July 23, 2018April 17, 2019 by Sophia Tung

Riptide R1 Elite. So what’s the verdict?

Follow the discussion on Reddit here

Early last week on a sunny Sunday, full of chocolate from the SF Chocolate Salon, I headed over to Pier 48 to take delivery of a loaner production Riptide R1 Elite. I’d previously ridden the Riptide when it was still in prototype phase and had some thoughts about it at the time, so was excited to try the production version and see how much further along Eric and company had gotten on their flagship product.

If you want the TL;DR, see end of review

Testride route: (Unavailable due to tracker issue… I’m sorry…)

Rider specs: 125lb, 5’6″

Hardware

The base hardware has not changed since the prototype. The same fun kicktailed deck is present, with all the same maneuverability and agility as the prototype. It’s important to note that there is no concave on the deck so it’s not as comfortable as it could have been, but it’s still very serviceable and not a bad ride overall. As usual with inexpensive boards, skate hardware is somewhat lacking as the stock bushings left me wanting. However, it’s trivial to replace them with something much more conducive to your own riding style. I did not get a chance to try the wheels on the standard version of the Riptide, so I can’t comment on that, but the ABEC 11 wheels that came with the Elite performed admirably. Oh, did I mention I love the kicktail?

Make no mistake, I quite like the look of the board as a whole. It’s small, cute, and dorky. Just my thing!

The electronics that are in the Riptide, however, are very obviously geared towards the casual rider. The thing is, the Riptide Elite is just… OK. Acceleration is just OK, braking is just OK, and remote responsiveness is, unfortunately, just OK as well. You won’t find any performance here, so if you’re looking for a shortboard with power, you should be looking elsewhere.

Remote

Now we must talk about the remote. The remote is the same generic nano remote you can find almost everywhere. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it’s a tried and true remote commonly used by manufacturers and DIYers alike all. Not fancy, but definitely gets the job done. However, for whatever reason, the Riptide’s setup has somehow unintentionally introduced latency to the control scheme. On other boards I’ve tried with similar remotes, latency has not been an issue. Response has been immediate. On the Riptide however, it performs OK most of the time, but sometimes, when releasing the throttle, the board will keep accelerating a little bit more before actually stopping acceleration. This happens just often enough for me to be concerned. I’m not the only one concerned about it either, as other experienced riders corroborate my findings. I’ve mentioned it to Eric so he’s at least aware of the issue, but I haven’t been able to reproduce it reliably. The same thing happens when braking as well. It’s very curious.

Technical Testing

As part of my reviews, I perform a series of measured, purely technical tests on review units. These tests are meant to push the units to the extreme that their electronics can handle and reveal any problems that may have not been revealed by simple riding tests. Technical tests are done under the most favorable conditions possible.

Acceleration

Takeoff on smooth, flat ground on all modes was pretty normal and nothing special. However, once in a while, the curve is slightly different. It’ll take longer to get up to top speed or take shorter, suprising you and making you lose your balance slightly. Takeoff up a hill past around 5% grade, however, induces something I call “cogging motor syndrome”. This really just means that you will have a bit of a lurchy start. The issue is easily remedied by kickpushing to start up a hill, but should be noted anyways.

Top Speed

My speedometer said around 19MPH when full battery and 17MPH when not, which is close to the advertised top speed for the Elite. Riptide states that the top speed of the Elite should be 20MPH. Close enough.

Braking

In my prototype review, I’d mentioned that I thought the brakes were pretty good. Unfortunately, at the time, I was not able to see how it handled for heavier folks. I’m hereby correcting my previous statement to “Braking is pretty good… If you’re not on the heavier side.” It’s adequate for me, if a bit soft, though it will *not* stop you down a hill if you’re heavier. A friend of mine got on it in the middle of a downhill section of my test route, and actually accelerated while on full brake. He did not stay on it for very long. This is unfortunate for any board as braking is of huge important at the speeds electric skateboards usually travel at, and the lack of strong braking is usual detrimental to safety. I recommend purchasers of this board to practice foot braking as your life might depend on it one day. I was able to talk to Eric about the braking, and here’s what he has to say about it:

“Ahh I’m glad you got to spend some time with it! That’s funny you ask that, a lot of people say the brakes are too hard and take getting used to. We picked a level that could be used by a first time esk8er rather than making than as hard as we would prefer”

I would tend to agree that softer brakes are easier to get used to. However, I’m not too sure if softer brakes should be the norm. Most beginners trust their lives to the brakes, assuming that they can always rely on them to stop properly. Soft brakes such as the ones found on the Riptide might not perform how those beginner riders expect…

Stress Handling

As part of my acceleration tests, I do a series of full accelerating and full braking to test responsiveness, acceleration/braking curve, and power delivery. Unfortunately, the curve issues I highlighted in my prototype review still exists. Fortunately, if you’re used to bracing for acceleration and braking, it should mostly be a none issue.

Turning Radius

There are wheel wells on the bottom of the deck that allow for sharp turns. The kicktail helps immensely as well as you can put weight on it to bring the nose around sharply. Very nice!

Ride & User Experience

Riptide meant for their first line of boards to boil down to two things: safe and convenient. Here’s what Eric, Riptide’s founder as well as founder of Shredlights, says about them:

“It’s really meant to be a utility board for getting around. I was riding the Boosted everywhere (class, groceries etc.) and I noticed that almost 50% of the time I had the Boosted, I was actually carrying it. Then I always wanted a kicktail for quicker maneuvering. I bought one of the first Arc Boards and the carbon fiber deck was wayy to [sic] flexible and the wheelbase was too short so it was sketchy to ride at 20 mph; which is why the R1 has a longer wheel base and wide deck”

It’s true. The Riptide is a great board to carry around due to its built in handles, small form factor, and relatively light weight profile. Maneuverability is great, with the kicktail providing the ability to sort of lever the nose around. Eric is also correct in saying shorter wheelbases tend to make sketchier riding at higher speeds. The Riptide line has a nice wheel base, not too long and not too short.

Where it falls flat is user experience. It’s the little things, the small niggles, that prevent me from fully liking this board. Braking is ok, but should be stronger. Acceleration curve is OK, but should be more consistent. The remote handles OK, but the lag that happens once in a while puts just the slightest damper on the experience.

It’s a shame because it’s otherwise a good product.

Verdict

So what’s my verdict? Are you going to be traveling short distances with minimal hills in environments that require maneuverability? If so, this is the board for you. If you want top notch UX and peak safety, the Boosted Mini might be a better bet.

July 9, 2018June 24, 2019 by Drew Frayre

The Mellow Drive Review: Gliding into a New Era for Eskating

When we talk about eskates, we hear about a lot of companies coming out of California, and China. We do not often think about Germany, a country where eskating is illegal, but with a rich history of technical innovation and precision engineering. One company has taken on the mission to apply the German mindset to eskating, and have created a product that is truly as refined and precise as one would expect.

The Mellow is an eskate notorious in the community for its high price. At $2,299.95, the Mellow Drive is one of the most expensive bolt-on kits that money can buy, but is it worth the high price tag? I spent some time commuting-on, racing, and generally abusing the heck out of my Mellow Drive to find the answer to that question.

First, let’s get the tech specs out of the way.

The Board

The Mellow Drive is an Eskate bolt-on kit that replaces the rear trucks of any skateboard with two 1000 Watt hub-driven motors, turning it into a fully-functional eskate. It boasts a top speed of 25 mph, in “pro mode”, with a range of 6 miles, or a top speed of 15 mph with a range of 9 miles in “eco” mode.

The kit features acceleration and regenerative braking controlled by a remote that is a bit different from your standard eskate controller.

Unlike controller “wheels” that you roll forwards or backwards with your thumb, the Mellow features a proprietary “sliding” action that takes some getting used to. In order to accelerate, you slide the top portion of the remote away from you, and to slow down, you slide it back towards you. The method of control does take some getting used to, and I have sometimes found myself crossing some wires in my brain and accelerating when I meant to start braking.

Needless to say, having the board perform the opposite action than that which the rider intends can get quite dangerous, so Mellow have instituted a top speed limitation of 15 mph as a safety measure on new drives until a user has logged 18 miles on the board as well as several other cool safety features:

“The Mellow Remote does not have a classic dead man’s switch but a set of other features in order to have increased safety even without the switch.

Push Start. The mellow board will not start from a standing stop but the rider has to push to start in order to engage the motors. This is critical to avoid the board shooting of by accident and either hurting other or getting damaged itself by shooting into rolling traffic.

The “Run Away Blocker” monitors the acceleration within the first 5s of skating. This functionality monitors the wheel speed increase and decides whether there is a rider on the board or the board is running of alone. If there is no rider on the board the wheels rev up at a ways higher rate (read – the board shoots of). If this is detected then the board will beep twice and apply 10% breaking power. Enough to stop the board after 1-2m but not enough to knock of a rider. After 5s of riding the system is switched of so there is no interference while i.e. jumping off curbs and revving wheels due to that.
Emergency braking. In case of a loss of BT-Connection between the remote controller and the drive (i.e. because the remote has not been charged in a while) the drive will run a emergency braking sequence by gradually applying the brakes. It starts with 10% and slowly goes up to 100% braking to bring the rider to a full stop. You can test this by switching off the remote while riding. After about 3s the drive will start braking automatically.”

Unorthodox design aside, the Mellow remote SCREAMS quality. With a matte finished front that features bright LED’s that indicate your board battery level and riding mode, it is easy to quickly take in relevant information about your board in an instant, in even the brightest conditions. The back of the remote features grippy rubber, which is particularly useful for retaining the fine control needed to execute precision remote-sliding maneuvers at high speeds or on bumpy terrain.

The one thing that every eskate remote should have that the Mellow remote lacks in its simplicity, is a deadman’s switch. I always tell myself, “you are an experienced eskater, you won’t have THIS board go running off on you.” which is generally followed by said board zooming off from under my foot at max speed into traffic, while I watch, dismayed. The Mellow was no exception in this regard, and is powerful enough to easily jump right out from under your foot if you apply pressure to the remote accidentally (as I did while skating with some stuff in my hands.)

I have noticed a slight sticking on my remote that does not allow it to return to perfect “neutral” in the center position, but this may be due to the fact that I have fallen onto the remote before, and scuffed up the plastic. This is a very minor issue that is not dangerous and rarely impacts my ride, but it is worth mentioning.

While we are on the topic of quality, MELLOW. HECKING. SLAYS. IT. Everything from the box it comes in:

(look at this beautiful box and board! It is even designed with steps in mind to guide you through the unboxing process.)

To the online learning support:

And the literature included:

In all of these regards, Mellow goes entirely above-and-beyond anything else that I have seen in the eskate scene. If there is one thing that I hope other eskate companies take away from Mellow, it is this extremely high standard for quality parts, online support, and usability.

One aspect of Mellow as a company that I LOVE, is their commitment to skater education. Even if you don’t own a Mellow, I would urge all skaters to check out their “Mellow School” videos that teach valuable skills that any eskater should know, particularly:

Emergency Stopping

Eboard Stances

Safety Tips

These videos are created by real skaters and highlight a lot of the lessons that many eskaters have had to learn the hard way (they even slide a board under-power in the emergency stopping video in a pretty gnarly slow-mo shot).

This attention to detail is also reflected in the drive itself. The battery feels solid, well-designed and easy to snap into and out of the drive. It and the mount are encased in rubber and dampening foam which help solve the issue that most bolt-on kits have, incessant amounts of rattling. Another cool feature on the Mellow battery is a small port that allows you to use the battery as a power-bank for your devices. I haven’t utilized this particular feature yet, but it seems like a great way to charge a remote or cellphone in a pinch!

(Pardon my dirt, had to test the water-proofing…)

All cables on the Mellow are recessed into the a specially-designed channel in the trucks that gives the drive a very clean look and ensures your cables wont get caught or rub on anything.

The Mellow is actually pretty indistinguishable from a regular skateboard if you overlook the small black box that is mounted on the bottom. Add this to the fact that the drive itself is IP65 waterproof, which means it is splash, water jet and dust resistant, and you have yourself a very robust commuter! I tested the waterproofing claims in-depth (literally deep puddles) and in the rain and found them to perform as-advertised.

Operation is easy. Simply snap the battery into the drive, click its big button, turn on your remote, and you are good to go. You can even easily snap in another battery in seconds once your first one runs out.

(my typical commute involved bringing my two batteries with me and snapping another one in after 5ish miles of aggressive riding had drained the first one)

The board is so user-friendly, it’s crazy. The closest analogy that I can think of is; its like if Apple designed an eskate, it’s so simple to use that a monkey could ride it. To test this theory, I lent the board to my roommate without any explanation and she found she was able to ride it in minutes without any prior skateboarding experience, besides one hiccough that also got me, the rolling start.

Unlike other eskates, the Mellow will not work from a complete stop. It has been designed to only allow a user to accelerate after the board has already begun rolling. I will admit, I thought that I had a defective unit for about an hour until I did my research and discovered that the Mellow requires you to push a couple of times before you can engage the drive.

This serves two purposes:

It eliminates jerky starts where a user must apply a lot of power with their remote in order to overcome the moment of inertia for their mass. These starts rarely look graceful on other boards and, let’s be honest, you should all be pushing into your accelerations anyway. I understand that we, as eskaters, are not the biggest fans of physical work, but we can all afford to push once or twice at the start of our journey.
It saves a lot of power, thus extending range. As I mentioned above, a lot of engine torque must be applied to overcome the moment of inertia for an eskater and their board. All it takes to save a large amount of that energy, is to give the board small push and start rolling before you apply throttle.

Since I have started testing the Mellow, I have incorporated rolling starts into my eskate routine with ALL of my boards, and I have found that my quality of life, and my range have increased as a result. Enough about the specs and the tech, let’s talk about…

THE RIDE

When they named the Mellow, they did a good job. The first thing you notice when you apply the remote and begin sliding forwards is just how damn SMOOTH it is. Acceleration and braking don’t come on suddenly or surge, and feel almost uncanny in the way that they carry you forwards, almost like a gust of wind or wave that carries you along. It also helps that the board is very, very quiet. After riding the Mellow for a couple of months and jumping on my Boosted, I was surprised by the loud whine of the belts and turning of the motors. The Mellow, by contrast, is almost silent…almost too silent in fact. I often find myself startling people as I pass them, a problem that I never had on my Boosted.

When the board is new, it is limited to a measly 15 mph which isn’t very exciting. Once the full, 25 mph top speed is unlocked, the Mellow really starts to spread its wings. I have a lot of boards in my stable currently, but when I have to get somewhere in a hurry, I always grab the Mellow. For my typical, pothole ridden, bumpy, city-riding commute, 25 mph is plenty of speed, any more than that begins to feel unsafe. The torque is great as well, you can tell that the Mellow team put a lot of work into building the torque curve to utilize the power of the two 1000 Watt motors without making the ride jerky and dangerous.

One area that I notice the Mellow Drive to be lacking in is the braking department. Though the Mellow boasts having 2 brakes per wheel that help double-up on braking power, I have noticed that the ECU is a little TOO protective of over-braking, which often results in decreased braking ability at lower speeds. This problem doesn’t seem inherently dangerous, as the board provides great braking power at higher speeds, but at lower speeds, I always find myself rolling a few more feet than I expected when coming to a full stop.

I can totally understand that Mellow does not want you to be able to apply the brakes hard enough to throw yourself from the board, but at current levels, it just doesn’t provide enough braking when slowing to a stop. As a former DH racer, this is not a problem, I can slow myself down just fine with a footbrake, but eskate-exclusive riders, might find this a little annoying.

I should mention at this point, that I ran the Mellow in as stock of a setup as I could, including their strangely-named “Cruiser” deck which is actually shaped like a shorter top-mount DH deck more than anything else. Let me tell you, this is close to the ideal eskate deck as I have ever seen. It is short enough to store easily and be maneuverable. It has cutouts for big wheels, a very light and strong construction, and a little bit of a tail for jumping off of curbs and pivoting on those tighter turns.

The “Mellow” brand double-barrel bushings that come with the trucks were also surprisingly springy and close-enough to an ideal rebound that I didn’t have to swap them out with some Venom barrels (something that I do with almost every eskate that I ride). The setup feels turny and responsive right out of the box with great rebound that makes for really good carving. This is yet another testament to Mellow’s commitment to a great skating experience, over just creating another high-powered eskate and bolting it to a deck.

The two 1000 Watt hub-driven motors provide ample power (very similar to the feeling of my Boosted V2) and the 80 mm wheels are a good size for eating up bumps and cracks in the sidewalk on your ride (especially needed with the reduced urethane for the hub-driven motors in the rear). I was even lucky enough to pick up some sizable debris from a construction site on my way to work!

(A couple seconds with handy-dandy pliers and I was good to go again)

The W concave on the deck is also a god-send, and something you rarely see in a sea of flat and bouncy Loaded Vanguard copycats. I like to feel the road under me when I ride, and want to be locked in on my heels and toes with a comfortable concave, not be bouncing around on what essentially amounts to flat trampoline covered in grip-tape. Hell, if the concave on the Mellow deck was a little more aggressive, I might even consider racing this thing as a regular skateboard.

Speaking of regular skateboarding, Mellow offers a unique riding mode called “Endless” that does something that I have never seen another electric do, it mimics real skateboarding.

The way it does this is by allowing the rider to manually push the board up to a given speed, and then simply continuing that momentum with the hub driven motors. It sounds great in practice and is advertised as a way to get a “real skating” feeling while extending battery life. I come from a skate background, so I was very excited to try out this feature, but quickly came to the realization pushing off and continuing the be pushed forwards at a constant speed feels very far from “natural.” Sadly, you still have to have your remote with you to slow down and stop, but this mode is great for extending your battery life, and I found myself making use of it several times to limp home with <5% battery life.

What I would LOVE see is a mode that uses the hub motors to subtly add a little more “glide” to each push, extending the power that a rider is able to put down, and allowing for a little bit of a motor-assisted skate session without requiring use of a remote.

In Conclusion:

The Mellow Drive is the best bolt-on kit that we have tested. If you have deep pockets, and are not into soldering wires and programming your own ECU’s, but still want an eboard that can mount on any household deck, this is unquestionably the right choice for you.

Additionally, Mellow is making great advances in the fields of eskate tech, ease-of-use, and putting the rider experience first. Their products truly reflect a love of skating and a consideration for skaters that goes beyond what we see from the rest of the industry. In a world where Chinese manufacturers are constantly copying each other’s designs and pumping out boards with bigger and bigger motors bolted onto shitty, flat decks with trucks that fall apart during real use, it is important to recognize that Mellow is focusing on innovating eskating as an experience.

We can buy products from the Meepo and Wowgo’s of the world for a hundred years, and I can almost guarantee that the eskate landscape will look very similar in that time (albeit, extremely cheap if they keep up their current trends) but it takes companies like Mellow to actually bring new features, technology, and ideas into reality that will truly innovate the eskate industry. (after 2 months of abuse, this is what a Mellow looks like. It handled light rain, dirty roads, and Boston traffic and came out looking none the worse for wear)

I hope you liked this month’s long-term review. If you have any questions about the Mellow or have an idea for a product that you would like us to review or compare next, feel free to email me at [email protected].

Until next time, stay rolling, stay upright, stay stoked!

May 27, 2018June 9, 2019 by Paxson Lim

Meepo Campus 2.0 – Review

Foreword

In the electric skateboard world, the budget board segment definitely sees the toughest competition. Brands from China are always trying to out-compete each other through upgrades, price, and customer support.

MeepoBoards, the company that ignited the affordable eskate market definitely has not stayed idle. Meepo refreshed its lineup just like the Boosted, and gave all its boards the 2.0 update – which includes improved remote, trucks, ESC, motors and of course – looks.

While these improvements have helped to maintain Meepo’s position as the leading affordable brand in the eskate market, the most interesting news that comes with the update is the revival of the Meepo Campus in the form of the Meepo Campus 2.0.

This is the board we will be reviewing today.

Introduction to MeepoBoard

MeepoBoard’s story is something that many of us are very familiar with, but for the sake of those who aren’t, it is worth retelling.

MeepoBoard is undoubtedly the most popular budget board brand in the market right now, but the story of how the eskate giant came to be, surprisingly, is a Cinderella story.
The founder of MeepoBoard, Kieran, was a young engineer who worked sales in an electric skateboard company. Disagreeing with the company’s focus on pushing sales while disregarding quality, Kieran decided to try his luck in selling a self-assembled board on Youtube. After a few successful sales, he decided to set up his own eskate brand with a focus on affordability, practicality and customer satisfaction.

In a world where any electric skateboard under $700 was either a toy or thrash, Kieran’s Meepo was asking for half of that price while delivering decent performance. Kieran figured with word of mouth , existing customers vouching for the quality of the Meepo and his post-sales service, MeepoBoard could break the hesitance of international buyers towards cheap Chinese Boards.

True enough, a dozen positive customer reviews on Redditt and a featured interview post with us later, the floodgate was opened. With weekly orders in the hundreds and customers lining up – willing to wait for months to get their Meepo, MeepoBoard has not only established itself but also set up the affordable eskate market as we know it.

With the meteoric rise of the MeepoBoard, other Chinese electric skateboard manufacturers have moved into the niche and “Meepo-clones” have become a thing.
And now, thanks to the affordable electric skateboard movement that Meepo created, anyone can own an electric skateboard.

Meepo Campus

The last generation of the Meepo Campus was a nickel board series known as the Meepo Penny.

It was never supposed to be the focal point of MeepoBoard, but many still seek out this lesser known little brother of the Meepo for its form factor and price.

The Meepo Penny later received some upgrades to become Meepo Campus, which was often sought after for the same reasons.

Because the Meepo Penny and the Meepo Campus weren’t very powerful boards, Kieran thought that the board might not be right for a lot of people and chose not to market it heavily.

Hence, when the 30” Meepo Board became available, the Campus was quietly discontinued.
Well, that didn’t last long!
To Meepo fans delight, the Campus board has been brought back to life with the 2.0 update.

Is it any good though? read on.

Meepo Campus 2.0 Review

So how did the Meepo Campus 2.0 come to be?

Well, apparently the Campus 2.0 was designed by Kieran for his wife’s commute. Aimed to be lighter, tamer and beginner friendly, the Campus 2.0 kept the portable mindset that the Campus series was known for with tons of other improvements.

Meepo Campus 2.0 Specs

The Meepo Campus 2 saw lots of improvement in specs but also gained some weight.

Top Speed: 18mph (30kmh)
Range: 10mil (16km)
Weight: 12.5lbs (5.5kg)
Charge Time: 2 Hours
Features: Weatherproof, Regenerative Braking.
Price: 299 USD.

Build Quality

This is 2018 and cheap Chinese Boards are not cheap in quality anymore.
From the packaging to the finishing, 2nd Gen Meepo is evolving from its garage-made origin.

From the carrying handle of the box to the fitting cut out from the protective foam, the Meepo Campus 2.0 looks good right off the bat.

While the makeshift A4 printed instruction manual and the lack of design on the instruction booklet were two dead give-aways of Meepo’s garage-made origin, they also remind us that Meepo’s priority has always been affordability and practicality with polish being something extra.

Deck

The Campus 2 come with a broad 32” Canadian maple deck with a kicktail.
It has a slight concave to it and feels good underfoot.

Instead of a regular grip tape, the Campus 2.0 uses a non-abrasive foam tape.

I am sure there are skaters who would prefer a regular grip tape but this foam tape worked for me (and my pants, my car seat, my skateboard carrying bag – they all hate the regular sandpaper grip tape).

The foam tape definitely wears faster than regular grip tapes, but its a tradeoff I am willing to make.
I wonder if it makes doing tricks harder though?

Wheels

The 83MM 78a wheels were great. They’re soft, big (for a skateboard this size anyway), and all yellow.
(not sure how I feel about the color though.)

Trucks

The 2nd generation Meepo boards have upgraded trucks. The Campus 2.0 trucks are now beefier compare to the 1st gen Meepo.

Time to put rest to the thought that Meepo doesn’t have good trucks.

ESC

With an updated ESC, the Meepo Campus retained the popular smart turn on feature (board turns on when pushed). The board will also turn itself off if left idle with the remote off, and I really love this power switch button.

Summary of Build Quality

The Meepo Campus 2.0 is a beautiful product.
The finish is great, the parts look good, and everything was put together solidly.
By looking at it, you wouldn’t believe that this puppy costs under $300 bucks. Impressive!

Riding Experience:

Acceleration and Deceleration

All of the 2nd Gen Meepo boards come with 4 riding mode, Beginner, Eco, Expert and Pro.
But to be honest, the Meepo Campus 2.0 probably doesn’t need them.
The Meepo Campus 2.0 has only one hub motor and a single hub motor can only do so much for acceleration and braking.

All of the riding modes come with gentle acceleration and deceleration, and only the pro-mode has a little kick during acceleration.

This is definitely a beginner’s board. The acceleration is very gentle, even in pro-mode – too weak for someone who likes the thrill of a fast start, but good for someone who wants absolutely no risk of falling.

Kick pushing to start is definitely a good idea.
Braking is definitely gentle and butter smooth, say goodbye to the braking jerk of the previous gen Meepos. The downside? It is weak. Takes a long time to brake to a full stop and full braking down a hill is not possible, it can only slow you down to a safe speed so that you can walk off the board.
Again, single hub motor has its limitation.

Vibration & Stability

Single hub motor = three 83mm 78a soft skateboard wheels = better vibration dampening and more comfortable ride.

However, you will definitely be standing on top of the truck so your legs will feel every vibration.
Riding it on cobblestone and poorer road surfaces feels… acceptable, but definitely not as good as most larger electric longboards.
The Campus 2.0 has a broad deck and feels stabler than most longboards once you tighten the trucks. You can’t go fast enough to become very unstable anyway.

Tight maneuvers are what the Campus 2.0 does best.
With the short wheelbase, the turning radius is great, perfect to navigate around tight spaces.
What’s more, there is a kicktail for kick turns.

There is, however, a risk of wheel bite. The board has wheel wells but unfortunately, at the tightest turn, the wheels will still bite. I decided to tighten the trucks, sacrifice maneuverability for safety and sure enough, after the truck have been tightened, I can’t get the wheels to bite anymore.

*I have contacted Kieran on this and was informed that they are now using a harder bushing to prevent wheel bite. They are also installing a higher riser and making a bigger wheel well .

Remote Control

The remote is definitely more ergometric and better looking.

It uses a dial to allow finer acceleration control.

As I mentioned, there are 4 riding modes. Changing the riding modes mid-ride is even possible!

The remote also features an LED indicator showing the board and remote battery as well as a reverse button.

Nothing too fancy and of course, no disconnection issues.

Summary of Riding Experience

With smooth acceleration and braking, soft bushings, good maneuverability, the Meepo Campus is both fun to ride and practical as a mobility device.

It cannot provide the thrill of a high-speed ride but the campus 2.0 is definitely good enough for a leisurely slow ride.

If I am being totally honest, the lack of adrenaline rush is what makes the Campus 2.0 my current personal favorite Eskate – I have a peace of mind when I am on it.

Beginners and non-skaters would definitely appreciate the configuration.

Capability

Range

Can’t be a good last mile option if it can’t go many miles, can it?
The Meepo Campus 2.0 is using a 4AH, Sanyo 10S1P, 144wh battery and
is advertised with a serviceable 10mile(16km) range.

My personal range test, running on a flat surface between 9 to 15 mph (15-25kmh) lasted me around
13miles(22km) before the battery went dry. There is almost no voltage sag either!
(my weight 165lbs/ 75kg)

The range is definitely an upgrade from the original Meepo Campus.

Speed

Speed is definitely not the priority for Campus 2.0.

That said, it can still get up to 18mph(30kmh). (Full speed tuck, with a little help from the wind.)
Even then, as the acceleration is slow, you will definitely still get dusted if you choose to take the Campus 2.0 to a group ride.

But considering what its made for, sidewalks, and within building compounds, the top speed is definitely sufficient.

Torque

Its called Meepo Campus and campuses are supposed to be flat.
The Meepo Campus is definitely torque-challenged and could not perform a stop and go on a multistorey car park ramp. To my surprise, it did manage to hold the board to a stop and not continue rolling.

Stop and go on this incline, however, didn’t seem to challenge the board at all. It went up from resting position without a problem.

Riding modes affect the torque as well. If you are facing any incline, any at all, you should be using only the expert or pro mode. Other modes handicap the Campus 2 so much that it can’t start from an imperceptible incline with you on it.

Honestly, I was expecting a far worse performance from a single hub motor board but I actually find the results acceptable.

With that being said, torque is definitely the biggest limitation of the Campus 2.0, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone heavy or who lives in hilly areas.

Customer Service

Customer service doesn’t come with a board at this price, unless it has a Meepo logo on it.

Product quality and post-sale service are what separates an affordable electric skateboard from a toy that you use for a single weekend then store away in the garage, never to see daylight again.

Simply put, the Meepo Campus 2.0 is the cheapest electric skateboard on the market that meets the customer service requirement, and hence the only electric skateboard I can recommend at this price point.

Other Features

It has smart turn on. Auto shut-off.
Has a non-abrasive grip tape and that’s pretty much it.
Nothing fancy, all the budget probably went into making the core part of the electric skateboard.

Verdict

Meepo makes eskates that allow everyone to ride, and the Meepo Campus 2.0 is the epitome of that, pushing the affordability to the extreme.

The Campus 2 is an easy recommendation. With good value and an insane price, the value per dollar ratio is just through the roof.

Not to take away the fact that the board is pretty good but with this price tag, you won’t do too bad even if you just buy the board to salvage its parts – and per usual, tinkering and upgrades are always easy with the Meepos.

It is perfect for beginners, for children and for someone who just wants to experience eskating.
It’s also perfect for someone who doesn’t need torque and doesn’t care about top speed.

For the above reasons, the Meepo Campus 2 is at the moment, my favorite board. Its performance is enough for me in most situations and its portability and ease of handling (that non-abrasive grip tape makes a difference) make it my go-to choice for last-mile commuting and rides within building compounds.
(Well, technically my favorite board at the moment is Arc Aileron V2 but it costs 3x more.)

With that said, it is important for me to make it clear that Meepo Campus 2.0 is definitely NOT a beast. It’s a tame puppy. It fetches your newspaper and makes life fun and won’t hurt you, but don’t ever expect it to outperform any big dogs. At least not without some tinkering.

$299 used to get you a toy, well, not anymore.

Wanna hear bad news? It is only available in the USA.

P.S: You can even get it from Amazon!

Check out Meepo Campus 2.0

To know more about MeepoBoards, click here.

For those who are from a European country, you can choose to shop from a local dealer – Speedio.
Speedio is an Electric Skateboard re-seller based in the Czech Republic. While you do pay a little premium, they offer a 2-year warranty, local support, and fast 2-5 days shipping.

May 14, 2018May 18, 2018 by Paxson Lim

Arc Aileron 2.0 – Review

Foreword

Not the most flashy company, Arc Board EV from Singapore has been putting out quality boards since the launch of their Arc Penny(AKA Arc Board) on 30th August 2016. Following the success of Arc Penny, the Arc team launched the original Arc Aileron, which is also regarded as one of the best electric shortboard available to the market.

Throughout the years and with this 2 main products, Arc has established itself as a trustworthy brand that makes good boards.

Fast forward to the 2nd April 2018, the Arc team announced not one but two up-coming new products, the Arc Finix and Arc Aileron 2.0.
Both of this boards will be rocking the new “Arc Fusion” geared drive designed by the Arc team.
This is exciting as the Arc Aileron V2 will be among the first geared drive powered electric skateboard to hit the market.

I was given the chance to thoroughly test out the pre-production model of the Arc Aileron V2 and get a taste of how well the Arc Fusion drive works, and spoiler alert, its good!

Introduction of Arc Board EV

Being near from Singapore where Arc Board EV is based, I am quite familiar with the Arc team.
In fact, I was given the opportunity to visit their operation in Singapore earlier this year and wrote a story on this small yet respectable start-up.

*Click to read more about the entrepreneur story of Arc Board EV.*

Though not a very talked about brand in the global Eskate community, the Arc team has gained the trust of those who paid any attention to them. They are a small team of electric skateboard start-up that doesn’t try to do too much, yet everything they did, they did it well.

Ever since they first launched their Kickstarter Campaign on the original Arc Penny in August 2016, Arc team has never let their customers down.
Always on-time in delivering great quality products and follow up that with great customer service, the Arc team is well-loved by the community it serves.

The Arc Line-Up

Listing in the upcoming Arc Aileron V2 and Arc Finix, the Arc team will soon to have 4 products in the line-up: The Arc Penny, Arc Aileron V1, Arc Aileron V2 and the Arc Finix.

While I consider Arc Penny the best electric penny board on the market and Arc Aileron V1 great shortboard balancing riding comfort and portability, the Arc boards were seemingly at risk to be drowned out by competition as more and more new eskate show up with crazy specs and crazier price. This changed with the announcement of Arc Aileron V2 and Arc Finix.

Arc team has chosen to answer the competition through innovation. Their in-house designed geared drive motor, the Arc fusion drive, is looking to give them a significant competitive edge.

While the much anticipated Arc Finix, which should be available by the end of this year, will use a dual motor set-up with two Arc fusion drive; the Arc Aileron V2 will be powered by single Arc fusion drive and be one of the first geared drive board to lead this post-hub motor era.

Arc Aileron V2 Review

So how does Arc Aileron V2 came to be?

“Among all the ideas we have, we choose to go forward with the Arc Aileron V2 and the fusion drive to solve a problem I have – the need for more range. I tried to ride to the office with the original Arc Aileron and couldn’t get all the way through.”

“The fusion drive, on top of many performance improvements, solve the range issue. By changing the belt drive to a more efficient geared drive gives you 2 times the range.”

“Instead of being the last mile solution, we want the Arc Aileron V2 to go the ‘full miles’, so you can skip the MRT or bus and just skate the whole way to your destination on the V2”

Paraphrasing Hung Yi from Arc team

Arc Aileron V2 Specs

Arc Aileron V2 is all-rounded in specs.

Top Speed: 25mph (40kmh)
Range: 19mil (30km)
Weight: 12.1lbs (5.5kg)
Charge Time: 70min
Features: Weatherproof, Regenerative Braking.
Price: less than 1400 USD.

Build Quality

Arc Aileron might be one of the toughest board on the market right now.
It has an industrial black and grey look with none of those fancy color scheme and rounded edges.

The look of the Arc boards definitely reflected Arc team’s philosophy – substances over style.

Deck

The Arc Aileron V2 continue the use of Aileron carbon fiber deck from 121C.

The aerospace grade pure carbon fiber deck allows the deck to be lighter and thinner, something that helped Arc Aileron to be the lightest electric shortboard in the market.

Impressive.

This carbon fiber deck is also very durable. It might be the only skateboard deck that could survive being run over by a car, something that seems to happen more than a few times these recent months… (stay safe guys.)

Fusion Drive

The Arc Aileron V2 will be the first board to use the newly developed geared drive – Arc Fusion Drive.

A few electric skateboard company has their own iteration of the geared drive motor: the Carvon has had theirs for a while now and JED board has been making it their marketing focal point for the delayed JED board.
None of those product has yet to make a significant impact on the mass market so it was so surprising when the Arc team announced that they have a market-ready geared drive!
(note: Carvon’s geared drive is available for purchase, but its complete eskate is currently stuck in delay hell.)
(note2: JED board which made famous the geared drive through its marketing effort is just beginning to start its production phase. So it’s likely that the V2 is going to be available around the same time (June) as the JED preorders (scheduled May but most likely will see slight delays.)

Apparently, the Arc team have been keeping the Arc Fusion R&D close to their chest for a good half year now.

If you are not interested in the geared drives, well, you should!

A lot of words are needed to explain about the geared drive so I will skip the explaining of what they are (think belt drive without the belt) and straight to what it means for the user.

Basically, with geared drive, you have a system that is more efficient while requires less maintenance compares to a belt drive. The geared drive also allows the use of standard longboard wheels – meaning significantly smoother rides. It also made possible the easy swapping of wheels and interchangeable AT/street set-up. These are the things that hub motor could not do.
The geared drive system also retains the responsive feel and instant acceleration that only belt-drives and high-end hub motors can offer.
On the other hand, unlike the belt motor, geared drive free-rolls well. In fact, it free-rolls better than a hub motor!

One of the criticisms of the geared drive as made famous by JED board is having a high-pitch steel to steel grind noise. Hence, many are waiting to hear how the Arc Fusion drive sounds.
After testing out the V2 myself, I am happy to report that Arc Fusion drive is only as noisy as a regular belt drive motor, no high-pitch noise.

Another concern that I have for a geared drive is their durability, especially when Arc Aileron V2 is the ‘virgin voyage’ of a new motor system.

While it is a good comfort to know that Arc team has been running its Arc Fusion drive under the radar for 4 months now, the real comfort lies with knowing that I can trust the team to have my back should there be issues down the line.

That’s the importance of buying from people you trust.

Wheels

With the V2, Arc team finally upgraded the wheels of their boards from 70mm to 90mm. Undoubtedly, it is a move that they were forced to make to allow more ground clearance for the board.
The bigger wheel took abit away from that agile feel I experience from the V1 but allows the board to skate on less than perfect road.

I found wheels size and durometer matters most in dampening vibration and in the case of V2, the four big soft 90mm 75a wheels smooth out vibration better than an ultra flex deck on a hub motor would.

Love the change.

Summary

With the aerospace grade pure carbon fiber deck from 121C, CNC part made in Singapore by REI Promax and with every unit assembled by the Arc-Team themselves, the Arc Aileron’s quality is one of its brightest points.

They have the track record to prove it too.