Enivronment sustainability

The best transportation to reduce the effect on the planet compared to other forms of transport? The picture taken this morning shows the unison between travelling by train for the longer distance and using an Eboard for the final route to/from the place of work.



However, if only the solution was perfect in terms of cost per mile for the individual user. The train journey is more expensive than doing the whole trip in my car that only does 34 mpg! Still nothing beats gliding along in the sun on an Eboard with the wind blowing through your hair.

Plenty of electricity in this car park!

So this weekend gone was an absolute scorcher and  the e-board was pressed into long distance service for the first time this year. I wonder if  I'm allowed to charge up  here :)



Because of the heat on Saturday (>25 degrees) it was cooler to Skate in the car park ground floor:

Electric skate boarding in November!

Who would have thought? I'm still managing to get some e-boarding miles in the winter here in the UK! These last couple of months I haven't had much chance to e-board because the ground has always been wet (The resulting sprayed mud on the work trousers is not a good look). But today was brilliant - the weather forecast was spot-on and there was no rain.

Here's an image of my board at the bicycle shed after commuting to work. I will have to see how many more commutes I can squeeze in before the weather completely stops me. It is getting harder to e-board on the return journey given that it gets dark from 16:30 onwards.....(much harder to see all the pot holes!).....

Who would have thought there would be so much to know about wheels

What I've noticed now is that due to the rough roads I have been travelling on during the commute to work, my wheels (particularly the one connected to the motor) are starting to look a bit chewed up. So, like with a car, I am going to regularly swap the wheels around (back to front) to equalise the wear on all wheels.

I often have thought about changing the wheels on my board. Larger diameter ones would make it go faster, smaller ones  give it better torque going up a hill. Stoked LA give a very good overview about wheels for your long board.

It seems the 78A PU 90mm wheels that come as standard on my Volo-e longboard are a safe bet. Though, interestingly Stoked LA advise that going over 80mm diameter can give risk of bending the standard 8mm axles of a skateboard truck with aggressive riding (but I think that is more to do with non electric boards)



Stoked LA present all aspects of wheels that should be considered by a skateboarder: diameter, width, durometer wheel lips etc. Who would have thought there would be so much to know about wheels?

Tactile paving - The bane of any electric skate boarder's life

Tactile paving they call it, and its there to warn pedestrians with visual impairment that they have reached  the edge of the pavement. This paving comprises small round bumps and boy they sure vibrate your board and body as you ride over them.

Now, with the weather being more sunny than rainy these  weeks (yes despite that statement I still live in Wales),  I've been using the board a lot more to get to work. However, there have been two recent and unfortunate incidents as a result of riding over these bumps. First my speedometer stopped working and then a couple of weeks later my board suddenly stopped working. I will discuss in later blog entries about my fixes. But basically upon investigation, both problems were due to a solder connection between wire and electronic circuit board breaking off.

This tactile paving is scattered around various parts of the urban landscape. But in the newly built train station by my work place they seem to have gone overboard, with a total of eight  tactile pavings to negotiate in the space of three minutes.

The multitude of these tactile pavings is rather akin to the test tracks that auto-mobile manufacturers use to test their new vehicles:- They make different road surfaces present  to intentionally "exercise" the car.

I'm sure every time I skate over these humps I am subjecting my poor board to an equivalent  of five years extra wear and tear.

The design of the sloping pavement kerb means its not possible to skate to the left or right hand side of the tactile paving. This is highly  annoying, as avoiding the tactile paving means travelling a further distance to bypass these tactile paved areas. Grrr.....

Comparing electric skateboards

There's a guy over at esk8 forum who has kindly compiled a list of all known electric skateboards together with their various parameters. Even my Volo-E longboard is listed and doesn't compare too badly against some of the more expensive boards. The Google doc has all the board's specs and is ideal for anyone new to electric boarding. See the document here.

Electric skateboarding by the civic centre