United States
What to look for when trying out a dot Board
The crew at Twelve Boardstore on Bridge Road, Richmond are putting it on for us this Saturday, 5th December. Come down between 12pm and 2pm for the dot DEMO Day where you’ll get a chance to get a chance to meet some of the team and check out dot Boards in-person.
We’ll be around to answer your questions about what a dot Board can do, how to get the most out of it – and frankly why they’re the boards you should be riding. In the meantime though, let’s take a look at what you should be keeping an eye out for when you try out a dot Board.
They’re skateboards – but not as you’d know them
First things first – it’s got to feel right. And we know that you’ll see exactly what we’re talking about the moment you jump on a dot. It’s a skateboard, and despite the power we’ve packed into it, we’ve made sure that our boards still feel and ride the way a skateboard should.
dot Boards only came online about a year ago, but we’ve been at it on research and development for years. And we’re fortunate also to have the backing of Globe International – the driving force behind the quality of design that makes dot Boards what they are.
dot Compact and dot Cruiser decks are made of a super strong V-Ply of maple and fiberglass, and dot Transporter features an 8-ply teak with hard rock maple that’s bound with eco-resin. You’ll feel why we’ve chosen these deck materials the moment you jump on. The maple and fibreglass combo of Cruiser and Compact gives these two plenty of pop to match their kicktails. And the longer dot Transporter, with its 8-ply and lower stiffness, gives you that relaxed but ‘locked-in’ feeling that you want when hitting those higher speeds.
Quality 83mm 78a polyurethane wheels, ultra-light magnesium trucks, and Swiss Abec 7 bearings round out the traditional aspects of dot Boards. All are carefully designed and manufactured to ensure you’re getting what you should out of the experience –a touch and responsiveness that lets you ride with confidence and control.
Power and performance – electric freedom
With a strong base to support the power made possible by our patent pending dot Hub motors, the next thing to explore is power and performance.
How a dot Board passes power to the road is pretty unique. So unique, in fact, that we’ve got patents pending on exactly how it’s done. All dot Boards are driven by the same dot Hub motors – powerful units that sit within the hub of a dot Boards wheels.
Don’t let the discrete sizing of these things fool you – they have some serious bite. A single motor setup will generate enough torque from within the hub of the wheel to carry a rider weighing around 120kg/260lbs up a 15% incline. Adding a second motor, the standard configuration on dot Transporter, boosts that to 30% inclines.
Even when you’re off the power, our dot Hub motors perform brilliantly – freewheeling far better than any belt-driven system. They’re simple to maintain, and even enable regenerative braking. A process that puts power back into your batteries while braking. You can look to our blog hub motors vs. belt driven systems for a comparison.
It’s important to note that our drivetrain is specifically designed as a push-to-start. That is – jump on and give it a few old-school kick pushes to get rolling, then bring the power on using the hand held dot RC100 Remote Control. This is part safety feature, part intuitive power management, and very much in line with the ‘traditional boards plus power’ ethos that informs the design of our boards.
If you haven’t tried an electric skateboard out before, the handheld component will feel a little odd at first. But the dot RC110 quickly starts to feel as natural as the ride itself. Once you’ve played around a bit and gotten used to it, you’ll even find that you can change up the acceleration and deceleration curves and influence how you want the dot you’re riding to react to your inputs. Modes ‘Novice’, ‘Eco’, and ‘Expert’ will all present a different feel and output that you can select to match your experience and riding style.
What does it do that other electric skateboards don’t?
The ride always comes first – but there are some important questions that can be answered off the board as well.
We’ve touched on the fact that our drivetrain is unique, but it goes deeper. Here, we’re talking about the modular design features that let you shape and reshape what your dot Board can do – all with a few minutes work and an allen key hidden in the front truck.
Performance and ride feel aside, modularity is one of our biggest points of difference as an e-board manufacturer. The ability to equip additional dot BM100 batteries when you want more range, and take them off when you want to cut weight, lets you create the board you need each day – no matter what that day throws at you
But the freedom to change up the power, weight and performance of a dot is just one side of what modularity makes possible. The other is that modularity gives you the opportunity to make a more affordable leap into e-boarding, and expand the capabilities of your board as you go. And should you manage to break anything (let us know, it’d be an achievement), you can simply replace that component, not the whole drivetrain.
dot DEMO Day @ Twelve Boardstore
If you’re Melbourne-based and you’ve been looking for an opportunity to check out a dot Board for yourself – now is your chance! Our mates at Twelve Boardstore are hosting us for a dot demo day this Saturday 5th December. Come down between 12pm and 2pm and have a crack at your choice of dot Board – the perfect way to get a feel for what a dot can do. All the usual COVID-safe guidelines apply, including a mask when inside or near others. Their address is 435A Bridge Road Richmond, and you can reach them at (03) 9421 2293 or info@twelveboardstore.com.au if you’ve got any questions.
If you’re based elsewhere, or can’t make it this Saturday, you can still get an in-person look at a dot by paying a visit to one of our stockists and demo locations. If you’re having any trouble finding the one closest to you, don’t hesitate to flick us an email at contact@dotboards.com.
The dot Boards Team
