Small board | Loaded Coyote | 12s1p P45B | Unlimited hub motor

Unwilling to part ways with my pushboard which I had electrified for a while, I set out to build a new board with the single Loaded hub I had.

Sickboards tempted me with their free shipping for orders above 200€, and I bought a Loaded Coyote. It’s about the same size as a regular skateboard, which is as small as I’d want to go anyway. I hooked it up to the backpack battery like with the previous board and used it that way for a while.

I’m using Boardnamics 145mm RKP trucks, with an adjustable baseplate at the back set to 25 degrees. Front is a 45° Caliber baseplate. This setup is stable at high speeds (~45km/h), but occasional wobbles from hitting a rock were too scary for my taste. Swapped the bushings for riptide – krank green cones in the front, white chubby cone and green barrel in the back. Rides :ok_hand: / 10 now.

I bought a used ABS plastic enclosure from @mr.shiteside which fits the deck perfectly.

@Simeon built me a 12s1p P42A battery which fits this enclosure really well. Can’t really fit anything larger without getting a micro BMS anyway.

For the ESC I’m using a Maytech SuperESC MTSPF7.5K V4 based Speed Controller which I got for free from @longhairedboy . Thanks!

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The ESC has an on/off switch, but it’s a latching one, so I wasn’t confident in adding it to the build. I believe the idle power draw is an issue anyway, so loopkey it is. I want this build to be a reliable backup board that I never have to tinker with again once it’s done.

Build went pretty smooth. Filled all the existing holes in the enclosure with epoxy mixed with black pigment, then drilled holes for the SP-13 chargeport, XT-90 connector for the loopkey, and an MT-30 connector that matches what the Loaded hub-motor has. Those all get secured with hot-glue from one side, while the other side gets epoxied. Inside has bullet connectors so that I can easily swap the ESC if I need to, and everything else uses XT-30s. Charge port is fused with a blade fuse holder of course. TL;DR: building everything like I usually do, because it just fucking works.

I drilled straight through the enclosure and deck to get the holes to line up somewhat. I don’t care about aesthetics, so I’ve just got stainless bolts going through both, and then washers and lock-nuts on the bottom.


Oh, and because the charge port has a nice screw-on cap, I never have to worry about losing my loopkey again :smiley:


Total cost: 800€

Cost breakdown
  • Deck: 115€
  • Adjustable baseplate: 51€
  • hangers: 83€
  • Bushings + pivot cup + caliber baseplate: 30€
  • Loaded hub + 3 caguama wheels: 250€
  • Zealous bearings: 20€
  • Enclosure: freeish
  • ESC: free
  • Battery: 200€
  • Remote, Flipsky VX1: 35€
  • Moon beams: free
  • Random connectors & wires & bolts & spacers & risers: 16€

Total weight: 6.0kg

Range: 12 - 15km

Top speed: ~45km/h on flat

Overall thoughts:

Fuck me is DIY esk8 expensive, but it’s totally worth it, because this board is so fun to ride! I get ~14km of range on windy days when I’m gunning it, but I think it could do 20km if you ride chill. I only run the motor at 25A because I don’t want to cook it, but that’s enough to get some decent speed, especially at 12s, and especially if you’re going downhill :smiley: I definitely go faster than I should on such a small board, I’ll try to take a video for you guys soon.

You can see from the markings on the board that I stand with my front foot on top of the front truck, using the raised nose of the board as a reference point, and my rear foot is on the tail so that I can have a wider stance. (And, obviously, use the tail when I need to make a tight turn)

The battery on top of the board was okay when riding, but since this motor doesn’t have sensors and is weak af, it’s a lot nicer to be able to reposition your front foot to kick-push this board when starting off. Also when emergency braking, because this small of a battery + weak of a motor ain’t gonna stop you :laughing:

This board is awesome for taking on public transit due to its size, and it’s a great board to loan to weaker people on longboard group rides. I think part of my satisfaction also comes from the fact that this was a super quick and easy build for me, which means more time riding :slight_smile:

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Reserved for the video of me doing 50km/h on this thing

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Would you mind doing a quick summary cost breakdown?

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Click on the triangle to open up the spoiler under the total cost title at the end :slight_smile:

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Hmm, considering the Loaded x Unlimited official complete board costs $950 = 878€, and my board has a bigger battery, I didn’t actually do too bad! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Damn! This looks like a super fun little build :smiley:

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Just a heads up that the hub motor is constantly forcing the axle to unscrew on accelerations, I would suggest using red/green loctite if you’re not already or potentially swapping to a regular cast 8" caliber hangar.

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Good point! I used red threadlocker when I installed the axles, so I think I’m good. Only had to tighten the wheel bolt once so far. I bought a Paris skate tool from Riptide so that I could reach the nut inside the thin opening of the motor.

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45°?
Nice build, I love the tiny ones and can confirm the coyote is an excellent deck. I’d like to see a side by side of it and the kut thaka, my co worker who analog skates and has more boards than me says that they’re actually pretty different. I like the loop key hanger a lot.

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Wow, this is a fantastic little build! This is like as close as you can get to an acoustic board, while also being electric. I love the stealth of that! I bet the roll resistance is amazing too.

What ESC are you using? A small Flipsky or MakerX one?

I’m just using a cheap Maytech V4 based one. Got it for free, shouldn’t die at the 25A I’m pushing it :slight_smile: Yup, freeroll is great. Makes the single drive aspect of the board (where it drags you to one side) barely noticable. Dewedged rear truck also helps with that a ton.

Also a thing I forgot to mention – remote. I’m using a VX1 because that’s what I have. If I get any cutouts I’ll upgrade to a VX1 pro. The small size (so you can put it in your pocket) is crucial for a small board like this.

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This is so cool, I have parts in my shed to build something similar, just need to pillage a battery from another build or something to that effect. I’ve been riding around a hummie style deck on hubs off and on for a year and it’s so much fun, got a 10s2p 40T pack in there and the enclosure is cavernous. I really should just switch to a shorter deck so I can carry it into coffee shops, I know that would get me riding more.

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I love it! Long live the shortboards!

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I wanna get something short enough to mall grab again, but they never felt good to ride, maybe I just need better parts

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Welp, I went on a ride on Sunday, came back home with like 10% charge left. Forgot to unplug the loopkey, Tuesday morning I go to plug the board in for a charge – no bueno.

Disassemble the board and check the battery voltage – 5.4V total!!! :scream:

I did not expect the battery to drain that fast from just leaving the ESC on.
Do I now go and buy a lab PSU asap to slowly charge it up, or is 5.4V on a 12s battery surely a lost cause? :cry:

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That’s an awful lot of juice getting drained :thinking:

After that period of time there’s probably some internal damage to the cells. I wouldn’t recharge that.

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I need to build that very same battery for my Loaded Hubs build.

Appreciate the nice picture for reference.

And I am sorry about the quick death of yours…

You’re being sarcastic, right? Who’s even come across a dead battery in a shorter period of time :laughing:

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@Takachi14 did.