By Michael Gatti

It has been a long time coming but here it is, ‘Part 2’.

The greatest hold up to finishing this comparison proved to be the Jed Board, ‘the new kid on the block’. With its All Wheel Drive (AWD) model, it arguably shapes up to the R2's closest competitor. So it’s inclusion was very important.

Unfortunately finding a Jed Board full range test proved to be a mechanical and logistical challenge (bear in mind they are pre-production boards).

In the end, the range tests on the Jed Boards needed to be abandoned. Nevertheless, I do believe that I have gathered enough data to comfortably qualify this as a ‘Comprehensive Comparison’.

I hope you get something out of it!

DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with any e-board company and I do not get paid for sharing my opinions. I bring with me thousands of kilometres of electric skateboarding experience over the past 4 years, on dozens of different e-boards. Despite at times having direct contact with owners of several electric skateboard companies, I do not allow that contact to influence my reviews and do not have loyalty to any one company. I am completely unbiased, and more than happy to call it as I see it, because I know that honest and genuine feedback is valued both by the companies themselves and their prospective customers.

FIRSTLY, AN UPDATE ON MY RAPTOR 2...

CORRECTION AND APOLOGY:

Let me start by making a correction to something I posted in Part 1 of my Raptor 2 review. My scales at home LIED TO ME! When I first weighed the R2 at home, the scales said 11.8kg (26lbs). I was surprised at the time, but that’s what the scales said, so that’s what I posted. Just the other day I weighed it again on the same scales, and low and behold, this time the scales said 10.5kg! I cannot explain the discrepancy, but despite my annoyance at having posted false information, I was happy that the board is actually only 10.5kgs! That’s 1.3kgs (or 3 pounds) lighter than what I first believed, and good news for me and every perspective Raptor 2 owner. My apologies to everyone for the mistake.

TWO ISSUES:

I’ve now travelled a total distance of over 300kms on my Raptor 2, and I’m happy to say that it has generally been working very well. I’ve only really had two minor issues with the board since I last posted.

The first is with the rear wheel skins or ‘outwheels’.

I mentioned in Part 1 of my review that these outwheels were too soft and flexible, and really required a rigid inner ring to prevent warping due to centrifugal force. Well the warping became progressively worse. As the wheels stretched they became looser and floppier to the point where it felt like I was riding on two flat rear tyres. Enertion sent me out ‘Version 2’ of their outwheels which were exactly the same design, but a slightly harder compound. Those outwheels were a marked improvement on the V1 outwheels, as they don’t flare out anywhere near as much, but they were still not perfect. I was still possible to feel that the rear wheels weren’t completely true and round like a standard urethane wheel is. It was most noticeable on a very smooth surface and at high speed, where there were harmonic vibrations felt through the rear wheels. Enertion are about to release their Version 3 outwheels which should properly fix this issue. These V3s will have a rigid inner ring which prevents any flaring or warping completely. I’m definitely looking forward to trying those out.

The second issue I had was with the water-tightness of the electrical enclosure on the board.

I got caught in the rain one night while commuting on the board, and found that a fair amount of water made its way into the electrical enclosure. Not good. The board worked fine at the time, but the next morning the board would not work properly as water must have settled on electrical components overnight. I opened up the enclosure and thankfully I managed to dry everything off with a towel and a hairdryer. There was no permanent damage to the electrical components and the board worked perfectly again. Regardless, it was not something I ever would want to happen again. It appears that a handful of the earliest boards have slipped through with sealing issues. Enertion are sending me out another enclosure lid with extra sealing to remedy the problem. This is the same rubber seal that all new Raptors have now.

OTHER CONCERNS ALLEVIATED

You may recall that in Part 1, I had two main concerns regarding the Raptor 2. Now, after having spent quite a few more hours and a lot more distance with the board, here are my thoughts on those matters.

The first concern was regarding the remote - its fit, its ease of use and its durability. To be honest it has actually grown on me. It’s not perfect, but I’m now quite comfortable with it. I prefer it without the lanyard attached, and I’ve actually found that when if you wear wrist guards, you can actually slot it in between your hands and the guard and it works a treat! Try it and see what you think.

The Enertion Nano controller actually slots in nicely under a wrist guard

My second concern was the stability and safety at high speed due to its shorter wheelbase and higher sitting deck compared to an Evolve. Well I’m happy to say that I’ve had no issues with stability at all. As expected, the more I have used the board, the more comfortable I feel with the stability at high speed. The relatively short (for a longboard) wheelbase hasn’t been an issue, so I could put that concern to bed as well.

MODIFICATIONS:

The one mod I made to the R2 was changing the bushings. I added 95A Venom Barrel bushings board-side and 91A Venom cone bushings road-side to each of my trucks. The R2 comes standard with 2 x 90A Barrel bushings on each truck. The idea behind the change was to try to find a good compromise between stability and maneuverability. I’ve added the hard barrel bushings to aid in stability, and added the slightly softer cone bushings to give an easier turn in than the original double-barrel set-up. It seems to match my current riding weight of about 95kgs well, giving me a better ability to carve and turn, yet still maintain really good stability at high speed. Mind you, the board will never carve like an Evolve, because the Enertion precision trucks were built for speed, not carving, but the bushings have helped.

All in all it was definitely a worthwhile modification and only cost me around $40.