I must admit that I am nowhere near as knowledgeable about mountain boards as I am about street builds. If no one helps me, I guess I’ll have to do my own research, but maybe someone would be more than happy to recommend me parts, so here goes
Goals:
I want to shred trails in the woods. Lots of roots and branches. Paths aren’t wide. Doing jumps would be awesome. Torque matters more than speed.
Bonus: would be nice to have a board for snowy days, but I guess that won’t be great with 2WD.
Plan:
Trampa style deck – not flat, but an arch to go over stuff.
Battery in my back pack (not on the board), and only 2WD. Want the board to be as light as possible for jumps!
Bindings that let me jump with confidence!
Build the board over winter, make use of black friday deals
Parts:
Trucks: I have a set of Moon’s drives that I’m not using (no mounts). They only work with MBS Matrix 2 and Trampa Infinity trucks. I think I’d prefer springs over urethane, so leaning towards the Trampa. I noticed they have a mini infinity truck! Wheel-bite isn’t a thing on mountainboards, right? Should I get those then? Or do they not even clear the deck? (Can’t find how wide they are to check for motor compatibility)
Deck:Trampa 35 degree Holypro (Unless anyone has better suggestions. 35 angles for the trucks, and it has the arch shape. What other options even are there? Probably not going to import a Kaly deck )
ESC: Stormcore 60D probably
Remote: Flipsky VX1
Battery: NESE modules with 30Qs. Probably 12s6p.
Motors: I’m thinking latest Maytech 6374 from nexusboards. Battle hardened, sealed against pebbles, 170kv (might need to source lower KV ones, but surely with a 4.9 gear ratio and a stormcore pushing big amps, they should be powerful enough, no?)
Bindings: People have said good things about MBS F5 bindings. Those + heelstraps, I guess?
Wheels: I have a set of Bergmeisters. Could I just reuse their hubs, but put on some 8" tires? Do I even need 8" ?
MBS F5 are great comfortable bindings I’ve heard. Defintiley get heel straps for jumping.
Honestly if you have the Moon drives, Run the Matrix 2’s unless you really want springs. Nice channel trucks imo. If you do go Trampa, don’t get the mini’s. Might have wheelbite on certain decks, and some width helps on rocky terrain I found.
The deck is all preference. You don’t need a arched deck for mountainboarding, and really it should mostly flatten out with your weight on the board. MBS has some great cheaper options but I myself like my Trampa.
Also: I’d prefer having the ESC on the board in a case, but not the battery. But long battery wires = bad; long phase wires = good I’ve heard. Maybe creative use of capacitors could offset that?
I had that idea when I started making my first board. And then we even tried that idea on my friends ebike.
Not so good idea. It might make the board easier for you to jump, but then when you loose balance slightly you are more fucked when the battery starts flopping around.
When we put the battery inside the frame the bike got so much more stable in the corners. Idk how well that would translate to esk8, but I guess the same since the battery would not be tugging on you.
Also riding with a backback = sweaty back which sucks.
I have so many backpacks at home I think I’ll be able to find one that minimizes the battery from moving. But thanks for the feedback! No money wasted if I change my mind later
I have MBS F5s which I don’t use anymore. If it weren’t for covid and cold spring season, it could be a reason for us to link up. I’d finally have somebody to go on a group ride
I have no experience of having the battery in the back pack kind of thing, so I can’t really tell whether it is more dangerous or not than having it on the board. My guess would be, yes, it is, especially when you wanna jump too; @rich can tell for sure.
Only thing I know is that I fell on (almost) every ride when I started with my E-MTB. However, that’s how I started esk8 any way.
Re Trucks I would recommended MBS for stablity. Springs are more “lively” but that comes paired with instablity. I did do a build on mini vertigo, its fun to run around urban street but def not for serious offroading. More shameless plug, mini vertigo build: https://electric-skateboard.builders/t/trampa-travel-board/46346
Re Deck Trampa deck hurts my feet… Haero would IMHO be the top of the pick. Kaly has a nice deck too, or get some wings to help build some concave on the trampa deck. Last plug I promise: BIG FOOT🦶 HAERO