200 mile review of Racestar 200KV motors for Evolve...

So as many of you know I did a 34 mile trip to DC on my skateboard using the original 150kv motors that came with the board. If you guys would like any tips and tricks on how to get maximum range from you're board I'd be happy to tell you how I did it.

I want to say about a week or two after that one of my motors did a smoke show and completely stopped working. The entire motor smells burnt. Luckily I had 200kv Racestars delivered that very same day. Went ahead and pulled the gears off and put the Racestars on. The speed increase was INSANE and for a while I left them with the stock gearing (32T). While the speed increase was nice, every other category in terms of performance diminished substantially. Braking was little to none which eventually led to a near accident. Going above 26+mph and not being able to stop on a dime was legit scary.

So I started reaching out to the community and began doing research on different gearing options. I settled on a guy in Europe that 3D prints the gears himself and bought the 44T. Quite a substantial upgrade to the board, the board did have more of an acceleration punch, lower overall top speed and better braking but still wasn't like it was stock with the 150Kv motors.

I did try another 17.4 mile trip as I did last time. With the 150kv motors I had about 58% battery left. With the 200kv..not even close....I was at 20 ish % by the time I arrived at my destination. Plus another worrying issue arose. The heatsink in the battery cover was HOT. Too hot to touch in fact. I began to worry if the increased amperage if the 200kv motors produce had melted my ESC. So I waited ever impatiently for it to cool down and get a charge so I could go home. I was hoping with the 44T gears that because the motors weren't doing a complete revolution as fast as the 32T gears that maybe the motors wouldn't have to work as hard and the heatsink would be a little cooler. Theoretically I'm guessing there was a bit less work for the motors to do but so small that it can't be measured.

So to recap...

200kv motors

Pros: absolutely better top speed

Cons: Terrible breaking, loss of acceleration, a 38% loss of range( for the 17.4 mile trip ) and heatsink and motor heat.

All for maybe 4 to 6mph increase in top speed?? To me, after 200miles of running these motors the cons of running them simply outweighed the pros. I regret not coming to this conclusion earlier .

So I have since downgraded back to the 150kv. Luckily still had the other good motor and bought a new one and also went from the 44T to Skate Kastle's 36T thats made of aircraft grade aluminum. Still waiting for the 36Ts to come in. It hasn't been long. Review coming

Now I wouldn't say I would not recommend the 200kv for a rider. In fact I would with a few conditions. If you are solely deciding on getting the 200kv and not doing any gearing changes, my hope is you are in an area thats more suburban and less cars and traffic, actually I take that back, even with gearing changes.. the loss of breaking when combining the 200kv and the stock 32T or higher gears is substantial and you'll need time to understand the braking characteristics and having to brake much earlier than you usually would. Combine that with the increase in top speed and you could get yourself in a dangerous possibly life changing situation. Second this if range isn't an issue for you. If you don't care about range and instead want to do a short 10 mile trip and back, as long as you aren't in GT/GTR mode and you aren't absolutely dogging the throttle you'll get there with the 200kv.

If you want more top speed but still keep similar range and braking. Consider board bumpers 23T gear upgrade option. Nearly gets you to the same top speed as the 200kv.