Customers Backfire Journey

My love for downhill skateboarding started in 2000 when I used to piece together regular skateboards with oversized longboard wheels and bombing local hills. In high school, things got more serious when I bought myself a Sector 9 Trilamina for $160 and was using my vehicle as a "chair lift" to the tops of the hills and let my friend drive behind me.

 I was always interested in anything motorized since as far as I can remember. As PEVs turned more electric my interest grew in electric skateboards. In 2017, I purchased my first electric skateboard at Costco. It was a Liftboard single motor benchwheel board with absolutely no flex as the battery ran the entire length of it. Powering it was a single 900W motor with small 3M belts. I ran that board nearly every day for 3 years averaging 5 to 6 miles as the range had an abysmal 7-mile real-world range and 18mph top speed which wasn't too bad for its class. But just after 3 years, the company was non-existent. 

After doing months of research, I came across Backfire and after hearing about their customer service I was convinced. Besides quality, customer service was just as important and that's what sold me on Backfire. I chose the Zealot because I already was familiar with belt driven boards, and I loved the idea of being able to swap wheels at any time. I first received my Zealot in November 2020 during the Black Friday sale for $549 and it was beautiful. After that it was ON! I put 650 miles on in the first 3 months and stocked up on gear/lights to continue into the night. After 6 months of getting used to the board, I decided to upgrade to Riptide pivot cups and Orangutang Nipples bushings for more stability at higher speeds. Unfortunately, after 8 months and 1850 miles, the battery failed and being just out of warranty, at the time was 6 months, I had no choice but to purchase a new battery. After that I had some pretty strict rules on battery maintenance.

•Charge for minimum of 4 hours no longer than 8.
•Wait until charging brick is cold.
•A fan helps keep brick cool during charge.
•Best range right after charge.
•Do not leave at 100% for more than 36 hours.
•Never run past 10% battery.
•Charge the remote every other ride.

With the new battery pack, I was back to averaging 8.8 miles per day and reached 3213 miles in exactly one year of ownership. In May, at the 5000-mile mark, one of my motors failed so I replaced the rear truck setup altogether as the rest of it had some age on it and was more cost-effective.