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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

by dreeves 14y ago

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/139/ http://xkcd.com/409/ http://xkcd.com/409/

mbreese 14y ago
It's a bit ironic that the last comic ends up with the electric longboard in an accident.
saidajigumi 14y ago
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.
wheels 14y ago
> If something in the road catches you by surprise that's another story. One major problem there: sidewalk construction isn't sign-posted. I ended up in the hospital because a two foot section of the sidewalk on my work-route had been replaced by sand. That was long enough for my roller-blades to stop and my face to keep going, neatly landing a couple feet after the concrete picked back up. After four broken bones and a dozen or so stitches from roller blading and cycling accidents, I've decided to stick to walking and public transit.
recursive 14y ago
> since you have more rubber-to-road surface area I don't see how that's possible with solid wheels with such a smaller diameter.

by dreeves 14y ago

mbreese 14y ago

It's a bit ironic that the last comic ends up with the electric longboard in an accident.

saidajigumi 14y ago

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.

wheels 14y ago

> If something in the road catches you by surprise that's another story. One major problem there: sidewalk construction isn't sign-posted. I ended up in the hospital because a two foot section of the sidewalk on my work-route had been replaced by sand. That was long enough for my roller-blades to stop and my face to keep going, neatly landing a couple feet after the concrete picked back up. After four broken bones and a dozen or so stitches from roller blading and cycling accidents, I've decided to stick to walking and public transit.

recursive 14y ago

> since you have more rubber-to-road surface area I don't see how that's possible with solid wheels with such a smaller diameter.