen between the deck and the drive. I prefer to create a larger gap with extra risers. With just one or two extra risers, the gap is large enough to prevent slapping.
A third option is to disassemble the Revel kit Drive and rear-mount the battery enclosure (cantilevered off the back). It looks a little wierd but you get the lowest possible centre of gravity and the highest possible ground clearance.
It makes it possible to mount the drive on either a drop down or a drop thorugh deck
I like the idea of extra neoprene to fill the gap but as far as disassembling the kit the only thing I’d be slightly interested in modifying is switching it to a double kingpin set up if that’s even possible.
I’m interested in your perspective on double kingpin.
I know some riders really like double kingpins. I even bought a set for myself in the hopes of getting sharper turning on the front end of my vanguard deck. The vanguard has no kick tail and even if it had a kick tail the board is too flexible for effective kick steering. For example I could build an aluminum kick tail very easily but the vanguard would be too limp and floppy to make use of the kick. At the time I had no interest in rigid decks because the vanguard reduced vibration. My vibration concerns were based on my experience with conventional hub motors and the terrible amount of road vibration and impacts that they would translate into a rigid deck.
The Revel Kit really changed the way I thought about these things. The direct drive system absorbed enough of the road vibration that I could finally enjoy a rigid deck with a kicktail. Add the 110mm TB’s and there is virtually no vibration. So for those reasons I totally lost interest in the double kingpins. Who needs sharper turning trucks when you can kick steer. Also, I’ve heard that double kingpins reduce high speed stability because they steer more agressively and raise the centre of gravity. I hear this from evolve riders in my riding group.
So people like what they like and I’m not saying you are wrong for wanting double kingpins. I’m just curious what your reasons are for wanting them on a Revel Kit. Is it because you want an all terrain wheeled Revel Kit? Have you considered switching to a deck with a kicktail? Or is kick steering not in your comfort zone?
Honestly just wondering if it was possible. I’ve ridden a Backfire stiff longboard with a dkp on the front and for carving I felt like it really upgraded the experience.
They’re just not generally liked amongst the pros here, they’re also not found amongst downhill riders. In terms of setup you’d carve a lot more if you wedged your front trucks to make a 60deg angle - no need for the sketchy DKPs. The turning radius of a 60deg angle would be the same as a DKP with a lot more stability.
The cloud wheels are definitely meant for less than perfect streets not the dirt at least not with a short deck revel kit lol. Even with the pillowy Nike react sneakers the vibrations were like riding over those yellow bumpy sidewalk surfaces.
I don’t know. I only got to do one ride after I mounted the wheels on my 4WD. The weather was freezing and I was blasting away at either top speed or full acceleration the entire ride. So I hit the first vibration alert within 7 kilometers and coasted back home. Normally I would get 20 - 30 kilometers of 4WD range. I’m sure the majority of range shortfall was due to temperature, speed and acceleration.
So I have a theory on how to reduce vibration on any electric skateboard including the revel kit. Try removing the bottom washer.
I know for a fact that the bottom washer can rattle against a baseplate. It can produce a sound and a vibration that is not unlike an pneumatic chisel. While on vacation in february in the dominican republic, I brought three conventional skateboards with me. One of them was making this sound. I removed the bottom washers and the skateboard suddenly ran silent.
I’ve felt and heard the same sound on a variety of electric skateboards before… but never thought to remove that part – not until recently.
The Revel kit baseplate is wide enought that it should be fine to remove the bottom washer. The bottom bushing would have almost as much support from the baseplate as it gets from the bottom washer.
I suppose you could also place a thin piece of rubber between the bottom washer and the base plate. you could use any type of rubber including a scrap of old innertube from a bicycle.
Can a few people try this and tell me how it works out.
Adding a rubber gasket between the bottom washer and the base plate should work on any system. And for most systems, removing the bottom washer should result in very little loss of support for the bottom bushing… maybe 5% around the edges and about 1% overall. If you try, let me know how it works out.
Can anyone tell me the exact size of the Kit? Lenght, Width and Hight?
I would like to measure if it fits under my pintail… this is the last check before I am ready to buy
