Originally published at: Ditch the daily car commute with the Black Rover electric skateboard, now 19% off | Boing Boing
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At that price you might as well spend a little more and get an ebike, and be able to carry stuff.
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What if you don’t want a bicycle?
Then, fine, we will all point and laugh at the hipster. But $600 for a skateboard seems like a poor transportation value.
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Depends on your needs and the way you interact with your environment. In my experience, a skateboard is a much better transportation option than a bike in urban environmemts. You may have different needs, in which case, rock on.
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Nice but I can’t imagine commuting 40 miles on one.
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Nor can I!
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Spend much less money and get yourself a longboard (non-motorized) or cruiser?
What if you want a powered board?
I can’t imagine doing even 7 miles. Especially once the snow starts to fly. 
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I commute every day on one. The big bonus is that I can cary it into my office and not worry about it being stolen.
Call me a hipster and laugh all you want l, but I get to train my muscles for the ever shorter snowboarding season year round. I don’t have to deal with traffic and I cut my commute vs train in half. The other big perks are that I can take it on the train without the dirty looks people get and deserve when they bring their bikes into a crowded car. Or hop into a shared ride with zero problem and saves me about $300/ month in parking. Bonus points my board has a top speed of about 50mph so I can beat out and ebike. My range is about 30 miles.
So what’s the problem? You just don’t like skateboards?
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Is it any easier to ride in the snow or rain with a bicycle?
The biggest problems seem to be spacing between spiked tires and fenders. And you might as well walk if it’s a deep snow. Also road salt is terrible on small bike components, chains, cables, and electric connections – use lube, often, and get a nickel plated chain.
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LOL I used to ride spikes during the winter. I should have been more clear though. I was trying to point that if you ride in the rain on a bike you get wet. Ride in snow you’re freezing. You’re right, ice and snow are murder on hardware.
Board and bike have the same problems. Neither is great in inclement weather despite the fact that they may be “fortified”. My boards are composite and do have knobby tire options that technically work in the snow pretty well, but I wouldn’t bother. Although I do ride some sunny days during the winter, but wet is really unpleasant no matter how ya slice it.
That’s why it’s nice to be able to carry my board with moderate discretion on a train or shared ride when the rain creeps up on ya.
- edits for clarification
Seems kind of childish to point and laugh at someone just because they enjoy using a different form of transportation than you do.
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Understood. Heated gloves are great for winter. I’ve found the rain part to be trickier, it’s a much more difficult to get gear that keeps you dry while not trapping perspiration.
Heated gloves are awesome, cold in general you can generally just layer up, but heavy rain is hard to mitigate and even a bit dangerous if you ride the roads with cars. A light/ moderate shower is fine, but as the saying goes “when it rains…”
I rode my bike for a solid year, every day, just to see “how it’s done” and those heavy rain days were the hardest. I hate that sweating inside of a tent feeling also, even if I was relatively dry at the end. I feel like I spent a ton of money trying different gear that year. LOL
So I figured, take the train on days it rains and grab my short range/ waterproof board to ride that last mile I would normally have to walk. I could do the same with my bike, but other passengers don’t seem to appreciate the bike on the train even though they are now “recently” permitted. Lots of shade thrown at bikers on the train. Understandable, the cars are crowded. I’d take my car but I hate commuting in my car because it’s a waste and I hate paying for parking at $15/ day.
Otherwise I bike or board to/ from work. I bike for the cardio, but I like to board because it helps with snow boarding muscle memory and you get to work a lot less sweaty than a good bike run.
I do a bunch of “sport specific” exercises on a balance board with kettle bells and free weights so I’m ready for the snow season and not re-training as I’m boarding. I enjoy many more runs in a day now than in the past and I can “go much bigger” than before.
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