Evolve Bamboo GTX Electric Skateboard Announced

Hotdognz · Jun 18, 2017

Im heading down to Evolve HQ tomorrow to get the firmware upgrade, ill report back on the safe mode once I have asked some questions about it and then used it, also thank god the reverse has been removed.

Alex · Jun 18, 2017

Alex · Jun 18, 2017

GTX FEATURES

Some of the features of the GTX include:

+ Deck material: 7 ply Canadian maple hardwood and 2 ply bamboo vertically laminated deck with W concave and drop down style for low profile riding, comfort and pop! There is a good amount of flex for maximum control at all speeds and the deck shape locks in the riders feet whilst riding.

+ Deck length: 38"/96cm

+ Deck wheelbase: 29"/73cm

+ Trucks: Black GT Super carve 306mm/12inch width.

+ Wheels: Evolve 7” All terrain wheels for the All Terrain GTX board. Also compatible with the GTX board with the Street setup (available separately) is the black Evolve GT 97mm 76A, Loaded Longboard 80mm Kegels and Abec 11 flywheels (83mm, 90mm and 97mm).

+ Motors: Gold plated 3000 watt high performance custom made sensored dual brush out-runner motors.

+ Bearings: Abec 9 Evolve Speedballs precision bearings.

+ Battery: Custom designed 36 volt 10AH Lithium Ion.

+ Recharge: Approx. 4-5 hours with standard charger (Optional fast charger 2.5hrs).

+ Weight: 8.8 Street GTX and 9.8kg All Terrain GTX.

+ Range: Up to 50km/31miles on the Street GTX. Up to 30km/18.5miles on the All terrain GTX. Varies depending on rider weight, terrain and riding style.

+ Top Speed: Approx. 42kph/26mph on the street GTX and Approx. 35-41kph/22-25mph on the All Terrain GTX depending on wheel size. Speeds may vary depending on rider weight and terrain..

+ Regenerative Braking: ABS firm & smooth braking providing power back into the battery with maximum control over speed. Has the ability to bring you to a complete stop if required.

+ Noise: Minimal noise

+ Acceleration: Smooth stepless acceleration from slow to top speed.

+ Remote: Digital LCD screen remote with speed indicator, trip function, 4 speed settings, Battery display, wheel and gear settings and diagnosis screen.

+ Max Load: 100 kg / 220 lbs.

+ Terrain: Any hard or compact surface ie tarmac, bitumen, concrete, short grass, dirt, uneven and poor terrain surfaces.

+ Slides: No, unless on gravel or grass surfaces.

+ Hills: Up to 25% gradient in GT mode (insanely STEEP!).

REMOTE UPDATE
The GTX ships with the evolve LCD screen remote, featuring the new firmware update. This includes:

+ Auto Safe mode - if the board and remote have any signal disturbance or data processing glitch, the board will switch to Auto Safe mode and have a gradual brake and acceleration setting which can then be exited by pressing the speed mode button to resume previous speed setting

+ 5 % Auto Battery protection - if your battery drops under 5% your board will automatically go into ECO Mode once you let the trigger go

+ Removal of the reverse function

+ Screen freeze and data processing enhancement between remote and motor controller

+ Font improvements - makes it s a little prettier

This firmware update will be installed in all new GT boards leaving the factory AND will be available to ALL CURRENT GT owners. Please contact your closest distributor for details.

feannorr · Jun 18, 2017

Oats said: ↑

how do you think the range will compare between the GTX and the LHB battery mod? I'm seriously considering getting the GTX and would like to know if you guys have any idea if the GTX or the bamboo GT LHB mod will have longer lasting battery
Click to expand...

The battery is reported to be the same as the Carbon battery - which uses lower quality cells to LHB......

If that is true it would mean it would suffer from voltage sag more than LHB, therefore LHB battery would be better, and should have longer more reliable range. I would wait for a comprehensive review, but would love to see inside the GTX to see how they have fitted the battery - perhaps hollowed out using same technique as LHB.....

Teitanblood · Jun 18, 2017

The deck seems to be exactly the same than the Bamboo GT. Does it mean that the GTX battery could fit in the GT battery enclosure? If not, an easy modification will do the trick or am I wrong?

Evgin78 · Jun 18, 2017

Teitanblood said: ↑

The deck seems to be exactly the same than the Bamboo GT. Does it mean that the GTX battery could fit in the GT battery enclosure? If not, an easy modification will do the trick or am I wrong?
Click to expand...

I would suspect it's thicker battery and they would have to route the deck to create additional space, and move BMS above control board (if they using cells from carbon gt). Since deck becomes thinner which explains why gtx deck has more flex.

Alex · Jun 19, 2017

Interesting take, we need someone to take the battery cover off so we can see what's really going on in the guts.

Teitanblood · Jun 19, 2017

Evgin78 said: ↑

I would suspect it's thicker battery and they would have to route the deck to create additional space, and move BMS above control board (if they using cells from carbon gt). Since deck becomes thinner which explains why gtx deck has more flex.
Click to expand...

You're probably right, it makes sense. Maybe we can buy the deck too together with the battery? I have no idea about the price of the deck only or if it is even buyable...

azmtbiker · Jun 20, 2017

What wheel set up should I buy? I am trying to decide between getting AT/Street combo or just getting AT. If they didnt have the new 97mm wheels I would just get the AT only setup. With the 97mm wheels, I am considering both, but I dont want to get the street set up if I am just going to only run the AT wheels for increased comfort.

Right now I am leaning towards just getting AT set up unless people think I need to get the 97mms also. I have read about alot of people getting both wheels setups before and never using the street wheels at all. But that was also before they had these new 97s.

Thanks

Evgin78 · Jun 20, 2017

I personally prefer AT. It's safer too. I've got mine with 97mm abec11, but after trying AT never return street setup back. 6 months later sold them.
When I ride at night and I never had to worry about uneven joints on concrete pavement or driveways. It just eats them. I overtake people on the grass. Plus love riding bushwalk trails.
However on nice surface 97mm feels like a different board altogether- it's very cool.
I don't ride on the road so street setup isn't practical for me at all. Plus swapping AT and Street all the time is pain in the b.. so I can't be bothered.
I hope it helps.
Cheers

samjadelaide · Jun 21, 2017

Hi guys, this is now updated and polished over on my website.

samjadelaide.com said:

EVOLVE GTX RELEASE BREAK-DOWN
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.
After building the social media hype for over a week, Evolve finally launched its new board. Dubbed the GTX, this board is essentially the demon love child between a Bamboo GT and a Carbon GT. It’s honestly something the consumer has been crying out for, and now we have it! No longer will Evolve customers have to choose between the range of Carbon GT or the “feel” of the Bamboo GT. With the GTX they have the best of both worlds!

While there are some impressive little upgrades and improvements, it’s not all peaches and cream. There are known inherent problems with the boards that are still to be addressed. Here I break down the good, the bad and the ugly of the new Evolve GTX.

THE GOOD

Flex – Any rider who uses their board for daily commuting, cruising and carving knows the joys of flex. Not only is it a crazy amount of fun to sink into a carve, that feeling of “biting” into the road that you just don’t get from a stiff deck; a flexy deck also absorbs the imperfections of the road. Flex acts as a dampener and a mild form of suspension. The Bamboo GT deck certainly flexes, but not as much as say a Boosted or even the Evolve Gen2 Bustin’ Series Bamboo (which is still an amazing board). The fact that Evolve have put the work in here to produce a flexier deck is going to produce an even more comfortable ride that carves better than any Evolve board before it.

The battery/range – This is the one we’ve all been waiting for! A bamboo board with the carbon size battery!

The most comfortable commuting set-up in the Evolve family is a Bamboo GT on an all-terrain (AT) set-up. The only problem with this set-up is that you’re generally not getting very far on it! The smaller battery on the Bamboo GT (compared with the Carbon GT), coupled with the decrease in range you inherently get from an AT set-up, as well as the dreaded battery sag (ECO drop) meant this set-up was only good for a short distance. This was a huge annoyance to many as the best commuting commuting set-up also happened to be the set-up that produced the least amount of range. What the?

Evolve have responded. The GTX comes with the same larger battery found on the Carbon GT. This means a 50km range in “ideal conditions”, much like the Carbon GT.

This is by far the best feature of the GTX and has redeemed the release of this model. If it was just a facelift to the Bamboo GT (which it looked like it was going to be for a while), then the GTX would have been a pointless exercise. By adding this feature Evolve now have a suite of boards with different specs, price points and capabilities. Credit where credit is due, this is good business.

Remote firmware – Reverse is gone! This is arguably a good thing. Most (I say most) people don’t use it and many people were slipping into reverse by mistake, which caused a lot of injuries. Reverse has now been replaced by a SAFE mode, which detects any irregularities in remote to board connection and won’t allow any rider adjustments (mode shifts etc.) whilst the remote is in SAFE mode. This too will prevent many of the problems (many leading to injury) people have been having with syncing, drop outs and unexpected board behavior.

The dreaded ECO drop feature has also been further dialed back to 5% on all new remotes. This coupled with the larger battery makes the GTX infinitely more enjoyable to ride for much longer, I’m sure.

The change in font is neither here nor there.

Larger wheels – Bigger wheels equals a higher top speed. While this is awesome it was going to come at a cost of range unless Evolve either improved or upsized the battery, which they did indeed do. If they hadn’t upsized the battery I honestly would have listed larger wheels under BAD. If they kept the same Bamboo GT battery and also failed to do anything about the ECO drop situation, larger wheels would just be another hit to the range of the already short-changed Bamboo GT, but alas, they’ve taken care of both the battery and the ECO drop, making larger wheels another plus for the GTX.

A higher top speed, more clearance and more urethane between you and the road, again making for a more comfortable ride.

THE BAD

Same motors – The generic motors used across the Evolve range are plagued by issues. The motors on the GTX appear to be exactly the same 2x 1500w (3000w total) motors used by the regular GT’s, just gold instead of black. This means the same failure and replacement rate will apply to the GTX as it has to the GT’s.

Some people have been lucky in the motor department, but for a lot of people their boards spend more time on the shelf waiting for replacement motors than they do on the street.

Same battery cells – Although a bigger battery is a good thing, Evolve battery packs are made up of average quality, generic cells, which is what led to the ECO drop fiasco in the first place.

If you’ve ever seen ‘MAINTAIN BAT!’ pop up on your LCD screen, this is due to one or more of these average quality cells dying in the arse, requiring your entire board be shipped back to your Evolve distributor. With no improvement in cell quality, it appears as if the same problems may be destined to plague the GTX.

Wheel quality – When you’ve got the battery power/range to play with a bigger wheel is awesome! For a long time the ABEC11 97mm Flywheels have been the go to wheel for people looking to upgrade in this area. Evolve are trying to get a slice of this pie by offering their own 97mm wheel. However, Evolve’s attempt at developing their own 83mm (stock GT) wheel has been hampered by chipping and flaking issues. This is due to the cheap quality urethane used compared to the tried and proven formulas of Orangatang and ABEC11. Only time will tell if Evolve have fixed their formula in order to produce a better quality wheel, but hopes aren’t high for this one.

Having the wheels stone ground is also an interesting choice. This process is usually done to longboard wheels to make them slide easier, but it is usually done to smaller, harder wheels. Stone grinding big, soft wheels usually designed for grip is a bit unorthodox.

No environment sealing – This is just a missed opportunity. Look at any other premium board released in maybe the last 6-months. All have some level of environment sealing. Evolve need to get on this train fast or be left behind.

Same remote – This is personal preference. I have less of an issue with the Evolve remote than most, but a bulk of the community have been screaming for a redesign. The main issues appear to be with trigger sensitivity and lack of a dead man switch. There appears to be no improvements in the area with the GTX.

No real fix to syncing, drop out and multiple connection issues – The new SAFE mode, while progress and a great initiative, is a break-fix. There is a much larger and very real problem with Evolve’s board to remote syncing and many drop out issues. This tends to affect more later batch boards than earlier batch ones, but as the GTX is obviously a new board, it is likely to be plagued by these problems also.

With no real solution offered here, the problems encountered by many community groups on their group rides will still be present. The “sync circle” process must go on!

Cannot do firmware update from home - The micro USB port on the remote is configured for power only, not data. This is why we have to keep sending remotes back to Evolve for firmware updates. This is a massive oversight and is seeing a huge wastage of money on postage for both Evolve and customers.

Still no (real) app - A lot of boards in the budget range have these now. There's not really an excuse for a premium product not to offer a partnering app that connects to the board.

Deck length – A faster board needs to be a more stable board. The GTX can also go further in terms of range. You need to be stable, secure and comfortable on a board like this. Bumping the deck up to 40 inches would have been ideal to allow for a wider, more comfortable and more stable stance. Not a big deal, just a missed opportunity.

There’s also room here to renege a little on my previous comments regarding flex. If we're being honest a faster board needs a stiffer deck. If you're anything like me though you'll still count a flexier deck as a win. The trade off is you need to know how to handle flex at higher speeds and/or how to adjust bushings to suit your style and intended use.

A high speed board with a highly flexible deck and a community of riders who tend to just “go for it” straight out of the box... Well, if people couldn’t handle their speed wobbles before… Watch this space!

Grip tape – Meh. Grip tape is grip tape. Many will say this is an improvement over the grip spray applied to the Bamboo GT. I guess it is. My point is whether its grip tape or grip spray, everything has to be replaced. The grip spray was easy to recoat and/or equally as easy to sand back and replace with your own custom design. The new grip tape design on the GTX is bound to peel fairly quickly with all of the individual pieces, like the Evolve ‘E’ being open to abuse.

The design itself looks great, don’t get me wrong. But it’s a lot of work gone into something temporary and something many people are going to replace almost just as quickly as they get their board.

THE UGLY

Gold – Why? For me the addition of gold makes the board a poser’s board. It’s unnecessary, adds nothing to the board and honestly just takes what should be a stealth board and turns it into something ostentatious and flamboyant.

The gold motors are like beacons. Cops who would otherwise turn a blind eye or not even realise that your board is electric will now be all over you like a fat kid on a cup cake! Then there’s the added appeal to thieves as well as a general drop in street cred. Rolling around on gold motors isn’t going to get you much other than weird looks from people wondering what kind of carrot you’ve got stuck up your arse. It's the esk8 equivalent of chrome spinning rims!

The motors themselves are still positioned in traditional GT configuration, which also means they’re going to cop the same amount of abuse and scratching as regular GT motors. That pretty gold finish probably ain’t gonna last too long and what you’ll be left with is something pretty horrid looking.

If Evolve had dropped the gold and just kept the black this list wouldn’t even have an UGLY category – that’s how close they were. At the end of the day aesthetics is a matter of opinion and this is just mine. Yours might be different, and that’s okay too.

SUMMARY

All in all you have to consider this the ‘S’ line board similar to Apple's business model. Hopefully the next full model release (GT2?) will address the BAD items once and for all. When that day comes I'll happily part with my cash, but not until then.

In the meantime many riders can finally get their hands on their dream board, a Bamboo GT with Carbon GT range, and for now that’s nothing to sneeze at!

For existing GT riders you can get your hands on Evolve's 97mm wheels and upgrade your remote to the latest firmware.

Preorders for the GTX start on 23rd June at 10am on the Evolve Skateboards website.
Click to expand...

Evolve GTX Release Break-Down

Maybe check out some of the other posts while you're over there too. Samuel James

longhairedboy · Jun 21, 2017

31 miles out of a 360 watt hour pack seems optimistic at best and figments of marketing imagination at worst under normal riding conditions, even with the large wheels.

Davem · Jun 21, 2017

I would sure like to upgrade my bamboo to a 2000 watt motor.It seems some of us early customers should have that option.

Evgin78 · Jun 22, 2017

longhairedboy said: ↑

31 miles out of a 360 watt hour pack seems optimistic at best and figments of marketing imagination at worst under normal riding conditions, even with the large wheels.
Click to expand...

I have carbon gt with same battery- could never achieve claimed range.

Evgin78 · Jun 22, 2017

Davem said: ↑

I would sure like to upgrade my bamboo to a 2000 watt motor.It seems some of us early customers should have that option.
Click to expand...

2000W motors are bigger and won't fit on that setup.

owarmor · Jun 22, 2017

wasn't the pre order for usa supposed to start today?

DreJ · Jun 22, 2017

Yanzo said: ↑

I want to know what batteries they're using, and how many mm bigger the battery box is compared to the old one. So pumped I'm definitely pre ordering. This is how happy I am right now. View attachment 2451
Click to expand...

When is it out for preorder??

owarmor · Jun 22, 2017

DreJ said: ↑

When is it out for preorder??
Click to expand...

I thought today in the us.....

oskuro · Jun 22, 2017

I think it´s 10:00 AM Australia, which I think... should be in 5hours and 50 mins???

Do you think that for preorder you have to pay something like "100$" to preorder it, same as with Boosted Board, or the $1770 that it costs?

m3monkey · Jun 22, 2017

preorder for US is today at noon PST.

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Evolve Bamboo GTX Electric Skateboard Announced

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