Evolve skateboards just released a new board this 14 april 2017. It's called the Bamboo ONE and is apparently aimed toward electric skateboard noobs, those who can't afford their super pricey Bamboo GT.
But was that a good move from Evolve? I think not.
A bit of history
They all started with the Snubnose which was a decent first board at the time. Then they released the Bamboo & Carbon boards which where an incredible improvement. Unbelievable range for a fraction of the price of a Boosted board (which where the most popular board at the time). There was also all-terrain versions of those boards ! It all seamed good on paper. I decided to buy their board. Then I began to see how poorly constructed they where. I wrote an article bringing to light all the huge problems I faced with their board, from electronics wire not properly soldered, to motor plate breaking in half while riding...
Then their ego started to inflate I think. They released their all so powerful GT boards. The fastest ! Two motors ! Incredible range !... But what I keep seing when I look at those boards is the same old hardware used on my poorly made board. Their drive gears are still made of plastic, they will still worn too quickly. You still can't rest the board vertically on the ground without scratching your precious motors. It's still not waterproof. No more features are added except better performances and black paint over everything to make it look different. This happens while other companies are releasing awesome water resistant skateboards with integrated lights, interchangeable batteries, hub motors, etc. I can't help to see Evolve as a company that has stopped evolving (pun not intended). I feel like they rest on their success and tries to make as much profits while they can.
...
The cherry on top was the recent release of the Bamboo ONE. The climax of shame. They basically took their Bamboo GT board and removed a motor. That's it. They didn't even took the time to make a new battery/components casing, you can still see the hole of the missing motor wires :
Why you did that Evolve ? Why can't you just spend time improving the quality of your boards to make them more usable and safer for your customers instead of trying to maximize profits by targeting all slices of the market ? I don't want to put my life in the hands of a company that follow the laws of "minimal efforts".
A friend of mine had a boosted board before I had my evolve board and he is the most risky guy I know. He could throw his board on rocks from a building and he would not care. But guess what, this guy never had problems with his board (beside broken timing belts, which should be the only part that may broke with extended use). I'm 10 times more cautious than he is with my Evolve board but still, I faced all the problems you could imagine.
You had my trust before, Evolve. But now it's slowly fading away.
