Rok It Science intros improved Boom 2 Borda electric skateboard

While Rok It Science's original Boom Borda electric skateboard somehow slipped under our radar, the company follow-up Boom 2 Borda board has thankfully been brought to our attention, courtesy of the folks at T3. Among the improvements this time around is a new 600 watt motor and a beefier 36 volt battery, which ups the boards range to a full 30 miles on a single charge, not to mention a new interchangeable drive wheel that'll let you take the thing off-road (somewhat). The one thing not getting an upgrade, it seems, is the top speed, which stays at 25 mph, although that may well be for the best. If that's enough to tide you over until the hoverboards come along, you can order one now £449, or just over $900.

[Via T3]

[Chris @ Oct 19th 2007 2:16PM]

25mph on a board is very fast, most mountain bikes are a little scary at that speed, i can't imagine it on a little board

[HineyWipe @ Oct 19th 2007 2:21PM]

25mph on a mountain is nothing compared to doing 47MPH on a road bike, down a 2 mile hill, passing cars in the same direction! Smell that? That's my brakes!

[Chris @ Oct 19th 2007 2:25PM]

road bikes tend to be more balanced, and I was talking about on flat land

[HineyWipe @ Oct 19th 2007 3:15PM]

Mountain bikes are balanced, and can have full-suspension (making a downhill at speed more controllable). However, trying to get a mountainbike, over 25mph, even on flat land, requires higher gearing (it's commonly geared for climbing, not speed) and more effort as aggressively-treaded tires will have higher rolling resistance. But I see where you are going and yeah, it can be squirrelly on pavement, if going that fast. ;)

[CharlieX @ Oct 19th 2007 2:18PM]

I used to bomb hills on my 46" longboard when I was younger.... 25 mph is freaking fast... especially when there's cracks in the road, rocks, dogs, or you just need to bail.

[Dixonij @ Oct 19th 2007 2:23PM]

Those boards don't work on water... unless you've got power!

[Typhoid Mary @ Oct 19th 2007 2:23PM]

For over $900 I'll break my ass the old fashioned way.

[j @ Oct 19th 2007 2:33PM]

All fine and dandy but I still want my McFly Hoverboard!

[mark @ Oct 19th 2007 2:34PM]

I have an electric skateboard...INCREDIIBLE FUN!!!

And even at 12mph (top speed for my board), it's borderline scary, I can only image this board.

But the increased battery and speed would be nice, although i'd love to see a slow, but long rangish board that is LIGHT and has no problems going up hills (the batts in mine cannot take the constant high discharge up long hills)

[feckineejit @ Oct 19th 2007 3:23PM]

get the wheelman! 2 stroke off road 2 wheel skateboard-ish ride.

http://www.planetfun.org/wheelman.htm

[Nut Bastard @ Oct 19th 2007 5:07PM]

VERY cool.

[jon @ Oct 19th 2007 4:52PM]

these numbers are questionable at best. good luck hitting 25mph with 600W of power (about 0.8 horsepower). also, good luck getting that 25-30 miles of range at any reasonable speed. the battery pack holds 360 Watt-hours (36V, 10Ah), which works out to 36 minutes at full throttle (600W), or 15 miles tops *if* you manage to get up to 25mph.

still, it does look fun!

[nutbastard @ Oct 19th 2007 5:07PM]

25MPH on a board is about the top end that a set of pivoting bushing-system trucks is capable of without getting the wobbles something fierce. Every single person who ever skateboarded seriously can tell you 3 or 4 nasty speed-wobble related tales of gruesomeness. When you first discover the phenomonon, often you are already at a point where it's unavoidable that the situation to progress to its logical conclusion. Worse is when the wobs take you into some obstacle at some peak or valley of your wavelength that you weren't planning on hitting.


Ok, the weight of batteries and motors etc... this is not going to help the situation. Light setups do better at speed (IMO) because mass = inertia, and when its pulling side to side and it's under your feet, it tends to take you with it, and the tipover from one side to the other becomes more pronounced and violent. You have to nip those wobs in the bud or they grow exponentially. Going fast on a skateboard is not as easy as it looks. there are a lot of feedback operations going on all the time. And it doesn't help if adrenaline makes you twitchy.

For non-bushing systems, ie the spring shock system used on mountain boards, the effect is dampened a bit (the 2 to 3 times wider track also provides additional stability) but you still have that pivot point, and the tipover problem still exists. 25 on a mountain board isn't bad, though, i'd put the comfort cieling at about 35mph - but mountain boards use inflatable tires, and a blowout will tend to end your day on a relatively shitty note.

$900 is rediculous, as well. an excellent skateboard costs around $200 if everything is top of the line and brand new. some motors and batteries and a control system should not tack on an additional $700, especially since i can pretty much guarantee they dont come with premium swiss bearings, legacy-engineered trucks or any of the other fancy doodads that seperate a serious deck from a toys r us NASH.

LAME!

[rektide @ Oct 19th 2007 6:24PM]

you seem to have some idea what you are talking about.

i've been interested in DIY'ing a electric mountain board / longboard. do you have any idea comments or suggestions on a drive train that can get power to the wheels? i can do all the fab stuff for the motor mounts & drive controls, but of the very few trucks i've seen i have no idea how i would actually get the power to the wheels.

thanks mate
rektide

[gescamil @ Oct 19th 2007 5:14PM]

skateboard? what skateboard? I only see 4 wheels in that picture...

[david @ Oct 19th 2007 5:37PM]

yo 25mph is nothing on a board. Ever hear of longboarders in BC, Canada doing 120kph????

[stephen @ Oct 19th 2007 5:56PM]

being that my first and last attempt at riding a longboard (i know, its not a skateboard) ended in a 25mph bail-off (i didn't know what i was doing, headed straight down a hill) I'd say these things are too fast for people of my balance skill level ;)

[Nut Bastard @ Oct 19th 2007 6:22PM]

Dude, do you really think you need more than 0.8 horses to get up to 25 mph? an actual horse is limited by how quickly it can pull its legs forward. 1 horse moves me around just fine. Plenty of "giddyup" as it were. It also matters how it's geared. 15 miles at top speed is still pretty damn good - you wouldn't want to have to stand up and steer for much longer than that anyways. range specs are always whack, but seriously, have you ever skated 10 miles? it's fucking exhausting to go that long. if this thing can do 10 and all i have to do is stand on it, notwithstanding my previous posts gripes, this is a pretty sweet way to travel in style.

[Nut Bastard @ Oct 19th 2007 6:23PM]

ALSO - what do you consider a "reasonable speed"? I think the average skater can achieve 10 miles an hour on flat ground. which is all anyone would expect. I dont think the range or the power would disappoint any skater. The maneuverability is the big issue.

[narco @ Oct 19th 2007 7:16PM]

This is not skateboarding. What happens when you bail, does it drive off into the sunset?

[The ZeroCorpse @ Oct 19th 2007 10:57PM]

First of all, $900 is WAY too expensive when my 36 volt electric bicycle cost $800 and it has a headlight, horn, and can carry cargo.

Second, the legal speed limit in America for electric non-road-legal vehicles is 20 mph. This includes electric bikes, electric push-scoots, electric skateboards, and electric wheelchair scooters.

My bike does 20 mph when on a good slope or when I pedal at full throttle, and 20 mph is pretty fast when you're out there on such a small vehicle. This isn't like a motor scooter, which has better brakes (sometimes even power brakes) and a bigger seat. Smaller EVs with no seat or small seats and simple bike brakes SHOULDN'T go much faster than 20 mph because you just can't stop them very well when you're going full-tilt.

There are electric bike kits that go almost 30 mph, but you wouldn't get me on one of them. WAY too risky, in my opinion. I'm perfectly happy going around 17 mph... That's dangerous enough the way people in cars drive when around bikes and scooters. Going faster just mean you're going to hit a point when you need to brake NOW and you can't do it in any reasonable distance. Not without disc brakes.

A high-speed skateboard? Lotsa cracked skulls, or worse. The control on these is crap, and the braking is limited at best. I wouldn't trust it.

AND, like I said, it's overpriced considering the competition on the market. You can get a push-scoot with an electric motor that goes about 17 mph for around $400, so this is just not worth the boost in price.

[BeaverdotBeaver @ Oct 20th 2007 12:05AM]

I have an E glide powerboard. It goes 20mph+. It is scary at times, especially when skateboards wheels can be stopped by an unpopped corn kernal in some situations(it happened to me, no shit, ona regular board) I used it for a bit to get to work, awesome commuter vehicle :) Only after a few days it wears on your ankles to be bracing yourself constantly at 20mph...

This thing is pretty bad ass, the main thing is the weight. My board weighs about 90 Fing pounds. It has Sealed Lead Acid Batteries. I am considering selling it just because its such a pain to get to my 3rd floor apartment.

This would be an awesome upgrage. I paid $600 for mine. $900 doesnt seem that unreasonable, in that circumstance.

This thing actually kinda has me scratching my head.

[skateelectric @ Jul 3rd 2008 8:56AM]

Electric Skateboarding in London?


Check this out- on a Skate Electric board, in rush hour from Nottingh Hill to Big Ben in 23 minutes, faster than a car, a bus and a tube.......

Future commuting ?

3 min vid is http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YqmEA3aW_60


Peace


Nick