A moving wheel platform that minimizes wheel interactions with noncontinuous and uneven surfaces. The platform provides rotation-inhibiting structures onto or into the moving wheel platforms that aids with eliminating wheel bite.

An auto-balancing transportation device having a compact form. Left and right foot platform sections are coupled for fore-aft tilt angle movement relative to one another. Left and right wheels are provided under the respective foot platforms. With a rider's weight directed primarily downward onto the wheels and not onto the coupling structure, the coupling structure may have sufficient space to house the battery. In addition, more efficient and lighter weight supports and bearing arrangements may be used in the coupling structure. Various embodiments are disclosed.

A carbon fiber reinforced skateboard is formed of laminated wood layers having identified grain directions. Upper and lower wood layers will have a grain direction parallel to a long axis of the skateboard. The skateboard will have interspersed wood layers with identified grain directions perpendicular to the long axis. Carbon fiber reinforcing material is adhered to interior plies of the skateboard along the long axis. A central portion of the reinforcing material is adhered below a central vertical point of the skateboard between the skateboard trucks. Anterior and posterior portions of the reinforcing material are adhered above the central vertical point and are located around the attachment locations for the skateboard trucks. The reinforcing material is located to provide a strengthened spine for the skateboard. A first concavity is located between the skateboard trucks parallel to the long axis. Second and third concavities are located perpendicular to the long axis.

A gripping surface includes a plurality of projections extending away from the gripping surface and a plurality of voids between and defined by the projections. The gripping surface may be disposed on a support surface, such as a deck of a skateboard or a deck of a balance board. The projections may be formed by cutting the support surface with a router, such as a computer numerical control router. The projections may each comprise three or more angles surfaces, whereby angled surfaces of proximal projections are positioned at mirror angles of one another.

A caster board can include a front platform section connected by a torsion bar or other neck portion to a rear platform section. The caster board can be convertible between a first configuration in which the caster board has three wheels, and a second configuration in which the caster board has two wheels. In the first configuration, the rear platform section can be supported by two wheels laterally offset from a longitudinal axis of the caster board. In the second configuration, the rear platform section can be supported by one wheel aligned with a longitudinal axis of the caster board. The rear platform section can include at least three mounting locations configured to have caster assemblies installed therein.

A self-propelled, one-wheeled vehicle may include a board having two deck portions each having a concave front footpad configured to receive a foot of a rider, and a wheel assembly disposed between the deck portions. The concave front footpad has a rider detection sensor in the form of a membrane switch conforming to the shape of the footpad (e.g., facilitated by one or more slots formed in the membrane switch). A motor assembly drives the vehicle in response to board orientation and rider detection information.

A Single-foot Skateboard. The Skateboard has interchangeable components in order to reduce spare part inventory. The footboard of the Skateboard is reversible.

A self-propelled, one-wheeled vehicle may include a board having two deck portions each having a concave front footpad configured to receive a foot of a rider, and a wheel assembly disposed between the deck portions. The concave front footpad has a rider detection sensor in the form of a membrane switch conforming to the shape of the footpad (e.g., facilitated by one or more slots formed in the membrane switch). A motor assembly drives the vehicle in response to board orientation and rider detection information. The vehicle may have a secondary battery chargeable via a three-pin charging port including an input pin, a ground pin, and an identification pin configured to receive an expected identification signal from an external charging circuit.

A skateboard truck includes a metal bolt called a kingpin and a threaded fastener, called a hex nut, which when combined hold the two main components of a truck together: the baseplate, which is mounted to the bottom surface of the skateboard deck; and the turning part of the truck called the hanger, which is mounted onto the baseplate by means of the kingpin, and affixed tightly into the baseplate by means of a threaded hex nut. Two bushings placed along the shaft of the kingpin and on either side of a flange protruding from the hanger hold the hanger in place by the tightening of the kingpin into the threaded shaft nut fastener. The kingpin is oriented such that a threaded portion of the kingpin (on an end opposite a bolt head portion) is generally facing towards a bottom surface of the skateboard deck.

Methods and apparatus are discussed for an electric powered personal transportation vehicle with electric motors powered by one or more batteries. A set of universal battery mounting hole locations and a reserved space for one or more battery housings exist on a board for the personal transportation vehicle. The reserved space on the board for the one or more battery housings that house one or more battery packs is set to not interfere with an operation of the motors or the wheels. A first battery pack containing the one or more batteries differs in at least one of i) a different amp-hour capacity, ii) a different length, width, or height, and iii) a different shape than another battery pack designed to be physically contained in the one or more battery housings and electrically connect with corresponding electrical connections in the one or more battery housings.