the BMW is odd. I haven't ridden the Carveboard, although they look cool. I have ridden many traditional and non-traditional skateboards with Indys, Trackers, Randalls, Revenge, eXkate, Originals, Radikals, Fyres, Thunders, Gullwings, Bennetts, Flowlab, Nuclear Pickle, Brakebord, probably more - can't remember.
The BMW is very turny, but weirdly so. The "deck" is oddly concaved and fairly high. You don't really turn the board like a conventional skate, you kinda steer it with your feet - best way I can describe it. It's not the easiest to push either. And the speed wobbles are terrifying when they happen!
I wouldn't part with mine because of sentimental value, but honestly I only pull it out a couple of times a year.
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I've ridden one a little, turns like crazy, with no rebound.
I've also ridden an electric powered board with knock offs of the trucks. as above only even heavier...
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I've ridden one a little, turns like crazy, with no rebound.
I've also ridden an electric powered board with knock offs of the trucks. as above only even heavier...
What do you mean by no rebound?
Found one for sale but so far what has been mentioned alot is "unstable at high speed" and hard to control if the surface is not smooth.
I'm guessing the lack of spring schocks and air tires would make the ride feel jumpy/unstable to me. Have just about decided not to buy it. Besides at 20 lb, my mountain boards are lighter. However they probably ride just as high.
Thanks to all for the feedback.
Hey Rumsurfer the one for sale is on E- bay. Don't know if they would ship to Australia.
the bmw's have a robotic ride. nothing like the carveboard, which gives a little, has a little snap, and a little rebound from the springs. there's no rebound in the bmw's turn, it turns precisely, but there is no bushing to push the board back to center -- you exert to turn it back to center and into the next turn. definately fun to tool around on a few minutes, very unique ride, and visually very cool, but nothing i could get addicted to long-term. when the bearings started rattling on mine i sold it and gave the guy a good discount so he could do the bearing replacement.
If they ever put just a little bit of suppleness to the deck, and some kind of rebound in the trucks, I'd try one again.
To summarize what I am hearing and have heard from the owner on E-bay:
Unstable at speed
Hairy speed wobble
Mechanical feel to carve with no rebound
Needs smooth surface for best performance
Thanks,
BgS
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
~ George Orwell ~
Yeah the mechanics of it are awesome.
but the execution was. well awful.
needs to be about a kilo lighter.
and needs return to center.
and unfortunately I doubt it will get either.
__________________
Cross over the cell bars, find a new maze, make the maze from it's path, find the cell bars,
cross over the bars, find a maze, make the maze from its path, eat the food, eat the path.
But the main reason I was interested in the BMW was the engineering. The thing just looks so damned efficient and elegantly designed.
But, like Steve C said, it clearly needs a shock/suspension sytem. And as pavedwave points out, it could use some flex in the deck to perform the way I would like it to.
Unfortunately they are not manufactured anymore and the design appears to have been abandoned. I think they were close but quit too soon.
Anyway, my mountain boards are delivering exactly the performance I want. Because I am using earlier era parts, they have been much more affordable (a little under $150 a board). At this point, I'm just looking for unique refinements to the ride.
It almost seems like a technically complex way to ensure that you never have a large contact patch on the ground.
I mean, really - what ideal design would tilt the wheels?
Granted, it might be cool to finally have an application that makes use of those G&S ball-shaped wheels that they used to make before my time even - but then again, I thought Steadham Spinners were cool too (and I saw the perfect board by Roggs today for them! ).
An ideal design would manage the contact patch to an ideal angle throughout the turn - just like a true double unequal-length A-arm suspension on a performance car does (and even a cheap strut suspension does to some degree).
You'd think a car manufacturer would do anything they could to keep the wheels flat on the ground - since skateboard wheels are hard and flat-surfaced.
Then again, some engineer probably said "Well, the best way to do that would be to take a baseplate with a kingpin, a with a couple soft bushings suspending a single axle hangar..."
And of course the marketing people didn't like that. Plus it would be too inexpensive...
BUT - you see them on Ebay occasionally, going for a couple hundred.
I have a streetcarver at first i was using four d/h top 30mpr or less most of the time i use it four carving really steep hills with no run off. Makeing real small turns as i go down it a lot of fun four that.I don't recommend it four d/h.
Hey folks, I apologize for Necro-Posting, but I figure this is an applicable subject. As far as the StreetCarver versus the Carve, I felt the Carve would react more to your each and every move. As far as the BMW being called 'Robotic', I wouldn't say that. I felt the BMW is far more stable in that respect. Again, I could be biased, considering I have been riding nothing but StreetCarvers for the past five years.
As far as speed wobbles go, the translation of speed wobbles isn't exactly literal. The Bimmer's wobbling is more a tendency to carve. As the tires wear, yes- the thing is very unstable, due to the reduced contact patch. The best way I could explain it is to look at the cross-section of the tire. When the tire is new, it is convex, much like a motorcycle tire-the contact is radiused around the tire. When the tire wears (especially in the middle from lots of straight-line skating), the tire doesn't have as much contact when it leans. Less tire means less contact with the ground.
Another minus to this board is that it tips the scales at twenty pounds. I have easily put ten thousand miles on this board alone (my first one was stolen in 2004, this one I bought a year later), and one of the things I am noticing now is my knees are starting to ache from the abuse of the board. Its a negative, but I still stand by this thing. I can personally attest to the fact it will hold the weight of a Chrysler 440 engine (the 426 hemi wieghs 716 pounds if that gives you a clue), and I have gone close to 40 miles per hour on (with New Tires!).
As far as parts go, they are made out inobtainium. The only thing still left are the swing supports (Part Number 33-55-1-0-95-532 , $28-$45 USD, depending on dealer), namely because they are a part on an existing car. Other common parts that are replaceable are the axles and bearings-they are not common skateboard size- The BMW originally came with 6000Z bearings, I swapped those out for 6000RS bearings that are repackable, (I will prolly put axial-load bearings in next), and the axles. They are Allen Head stainless bolts-I swapped those out for Grade 8 bolts when a drunken-run end with a curb bent one axle.
As far as tires go, I have been spending the past five years trying to get my hands on the molds for these tires! I have a few people that would be interested in repopping these things. Now, with more and more people getting rid of these boards, and the NOS inventory gone (The current set of tires on the board now took me months and three different dealerships to assemble), I am getting emails all the time regarding trying to get tires for these things.
Now, here is my question: WOULD REPOPPING THESE TIRES BE WORTH MY TIME? My Skateboard is my ride when my Aprilia RSV is down (very rarely does that happen?), so I am. If anyone wants tires for this thing, please let me know!
BMW streetcarver?
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