
Boosted gets a new CEO as the company tries to grow beyond electric skateboards - dwynings
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/28/16212472/boosted-board-jeff-russakow-new-ceo-pivot
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tabeth
Electric scooters and mopeds are the future.

I have a Glion Electric Scooter -- I can go 15MPH for 15 miles. It costs $800,
is super safe and easier to use than a skateboard (I used to have a Yuneec Ego
Skateboard). The best thing about is it that I can take it indoors and just
put it under my desk at work. It pays for itself easily in NYC.

They need to make scooters. Better yet, a $2000 electric moped with proper
turn signals and brake/front lights. The minute someone makes an electric
scooter that can hold two, go 30mph for 100 miles a charge with a removable
battery I will buy it. The RadRover is pretty close, but no dice (it's too
slow and doesn't have proper brake/front lights with turn signals).

I've been thinking about getting a 50cc gas scooter (think Vespa or Genuine
Scooter) since it technically meets all of the requirements I mentioned there,
but I hate needing gas. Oh well.

~~~
pkulak
Not sure how that's better than a bike. 15 miles round trip is a perfectly
reasonable bike commute (mine is about 12 miles). It seems like all the
benefits and drawbacks of one apply to the other, except that you're only
getting a bit of exercise on one.

~~~
tabeth
It is reasonable, but why would you want to arrive to work sweaty if it's not
necessary? It's easy to forget that the average person doesn't have access to
a shower at work. Also, a kick scooter is significantly safer and more
maneuverable than a bike in my experience riding a road bike. An inch
clearance off the ground makes it pretty safe.

~~~
cbeley
I have the same scooter as the parent comment and I have to say I feel
significantly safer on my bike. I like the scooter and it's fun and useful for
quick errands where I don't want to get sweaty. However, the breaks are not
nearly as instantaneous (I'm sure there are scooters with better breaks
though) and I can't maneuver it nearly as quickly as I can my bike in the
event of an emergency (or even just general travel).

My experience may be a bit biased though, considering I'm both a pretty
experienced cyclist and I have to deal with the crazy San Francisco hills.

EDIT: Also, I do a fairly regular 12 mile round trip bike commute. Have only
done it a couple times on the scooter for fun and it was terrifying compared
to my bike.

~~~
hwillis
It's not just you, a bicycle will always have much more responsive handling.
Mopeds have small wheels so they need a long rake and wide tires compared to a
bike, to make the steering stable and the contact patch larger.

Higher rake means the bike pitches in response to the wheel turning, because
the contact patch is less in line with the handlebars. Wide tires multiply
that even more. That gives stability at high speed but when you try to turn
the whole vehicle moves the wrong way, making steering lag. It also makes it
harder to stay up.

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Relys
Boosted hit peak market growth and they know it IMHO. They got in early and
had a lot of high profile YouTube Vloggers repping their brand. Unfortunately
I think it will be very hard for them to compete with what's currently coming
out of Shenzhen. Source: I own an eboard that's like a third of the price with
more or less the same specs. Unless you're dealing with a premium carbon fiber
frame there is absolutely no reason to pay over $600 for an eboard.

~~~
gamegoblin
Can you make any recommendations for quality boards at that price point? I
have twice now gotten halfway through ordering a Boosted Board but quit before
finalizing the purchase because I couldn't stomach the price.

If there is something that is similar in specs but $500 I'll order one today.

~~~
Swizec
I have a Boosted[1]. There's a lot of competition but when you look at specs,
they don't really quite make it. They're either slower, or can't do hills, or
take longer to charge. Build quality on Boosteds is amazing as well. Thing's
build like a tank.

With my usage pattern (commute to gym and back 4 times a week), it pays for
itself every 4 months.

And yes, it gets me there faster than a bike or using public transit. Even
Uber is just 3 minutes faster (on a 15min trip) because of traffic.

[1] I actually have two. If anyone wants to buy my old Gen1 for half price,
ping me.

~~~
grepthisab
What do you do with it when you get it to the gym?

~~~
Swizec
Prop it up against the wall next to my backpack.

Nobody steals a longboard. They’re afraid of riding them and the used
longboard market is weak.

Plus there’s gym cammeraderie.

------
jcampbell1
The OneWheel is a much better alternative to electric longboards. It is crazy
fun to ride, like carving on a snowboard. Works in grass, on the beach, and
off road trails, and curbs are okay. Long boards are a pothole death wish...
small wheels and limited turning radius. One wheels are the future. It will be
great when quality Chinese knockoffs appear because they are currently $1400.

[https://onewheel.com/](https://onewheel.com/)

~~~
NegativeLatency
I prefer the failure modes of multi wheel vehicles.

~~~
shawn-butler
I don't really understand your comment. The "regular" version of the boosted
board had a single drivetrain.

The higher-price one had a dual-drive train but if you are doing any speed at
all and one of the drives fails.. you're going for a tumble.

I have ridden both, waited forever for the long-range boosted that was always
promised as "any day now" and switched to onewheel and am glad to have done
so.

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tomcam
> Boosted, the company known for making the best all-electric longboards on
> the market

There's some serious free press. Are they indeed all that and a bag of chips,
or can Verge be bought that easily, or what? No agenda here; genuinely
curious.

~~~
blocked_again
I think they are pretty good at making electric skateboards. Youtube star
Casey Neistat is always seen riding a boosted board. He has test driven a lot
of electric boards and has told that nothing else comes close to the boosted
board multiple times[1][2]. To be honest Casey Neistat appear to be a type of
guy who tells what he belives in even if it means loosing subscribers. He gets
a lot of hate sometimes because of that.

[1]$450 BOOSTED BOARD REVIEW -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zDZ3clucMI[1]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zDZ3clucMI\[1\])

[2]THE ONLY THING BETTER THAN A BOOSTED BOARD -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2JbfugMGP4[2]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2JbfugMGP4\[2\])

~~~
cma
He is an adviser or is on their board or something like that. Big surprise he
likes it. It seems on the surface like a scam designed to avoid FTC paid
endorsement disclosure requirements: just give the ("non")endorser a stake in
the company instead of money.

That's not to say he doesn't also legitimately like it.

~~~
blocked_again
88% of the 200 buyers which made a review on Amazon give the boosted board a
score of 5 out of 5 stars. That's not something you see everyday.

[https://www.amazon.com/Boosted-Dual-2000W-Electric-
Skateboar...](https://www.amazon.com/Boosted-Dual-2000W-Electric-
Skateboard/dp/B00NY6AFYI)

------
komali2
>We will, without question, continue to innovate in the electric skateboard
category, and we have a lot of exciting things in the works,” he says.

I mean, not much has changed in the "things on wheels" category in a long
time. All are just modifications of things that already existed - razor
scooters were just smaller form factor scooters, longboards were just longer
skateboards, etc. Then we stuck electric motors on it.

I mean, what else can you _do_ other than find new things to stick electric
motors to? And I guess make things smaller/more foldable, lighter, whatever.

~~~
traverseda
Well, off the top of my head...

Add some ML, get luggage/groceries/whatever that follows you.

Use omni-wheels, correct for user error, make safer devices that are harder to
fall off of.

Self-balancing fold-away rollerblades? How does the market change when your
wheels are something you put on in the morning and don't take off all day?
Like shoes.

Use a rocker-bogies to make curb-climbing practical (electric skateboards that
can climb right up a flight of steps?).

Dynamic shock absorbers that read the terrain in front of it, and provide
steady performance over rough ground. Maybe curb and stair-climbing.

Those wheels from snowcrash.

~~~
komali2
>Those wheels from snowcrash

Who do I give all my money to for this

edit: regarding " get luggage/groceries/whatever that follows you," I do
recall now my first day in San Francisco seeing someone on a jog near the
wharfs with a little robot on wheels following him with his keys in a bucket
on it. Looked very homemade.

~~~
traverseda
I _suspect_ dynamic shocks and a few more wheels are a better solution. A row
of like 6 wheels on the leading edge, offset from one another, should be able
to accomplish a lot of the same things.

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primitivesuave
One thing I love about the Boosted board is the modular design. For example,
if the belt from the motor to the wheel breaks, you can buy a relatively
inexpensive kit from their website that contains a new belt, four screws, an
Alan key, and a link to a 10 minute Youtube video guiding you through the
repair process. Their customer service is also outstanding and super
responsive, which is especially important when your customers are shelling out
over a thousand dollars for your product.

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ericfrederich
At the age of 34 I decided to buy an electric skateboard (Evolve Bamboo GT).

After 1 week... speed wobble in my neighborhood, black eye, concussion (I was
wearing a helmet), horrible road rash (I was wearing a winter hoodie but it
rolled up on me).

They're fun, they're cool, but they're so simple to use you forget about your
abilities.

~~~
DAddYE
Have you ever had any experience before with skateboards? Skateboards are one
of those things that look so so easy but in reality have a very steep learning
curve (however I haven't tried any electric one).

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anderspitman
Arizona State University has a ton of long-boarders. There are board racks
with built-in lock rings in front of most buildings from what I can tell.
Every once in a while I see someone zipping around on an eboard. Seems like a
fantastic way to travel across campus. I think building one is going to be my
first real project once I've salvaged enough 18650s from laptop batteries.

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gfodor
If you are looking into a good electric vehicle def look into electric
unicycles (EUCs.) There is a steep 3-6 hour learning curve but once you can
ride one well it's hard to see other options as better alternatives, I love
mine and it's a super versatile way to get around.

~~~
DenisM
Failure modes suck - if battery or motor or logic board fail you will
faceplant. Not so with bike or scooter.

~~~
gfodor
Not necessarily true -- failure modes aren't great tho. You can run off and
also can do a controlled fall. If you go over your handlebars on a bike you
are probably in worse shape (but going over handlebars seems less likely than
having to run off the wheel.)

I am looking forward to next gen wheels which will offer more redundant
components. I've been lucky to only have had a few falls during learning phase
where I was padded up. Once your muscle memory is set basically hardware
failure seems the only way I could imagine taking a huge spill. Generally
speaking obstacle avoidance and so on is subconscious, you can get yourself
out of a lot of bad situations due to tight turning radius, responsive speed
control, offroadability, etc. For example going off a curb or onto grass or up
a hill is no problem vs a boosted board.

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elmar
I remember when asked on interview what was one of the most promising startups
from previous YC batches Paul Graham saying that was _Boosted_ , probably the
early vision never materialised.

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philfrasty
These guys got the foot in the door at the right time when Vlogging on YouTube
really took off. Perfect example to showcase the benefits of a product in a
(mostly) natural way. With a single channel making millions of views each day
it seems like a (short term) good customer acquisition strategy. Wondering if
sustainable growth mid/longterm though?!

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free_everybody
Just a shout out to safety... Be very careful when riding e-boards, people.
Helmets are not recommended, they are absolutely required.

Also, you probably shouldn't buy an e-board if you don't have the fundamentals
down on a longboard. You will, without a doubt, end up in a lot of pain.

Be safe!

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pfedigan
I bet Casey already has the new longer lasting battery

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komali2
>splendiferously

why

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Marinlemaignan
i'll never understand that need people have to not exercise anymore.. even
more on a skateboard... Wall-e here we come.

~~~
jdavis703
I'm all for getting commuters out and on the road, even it means more e-bikes
and e-skateboards. That said it's about the exact same speed. I have a cruiser
deck with longboard wheels and ceramic bearings, when you factor in traffic
lights I usually wind up catching up with Boosted Board users (talking about
SF traffic here). Now where Boost Boards can beat me is a long stretch of road
with no traffic or lights, but that doesn't describe most urban commuting.

~~~
s0rce
You must be fast, I was relatively leisurely biking to work in Oakland,
usually about 14-16mph, and a guy on a e-skateboard zipped right by me.

