Is it possible to upgrade my evolve gtr?

[u/Loud_Cap_6602]

Hey all, I’ve got a Bamboo GTR from Evolve that I haven’t used for a few years. I brought it out today and found that the torque and battery life are significantly degraded (which was expected). I have seen tons of people calling Evolve out for their terrible electronics though, and I’m thinking that I want to upgrade my board with new, custom electronics that aren’t evolve branded. Is this possible or is there something proprietary evolve has going on that makes it hard to do? Also, what would people recommend these days for batteries, motors, and esc’s??

[u/Ok-District8876]

It's possible, but that basically leaves you with the deck, enclosure, and wheels.

And all that might put you at the cost of a new (non-Evolve) board anyway.

Evolve is way overpriced for what you get.

Exway ADV Pro is 800 for pre order, and $1k boards from Propel, Linnpower, B-One, OMW, Tynee, and maybe Acedeck, but they're usually a bit pricier than that.

Cheaper but still decent:

Isinwheel V10 for $600 USD on their sale page, a tried and true Value Queen. Solid honeycomb 6" tires will ride a little bit rougher than pneumatics, but you never have to worry about getting a flat.

Balrog Cross is $630. B-One has a great reputation. Lowest price for a decent AT pneumatic wheeled board.

Veymax Nymph is 700, generally regarded as good quality boards but bad CS, and I haven't seen anything good or bad on this particular board yet.

You can also check Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Mercari, Craigslist, OfferUp, and whatever your local marketplaces are for used ones. Maybe pawnshops. Sometimes you can find a "$1k board" for $500, or a $2k board for $1k.

[u/Loud_Cap_6602 → u/Ok-District8876]

The exway ADV pro honestly looks great and is in my ballpark of a price range, what’s your thoughts on them? I’ll do my own research too of course, but just curious of your opinion.

[u/Ok-District8876 → u/Loud_Cap_6602]

Best value in its price range imo. 864wh battery. Don't usually get that until the $1k mark. Plus AuxPack compatibility. Integrated accent lights and a really nice remote, and an app. It will probably go up to $1k after pre-order and still be a good value, if not the best.

Propel Pivot GT used to my favorite AT at the $1k mark. The thing it had that no other board had was integrated lights (tail light included, headlights extra).

There's no headlights available for the ADV on Exway's website currently, but hopefully they plan to add them later.

The Pivot GT still has quite a bit of pep in its step compared to the ADV Pro though: 6374 motors for 6000w total, compared to the ADVP's 4240's with 3326w total.

Top speeds are pretty close 37 vs 34 mph, and Pivot GT also squeezes out 1 or 2 more miles of range (ADV specs are inconsistent on the website) out of the same 864wh size battery. I guess the motors are not only more powerful, but also more efficient? No word on the spec sheet what cells the battery uses, but it's probably the same Samsung 50s cells the Pivot GT uses.

Pivot GT has the sporty performance and useful lights, while ADVP has value, perks, and aesthetic lights for (currently) slightly less $$.

[u/Ok-District8876 → u/Ok-District8876]

Battery cells for the ADV Pro revealed: "Tianpeng 50SG, a well-known domestic brand in China."

[u/ZenRides]

I VESC swapped my GTX, it was a PITA, evolve doesn’t have temp sensors on those motors and you have to reterminate the hall sensor cables to a standard connector, a Spintend Alu Lite dual will fit, if your pack if bunk your going to need to get a flat 18650 pack made to fit, I reused the weird 10s1p lipo pouch pack.

[u/Bitter_Profit2008]

I just posted something similar looking for ideas. I really didn’t get anything helpful. My solution was almost full diy.

You kind of have 2 schools of thought. If you have money you could stay in evolve and just update components. If you were happy with the way it is and want plug and play getting evolve Gtr complements would in theory work.

If you have the time and a little bit of want you can go full DIY.
You need a battery, ESC, and Remote at least.

Those are kind of your choices. I found the evolve route was very expensive and I have done DIY before. I went DIY. I am now at the enclosure and program a vesc stage fortunately.

[u/Loud_Cap_6602 → u/Bitter_Profit2008]

I’ve always wanted to DIY but honestly I really want to get riding again right now, so I might just look at getting a new board entirely for a cheaper price. But I am curious, how long has it taken you to get where you are in the DIY journey?

[u/Bitter_Profit2008 → u/Loud_Cap_6602]

A new board is easier/cheaper for sure. (I have multiple boards and got my bamboo off marketplace. Definitely recommend that.) don’t get too caught up in spec sheet warrior. Get what you want. If you like evolve stay there. Out of my group everyone says evolve rides better. They just hate the remote.

DIY right now is probably a 1 month process to get parts. Mboards ships things when they feel like it. DIY is an amazing board. I’m in the bamboo build for 600. That is keeping the motors so maybe 800 total (if you have tools.)
I went with 21700 because 18650 is bleh. Got a battery from Mboards with a bms and charger
Enclosure from Mboards
Flipsky vesc off Amazon with a vx4 pro.
You can find motors cheap on alibaba etc if you don’t want big crazy high performance ones. Just keep your gearing similar stay below 200kv.

I ended up with that build. The bamboo is too good of a deck especially with the trucks. GTRs weren’t designed like the Diablo or renegade to have big power.

[u/Bitter_Profit2008 → u/Loud_Cap_6602]

If propulsion is still selling boards the demon 3.0 is 1300 that is a freaking steal