Hi Everyone

I'm a real person. My name is Andrey Labunskiy. 

While I'm not particularly active on social media, though I'm not hiding myself:

I've created this page to provide a platform for people to share their experiences and reviews of Bioboards, as well as to share my own story of owning a Plutonium 2S 4WD from  Bioboards.eu.

• I do not represent any of their competitors

• I have not published my review by somebody’s request

• I do not intend to tarnish their business’ reputation, but would like to share my experience so that all future buyers, have the opportunity to make a more informed choice

I want to warn you about the risks you are taking by buying one of their boards, as well as  dealing with Bioboards’ customer service team.

I didn't plan on creating a dedicated page to share my experience with the Plutonium 2S. Not until Bioboard made their FaceBook page private after someone with an identical problem, left a comment in a review on their page and I confirmed that review with a brief description of my problem with promises to provide a detailed review soon.

This incident prompted me to create this page. To share my unfortunate experience, without having Bioboards influence on another negative truth.

The board that I have is buggy, and some of its defects are critical. It literally could have killed me or at least seriously injured me.

The bugs appeared soon after the purchase, and Bioboards instead of working on the bugs of the just delivered board, repeatedly told me that everything is fine and the board is safe.

Here is my story:

WHY I CHOSE PLUTONIUM 2S?

I love speed! I like extreme riding, regardless of what it is :)

I seriously enjoy electrical vehicles, and subsequently, I have 2 EUC, an e-scooter, an esk8, and a gyro board. So, you should be able to tell that I'm an experienced user, and yes, I do understand that sometimes they have minor bugs. 

But e-toys from well-known brands are expected to be safe and reliable. Their exclusive price range indicates extensive research, experience in their industry, as well as reliable after-sales service; all leading to this logical conclusion.

I especially like skating. My boards collection is quite extensive:

My favorite one is Onsra Black Carve 2, and I have had it since September 2021. It has around 2000 km mileage, and I'm still absolutely happy with this board. After riding the Onsra for 2.5 years, all that I’ve had to do to maintain it, was change the bearings from time to time. It’s a 100% reliable board!

BUT...  eventually, I evolved from its top speed and wanted something faster!

I spent a lot of time investigating the market, and my final list consisted of a toss-up between Lacroix Supersport and the just-released Plutonium 2S.

It is worth mentioning that the board is quite expensive, since it cost me around 6500 EUR, therefore I wanted to be sure I was going with the right brand. I asked Bioboards many questions about the board and eventually decided to go with them. 

Note; that during the pre-sale conversations, the Bioboards team responded rapidly and in great detail, so I assumed their after-sales support would be reliable as well (unfortunately I was wrong...)

So I purchased a Plutonium 2S 4WD with all the available options in April 2023.

1. THE PROBLEMS STARTED IMMEDIATELY AFTER DELIVERY

On the day of delivery, I couldn't contain my excitement! The board was really fast, stable, and nicely built. I felt the speed and absolutely enjoyed the feeling of flight!

But the problems started the very next day.

At first there was a continuous cracking sound coming from the front left motor. I sent the details and recorded videos to Bioboards (Markus Johnson represents them). In contrast to the presale emails which were replied to immediately, these emails were related to the product’s dysfunctional issues, and their replies were always delayed by a few days.

Nonetheless, Markus assured me that everything was fine and the board was safe. This was the first of many times that various versions of these words would be offered as a solution to a problem.

1.1 Then the board began to display errors on the screen. "VESC fault: over current" appeared after the cracking sound began:

Again; annoyed and waiting for any feedback from Markus, I waited patiently. He finally replied and suggested several changes in parameters, but none of his suggestions helped.

Then Markus calibrated the motors remotely via the app and asked me to meticulously test the board. Unfortunately, the problem had not been resolved, and we agreed that I should ship the board back to them for checking.

I prepared the board for shipping, and I was waiting for the shipping company to pick it up; but in about a week Markus said that he had found an issue which he had not noticed before. He said that the VESC firmware had been changed and that this had caused the error. He asked me to change Absolute Maximum Current for the motors, and the error was finally gone.

The cracking sound from the front left motor was unfortunately still present, but Markus told me that it was safe to ride and that it wasn’t a problem that the motor generated various sounds. He assured me that the sound had nothing to do with the board’s mechanics. Listen to this sound again: 

After that, I was able to ride the board "normally" only about a month after I received it.

Another confusion was that the wheel which produced that awful cracking sound, was also not spinning smoothly. Markus once again said that it's OK, as each motor has its own tension. Despite my doubts, I continued to trust his expertise, as his knowledge of ESK8s was far beyond my own.

2. MY EPIC CRASH

First of all, I would like to state that I consider myself an experienced rider, and I most certainly know how to control boards at high speeds.

It was the beginning of June. I was riding at about 50-60 km/h on an unpaved yet solid road that day, until.... something went wrong. I suddenly flew off the board unexpectedly, damaging my knee, as well as the ligaments in my shoulder, and dislocating my clavicular-acromial joint:

At that moment, I didn't quite get what had happened and why I had flown off the board (well, now I think know the reason, but keep reading…).  I assumed that the accident had to have been connected to the unpaved road. I though that perhaps there had been some bumps, or a stone may have stopped the board.

FYI: Although the road was unpaved, it really was absolutely smooth. I had experienced riding my ONSRA there before, at around 50 km/h without any issues.

Following that accident, I had about a month of grueling recovery (although full recovery took 6+ months). 

I continued to ride my other boards afterwards, but I had some phobia of the Plutonium. As a result, I did not ride it frequently during summer. 

Then autumn and winter brought rains, and I tried it again just a few times. The cracking sound was still annoyingly present and still coming from the front motor.

3. CHARGING ISSUE

With the arrival of spring, I decided to give my Plutonium a second chance. After a few months of not riding, I tried it again. When returning home, I noticed it was not charging anymore.

I contacted Markus again. This time, it turned out to be a thermo-sensor in the charging circuit. I purchased an app, changed the temperature parameter there, and hooray - it started charging.

It was a minor issue, but is it not upsetting to have so many issues on a supposedly top-tier board? Should one expect to encounter these additional challenges when purchasing what is marketed as the 'Lamborghini of the ESK8 world'?

But... OK... "Sh#t happens. This premium board couldn’t possibly continue to be such a huge disappointment, could it?"  

I calmed myself once again.

4. THE FINAL DROP

My last ride was on March 21st, 2024. I expected to have a casual, relaxing ride that night. I was crossing a cobblestone road at low speed, when I suddenly flew off my board once again! Just like my previous crash! I was traveling at about 15 km/h - thankfully nothing extreme, so I was able to just jump off the board. 

But what had caused it? The board had literally gone to an immediate standstill right under my feet. I thought that it had seized due to some stones in the paving. I thoroughly inspected the road, as well as the board, and found no evidence of any stones blocking the board in any way. I was really confused by that abrupt stop, since there was no visible external reason for it.

Then, riding back on the same road, it happened yet again. I was traveling at about 25 km/h. Thankfully, I had used full-body protection, since I went flying off my board once again!

Miraculously, the car driving behind me stopped a mere two meters from me. I’m sure you can imagine how both myself and the driver were left shaken :)

But! At last, I found the key to my problems - the left front wheel was BLOCKED! YEAH! The very same left front wheel, with the motor responsible for the persistent scratching sound and lack of free spin. 

Remember Markus, who assured me time and time again that it was absolutely OK? 

Now it seems to have become clear why I originally fell and broke my clavicle and why I fell twice, in quick succession on that last day, I used the board. 

Upon disassembling the gear box, I found that everything was fine. The bearings, the gears… Everything was lubricated and rotated smoothly.

I believe that it was most likely the motor that was blocked (albeit I'm not sure, I know that after the fall the wheel was locked!). Exactly the same motor that produced the cracking sound. That same motor that was constantly proclaimed to be “well-functioning” by Markus!

I contacted Bioboards. They offered two options: either purchase 4 replacement motors at a discounted price and get them installed locally, or return the board for the actual replacement, with associated costs on me… of course. They really tried to assure me that "problems happen but it's OK"

It's not about money (I have no problems paying for shipping or the new motors); it's more about the frustration of constantly anticipating problems with this board instead of enjoying riding it.  

• Is it acceptable for a premium-priced board, with its 'top-tier quality’, to not work properly directly out of the box, and to require a full motor replacement after just 700km of riding?

• Can one truly consider it safe to ride a board with so many bugs appearing one by one, while receiving standard (non)reassuring phrases from customer support that 'everything is fine'? 

Yet in reality, such issues can potentially lead to serious accidents, which pose a direct risk to lives?

Please note that I'm referring to a relatively new board that had about 20 rides in total and only 700 km mileage, during which problems emerged shortly after delivery.

In truth, the board demonstrates too many bugs, suggesting poor testing by the manufacturer.

As for post-sales customer service - it couldn’t be more disappointing, leaving me feeling stranded and disillusioned. And quite possibly… seriously injured, or even worse.

Guys, I want to be completely honest and unbiased in my review. I can't be 100% sure that my epic crash (#2) was caused by motor blocking, because when you constantly ride around 60km/h, it’s easy to make mistakes, and after the painful and shocking landing, you are in no state to be inspecting the board and surroundings as thoroughly as you should. At the time, my arm was immobile (ligament damaged), and I was not able to move my leg, therefore the idea of inspecting the board didn’t even cross my mind... But... in the first crash, the board siezed somehow, and I flew seriously far.

The second crash was during a relaxing and smooth ride, and I'm 90% sure the board stopped involuntarily too!

The 3rd crash was ABSOLUTELY obvious. The board stuck, and the wheel was BLOCKED until I pressed acceleration on the remote!

AND ONE MORE REASON NOT TO DEAL WITH BIOBOARDS

You could say I was just the only unlucky Plutonium 2S owner, but  I've searched online and found this Facebook Bioboards group - https://www.facebook.com/BioboardsEskate. The most recent comment was posted just a few days ago. The guy there - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100027640775267 - experienced the same problem! His motors stopped working after 2 months of usage. I commented on his post (most politely and reasonably), but Bioboards decided to close the group to prevent you from seeing the real stories of the board owners.

Have you ever seen a reliable brand that hides the comments?

My goal is to allow as many ESK8 people as possible to read this story. I believe Markus will read this story as well and he may make the group public again, in an attempt to disprove my narrative. But as for the day of the article writing (March 24th, 2024), the page is Private! See the screen

I think that all this is just more evidence that the Bioboards brand can’t be trusted; as long as their team finds it acceptable to produce products without proper quality testing, and provide inadequate customer support!

I agree that the board is probably the fastest one in the market today

BUT!

• Do you really need that much speed when your board could unexpectedly stop for no particular reason, forcing you to fly into orbit for a split second, before harshly crashing down to earth. And Bioboard’s repeated response to this problem… is to constantly tell you that it's all OK?

• Are you ready to pay for a "Lamborghini", but then have to spend time connecting with Markus to adjust the board's parameters, just to get it working?

• Is it OK to need to buy 4 new motors after only 700 km of riding?