The beginning
I have been wanting to build an electric powered vehicle of some kind for a couple years. Everything just seemed either too difficult or not to justify the cost. I wanted something fun, but didn’t want to be lazy. So I ruled out adding electric to my bicycle because pedaling it myself is greener and healthier. Doing a car or a motorcycle was too expensive and difficult for my skill set. Besides they need really long range (>40miles) for me to use so not justifiable.
So I decided on a mountain board. There aren’t any hills near my home, but I enjoyed riding a mountain board once while on vacation. So if I added a motor to it; it would make it practical to use around the neighborhood. I’m not lazy because it takes balance and skill to operate; It’s dangerous so that makes it fun! Oh, and it’s not like I’m going to ride 10 miles on one either so range isn’t an issue, which means the cost will be low.
I’ve seen a previous instructable where someone has made one but theirs was seriously flawed. They could not steer it because the motor was big and attached to the board and the axle. And they had a huge battery. Here is a link: http://www.instructables.com/id/Electric-Mountain-Board/
So my goals where set:
1. Add Electric Power to Mountain Board
2. Do not degrade ridability
a. Motor attached to skate truck/axle not board
b. Keep added weight low
3. Faster than cheap electric scooters (>15mph)
4. Durable so I can still ride off-road
5. Kid friendly. It should have a mode that limits max speed.
So first step is to find a board. I wanted one that had a brake kit; because then there is a handle with leash attached. Also, I thought I could replace the brake rotors with a sprocket without much trouble, just as the other person did on the instructable.
I scored a good buy on craigslist, for $60 I got a MBS board with brakes. It had a flat, but I could fix that!
Next Step: picking the motor