Living in the hilly city of San Francisco, I did not feel that Inboard M1 was adequate. To be fair, it was never advertised as a powerful board, but rather as a board that you can travel with. With recent changes in my situation, I will likely not be traveling as much as I thought I would be. As a result, I decided to pick up a more powerful board.

I was deciding between Evolve Carbon GT, Evolve Bamboo GTX, and Enertion Raptor 2. First, I did not want to wait, so Raptor 2 was out. Being a rather old city, San Francisco has some pretty terrible pavement. As a result, my feet always hurt a lot when riding Inboard M1, so I decided to go for a board with a flexible deck, so I went with Evolve Bamboo GTX. While Evolve Bamboo GT and Boosted Boards are both great options, I wanted longer range and did not want to wait to get it. Furthermore, the option of AT wheels was extremely enticing. As a result. I ended up ordering Evolve Bamboo GTX 2-in-1.

I ordered a bit past midnight of Monday, July 17th (so technically I ordered on Tuesday, July 18th), and my order probably was not processed until Tuesday, July 18th. Then, the inevitable and excruciating waiting began.

But thanks to Evolve USA’s quick processing, and being in the same state as their warehouse, I received a tracking number on Thursday, July 20th and received my package on Saturday, July 22nd. This was extremely quick in my opinion.

And so, I received the package and went up the stairs with this 34 lbs package and just admired it. But there really wasn’t much to admire as the package was pretty beat up. (Oh UPS, will you ever return to your former glory?)

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Then, I proceeded to open the package (After initial opening, I got too excited and forgot to take pictures of all components :]).

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It was amazing.

The board looked like it came from another dimension compared to Inboard. If Inboard M1 were like Prius, this Evolve Bamboo GTX looked like a Cadillac. As I inspected the rest of the package, I started fiddling with the remote and the street wheel kit. Then, I actually started checking out the board.

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When I was inspecting the motors, I noticed something wrong. There were scratches on there already, despite the QC sheet included said the motors were free of scratches or blemishes.

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But I understood that they were going to be like that after a few rides anyway, so I was not too mad. However, I decided to contact Evolve. I contacted them on Saturday (the day I received it), and on Monday, I received an email from them apologizing and offering a $50 gift card (this is in their warranty policy to offer $50 gift card if the defect is deemed to not be from misuse or anything). I was and am pretty happy with this resolution, as a few scratches were not worth sending the board back.

I did switch the wheels immediately to street wheels, as I really wanted to try out the 97mm wheels. The switching was nice and easy, even as someone who’s never taken apart any kind of skateboard/longboard. Then, I took about 2 mile ride to Safeway to pick up some groceries.

Man, was it amazing. It was a completely different experience from Inboard M1. Although I was afraid that my weight may actually break the deck, the flexy deck was comfortable, yet felt solid and responsive. The Super Carve trucks were a joy to carve on (albeit at a very beginner level for me), and the turning was amazing. The power of the belt motors were on a completely different level from the hub motors on Inboard M1.

The remote took a bit of time to get used to as it was sort of weird and felt dangerous not having a dead man’s trigger. But I did get used to it quickly and I have no complaints about the remote or its connection.

Despite the bad things I’ve been reading about the Evolve 97mm wheels, they felt great and really nice to ride on. The only comparison I have are the wheels on Inboard M1, so this may not mean much, but it gripped well, and went over cracks and metro tracks with ease, with no sign of wear or chunks coming off (I have been commuting for 3 days with the wheels, and went on a 5~6 mile ride today and the wheels are just fine).

The tools included are great, and feel solid. Even the loose Allen wrench feel nicely made, and I threw those into the remote case and carry it in my backpack, along with the skate tool.

Overall, it is a solid board with a lot of power and ability to carve/turn. I do need to get used to the less stable deck at higher speeds, but I’m sure that will come with more experience. And their customer service has been pretty good for me so far. For now, it does not look like I will be touching Inboard M1, aside from when I want to go boarding with my friend who does not have an electric skateboard.

UPDATE: I actually forgot to add one more thing. I LOVE BEING ABLE TO DRAG THIS BEHIND ME. With Inboard M1, I cannot, because either tail or nose would drag on the ground. With the Bamboo GTX, due to its drop through style, I can just drag this behind me, which saves my arms some work out (well, I guess I could use some arm work out, but they get it when I go up the stairs so it’s all good).

A full review of this board will come in time, but I want to ride this one a little longer before I actually do a full review. I also have a story coming on my interaction with Inboard’s support. As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments and I’d be more than happy to answer them.