So I recently got married and we went from having two cars to having just one car, and
since I've always wanted an electric skateboard I figured this would be the perfect time because
we live within five kilometers of my work and buying a second car seemed a bit unnecessary.
So for the past month I've been skating to work every day and this video is about my experience.
So to give you a bit of background I've skated casually for around six years and that mainly has
just consisted of cruising around on a Penny board. I've never really learned any tricks
or anything like that. I do own a regular skateboard but up until recently I'd never really
ridden it because I found it just a bit more difficult than the cruising on the Penny board.
So the extent of my skateboarding when I got the electric board was fairly limited but I thought
it would kind of just be a bit of a step up from cruising around on my Penny board, and to a degree
I was right but I don't think I was fully prepared for just how fast the electric board goes.
I got an Eway Flex Riot which tops out at about 40 kilometers an hour on flat ground. It can go even
faster than that downhill and let me tell you that feels extremely fast when you're not inside a car.
So it took me a couple of weeks to really get used to the board but since then I've absolutely been
loving commuting on it. So I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on my three favorite things
about riding an electric skateboard to work and my three least favorite things about riding an
electric skateboard to work. So first of all, my favorite thing about riding an electric skateboard
to work is not having to worry about parking. At my work there's no on-site parking unless you've
worked there for a long time which I haven't really, so I always have to find street parking
and usually the best street parking is about a five minute walk away from work and so just
being able to go from door to door without having to worry about finding any parking;
I can just take my skateboard straight up into the office and not have to worry about it.
It's the best! And I've found the same thing to be true when I'm just out and about visiting friends
or catching up with them at cafes. I can just ride my skateboard right up and don't have to worry
about finding a park and I can just leave my skateboard next to me in the cafe and
it's super easy. So another really good thing about riding an electric skateboard to work
is how much quicker it is than driving a car. So even though I live less than five kilometers from
my work during peak hour (so around 9am and 5pm) it can take about 30 minutes to get door-to-door
from home to work in a car; and that includes parking time and all that kind of thing. But on my
skateboard I can zip straight past the traffic in the bike lane which is really great and I can get
from door to door in about 10 minutes. This means that I don't have to leave for work as early and I
can also be home earlier which is great. Of course I have to be a bit extra careful when I'm riding
through peak our traffic because obviously there's more cars. Which means riding in peak hour isn't
usually as relaxing as just cruising around say a park or during non-peak hours because you have to
really be concentrating the whole time. But to me it's totally worth it for the time savings. So the
third reason why I love electric skateboarding to work is just the fact that it's heaps of fun
and I love getting a bit of fresh air. I've actually found that riding on the road is
part of the fun of riding an electric skateboard. Like when I've gone to just a park for example and
ridden around on the footpaths there's something not quite as exciting because you don't have to,
you know, dodge the traffic or avoid obstacles. Of course, sometimes I love to just go along the
beach on the bike path which is a lot more relaxed and not have to worry about obstacles, but there
is just something really fun about the challenge of navigating all the obstacles on an open road.
Plus it's winter here in Melbourne, so it's pretty cold
and some people might see that as a negative but I actually quite like the cold and so
first thing in the morning it's kind of nice to get a blast of cold fresh air in the morning.
Definitely wakes you up and gets you ready for the day. Nice and fresh this morning that's for sure!
So straight up the worst thing about riding an electric skateboard to work is when it rains.
And this is basically because you can't ride when it's wet. First of all skateboards of all types
are just notoriously slippery when it's wet. I've slipped out several times just going fairly slow
on wet ground and so it just increases that risk factor just to a point where it's kind
of unreasonable to me. Especially when you're riding through traffic and that sort of thing.
Secondly, my skateboard is splash-proof but it's not completely waterproof and so I don't want to
ruin my skateboard just yet. So I generally avoid getting it too wet if I can. So if I
ride to work for example, and then by the time I'm ready to go home it's raining, I usually have to
catch the tram home. Which isn't the worst thing in the world but to me it kind of defeats the
purpose of riding the skateboard, because you're not saving money and you're not saving time. So,
the second-worst thing about riding an electric skateboard to me is having to maintain the belts.
Now not all electric skateboards have belts like mine but the ones that do definitely seem
to attract a lot of stones within the belts. So when you're riding along it'll just naturally kick
up stones and sometimes these will get caught in the belt and it just starts to make really weird
noises and it wears out your belts pretty quick. So you have to clean them out fairly regularly.
It's particularly annoying when I forget to check my belts the day before and I go to head out and
I realize there's stones in the belt. So I have to pull it all apart and clean the belts out and it's
just a bit inconvenient. Luckily, usually it takes about five to ten minutes max so it's not too bad
and it's probably my own fault for not checking my belts the day before. Plus I have had one belt
break on me, which is pretty inconvenient because I had to get my wife to come and pick me up from
about 20 25 minutes away. But I don't think that happens too often. And the last thing that I find
a bit inconvenient about electric skateboarding is remembering to charge it. And to be honest,
this isn't really a big problem because it's my own fault for being lazy and not wanting to plug
it in when I get home but it is pretty frustrating when I go to head out somewhere and I realize that
my boards only on a like 50% charge and I can't really ride it to where I want to go and back.
But really that's my own problem and my own laziness and not really an issue of the board
itself. So yeah, in summary, I really love riding my electric skateboard to work. Let me know in the
comments if you have an electric skateboard; do you commute to work? Are you thinking about
getting an electric skateboard to commute to work? If your work's not too far away and you
feel like you can confidently ride a skateboard through traffic then I highly recommend electric
skateboarding. They're heaps of fun, they save time and money and they help you to experience
your city or location in a bit of a different way to just driving around. And don't forget if
you're interested in more tech-related content then be sure to check out my tech playlist.
Other than that I hope you have an amazing day and I'll see you very soon in the next video.