Kieran’s Meepo: The person, the board, the story.

There is not much publicity and promotion on the Meepo – a sub $300, super affordable electric skateboard with 5-star riding experience.

If you had heard about Meepo, it was either from Reddit or from Youtube.

I’m sure of it.

That is becuase those places are where Kieran, the man behind Meepo connects with fellow Eskaters.
Also that is where his customer rave about Meepo and how helpful Kieran has been when(if) they encounter problems on their Meepo.

I was offered an opportunity to interview Kieran, so I did and it has been a blast.

I now like Meepo so much that after the interview, I took the opportunity and got a deal from Kieran so that HQ’s reader can get something extra when purchasing a Meepo! (more on that at the end of the post.)

So today, I’m honored to introduce you both Kieran and the Meepo Board!

Origin:

Working for an Electric Skateboard Company

Kieran is a 28-year-old Chinese gentleman graduated from the field of mechanical engineering.
As a skateboarder and a longboarder, he was first introduced to electric skateboard through a TED talk, delivered by none other than Sanjay Dastour from Boosted Board.

https://www.ted.com/talks/sanjay_dastoor_a_skateboard_with_a_boost

Kieran: “I remember he said ‘when you think about a vehicle, think about something new”, and I was inspired.”

So Kieran went and joined a major electric skateboard manufacturer and reseller in China.
It was awesome, at least part of it was; as the marketing manager, he gets to try out different electric skateboards from different brands.

But there is a problem. The company is not making a profit.

Kieran,the guy on the right. NOT the kid in blue. Don’t switcharoo me.
 

The problem, according to Kieran, lies in the quality of the board.

The way most Chinese manufacturers conduct their business is to push sales at all cost.
Boards with quality issues were knowingly sold to customers.
When those boards inevitably broke down, they were returned for refund and repair, which end up costing the company money.

That’s why there was no profit.

Kieran expressed his frustration to his boss, and guess what did his boss do?

He blamed the losses on the sales team.

Birth of Meepo:

Most Chinese electric skateboard manufacturers are not E-skaters, and their board’s performance annoyed Kieran when he was using them for his daily commute.

In April 2017, with the ease of access to all the parts and manufacturers, Kieran started building a board for himself to use.
He started from what he has and with some mix and matches, got a board that has the performance that he was satisfied with.

He showcased the board on Youtube to try to get the attention from retailers hoping for some B2B business opportunity.

Instead, what Kieran got was the interest of some viewers abroad.Some of the viewers expressed interest to buy the board, and after some back and forth, the first Kieran-made-electric skateboard was sold to a viewer from the US.

Some of the viewers expressed interest to buy the board, and after some back and forth, the first Kieran-made-electric skateboard was sold to a viewer from the US.

After proving that selling electric skateboard online can work, Kieran fired his boss and started his own electric skateboard company.

And hence, Meepo was born.

And yes, Meepo got its name from the DotA character with the same name.

Grow:

Today, Meepo is a 3 person company with Kieran manning the helm, making all the product decisions.

The company is scrapping by, recording around 150 sales since its recent founding late June 2017.

With no marketing budget, word-of-mouth has been the primary way Meepo found new owners – which is rather effective as the riding experience, board’s quality, and Kieran’s pre & post-sale services have left his customer raving about Meepo all over Reddit.

In fact, that was how I got to know about Meepo too.

“All of Meepo’s buyers are from abroad. 70% of them from the USA, 15% from Europe and 15% from the others.” Kieran

Approach:

Meepo’s Philosophy:

“Electric skateboard should be a commuting vehicle that is affordable to everyone. Electric Skateboard doesn’t have to be expensive to be good. It doesn’t have to be expensive to give great riding experience.” Kieran

When Kieran put together Meepo, the chief focus is the riding experience.
“I commute around 10km on my Meepo every day, and I need the experience to be good. Many people care a lot about the battery range, but what is the use of extended range if traveling on that E-skate is intolerable? It would just extend an unenjoyable experience.”

Sure enough, the theme of ‘focusing on riding experience’ came out again and again when we talked about how he put together Meepo.

Technical Approach:

“I think the Battery and the ESC are two of the most important component when putting together a board. 

When putting together the Meepo, the battery has been the one that gave me the most headache.

ESC is simpler, I chose a good one and the rest is just making sure my firmware is up to date.

I would like to play around with different motors but the truth is, with my size right now, there are limits on what I can do with the motor.”

Battery:

“When putting together the Meepo, the battery has been the one that gave me the most headache.”

Battery 10S2p 36V 4.4Ah Samsung 18650 5c

“I have tried and change the battery I use for the board for around 6 times.

People may say Samsung or LG battery cells is good.
But using a good brand by itself isn’t enough.
I have to get Samsung cells in model 22P to get the best performance.

And When building the BMS, it is important to know how the ESC is programmed, what is the consistent current drain needed, and what is the max current the battery can provide in a stable manner.”

Kieran then went on to explain why he cares so much when picking the battery for Meepo.

“When I was riding other electric skateboards in the market, there were a few problems that bugged me.

For one, there was the issue where when braking with a full(or near full) battery, the board may turn off as the regenerative braking will be charging the battery over its max capacity.
It manifests as ‘the remote disconnected’ but it was actually due to the battery’s BMS cutting off the charge.

I have a stretch of downhill road in the beginning of my commute and I would be afraid every time going down it, frightened by the prospect that my board will power off.
I don’t want to work around it by not charging the board fully. Neither do I want to skate around to drain some battery before I go downhill.

I want the problem solved and that’s what I did by working with the battery supplier.
We worked together to tweak the BMS so that battery overcharging would not happen and the brake would not fail that easily.

To my knowledge, some of the big players in the market still haven’t solved this issue.

Another problem was when the battery was below 50%, some board will slow down ridiculously when going up a slope. That stinks and I’m sure my customer will not be happy if I sell them an Eskate that performs that way.

Again, I don’t want this problem to plague my Meepo and after some back and forth with the battery supplier, we solved the issue.

Now, every time I get a new batch of batteries, I will test them out in my everyday commute to make sure that they are good.”

ESC:

“The fact is, the riding experience of Meepo is unlikely to be further improved by a pricier ESC.”

ESC is another component that was carefully picked for Meepo.

“ESC impacts the riding experience significantly. A good ESC can allow the rider to control the acceleration – whether they want it to be abrupt or to be gentle.

On the opposite side of things, ESC also controls the braking experience. With a good ESC, you can have a better control of the brakes. It will allow you to stay at any speed you want when going downhill.”

ESC can get expensive, there is really a point of diminishing returns where a pricier ESC does not improve the riding experience further, at least for Meepo.

So to assemble an affordable board, Kieran picked out a good quality ESC that can that can give the best riding experience while staying on budget.

“I would not say my ESC is the best, better VESC can cost up to $300 and that’s for a single motor!
The ESC I use is a good one shared by many major brands.
Look at it, it is beautiful, its has a symmetry look and has a simple design.
It can do everything I want it to do, smooth acceleration, smooth braking, smart turn on, regenerative braking etc.
The fact is, the riding experience of Meepo is unlikely to be further improved by a pricier ESC.”

Motor:

“I chose a good motor that can provide enough torque for slope climbing.”

Kieran told me that there was the concern that this motor looks bulky and unsightly but at the end of the day, utility triumphs look, at least for Meepo.

“I want a motor that does not have heating issues. Many China Boards use motors that will overheat to 90-100°C. That damages the motors.
This motor that I used will stay at around 60°C going up hills which will be fine.”

“At the end of the day, when I was riding my Meepo, I will not be seeing how pretty the motor looks underneath my board.”

Substance over style indeed.

Wheels:

“There are some really bad roads where I live and I DON’T want to step down from my electric skateboard and walk. Small wheels might look prettier but I want to feel safe.

On choosing the wheel size:

“I have been thrown off my board before and it is not fun.
With 70mm wheel, a small pebble can throw you off your board.
With 90mm wheel, at least I can be confident that my wheels can safely roll over small bumps on road.
As anything smaller than half of the radius of the wheel I can confidently roll over, a 90mm wheel can handle a 1-2cm bump easily.
So I can relax and enjoy the scenery a bit instead of being stressed out by bad roads all the time.”

How about All Terrain wheels in the future?

“Many people have asked me about All Terrain setup. I am interested too and will be looking into it but it will take time and probably nothing will come of it in the near future.”

Deck:

“The deck has to be stiff enough so that a heavy person won’t scrape the floor and flexible enough to accommodate a light person.”

“I am adamant to get a two-piece component housing at the front and tail of the board instead of a single full-length component housing at the center of the board.

This is because I want Meepo’s deck to be able to flex. It may not look as nice as a one piece design but the flexibility of the deck really improves the riding experience.”

Meepo uses a 8 ply deck (7ply Chinese Maple + 1 ply bamboo Deck).

“The deck has to be stiff enough so that a heavy person won’t scrape the floor and flexible enough to accommodate a light person.”

Is Meepo’s deck the best?
Kieran thinks that Boosted Board probably has the best deck on any E-skate right now but his Meepo wasn’t half bad either.

Hey, when you are making a sub $300 board, a compromise has to be made somewhere right?

Overall:

Meepo was built with good quality components.

The early customer reviews reflected that.
There were a few accounts of component failure, a great way to test Kieran’s after-sale service, and he has passed with flying colors.

Another upside is how neat and tidy the component of the board was assembled.

“Kieran designed this board to be fixed by the user. All you need is the part from him and you can practically replace anything yourself. For example, I had to swap some motor connectors because the board would go backward instead of forward unless I pressed the change button direction. He messaged me on WhatsApp and gave me instructions on what to do so I got a first-hand look at the internals. Things were easy to disconnect and reconnect again. Everything is almost plug and play aside from if you want to change the motor wheels, you have to use Loctite for the screws and the adhesive glue to waterproof the board.”   /u/KingPrudien

A clarification has to be made though,
when we said Meepo is a good quality board, we didn’t mean that it has a refined look.

The board is put together using components that are widely available in the Chinese electric skateboard market.
The external designs are shared by many other Chinese electric skateboards that can be found all over Aliexpress.

Where Meepo differs. is with what lies inside and that reflects in how well the board performs.

At the end of the day, the board has a DIY origin and definitely has a scrappy look.

Let’s just say there is more than what meets the eye.

Future:

“E-skate is definitely the best portable vehicle among the likes of Segway, One wheel, and Hoverboards.
E-skate is just faster, lighter, more stable and simply cooler than any other portable vehicle on the list.”

In the future, Meepo will not deviate from its focus on quality and riding experience.

“As the ‘product manager’, there are thousand of ideas that I want to try with Meepo. But given the size of our business right now, there are only a few moves that actually make sense. First, we have to get more sales and then more options will open up.”

Kieran wishes to add a third, more premium board to the Meepo line up once the company has a healthier bottom line.

Something with a better riding experience, more range, and perhaps even better looking from the outside; the look still won’t be the priority, Kieran stated in a frank manner.

At the immediate future, however, the goal is to get more sales. Kieran remains hopeful, as the word-of-mouth from his existing customers has beginning to help sales.

But with a 3 person team, how well can Meepo be expected in handling massive orders?

“No worries, I have friends that run E-skate production factory. With 1 week notice, they can start the production and we can handle up to 1000 orders per month.”

And on the after-sale service front:

For now, Kieran is expected to handle all of the after-sale services. However, he is already in the process of bringing an extra person in to maintain their current top tier customer service. Kudos.

My thoughts:

I have yet to come across a negative review or complaint on Kieran and his Meepo boards.

At a sub $300 price, there is nothing that can compare to it.

The caveat is, Kieran was unable to get a better shipping deal from his shipping agent (monopoly) and hence the shipping fee for Meepo is ridiculously high.

Meepo’s shipping fee:

Canada$135.00
USA$100.00
Europe$100.00
Australia$85.00
South East Asia$65.00

100 USD to ship to the US! More than one-third of the price of Meepo itself!

“Most of the people abandon cart when they saw the shipping price, it is ridiculously high but there is nothing I can do about it at the moment.”

Bulk ordering would significantly reduce the shipping fee.
So if anyone is interested in reselling or doing a mass drop for Meepo, well, let Kieran know.

At the end of the day, even after the shipping fee,
Kieran’s Meepo is still unmatched among the budget boards in both price and performance.

Considering the electric skateboard in the budget segment: We have Acton Blink Lite(<400$), Torque Speedster(<600$), Yuneec E-go(<500$), Spectra Mini(<400$) and Lou 1.0(<500$).

Meepo both out prices and out performs all of them, even after taking account of the shipping fee.
The after-sale service of Kieran is also unmatched by any boards on this list (other than DIYelectricskateboard’s Torque Speedster).

To go any cheaper, you will be considering China Boards, which I have talked about extensively in my previous post. And no, I don’t consider Meepo as a China Board, as it is not produced-en-masse (at least for the time being).

If you do consider Meepo as a China Board, just think of it as the best of what China Boards can offer – Unbeatable price with great quality and service.

Performance-wise, Meepo really does punch above its weight.

A bubble chart for all board’s range and top speed. Click to enlarge.

Click here to see the chart in Metric Unit instead.

As you can see from the chart, Meepo is performing as well as the likes of Inboard M1, Boosted Dual, and Blink S2. Boards that are easily 2-3x Meepo’s price.

Meepo is the best budget electric skateboard currently available PERIOD.

I will recommend Meepo as the first board to consider for anyone who is looking for a budget electric skateboard or a good electric skateboard in general, right before DIYelectricskateboard’s Torque Speedster.

I made a deal with Kieran:

The philosophy of Meepo aligns perfectly with what I have set up to do with Electric Skateboard HQ.

To promote electric skateboard as a mean of transportation for the masses.

It is a commuting vehicle for the masses.
Also it is an easy recommendation for its price and its value.

Not everyone can afford a Boosted Board but everyone can afford a Meepo.

I talked to Kieran for 2 hours + and I like him.
He is passionate about Eskate and clearly obsesses about putting together the best E-skate he can for the commoners like himself (and myself).

I want to help Kieran out, so we made a deal.

An exclusive deal for the readers of Eskate HQ.

I help promote Kieran’s Meepo from now until the end of August and in return, Kieran will give something back to my readers when they purchase a Meepo.

The Deal:

From now until the end of August, Kieran will give you one extra adapter charger and one extra remote when you buy a Meepo long board.
Just let him know I sent you his way with the promo code “EskateHQ” on the check out page.
(the free gifts will not be reflected in the cart, but he will make sure you get it, don’t worry.)

*P.S.: This is not a paid review and that isn’t an affiliate deal.

Update: Too bad the promotion has ended. But thanks to your support, the demand of Meepo has skyrocketed! Kieran now has to produce around 100 Meepo per day just to keep up with the demand! 
Kieran wishes to thank the readers of ElectricSkateboardHQ for your support.
If you have any problem or question with the Meepo, you can reach Kieran at [email protected], or you could just leave a comment below and I will relay it to him.

Some Link:
Meepo Boards Official site.
Kieran’s Youtube Channel.

Even if you are not interested in buying a Meepo, I hope you enjoy this kind of content =).
Leave a comment if there is another electric skateboard company that you think I should interview next.

https://youtu.be/yf4utC7P_hY

“How about I give them an extra charger so that they can charge their board at multiple locations.” Kieran
“That’s a bit lame.. is there nothing else?” Me
“Err, how bout an extra remote?” Kieran
“Why would anyone need an extra remote?”Me
“It’s small, they might misplace it, I lost one before.” Kieran
“Can you give them both?” Me
“Er… I might be able to… hmm, Okay”

62 thoughts on “Kieran’s Meepo: The person, the board, the story.

  1. I had been on the fence about getting one, but just placed an order. Hadn’t bought myself anything nice in a long time, but an extra charger and remote did it for me. Hope it lives up to the videos and people’s reviews.

      1. Hello Paxson,
        I have contacted Kieran through his Meepo website. I am very interested in helping him sell his E-Boards in the United States. I live in Virginia USA, and I am an avid skater with many years of sales, marketing and customer service experience. Please help me to help Kieran increase his sales in the US, specifically on the east coast. You can see some of my skate videos on my Facebook page.

        1. I think you probably need to reach out to him again after Chinese New Year.
          For all I know, Kieran was not having a lot of margin with its Meepo v1 and I am not sure how much margin he has on his current Meepo 1.51 with his current operation.
          Just try to get him after Chinese New Year, perhaps he will be interested.

  2. Just purchased this board based on this review and some other video reviews on Youtube. Very informative and I love your philosophy about transportation for the masses!!

    1. Thanks Kevin! Always happy to know when someone enjoys my work =)

      I just think that electric skateboard is the best portable vehicle period. It was so expensive though, and Kieran with his Meepo is changing that. That’s why it has my support. =)

      Let us know if Meepo serves you well!

  3. i’ve seen many eskateboards already and finally found this one wich i think it’s perfect for me, everything about it from the price , specs, and the whole kieran’s story it’s great! the thing is i abandoned the cart when i saw that the shipping was 170 USD to Mexico City, i would still get it but my fear is that they could charge me even more at the time that i get it cause TAXES or something like that, do you know anything about that? Thanx!

    1. Hey David, I talked to Kieran for you on this.
      He told me the shipping to Mexico is difficult as there is some limitation on shipping route to South America. Not sure the situation regarding the tax.

      He is currently checking on details and what can be done, and will get back to you ASAP.

  4. Hey David,
    Shipping agent told me its 203 USD total to ship a board to Mexico.
    We have to ship a battery, and then a meepo board without battery.
    Please email me to [email protected] if you need further info.
    I cant help you on the tax issue, sorry.

  5. How easy is it to swap battery?
    The extra chargher seems awesome.

    How much would total be for board + extra battery to Sweden?

  6. Hi,
    Im a bigger guy at around 240 at 6’2. How do you think this would work for someone of my size.
    Im really just looking for that last mile type device to and from work and don’t want to spend a lot of money on something I may not technically use that much each day.

  7. I just bought everything to build my own meepo! I own a charge and a deck already. Im excited, I tried making my own 2 years ago and gave up. Luckily this is plug and play! Hopefully in the future i can use the spare parts from my previous failed attempt and succeed! Too bad I found out about this as summer is coming to a en

  8. I was thinking about Meepo too but after I’ve heard some insides on it, like that it’s not easy to care for a Meepo.. yes, it runs well. But that you would need to change the motor every 3-4 months minimum if you ride it regularly, just because you can’t change the urethane (rubber part on the wheel) and those wheels tend to get scraped real hard within few months.
    You could probably ride it longer without changing the motors, also depends where you live and how the routes look like.

    Also its very bad for the environment to change engine when you only need the tires.
    I want a board that lasts 🙂
    Hope you solve this in the future tho!

    1. Yes, exactly, there is both side of the coin.
      The motor have to be change every 3-4 months for regular rider as the urethane is not swappable.
      It also means that, if the motor happens to fail, it just a simple routine replacement away from up and runing again.

      Perhaps one day Kieran is going to come out with a board that satisfied both needs. Easily changeble motor with swappable urethane on the tyre.

      I’ll surely be there helping to shout the news down the roof if that happens =)

  9. Finally got round to checking out your review! I was the one who posted on Reddit about wanting to get into the hobby.

  10. Thanks for the review!
    I am Stoked about buying a Meepo!

    The ESkateHQ code does not seem to be working. Not stopping me from buying, just an FYI. 🙂

    -Spence

    1. Hey bro,

      Sorry that the promotion for the code is for August only, that’s why it’s not working anymore.

      Happy riding!

  11. Hi Everyone,

    I’m Theo the CTO at Inboard, I would like to comment about very inexpensive products from China:

    I am sure the Meepo is honorable but let’s face it, the development is not nearly on par with a product designed in the US. For exemple at Inboard we take safety extremely seriously, our battery packs are certified and our braking is not going to cut out on you once you battery is full, thanks to the braking resistor integrated in the deck’s composite and smart software controlling it.

    The mindset is also different, they will produce products out of financial interest, not passion, and once the market is saturated with cheap products they will move on to some other category and not support their customers. That also means they prevent innovating company to push new development by damaging the market with extremely low price point selling direct only at a few % margin.

    Take a step back and look at the bigger picture to understand why products are priced the way they are and be honest with what you believe is the best long term option before you make a purchase decision.

    Cheers 🙂

    1. Dang, ya blew it Mr. Inboard. I have no idea who this Kieran guy is, but you clearly didn’t read the article above if you are mentioning passion in a comment section regarding him or his company Meepo. You definitely had nothing to gain by posting a rain-on-the-parade comment here. If you read this Kieran, just know that when the big guy on the block goes out of his way to try to knock down the little guy, you know the little guy has him worried. And lastly Mr. Inboard, you should heed your own advice and “take a step back and look at the bigger picture” which is this: I would have never gotten into Eskates if it weren’t for the Meepo. And because of this I can now justify buying a high end upgrade. I’m sure even a dipstick like you can figure what brand I won’t be considering anymore. Good day.

    2. Hello, Theo!
      I’m flattered that person behind Inboard is willing to spend time commenting on my blog!

      Your comment on the general state of China Boards is spot on and I share the same sentiment in my China Board post that went somewhat viral.
      https://electricskateboardhq.com/the-china-boards-a-comprehensive-guide-on-chinese-electric-skateboards/

      However, your concern about the problem that plagued China Board is exactly what makes Meepo stands out from the crowd.

      For once, there is a budget electric skateboard from China that actually cares about safety, quality, and was born out of passion but not greed.

      Of course, we know that Meepo is not comparable to premium electric skateboard brands such as Boosted, Inboard and Evolves just as Hyundai is not comparable to Audi or Mercedes.
      And most of us won’t be making that comparison.
      A person who is looking at Meepo is simply very different from a person that looks at Inboard.

      BTW, I love Inboard M1.
      Personally, I think it is the most well-rounded and prettiest board out there and I will and had recommended it to people who are right for it.
      Again, it’s a different product for different people.

      And Theo, if you are interested in an interview to talk more about your view on the state of the electric skateboard, I am definitely up for it.

      Paxson

    3. Oh please.

      Please check out DIYeboard.com. They are the ones that supply Meepo and many other companies with quality parts. They design and manufacture all the major components of the electric skateboards. All their product lineup is manufactured by them. Their production capability shown in the website pales your offering which are not satisfying a lot of your customers currently. Why don’t you manufacture a better hubmotor if you can? If you are not going to innovate and create products that inspire people to spend extra you are not passionate enough about electric skateboard industry. Now go make a deal with them and add impressive value to it and bring out new products people want to buy. I ride Boosted, Acton, and Meepo and heard a lot about Inboard. I would recommend any of these boards over Inboard. If you come to Reddit Electricskateboarding and make these arguments you’ll be endlessly ridiculed. Substance yo, not fancy remote and lights. Reliable, powerful, inexpensive. These are what people like.

    1. Well, Kieran did say the component is sealed in a way that makes it somewhat waterproof. I am guessing to avoid overpromising, he decided not to make that waterproof claim anymore.

      Let me see if I can get him to say something about that.

  12. Hi Paxson,
    how do you define “Excellent after-sales service”?
    I have ordered a Meepo with your Promo Code back in the Middle of August: The Board was shipped without the Gifts.
    I have contacted (better: tried to contact) Kieran and Meepo Board four times and NEVER got a single reply. (that’s 9 weeks and counting!)
    In my book that’s beyond poor Service.

    1. Hey Mat,
      Wow, that was very uncharacteristic of him. That sounds frustrating. Let me try get Kierans attention on this. =)

    2. Sorry Mr.Chen, I guees your email went to Spam maybe, because I do REPLY every Single email. Could you please email me again? or tell me whats your order No. I will resend the remote and charger for sure.

      1. Thanks for getting back to me here. My Order was 1515.
        (i have tried to contact you several times via messenger as advised through the ordering process: “Shenzhen Meepo Board Co., Ltd” AND “Meepo Electric Skateboard”).
        It’s good to see, that you are still involved in this community … and reading the posts here.

  13. Is it worth it to buy a Meepo board now or wait to see if Kieran makes a better model? Im on the fence right now to just buy one now or wait.

    1. I couldn’t really advice on that, didn’t know if there is any new iteration coming and if so, when.

      You could probably ask Kieran personally if there is any new board coming out. =)

  14. Really hope Kieran gets shipping to south america sorted out, I understand him being a small company for now it can be complicated. But there’s hope!

    I live in colombia and are really interested in a meepo board, but no shipping to this corner of the world. 🙁

    Thanks for the review!

  15. Be advised that it could take more than 2 months for you to receive the meepo board. The web site has erroneous or point blank blatantly wrong shipping estimates. Go check th meepo Facebook page. There are tons of angry customers, me one of them. 7 weeks since order and no boards, worst you can’t even track the shipment until is in country. So yeah if you want your board in less than 2 months. Look elsewhere. If you are a small business and got incredibly popular, hire more people to help I am sure you can find help in China. I for one will never buy from meepo again.

  16. I see that Meepo is real popular now and this has effected cost – not sure about quality.

    at the time of this post shipping was 85 USD to AUS and now just checked to order a board – it is 124 USD.

    I thought with increased demand cost goes down not up when shipping bulk.

    would spend more on the product – shipping honestly is money down the drain

    1. Yeah.. about that.

      That’s a common complaint, and it is a heuristic error.

      The value of the product that you get doesn’t change just because the percentage of the profit that goes into shipping or the company changed.

      Kieran was very transparent when he started out. The cost of the product is filed under the cost of the product, the cost of the shipping is filed under the cost of the shipping. Wheres other eskate company just include shipping fee into the total price, charge a higher price and market the board as free shipping.
      The same amount might have been paid to the courier, just that the customer doesn’t (need to) know about it.

      Anyways, enough of the ‘you are thinking this wrong’ and philosophical yadda-yadda.

      At the end of the day, I (and also Kieran) agrees with you. It is definitely more palatable for the buyers to not think about the hefty cost of shipping. That’s why Kieran told me he is probably going to be doing the fixed price free shipping from here onward.

  17. Hi, I am kierans website deisgner. I was wondering If i could use some of the interview for his “about us”. The wording you used honestly could be used for a about section. Id be happy to link the source on the bottom of the page of course!

  18. Just stumbled upon your site after doing extensive research on eboards. I’m about to pull the trigger on a Meepo board, but I’m interested in the campus 2WD for its weight and portability. Haven’t found too many reviews on that one – only the full-sized model. What’s your take on it?
    Kinda torn between that and the Louboard.
    Thanks in advance!

    1. Hi man,
      What do you need the board for?

      Kieran himself wasn’t that keen to promote the Campus as he is afraid that customers will not be satisfied with the performance. It should do well getting you from point A to point B if there isn’t much hill climbing involved but that is just about that.

      Meepo 30″ is probably what you are looking for if you are looking for a shortboard that are powerful. It weights 7kg though.

      If you want a premium penny electric skateboard, Arc Board would be my top recommendation. It is just 7.7 lbs or 3.5kg and has a belt motor, as is very carefully assembled by the Arc team so the quality is assured. International shipping by Fedex is $80.

      I wouldn’t not recommend Lou board. Early review of the Lou is quite negative. Complaints on the built quality, and how the board under performs on torque and range and also how SoFlow’s poor customer service is all around the web. Will not recommend.

      If you could clarify what are you looking to get out of your eskate, I could perhaps helps with some more specific suggestion =).

  19. Hey man,

    Thanks so much for your input! That’s really helpful. I’ve been looking for a board that’ll provide a smooth ride, but is powerful enough to handle some smaller hills (about 10-15 degrees). Since i’d be taking the board on the subway quite a bit, i’d prefer a board that’s not too heavy and bulky and isn’t too much of a pain to carry for short distances.

    I know that given all those criteria, there’s no perfect board out there to meet every one of them, so I’ll have to make some concessions, but if you have any tips, I would greatly appreciate it!
    There are so many out there, it’s difficult to choose without trying them out somehow.
    So far I’ve been interested in the Meepos, Fiboard looked VERY good as well, but no actual reviews yet, Skatebolt seemed Ok at first, but there are quite a few reports of it breaking down after a while, and it’s quite heavy, apparently. The Riptide looks great, actually, and would be my no.1 pick right now, but for some reason they don’t ship to Japan…. (yet) 🙁

  20. Hello!

    I have have been thinking about getting into eskating this coming summer but there are just so many models. I have been riding landyachtz switch for a year and it’s really stable and built like a tank. The only problem I am having is that most of the place I go to are uphill(not at all steep, like 8 degrees..10 degrees) but that still makes pushing my landyachtz not much faster thank walking). Meepo got my attention based on a lot of youtube reviews but the only thing I don’t like is that people seem to not enjoy the deck and describing it like “riding a steel pipe”. So I found WooGo, that people on reddit say that it’s basically a meepo board(having the same hardware) but it comes with a concave deck that makes it mode comfy. Can you advise me which one I should get? I was thinking about ordering ahead so that I get it until summer. Should I just wait out and see what else comes out until then? And one final question. I’ve been reading that you need to change your motor once every 3 months. Should I just order the board and and extra motor If I plan on riding it over the weekends( like 10km a week) to be sure that it lasts me all year?

    Thank you and sorry for my bad english.

    1. Hey Dante, thanks for reaching out!

      Wowgo is a similar board as Meepo.
      They both got their version 2 and 1.5 respectively and now both are shipping with concave deck.

      Meepo 1.5 is now rocking a concave deck that makes it as good as most deck you can find on the market. No more complaints about stiff deck anymore.

      The Meepo also has seen an upgrade of it’s PU wheel material with the 1.5 upgrade. But I can’t really say if it can last you a full year because it depends on how aggressive you ride and how good your roads are. Just 10km per week means unlikely you need to swap the motor every 3 months. I think it can easily last you 6-month plus.
      Should you buy extra motors? err… why don’t you just buy them when you need them? Nobody knows when you will need the motor and by that time, perhaps you will get addicted and decide to swap to a high-end premium eskate, or perhaps there is even a Meepo 2 upgrade in that future.

      PS: Your English is as good as mine =P

  21. i had a great time reading this, and understand the story of the skateboard.

    very interesting!

    Thanks!

    And we are also a new skateboard brand, we will try our best to catch up with!

  22. thanks for the article, it was def a great read, and my kinda presentation with specifics and numbers…

    4 months ago just after graduating, I had started looking for “alternative means of transport” to break down how much it would cost me to travel < 3 miles one way to my work place for when I landed my first job… "Reliability of the product u use for transport, and safety during travel, definitely come at a price but at what price?" were among the few questions I had on my mind. I started digging into this because of the outlandish prices of ANY car and the associated insurance one pays in the US. For how little u end up using a car,if seen in terms of the ratio "hours used / hours owned", Unless you're in marketing or a domain where you need to travel a total of say 50 – 100 miles a day, owning a car just did not make any sense to me what so ever,

    I guess, in the US, because there are bike lanes in most places, and even if not, the general traffic is sane, compared to a few other countries I have experience with, E skateboards offer this, ( IFF you plan ahead and live near your work place for say a bit of extra rent… )

    :

    1) cheapest running cost and initial cost of transport.
    2) complete independence in terms of when u can start your journey (as opposed to mass transit, even uber if your talking < 3 miles, caus you'd have to start the timer the moment u pick up your phone to actually book the uber :P)
    3) 0 additional costs on insurance, as you'd still buy health insurance even if you buy a car… 😛
    4) 0 time spent on endlessly driving around the parking lot at a mall, because you went on a weekend and the lot is full, cause, well, u, like a normal person want to do your weekly shopping on a weekend. PS: you can buy a 50$ beach stuff hand cart thingy from amazon to keep your Meepo in while u shop around for the 2 hours ur in a super market, idk why you'd require portability offered by a penny if the "shopping duration" is your ONLY concern.

    I have thought of these few things that can SAVE time for me in the long run if looked at a whole year of usage, and I dont think this deal of "saving my time" can be beaten. because, at the end of the day, to me, TIME = MONEY.,..

    If I don't need to spend more than 1000 $ on my transportation including spare parts, Tax, (bare in mind at that price range with u can replace the battery after 60% of charge cycles used, ) i would have been "IN"…

    Meepo offered to do all this at a ridiculously low price which was impossible to say not to.

    and i look sick AF while riding it…

    Unfortunately this only made me skeptical, because it was just too hard to believe that it would be reliable in any way..

    Youtube and redit word of moth marketing did work on me though 😛 . LOL

    I have received verbal confirmation of my job and am awaiting an official offer.

    Im gonna be placing an order within a day or 2…

    the hope with MEEPO is to get started with alternative means of transport and not needing to replace it with a premium board a year down the line, but another meepo… I dont if im buying a new one again in a year as long as my experience of that 1 year was decent….

    and then I find out about the molecularity of the meepo, and that I can fix it my self If i buy the parts…
    -_-

    I can't be asked.

    Not surprised by the Meepo BOOM at all.

    will come back with some numbers $ spent on meepo maintenance after a year of usage.

    pretty confident that its not gonna be even close to my threshold, (though i'd be including my time as idk, 10$ an hour) but should be fun to track… LOL

    PS, apologies for the short forms here and there 😛 and if any1 is getting the bright idea of replying to my comment that there is a chance you could die in an accident if a car hits you,
    in 2016, there were 15 pedestrian deaths per day, (including bicycle deaths) of which 34% were drunk. motor vehicle fatality in the US was 105 per day.. so just DONT 😛

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