
Boosted Boards (YC S12) Unveils Its Magical Electric Skateboard - skdoo
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/11/boosted-boards/
======
jdietrich
These contraptions are illegal to use in public and if they become popular the
laws against them will be enforced immediately, because they're incredibly
dangerous.

It is impossible to provide effective braking on a skateboard. The rider has
absolutely no means of impeding their forward movement, so even if the board
has effective brakes it's just going to throw them off. This is a minor
problem if you're rolling around a skatepark, but it's a Big Fucking Deal if
you're commuting in traffic.

It might be conceivable to overlook this failing if it weren't for the fact
that tiny unsuspended wheels have almost no capacity to absorb bumps and road
defects. Anyone who skated as a teenager will remember being thrown to the
ground by a small piece of gravel stopping the wheel.

Add 2000w of tractive power and city traffic and you've got a recipe for
disaster. Someone is going to die, their family will sue and they will quite
rightly win enough money to bankrupt a small company. Boosted Boards are
marketing their device as a vehicle and advertising it's suitability as a
means of transport, which completely obliterates any defence they might have
had. The laws against unlicensed motor vehicles will be enforced and the
police will start confiscating them on sight. The electric skateboard returns
to it's rightful place in the gimmick section of a sporting goods store, next
to the mini-scooters and the moon shoes.

The bicycle has been a safe, practical and sustainable means of transport for
over a century. Modern bicycles are lightweight, efficient and have excellent
ride quality and braking. Short-range urban transport is a solved problem in
all but marketing - Americans remain inexplicably certain that cycling is not
for them.

~~~
dreeves
With the caveat that I'm not a skateboarder (I inline-skate), I don't think
your assessment of the braking is right. As the brakes engage you shift your
center of gravity back and you end up with, I reckon, even more stopping power
than a bike, since you have more rubber-to-road surface area.

The same applies to the "tiny rock pitches you forward" argument, which I can
speak to from experience. On inline skates I can plow through grass, gravel,
potholes, anything, by shifting my weight back as I go over it. If something
in the road catches you by surprise that's another story.

EDIT: For the rest of my counterargument, I turn to xkcd:

<http://xkcd.com/139/>

<http://xkcd.com/409/>

~~~
saidajigumi
As another (rather skilled) inline skater, I'll second the ideas in the above
post. When I was a newb, rocks were Teh Evil. Now rocks just spit away, if I
don't just avoid 'em in the first place.

Physical skills have a learning curve. Whether riding a bike or driving a car,
some significant skills acquisition is needed before safe use. For cycling,
first there's existing cultural folk knowledge on learning to ride a bike
(e.g. what you learned as a kid). If you want to be a properly skilled
commuter, then you'll really want to brush up on additional skills ala
Effective Cycling or a similar program.

I don't see this longboard as being particularly different from either cycling
or driving, except that it's new. Living in a very hilly part of the USA, I
love that they've designed for that from the get-go.

------
johnyzee
I have been riding an electric skateboard through Copenhagen for a few years
(Evo 600: <http://en.evo-skate.com/street600wood/>). We have great bicycle
tracks all over the city which is ideal. The principle of the board is the
same, board strapped with an electric motor, controlled by IR remote in the
hand. I'll share a few thoughts.

First off, my board has a 600 watt motor and does around 20mph, which is
_fast_ in the city. I overtake most bicycles (people's faces are priceless). I
cannot fathom what a 2000 watt motor would do, seems kind of life-threatening
honestly. I haven't had any accidents, flew over the top a couple of times
when I hit a high edge, par for the course when skateboarding, but I wouldn't
want to go any faster.

My board does around 10 kilometers per charge, which is enough for a commute
in the city. Not sure how well a 2000 watt motor would fare, I definitely
could not accept less range. But my board has the older SLA battery, a lithium
battery probably evens the score, while being lighter.

How easy is it to drive? You need experience skateboarding or you'll have
quite a learning curve. The accelleration needs a good stance to not get
dropped off the back, same with breaking vs. flying over the front. Turning is
even more cumbersome than with a real skateboard because the board is so
heavy, so you need pretty good technique (and space).

About safety: If you fall off, drop the remote etc. the board stops, the IR
must be in your hand to activate and has a short range either way, so no
chance of the board running away from you. As soon as you stop accellerating
the board slows right down, and you can brake with the engine too (big
advantage over a real skateboard). The engine is engaged all the time so you
can't just roll like on a real board. Hopefully these guys solve this problem,
would be useful if you're out of battery.

About sound, it's not annoying but not quiet either, your regular medium-sized
electric motor. In the street it's not particularly noticeable.

About legal issues: It's illegal in the street but no one cares. I pass patrol
cars all the time and most don't notice that it's not a regular skateboard, or
don't care.

~~~
zhyder
Regarding the dangerous speeds that a 2kW motor could propel you to, the full
2kW might only be used when going uphill. At 100% efficiency, 2kW will let a
75kg person travel at 10 meters/s [1] (sprinting speed) on a 15% incline.

[1] 2000 / (75 * 9.8 * sin (15))

~~~
001sky
As a cyclist, 15 deg incline is steep. Honestly, steeper than all but rural
roads and even then rare. There might be some hills like that in SF. Even in
the mountains, graded switchbacks are not nearly that steep, for the most
part.

Which beings me to who and why would you want to ride _down_ something so
steep on a skateboard? I have a hill a mile from my house, thats ~200 vertical
feet, and a around a 1/4 mile, its 12 degrees max on my GPS topo. I'm easily
35-45 mph on this, coasting. No hands descent would be NFW. 40 mph on a
skateboard and there is a piece of gravel on the road, I'm not sure a Helmet
will even help you with the face-plant potential.

But other than that, I think for a flat city it may be of interest. Or even a
flat-ish area like soma/mission. But Manhattan? Nah. I'd pass. Maybe in the
sub-urbs or exurbs? Where its just a long slog down a random road to the store
or whatever would be more interesting. There is a lot of sprawl out there. And
this would be cooler than a segway =D.

~~~
guelo
SF actually has streets that reach over 30 deg incline.

~~~
malandrew
37 degrees to be exact. Prentiss between Chapman and Powhatten

~~~
cocoflunchy
I think you must be mistaken. 37° is steeper than any road you've ever driven.
It would be very hard to even walk !

~~~
malandrew
Ooops, my bad. I didn't know there was a different between grade and degree.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(slope)>

------
brokentone
This is way cool, but the company has a few challenges to face to be "serious,
eco-friendly transportation devices that could replace your bike, scooter, or
maybe even your car."

I live and work in manhattan and for the summer I've been skating to and from
work nearly every day (40ish blocks). According to my research, skateboards
are considered "play" devices. Whereas bikes and all motorized vehicles are
required to be in the street, skateboarders under 14 must wear a helmet and
are not allowed to ride in the street. Older skateboarders have the option,
but not the requirement to ride in the street. With the narrow streets, stop
and go traffic, out of control cabbies, and people not used to looking for
skateboarders, I feel much safer on the sidewalk.

There is a law that prevents the reckless operation of skateboards on
sidewalks (<http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/nycode/ADC/19/1/3/19-176.1>), and I
always take care to be courteous and provide plenty of space to all
pedestrians.

Where there are bike lanes available, I'll take them, as that also seems to be
a legal option, but I've had more run ins with pedestrians in bike lanes than
on the sidewalk.

I've been stopped by cops twice and told I could not ride on the sidewalk,
yelled at by private security and pedestrians, and had pedestrians step out in
front of me without looking when I had complete right of way in the bike lane
--causing me to have to bail.

This said, for any company looking to use skateboards to revolutionize urban
travel, education campaigns at all levels will be necessary.

~~~
awolf
I agree with your sentiment and would like to take it a step further.

As someone who lives in San Francisco and commutes using all three of bike,
foot, and car (and back in college rode a skateboard around a large and busy
campus) I don't think skateboards belong on the sidewalk - and definitely not
motor powered ones.

Anything that has the potential to move much faster than a person running at
full speed is extremely dangerous on the sidewalk for everyone involved: cars,
bikes, and especially pedestrians. It breaks everyone's mental model for what
could possibly be coming from where. Cars making a right turn do not expect
bikes or skateboards to entering the sidewalk at 5-10 mph from their blind
spot and so they almost never check. Pedestrians turning a corner don't expect
the possibility of something oncoming that is moving too fast to stop before
hitting then and so they almost never look. And so on..

As an individual YOU might be a considerate skateboarder who has learned when
and where to be careful. That's great, but it doesn't change the fact that
there are still idiots and assholes out there that are going to do idiotic and
asshole things. The only system that makes sense is: fast-stuff in one place
where everyone knows to look out for fast-stuff, and slow-stuff on the
sidewalk.

~~~
brokentone
I don't think you can make rules based on potential speed, and your division
is far too simplistic and arbitrary in terms of speed. While I agree my
skateboarding is limited to 5-10 MPH (jogging-running speed), is that really
that fast?

If I (and my skateboarding kind) should be in the street based on speed or
potential speed, then so should rollerbladers, scooters, segways, motorized
wheelchairs, anyone able-bodied person (as they have the potential to start
running).

It's a complex issue and courtesy and being alert go a long way... as well as
knowing the law. Wherever I'm supposed to be by law (NYC law leans toward the
sidewalk) is where I need to be, and other people need to respect that.

~~~
awolf
Yup, its definitely a dicey issue. 5-10 mph on a skateboard is definitely a
courteous and safe speed.. The problem is that 12-20 mph is also attainable
and unfortunately not everyone is as courteous as you. It's the bad apples
that spoil the bunch.

Yes, I do extend this to rollerbladers and scooters. Segues have a maximum
speed of 12.5 mph and restrict their own downhill movement. I'd say they're
sidewalk safe. Same with wheelchairs.

~~~
EricDeb
If there was a way to limit the speed of the board based on the grade of the
hill, that could be an easy, innovative solution. I imagine that might be
built in already to some degree.

------
mmaunder
Some context: The average electric bicycle has a 300 watt motor. These baby's
have 2000 watt motors (or 2 x 1000 watt motors, I couldn't tell) that are
roughly a 5th of the size of an electric bike motor. Include a battery big
enough to power that motor and the fact that they're adding regenerative
braking, which electric bikes don't have, and this is a seriously awesome
engineering challenge.

~~~
rapind
Trek's Ride+ uses regenerative breaking.
[http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/collections/electric_assist/f...](http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/collections/electric_assist/feature_tour)

TBH, it's not that big of a deal (over-hyped).

P.S. I only mean regenerative breaking isn't that big of a deal. This product
actually looks pretty cool to me.

~~~
stcredzero
I wonder how the Trek Ride+ does on hills?

~~~
rapind
It's pretty great. There are 4 assist settings from barely helping (1), up to
_make you feel like superman_ (4).

On the 3rd-4th setting hills are a breeze, on the 2nd setting you still work a
bit, and on the 1st setting it really just makes up for it's weight imo (motor
+ battery = heavy).

You can also go into resistance / negative settings (-1 to -4) is you're a
masochist (or in amazing shape).

------
jazzychad
No motorized skateboards in CA :(
<http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21968.htm>

However, I wonder how strongly this is enforced...

~~~
starpilot
There's another electric skateboard company already in CA, www.zboardshop.com,
so I guess there's more to this law, or it's just not enforced at all. I see
electric skateboards by the beach all the time.

Edit: Another .ca.gov page says they're only legal on private property:
<http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/motors.html>.

------
mahyarm
Are they waterproof? Could I ride this in Seattle & SF rain all the time
without damaging it? Otherwise it's just a fair weather vehicle and it's not
something I can rely on.

If not, why would I choose this over all the other electric skateboards?

Is it safe to use on the steep downgrades you have in SF? Is it useless to use
when going uphill on those same hills?

~~~
skdoo
The electronics will be somewhat water resistant, but we don't recommend
riding in the rain. A big reason for that is the wheels (from standard
longboards) are slicks and are somewhat dangerous in wet weather.

It is very capable at uphill climbing and downhill braking. Our ability to
stay standing on it is usually the limiting factor.

As for why you would choose this over others, it's the lightest, has way more
power than most, and has a fantastic design and riding experience.

~~~
mahyarm
It's unfortunate nobody has made a waterproof electric skateboard yet, it's
what makes me stop buying any of them. How would it perform with knobby all
terrain tires?

~~~
boostednoob
Reread the statement you are commenting on. The reason that you don't want to
ride this board in the rain is inherent to longboarding, not to electronics.
It is entirely possible to design the mechanical enclosures of electronics to
withstand rain, it is simply a design choice. If people shouldn't be
longboarding in the rain, why design for it?

------
qq66
Interesting that YC companies are now raising money with Kickstarter instead
of VC... great if you can get it.

~~~
nostromo
They are likely doing both. KickStarter allows them to show proof of interest
without actually having to build the product, which paves the way for a big VC
round.

------
tlrobinson
One feature suggestion, which you've probably already thought of, is automatic
braking in case you fall and the board starts rolling away.

------
codemac
Anybody not know how to skateboard, but would rather do it because of the form
factor?

What I'm trying to say is: Is there a long board riding tutorial for people
who just want to slowly roll around, aren't really in the "skater" scene?

In the promo video they're getting onto CalTrain. I'd love it for the quick
ride over to BART/CalTrain station.

~~~
awolf
A great way to train yourself for the type of lateral position front/back
balance needed for all types of boarding (skate, snow, surf) is the Indoboard.

<http://indoboard.com>

I'd recommend the longer "Pro" model if you're targeting longboard
skateboarding.

It's amazing how much Indoboard helps. It will quickly give you an innate
sense for where to position your feet, how far forward or backward to lean,
and (for a shortbaord) when you're approaching that "oh shit" threshold where
the board will fly out from your feet like a banana.

After that, get a longboard and start slow in as much empty pavement space you
can find. Try to always keep your knees bent. Start with kicking in front
(i.e. the way you're facing) with your back foot instead of in back with your
front foot.

Beware of cracks.. beware of hills- even gradual ones. Mentally prepare
yourself for some bloody knees, elbows, and palms. Enjoy- it is a really fun
way to get around short distances.

------
Inufu
How is this different from: <http://www.alteredelectricskateboards.com/pro-
line_600.htm>

Except that it has twice the price and half the range?

Ok, seems like it's significantly ligther (12 vs 40 lbs). Any other
differences?

Stronger motors, but still same speed .. strange

~~~
veb
That's ugly.

It doesn't even look like a skateboard. I think the reason Boosted Boards
looks _so_ awesome is the fact it actually looks like a longboard... with a
_motor_!

~~~
Brashman
It's not even just that it looks like longboard, it is an actual longboard
that's been modified. It's a Loaded Vanguard from what I can tell which is a
really nice board. The existing electric boards tend to be made specifically
for the electric board and the result is a not very good skateboard/longboard.

Also, the difference in weight is huge. 40 lbs is something that I need two
hands to pick up and is a pain to carry. Bringing the weight down to just +4
lbs over the original longboard means this is something I can actually carry
under my arm.

------
sbierwagen
Those battery housings are pretty small. That, and the 2KW motor, make me
worry about range. (They say 6mi, but it's trivially easy to lie about range)
The kickstarter page doesn't mention capacity, so let's do some wild ass
guessing.

    
    
      It’s boards are just 12-15 pounds, only twice as heavy as the 
      lightweight, top-of-the-line 7 pound Loaded boards they build their 
      electric motors into.
    

12-7=5lbs of equipment. Assume the motors, drivetrain, and casings take up
3lbs, that's 2lbs for batteries. Assume 200Wh/kg Li-on batteries, which work
out to 90.6Wh/lbs, for a total system capacity of 181.2 watt-hours.

The watt-hour is a simple unit. A 1 watt-hour battery can run 1 watt of load
for 1 hour, or a 6 watt load for 10 minutes, or a .5 watt load for 2 hours.

A 181.2 watt-hour battery will be discharged after running:

    
    
      A 2000 watt load for 5.436 minutes.
      A 1000 watt load for 10.872 minutes.
      A  500 watt load for 21.744 minutes.
      A  250 watt load for 43.488 minutes.
      A  100 watt load for 108.72 minutes.
    

The worst case scenario is even worse than you'd think, since electrochemical
batteries don't have a flat discharge curve: the harder you discharge them,
the less capacity you have.

Boosted advertises their 2000 watt motors in bold print, but if you actually
ran them that hard for any length of time, you'd discharge the battery.

------
qq66
Why is there an obsession with calling things "magical"? Technology is the
opposite of magic. The word "magical" both creates unrealistic expectations
and handwaves over all of the incredible technology inside.

~~~
argumentum
I've ridden the board.. calling it magical is not a stretch.

~~~
qq66
The industry should use words like "brilliant" instead of "magical" to
emphasize the skill and dedication required to create amazing products,
instead of tacitly implying that they are outputs of inscrutable black-box
processes. Kids who ride this skateboard realize that someday, they could
engineer something even better than it.

~~~
zekel
I'm not sure kids with imagination get stuck on semantics like that.

~~~
qq66
Word choice absolutely does affect how people think. Terms like "intelligent
design" exploit this by cloaking nonsense in the guise of logic, and if you
explain to a kid that a lightbulb or an electric skateboard works by "magic"
that's a lot less inspiring than saying "a kid just like you studied how
things work and invented it."

------
coryrc
You can buy one right now, made in Portland OR, for cheaper:

[http://metro-
board.com/low_cost_electric_skateboard_buynow.h...](http://metro-
board.com/low_cost_electric_skateboard_buynow.htm)

------
luser001
Pretty interesting idea!

Serious question by a non-skateboarer: Unlike the Segway this doesn't provide
any stability assistance, right? How safe would it be for a newbie to start
using this?

I'd be worried about falling off this thing. AFAIK, the Segway goes to great
lengths to mitigate that risk [although GWB managed to defeat those systems
:)].

~~~
frankus
Segways are actually pretty hard to ride if you've ever ridden a standard
skateboard. The stability control gain needs to be super high because it's so
tippy, so you can easily get it to oscillate if you're not used to riding a
self-balancing vehicle.

The acceleration stability problem for electric longboards is actually totally
solvable (and solved, just not in a commercially-available machine) by
detecting the rider's weight distribution.

I built a prototype back in '06 that (unlike the zboard) had the weight
sensing system distributed over the entire deck, so there was no fiddly stance
that you had to maintain.

It was super intuitive to ride, even for beginners, and had just an on-off
switch as a controller (I used a little car-alarm-style key fob).

I teamed up with a buddy in Vancouver to improve it, and we converted it from
a single rear hub motor to dual front hub motors (so no belts or anything to
wear out or break). We showed it off at the Bay Area Maker Faire in '07.

On the trip back our prototype got stolen, and real life intruded, and we
haven't done much with it since. I'd love to get another unit put together
soon though.

<http://3wdm.blogspot.com/> for more info.

------
at-fates-hands
"Nothing’s scarier than getting going too fast down a hill on a skateboard."
Actually if you know how to power slide, going down hills is actually quite
fun.

Also, is this a full electric board, or do you have the option of pushing and
then you can use the motor when you want to?

~~~
frankus
Since the motors are engaged full time (no freewheel) and are self-exciting,
they're going to give some drag due to iron losses, which is magnified by the
gearing of the belts, as well as some stored angular momentum.

So I think it could work as a non-powered board, but not very well.

------
cfinke
Add a handle, a steering device, a seat, and make it wider, and I would
definitely buy one.

~~~
diggan
Are you looking for a moped maybe?

~~~
cfinke
If you added doors, a roof, and a few more seats to a moped, that would be my
perfect vehicle.

------
cgil
It's difficult to group this directly with the segway. The segway had to adapt
it's users to a new form of transportation, the boosted boards already have a
large consumer base to dip into. It's a great enhancement.

------
HyprMusic
If this is funded, why is it also on KickStarter? I can't help but feel
KickStarter is used mostly as a hype building machine in a lot of cases.
People go on their with money burning a hole in their pocket.

------
rickdale
This is so cool. I don't even care about the practical implications of using
the board in the city. I just want it for walking my dog. $1199 to you. First
kickstarter project backed.

Skateboarding today is forever evolving and the electronic skateboard should
evolve with it. Way back when the mega jump was created guys would hold onto
motorcycles to gain enough speed to get super air and do insane tricks. I
wonder if this technology could give professional riders the ability to gain
infinite (or seemingly) amounts of speed.

------
SpectralShards
I have to wonder though, that kickstarter may not be the best platform for
them to get funding for such a project. It seems that most people fund
projects on kickstarter because they wish to receive a sample of the soon to
be made product, however in this case a long board seems to be geared towards
a younger audience, of which usually wouldn't have $1100-$1200 to spend on
such a luxury good. Great work though! Would definitely be interesting to see
people ride uphill.

------
jmccaffrey
Alot of people are getting down on this... I'm very excited.

I live in downtown San Jose, and _alot_ of people tool around on long-boards
already; I've been thinking about getting one and I'm a dedicated cyclist. The
city is quite flat, and the bikelanes and side-walks are wide and nearly
empty. Combined with a high bike-theft rate, and this would be a great way to
scoot around.

So even if it might not work where you live, there are places where this
contraption fits perfectly.

------
etrautmann
Rode a prototype on Stanford campus. This is the real deal, amazingly fun and
powerful. $1200 is past my cutoff but I'd love to get one if the price comes
down.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
hopefully v2 will be $600

------
ecaroth
I have been longboarding for 10+ years, and riding Loaded boards for most of
it (the company that makes the deck they are using). Loaded decks are friggin
amazing, and i'm super excited to see a product like this exists. If they can
make it function with similar flex as the normal loaded board, and disengage
the motors as needed to ride like a normal longboard this could be the best
short-range commuting vehicle ever!!

------
ssebro
Two questions:

Can it be used as a normal skateboard when the battery is dead?

How loud is it?

~~~
riviera
It's pretty quiet, just a bit of a hum. Kind of like a Prius at low speed
-experience.

------
Newky
Are these boards common in America or elsewhere. Here in Dublin, Ireland I
have seen perhaps one long board in my life.

Is there a certain terrain or area which suits these boards or are they good
for any urban street type scenario.

At that price, I can see no advantage over a bike or even a small motorbike.
Wondering is this something that people think will do very well in the market
they are targeting?

~~~
lancefisher
Yes, these are pretty popular in college towns in the U.S. I live in Missoula,
MT and see them all the time. I'll often see a dog on a harness pulling the
rider along too. That looks pretty fun.

------
aliirz
I don't think this will ever be able to replace bicycles or cars. This thing
cannot be safe. Let's say Mr.A is riding one of tbethese on a busy road and
has to make a quick brake on high speed. The board will come to a stop but the
momentum his body has gained will make him fall seriously injuring or killing
him. So its a toy, not a serious transportation device IMO.

------
jamesaguilar
Something I've always wondered about longboarding as a form of transport. What
do you do if you're going downhill like in San Francisco?

~~~
RandallBrown
In most cases you don't go down them. Bombing hills is a huge part of
longboarding, but that's not something you can really do on a typical commute
with vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

I haven't been able to figure out how to control my speed on a hill on a
sidewalk (not wide enough for turns, and I can't really powerslide yet).

------
branchan
Seems like a lot of users not familiar with skateboard/longboarding are
weighing in their opinion on the safety issues presented by this product.

This product presents no more danger to the user or the general public than
does a normal skateboard/longboard.

So obviously yes, just like a bike or skateboard, don't expect to just be able
to hop on and cruise from day 1.

------
dchichkov
From a former electric skateboard user: make it light.

Three times lighter of that first gen electric skateboard. That means 10 lbs.

------
rnernento
These are cool and I desperately want one but the price point doesn't seem
reasonable for what it does.

Also, why do they keep showing people walking their boards up stairs in the
video, seems counter-intuitive.

~~~
Harkins
I think they're trying to show that it's easy to cart around at either end of
a commute.

------
31reasons
For 99% of the people this is going to be just a toy. You can't expect general
public to be riding these. I wish they would pivot to something similar to
Segway for $1000.

------
BryanBeshore
Boosted Boards are wicked fun to ride - awesome team, too.

------
bitwize
Cool, when can I get one equipped with smartwheels?

------
vbl
Neat. I'd like to see some real tires on it, though, as Chicago's
roads/sidewalks would never permit my commuting on that thing.

------
jim-greer
Looks awesome - I'm wondering if the engine braking is reliable enough to
depend on going down a big San Francisco hill?

------
ck2
Since the motors aren't direct drive, what happens when the belt gets wet or
the trunks flex and the belt slips off?

~~~
frankus
Looks like they're toothed belts, so they should perform OK when wet.

It also looks like they have a belt per wheel, so there's a good deal of
redundancy. Because there's apparently no differential gearing it means you
have to lift up the outside wheels in tight (e.g. walking speed) turns, but
that often happens naturally anyway on a skateboard.

------
Robby2012
I love the promo video, it's awesome

------
rms
How many of these were brought to Burning Man this year?

------
gtani
the Freebord was also a Stanford engineering project which went to production

<http://freebord.com/>

------
savrajsingh
Just backed the project. Good luck Boosted!

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orangethirty
What type of battery does this use? LiPo?

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Tichy
Don't call it magical if it can't fly.

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tmuir
"all I could think was that this will change how we interact with our cities."

Anyone else reminded of Dean Kamen's predictions for the segway?

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rokhayakebe
This is a bit different, I believe. Segways just do not look cool, and you
would be kind of embarrassed riding one, unless you really don't give a fuck
what the world thinks. These on the other hand are cool enough that you are
ride them without looking like a clown.

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TeMPOraL
Interesting fact: in Prague there are people offering sightseeing tours on
Segways; it seems to be quite popular there.

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tienshiao
I think Segways are great for sightseeing tours, and I've done (and enjoyed) a
couple on my travels. Segways basically created a new way to sightsee.

I can't imagine how tours would be able to operate 12-15 mile 2 hour "walking"
tours otherwise. You're able to see a significant part of a city from eye
level without a huge amount of physical effort.

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baddox
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