Evolve and Rain ?

Hello Everyone,

I am thinking of getting the Evolve Bamboo GT. I live in Paris and it rains quite a bit in winter. I know that the boards are far from being waterproof but can I still ride if it rains a little ? Or do I risk burning it ?
Thanks,

 

I wouldnt ride it the rain at all. If you burn it up your out alot of money.

 

I like to ride my board as much as I can and often go out on damp roads. Never in the wet though. The wheels kick up a lot of water which gets everywhere. Just be sensible, water breaks electronics and also bearings etc.

 

with rain coil motor rusty and is not good for electronic the solution is water-proof electronic with nanotech neverwet bomb and to prevent entry water in electronic box with néoprene. For motor you nead just apply nanotechwet bomb on rusty coil not more but need working good.
If you have ceramic bearing water is not a problem.

 

I hope future models become more water resistant, but I'm interested in the ceramic bearings where can I get those for the Carbon GT and do that last as long as normal bearings that come with the board? Also do you have a link to the neverwet bomb?

 

have a lots brand (take in spray) look for "nanocoating spray waterproof for electronic device" words key. Looking that>
this product is good > Marine Electric - Nanoprotech

Same for ceramic bearings (take ABEC9) have a lot of brand U can choose bearing into Evolve dealer or in the most popular brand in skateboarding > bones

 

You guys think you have it bad with rain? Wait till you see the west of Ireland

 

As I opened the deck, I recognized that there aren't any seals for the deck. So if it rains, the water can easily go inside. Also into the little holes of the motors.
I applied some silicon along the edge of the deck. I don't know if it helps a lot.

Also the plug for the charger isn't completely safe from water. The power button on the board isn't waterproof at all.
The funny thing is, the cables from the motors are completely covered with a lot of hot glue from the inside. No chance for water.

My suggestion is, not to ride when it rains. If the streets are still wet from the rain, ride only as far as really necessary. If your shoes getting wet after some meters, walk. If your shoes will be dry, have fun

 

Okay, Thank you for the answers ! Awesome community, keep up the good work.

 

I'm also going to be riding my board in the rain, but first will be doing some waterproofing. I have 4 MetroBoards which are solid electronically and will pick one of these to start. Will be doing the conformal coating on the PCB to protect that, will waterproof the battery box, running WheelShield fenders to keep the water splash down to a minimum and making a set of rain wheels that are grooved, eventually I'll pick up some Harfang rain wheels. Also you need to keep putting WD 40 into the motors to keep them from rusting and holding moisture. Also be familiar with replacing motor bearings for that they may get water intrusion over time and might need replacing. Will experiment will full ceramic bearings there when I get time.

Here's a video someone posted of riding an Evolve in the rain, don't recommend doing this unless you waterproofed it. Stuff may work during the ride but once you start moving the board around different directions water can splash and move on parts where it shouldn't be, the electronics can corrode and fail a couple of days later even.

 

Very true about rain and how dangerous it is, I've dumped my board being too confident over a RailRoad crossing after a wet coating of the road. But its do-able, downhill skateboarders do it but need the rain groove tires to do so, going softer on the wheels is also very helpful. Now I know that any paint on the road or RR tracks is like ice!

Best to also dial down the acceleration of the board in order to not allow the board to slip out. A single wheel drive board is also safer on take-offs than a dual since one wheel in the back will help roll to keep traction and prevent side-way posi slides.

I'd think that the AT tires would be the best in the rain though, especially if you drop the air pressure down. However nobody makes fenders for those things and you'd get pretty wet from the splash effect it would seem.

 

Noone mentioned the remote can't handle any rain. Stuffs up the screen if it gets wet at all.

 

Agreed, you'd have to run the remote up a rain jacket coat sleeve which isn't a problem. What I want to avoid is to be commuting on my board during the fall / winter / spring months.... where you took the board out then it started raining and then you find out you're stuck waiting out the storm. Sometimes it just happens. At least if you waterproofed the board you can prevent all that splash from happening and killing your expensive electronics. Worse is that it leaves you walking, I've been there and its not fun and takes a long time to get back home on foot. But as long as the board gets me home and only minor wiping down, wd-40 spray and some cleaning is performed then that's ok and don't mind that effort for how valuable its worth. If its really down pouring I'd just hold off, wait, and then roll out and at least you'd have confidence you won't fry anything.

Would also be nice if Evolve offered a scaled down simple remote with no lcd that just cycled between the modes and allowed the board to accelerate/decelerate. Doesn't have to be a trigger remote, even a button with a joystick would do. Easier to waterproof and cheaper to replace if needed.

 

I did ride mine back home from a mates place after it rained and it still works. I had AT wheels and it was flicking water everywhere. I have seen boston vlogs ride his bamboo street in much worse than what I did and his board did just fine although I don't condone doing it

 

Here's a video a person did on the Wheel Shields effectiveness in the rain:


You have to run your wheels down to at least 80mm and the maker says that the Kegel 80mm do work with them. So you could pair the Harfang rain wheels with them perfectly:




Pic of Wheel Shields:

 

Well I finished waterproofing my MetroBoard and stoked I did. We have rain coming in this week! Waterproofed the control board and infared remote. Note if you do waterproof anything that uses RF such as Wifi, bluetooth, etc that you don't want to spray the waterproof coating (conformal coating) on the antenna both at the receiver and transmitter end. This will change the antenna tuning due to a difference in attenuation. So keep that in mind. Since my MetroBoard uses infared I didn't have to worry about that. Also the Metroboard motor is designed in such a way that there are no holes on the outside of the brushless motor like the Evolve which is super nice. Keeps dirt and debris out of the internals of the motor. And in my case keeps water intrusion to a very minimum if any since the motor is located under the board instead of the rear. Lastly I ran a layer of silicone grease along the face of the battery box seal where it meets the bottom of the deck, this also will keep water from walking its way past the seal ever did fail and give it a better mating surface. Also put orings on the bolts that mount the battery box through the deck to prevent water dripping down from the top of the deck. Now I'm ready to rock & roll in the rain with no worries of blowing out my control board or remote if the weather ever makes a turn on me unexpectedly.

 

I agree, but in my opinion boards actually should come waterproofed since they cost so much of our hard earned $$$. Blowing out a controller board over stupid moisture intrusion does not leave you on a happy note. Costs about 50 cents at most for each board to apply. But truth of the matter is that anything that's going to be run close to the coastline or out in humid or rainy conditions should be treated but they're not. I opened up a weather station wind meter that's made to be used outside and that wasn't waterproofed either, so in high production / low cost items like that they try to drive their cost down and every penny adds up.

I looked at ceramics, not sold on them. Was looking at full ceramics and then hybrids for the wheels. Full ceramics are very fragile, the races will eventually break since they're made of ceramic. The hybrids look neat, but you still have Stainless races which again can get corrosion if they have high enough carbon count in the steel. The only place I found where I might run ceramics would be in the motor and if I did I'd run full ceramics. But at the cost of these ceramic bearings I'll just replace the cheap bearings if they ever do go and try to keep straying wd-40 in there when I do play in the water.

I'm also done buying expensive "precision" bearings for my wheels. I had one bearing blow apart on my way to work, let the company know it self destructed and they said I need to lube it every 6 hours of riding. Well I didn't have 6 hours of riding, possibly a couple. So $40 out the door.... We don't need that level of precision at the rate of rotation our wheels spin, so now I just go and buy ABEC 9 rated bearings for about $6 / for 16 and throw them away / replace whenever they squeak or fail and never lube them. I also carry an extra couple of bearings with me and the skate tool in case one decides to go south during the ride.