Sanjay here from Boosted S12. Garry and Alexis and team were one of our first investors and have been some of the best people we've worked with. I am so excited for them and for all the new founders who will get to work with them.
Only if you choose an absolute value. Start gentle and then ramp up over the course of 10-15 seconds. It would be easy to add a slight high frequency oscillation to it as well, to make the board vibrate a little as a prompt to explain what it's doing.
It's kind of ridiculous to present that as an unsolvable problem dude.
I'd definitely consider one if it was available. My current board is an Original Apex 34 [0] which though not as flexy as the Loaded is a great size for zooming around the city, hopping on/off trains buses etc
Actually, we see people using it because they prefer it to a bike in certain situations. It's compatible with most public transit and ridesharing, and there's little to no risk of theft. Compared to a normal skateboard or bike, you also don't risk being sweaty when you arrive at work. Bikes also require more regular maintenance, which isn't expensive but can be time-consuming.
We've seen it enthusiastically adopted in many cities outside SF and NY.
You just said that it removes a bikes greatest feature: the possibility of exercising while commuting. It's a lot healthier, greener, and a better use of my time.
Agreed. But we've discovered from users of the board that in hilly or hot areas, having exercised on their way to work and arriving sweaty is a non-starter.
> Agreed. But we've discovered from users of the board that in hilly or hot areas, having exercised on their way to work and arriving sweaty is a non-starter
Non-starter - really? How many workplaces don't have showers? I'm in a developing country and we have showers at our office.
And yet cars seem to pervade your point of view... Exercise is hardly a magic bullet for health. And stinking at your job due to sweat, feeling uncomfortable, and being less productive is a tradeoff for most people. It's still somewhat of a workout to ride the boosted if you set the trucks tight, calf muscles definitely get a workout. But even so, your POV is a bit narrow sighted.
Hi - one of the founders here. I'd never skateboarded or longboarded before working on this project. I found I used a Boosted board very differently than I would use a longboard - for me it's replaced many car trips and many Uber/Lyft rides. This made up for the price quite quickly.
The top model has the best performance, but the quality of all models is equally high. There's a floor to how cheaply this technology can be built today without compromising quality and long-term reliability.
A very rare use-case (living at the top of a hill, pulling it off the charger and immediately riding downhill and braking) would result in overcharging and damaging the battery. Riders who have this use-case run the board briefly before heading downhill. In practice this extra step has not been a problem.
Many boards have run over 1000 miles, and we have yet to replace wheels due to wear. Maintenance involves replacing bearings, and eventually wheels, but no grease port.
