Meepo Bamboo Hurricane Ultra | Gear Drive | Tubeless Wheels | Electric Skateboard Review

The Meepo Bamboo Hurricane Ultra is an excellent value electric skateboard that punches high above its price. Even though I am a die-hard DIY builder, this board ticks all the boxes, and I would be more than happy to have this as a daily driver. In the electric skateboard world, Meepo as positioned itself as a strong presence, and the release of the Hurricane Ultra shows that clearly.
With the tubeless wheels and TKP trucks, this board rides like a dream.
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This video is a production of The Board Garage LLC.

[@MeepoElectricSkateboard]

Well done Mario! I am glad you enjoyed our newest board, and hopefully, we can provide more battery options in the future. :)

[@wolfgangp.muller7823]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZabe6KrmpeXbKs

[@RobinFPVflights]

@@AdeptusOratous who cares dude

[@DrewElia]

BOOM! love to hear that you like the board! Awesome job explaining all the points on the gear drive!

[@kbEskate]

I know this video is pretty old by now, but just wanted to say thanks for including that little tutorial on changing the tubeless wheel. It came in very handy when I needed to change my Nomad N1 tire recently

[@ryanloughney5798]

Bro. I gotta tell you... You just answered ALL of the questions I had about these builds. I have 3 Meepos, and just sold my Evolve GTR to get a 2nd Hurricane. I was curious about the differences between the OG and the Ultra, and you nailed it. VERY WELL DONE. Thank you for doing the ground work for us!

[@RBEMotion]

Very interested to see how the new geardrives hold up over time! Great video Mario

[@r0ookie]

thank you for this review, especially the gears, there are not enough of these insightful vids

[@benjaminf8526]

Damn you got this review out FAST Mario, great work! A joy to watch your videos as always.

[@kingesk8]

Well done review as always . very informal and entertaining 👏

[@veymaxboard]

As someone who's been riding traditional skateboards for years, seeing the capabilities of electric skateboards is mind-blowing. Keep up the great content and keep pushing the limits!

[@johnphillip2566]

This guy explains things soooo well. I’m subbed!!

[@sandorszabolcsi]

You absolutely nailed it! Great video Mario

[@jb_terahertz]

Can't wait for the comparison between all boards you mentioned. I recently got the revised hurricane which comes with all the upgrades from the ultra instead of the gear drive. Cool to see meepo doing more than other companies in the same range.

[@esk8jaimes]

Yay, more electric skateboard content!

[@gapcityracing6086]

Best electric skate board review I’ve seen

[@esk8cave205]

Hey Mario. Great review, very detailed and without any „this is so great-best board ever“ attitude. And I appreciate your transparency, much more reviewers should follow such a way! Normally e-skate reviews feel like a bought advertise from the specific company. I am not getting that felling on your channel 👍 good job

[@spectre_esk8]

Great review! Meepo really stepped up their game with the Ultra. I want

[@Cesar-cm4if]

Agreed! Btw, if you're riding you should wear an nta helmet like xnito or bern hudson, I see a lot of people wearing cpsc helmets, those don't really protect you

[@spectre_esk8]

@@Cesar-cm4if i'm well aware of that now lol. have had a couple falls. hit my face on the ground the first time

[@Jive-1]

thanks for the good review

[@rafaelinmissouri6235]

This looks like a really good value. And it looks like something I really want to try to ride.

[@wizrom3046]

Love the geardrives! 👍 I measured a 16mm beltdrive on a test bench setup, it wasted just over 20 watts. A typical dual belt setup can waste 40 to 45w just cruising on level ground, and on smooth level ground with hard wheels the propulsive power might only be 40w to keep you moving! So during those specific conditions the range with geardrive might be double that of beltdrives. In the real world there are big power losses from inflatable wheels and of course hills, acceleration etc so the energy saving from geardrives is not as extreme, but you will probably get something like 30% better range with geardrives assuming lots of cruising. But if riding offroad or powering up hills etc there might not be much difference at all because those things require so much power.

[@certifiedalchemist]

As this board comes with different configurations it would be interesting to see a side by side range test with geardrive vs. belt drive.

[@TheAnimeist]

2:39 "I don't know why one would elect to go with a smaller battery" Classic Mario Contino. Giving solid advice.

[@illist]

yea i got the hadean, can say its pretty sweet for carving an power sliding, can be definitely unstable over 27 but still pretty fast for something you stand on.

[@esk8omg]

Nice 💪 I'm really liking the wheels.

[@subneo61]

I have a first version of hurricane and did 700 miles on it. I usually ride on 90mm wheels in New York and get 36 miles range out of 46 promised, what’s is really good. On updated hurricane they brought back Samsung 40t cells instead of new Molicel, what gives smaller range. Meepo were blaming Samsung cells in their blog and were happy to introduce Molicel but recently without any explanation brought back Samsung what is weird. I’ve been using board since June and completely love it. I had meepo NLS pro which I got in January 2021 and the quality was super bad, ESC broke twice, board started to disconnect randomly which almost caused deadly accident.. I hope this board has better quality.

[@jasonmcgarry2943]

That was hands down one of the best unbiased eskate reviews I've seen. Thanks for all the great detail. Does the old hurricane battery P42A molicel make more power /torque than the "new" Samsung 40T as it puts out slightly more amps? (belt drive to belt drive comparison)

[@charlieone604]

Mario, thanks for making this review i have been eagarly awaiting someone review of the bamboo hurricane with details. I have one question, are the tubeless tires bespoke to those wheels or will the right size regualar tires fit?

[@auden_builds]

wooow never would thought meepo made gear drives

[@hectorvespa1516]

Very very good video ma boy :)

[@MrPhillipsTheChangeAgent]

Good stuff.

[@cesardorm]

Great Vid Mario! Did you mention how noisy the gear drive was ? I believe I saw straight gears which should be even noisier than Helical gears right?

[@FastEddie368]

What does gear drive sound like compared to belt drive? It would be nice to hear some sound comparisons.

[@eskateireland3301]

Looks like the evolve hadean bamboo with some sick wheels. Wow.

[@TheBoardGarage]

I like it much more than the Hadean. The deck feels better, and the whole ride feels more high end. The Hadean was kind of disappointing, and it felt cheap and plastic-y.

[@russellzauner]

I would actually like a very small onboard battery and for long rides use a tether to hook up external power from a backpack, which can also keep the onboard battery charged.

[@moisebaleke5190]

What wheels are available for the gear drive meepo ? (Love your transparency btw great video)

[@juliusctw]

Hey, great job. I just subscribed. A couple of questions. How much does the bamboo hurricane weigh? Also, I want to know if it can fit in my locker, do you mind measuring for me from the edge of one wheel to the other edge for the total width? Also, what does tubeless wheels mean? Does it use the same charger as the original hurricane? Thank you so much for answering my questions.

[@bleedsblue05esk8]

Been looking at a ton of different boards. I want to get an Eskateboard and compare it to the OneWheel GT and see what I’ll like better. This is one that I’ve been considering strongly. I’ve been thinking this might be better with the terrible roads in Pennsylvania. I’ve been looking at the Exway Atlas Pro 4wd and the Acedeck NYX. Just wondering your thoughts. Terrible PA roads and about 10-20% off-road riding.

[@russellzauner]

If they're using pinion gears then they can adapt to a harmonic hub or cycloidal drive (both can use forms of eccentric gearing and remove nearly all the moving parts) for power transmission - and you'll lose almost nothing, but I lack the math to explain it simply so I'll just say that by removing backlash and other moving parts you not only get efficiency but reliability and strength. Because several vectors of issues are solved or minimized at the source, meeting the design requirements becomes non-linearly simplified/reduced.

[@syncranize4388]

Which would you recommend Meepo Cyclone 165 tubeless, racing wheel, or AT set for the hurricane. And if you had a rating what would it be for value per dollar for each wheel.

[@H0tChocolate69]

Hey dude I love your videos and really appreciate the content! I live in Edinburgh, Scotland and I want to start Deliveroo with a longboard. I will be on a mix of pavements and roads (roads aren’t amazing in Edinburgh) I was wondering if you could recommend me a good board with good mileage and would last me a few years? Budget up to £2000 but preferably

[@BertSineanLindeboom]

Nice Reviews, I'd love to see a review on the Black Carve 3 Street belt drive.

[@TheBoardGarage]

I’d be happy to look at it, but after Fabian reached out to me, I got ghosted. So, probably not going to happen.

[@stevefonger4586]

@Mario Contino , Where do buy your 150mm by 50mm inner tubes for your 6 inch tire boards?

[@slicomslam401]

Great Video! Im trying out my new gears on some steep hills today, The belts would slip on these hills. Did you ever do a video on the hurricaine battery? I have one that went bad on me are these batteries Fixable?

[@TheBoardGarage]

I haven’t yet done the battery modification yet. I’m hesitant, because it is complicated and needs to be handled by a competent tech or battery builder. I will probably publish it soon, but with severe warnings.

[@robwhaling633]

I thought the Ultra had the exact same battery? What again was the difference you pointed out between them

[@MyWorldAsDylan]

Awesome video amigo 🤌🤙! I agree with the gearbox/drive. If it breaks down on the go you're f*cked 😅. And the cost is higher in general and for maintenance and like you said -> these parts aren't standardized. I wouldn't call DKP "not stable". Just less stable than RKP and TKP. And with the right bushing setup these trucks can be awesome. But true, it's personal taste. I love the deep carves and good to do slides. TKP are awesome as well for other reasons (going faster and punching it). Again loved the video And the honest take on everything 👌🤙

[@OddNoble]

Do you have to balance these tubeless tires over time like you do with pneumatic?

[@yohvh]

could you please advice me. I wanted to get a Wowgo at 2 plus for about 910 dollars. and now its sold out and i found this version with belt and AT tires for 1370 dollar. its alot more but it seems slightly faster. what else are diffrences i should know? with the esc?

[@andreitudose3838]

would you use a DirectDrive on this exact setup? And what are your opinions on DirectDrives

[@horsepastedelish]

Is there a reason why you have to remove both hubs to remove/install a tire?

[@princea1i3]

how is the noise comparison gear vs belt drive? I'm currently using a direct drive board and wanting to upgrade to a Hurricane

[@jonas_vermeylen]

Would you buy this one or the voyager?

[@jasonmcgarry2943]

Hey, I realize this is an older video but I'm looking to get a new eskate and was wanting your opinion on the plethora of choices out there and trying hard to weed through it all and narrow it down to a clear winner. Hill climbing and torque are more important than range and top speed for my riding preference. I'm looking for 2wd with AT tires,pneumatic or tubeless.,belt drive. I've owned numerous boards in the past. These are all on my rather long shortlist: 1. Meepo Hurricane ultra 2.Ownboard Zeus Pro 3.Acedeck ares x1 4.Exway Atlas pro 5.Evolve Hadean 6.BKB duo Type R with the 6384 upgraded motors 7. Propel Endevour2 pro Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions,much appreciated.

[@demonhogo]

unfortunately he rarely answers any comments here

[@skylerposton_EDP_Photo]

Can the original hurricane 90mm wheels attach to the gear drive?

[@ajplant96]

Yeah sucks to see they couldn’t even attempt to design their own geardrive, Newbee Esk8 came up with an excellent design and credit should be given.

[@yohvh]

For a beginner that wants to cruise. I was thinking Bamboo + 175AT tire + DKP, But do you recommand TKP instead? and how about the tire's. What can I expect.

[@TheBoardGarage]

I would prefer TKP. As for tires, I’d go with whatever basic pneumatic option and wear those out. Then find something nicer like Trampa Urban Treads

[@shadmcdaniel4184]

I saw another reviewer that changed out his remote and it removed the uncomfortable punchiness. I don’t remember what it was though.

[@jonb6564]

Hey, I recently lost my controller to my boosted board. boosted no longer makes the controllers. any idea what I can do about that? please help.

[@refinedhuman883]

You would have less issues just buying a new board entirely, I know that is a tough answer, but your board is going to go bad eventually and you will have to replace everything with diy stuff most likely. You could always try to buy a diy remote and connect it to the board, but that will require you to mess with electronics. -Conclusion: If you dont want to start modifying your board, I'd suggest going brand new and sticking with that option. Jesus Bless broisky.

[@joebreit7535]

Do you have a link to the DIY build you mentioned?

[@TheBoardGarage]

The Prototipo? Not yet. Haven’t published that one yet.

[@muko2002]

Si quema cuh!

[@Maregus47]

Finally a straight no BS review loved it Mario thx. I'm looking to get an Eboard and as a big guy I'm having issues finding one. Any suggestions? I'm 250lb football player build just fyi lol

[@TheBoardGarage]

What’s your budget? That tends to be the main factor.

[@Maregus47]

@@TheBoardGarage Thx for reply, to be honest this will be my first time buying one so not sure maybe 2k. I'd hate to destroy a really good board while learning.

[@TheBoardGarage]

The Hurricane would probably be fine for you, the CF maybe more so than the Bamboo if you’re concerned about it being a bit saggy under foot. At heavier weights, the response smooths out a bit, naturally, but you do lose range. Apart from that, it’s a good first board that will be fine for some of that weight. There are riders of similar weight that do just fine on the CF Hurricane. Once your budget goes up a bit, you can look at boards that have more power than you need. If you’re not in a hurry, you can wait to see what comes out next year, I hear there is at least one boutique board that will have more power than almost any other production board, and likely for under $3,000.

[@Maregus47]

@@TheBoardGarage Awesome thx for the Intel I feel better now about trying it now. Can't express how much I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. I'll check for a link on your page to make the purchase so at least you can get some kickback for helping me out. Thx again Mario, look forward to future videos!

[@TheBoardGarage]

@@Maregus47 I appreciate that! I have a discount code, “DONTFALL”, should do $10 off. It’s not a lot, but I do appreciate it. It helps more so for Meepo and other companies to be likely to provide review units in the future. Best of luck.

[@OddNoble]

I can’t decide between the Meepo Hurricane Ultra, with TKP trucks, Gear drive & tubeless tires or the B-one titan x carbon with belt drive, rover tires 165mm & TKP trucks. Any advice? The B-ONE seems more promising. Great customer service so far. Haven’t heard back from meepo yet. The Titan X has a 30-40 miles range due to the LG M50LT battery, which people seem like better than the Molicel. It has 0 power sag at lower battery. The meepo only boasts a range of 16-31 and with those fat tubeless tires (that have a larger ground patch) they’ll get worse range. The other difference is the meepo is gear drive and the Titan is belt. I taught myself how to change belts, watching KZbin vids. Pretty fun / easy. Pneumatic tires seem like a pain to me; gotta deal with flats, balancing the wheel, etc… Meepo has been around longer, and I doubt they’re going anywhere, but i find they’re customer service lacking 🤔 Hard to decide 🤔🤔🛹 I surfed and skateboarded in skateparks for many years, so I’m more into range / carving.

[@TheBoardGarage]

A battery using the LG M50LT, I doubt would have no sag below 50%. That’s quite the dubious claim. Personally, I don’t love rigid carbon decks, they feel harsh and not very pleasant to ride. Flexible decks are more my preference, and I personally prioritize ride feel over whatever big numbers a company puts on their product page. Also, Meepos I’ve had in the shop, that I’ve opened up, tend to have a bit higher quality of assembly and manufacture than most other import boards.

[@OddNoble]

@@TheBoardGarage - - thank you for your reply. Good to hear 👍🛹 As for the LG battery claim, the reviews I’ve watched / read on the LG battery seem to prefer it over the Molicel. I assume most people praise the Molicel because they haven’t read about / tried the LG. Either way, I’m not super concerned if it’s Molicel or LG. Just as long as it’s not Samsung. From personal experience, I find Samsung to be a garbage company, not with phones, just everything else (appliances, TVs, etc…)

[@tommysrp7635]

I am genuinely salty that they released this a few months after I got my Hurricane. This has basically everything I wanted from the Hurricane. Has the same pack and power, but tubeless tires and no belt drive. Guess I'll upgrade after a few years :|

[@dorianfraymond4580]

Where do you order your belts from I'm am literally about to get a gear drive due to the difficulty of finding them in my area

[@dorianfraymond4580]

Have ordered from exway been waiting over a month this is causing negative mental effects

[@TheBoardGarage]

@@dorianfraymond4580 I order them from either VBeltGuys, or PolyBelt.

[@nigelyuen]

Any oil leak?

[@SteveSiz]

You are saying you prefer TKP trucks, but in your video, you have DKP trucks. (10:27) (it seems obvious, but DKP trucks have 4 bushings and 2 (duel) king pins)

[@TheBoardGarage]

The DKP board shown is the original Hurricane, which was offered with only those trucks. I’m comparing them in this video.

[@trevor2526]

If money wasn’t a factor, what boutique board would you buy?

[@TheBoardGarage]

Probably a LaCroix Lonestar Supersport, but I’d request Samsung 50S cells for fun.

[@brandonrose8123]

Wait if it's tubeless why does it have a valve stem? Doesn't it not require any air similar to a cloud wheel?

[@TheBoardGarage]

It does inflate with air, there is just no inner tube to hold it. The tire seals on the hub, and the valve stem seals on the hub also. After half way into the video, there’s a disassembly of the wheel, which shows how it all seals together.

[@TheTanelChannel]

17:36 - I wish board manufacturers quit being uptight and just switch the design to Evolve remotes, the amount of fun a trigger remote gets you vs a roll one is insane, its like you are driving another thing entirely.

[@growingatthebeach9186]

🤘✌️

[@bush3636]

That's called a crush hub. My KTM 690 had one.

[@dustincmills]

I was about to pull the trigger on a Hurricane Ultra but Meepo raised the price $100 in the middle of their own Holiday sale #lame

[@demonhogo]

I miss my prototipo 🥺

[@notsure6070]

tobay!

[@ufumbduck]

Belt drive 100%... can't field repair gear drives that easily

[@RaviPatel-lk4ho]

Smaller battery because of price..😁

[@tzdkb]

A little bit sad to see them copying newbee’s 4GS design instead of innovating

[@esk8news328]

Absolutely no bases for that claim. adding gears to a gear drives to share the load, and just playing with different solutions, is something a lot of companies were going to do anyway. Newbee, as amazing as they are, didn't just find out something revolutionary that LinnPower/Meepo copied in a few days. They're also not the same solution, as they seem to disagree on what gear should be plastic or straight cut.

[@bagelz3359]

With that logic all car manufacturers are copying each other. They put the engine in the front!!!! Dodge is definitely cheating

[@ClockWorkJake]

the amount of money saved potentially just on TUBES with those wheels makes them realy worth their weight... just about

[@shadowhacker27]

SAMSUNG BATTERY!??? No, thank you! I don't want to explode mid use.

[@TheBoardGarage]

I don’t know what this even means.

[@LIVITLUVIT]

12s? Why even make it? 13s or nothing now a days ...not interested at all when I hear it 12s ....next

[@TheBoardGarage]

What exactly do you believe 4 more volts offers you?

[@ajplant96]

Some of the fastest boards out there are 12s, let alone stooge at 8s. Higher voltage isn't everything.

[@basecampboards]

You're doing an awesome job, keep up the good work!👍🛹