For pretty much anyone who rides an electric skateboard, the name “Daniel Kwan” needs no introduction. For quite some time, he’s been the leading reviewer of pre-built esk8s, a fact noticed by manufacturers and viewers alike. His editing is always on point and his fine sense of humor is always on display.
We’re glad he took the time to answer the following questions for us:
1. When were you aware that electric skateboards were a thing?
When I saw Casey Neistat riding a Boosted Board in his videos. Skateboarding wasn’t part of my life at the time and I think I only learned about the existence of longboards around that time as well.
In fact, I barely watched YouTube at that time. I only started watching YouTube because I was using a phone app to make some silly short videos, and several people suggested that I make YouTube videos. (This was before TikTok and Douyin existed.)
So I did, and my first videos had nothing to do with electric skateboarding. From using YouTube, I of course came across Casey Neistat’s videos, and then I became aware of electric skateboards.
2. What brand was your first board/first ride?
It was some random brand that wasn’t really a brand. I’m sure that board was sold under many different brands. I got it from Taobao for less than $300. (Taobao is like Amazon for China and nearby countries.) It was a terrible board. Laggy acceleration, scary brakes. Decent budget boards hadn’t become a thing yet but were about to.
3. What was your first official brand review?
The first board I covered on my channel was a LOU Board from SoFlow. One of their founders lived in China and was looking for an English-speaking web designer in the Shanghai area, and I was one of only a handful. They let me borrow a review unit which I was supposed to return in pristine condition for them to send to others later. So I took it with me on a trip to Thailand, got it all scratched up and got sand and seawater in its motor. When I got back to Shanghai, it was in no condition to be sent to reviewers so they let me keep it while they figured out what to do with it. They never asked for it back.
That wasn’t an “official” brand review though, in that they didn’t ask me to review it. I bought a WowGo later and made videos about that, but they didn’t ask me to either.
But later they lent me a WowGo 2 to make review videos. I guess that was the first “official” review requested from a brand.
4. Did you have any idea you would blow up like this?
I would describe the channel growth as slow and steady. I kept covering electric skateboards while many others moved on to other things. (Press Reset even nuked his own channel!) Definitely didn’t expect to be doing this for 5 years.
5. Do you have any personal riding interest in DIY boards or have prebuilt boards gotten too good?
I’m interested mainly to have a better understanding of how these things work, but I don’t want to commit the time and space for it. I have to be careful which rabbit hole I fall into. Nowadays I often consult DIY builders to fact check info or get a second opinion. When I get things wrong, it’s because I didn’t ask them.
6. Would you ever consider reviewing higher-end completes like Kaly or Lacroix?
Sure but shipping big batteries to China would be difficult. Maybe when I move back to the US, if I’m still doing this stuff.
7. Will you ever expand into EUCs/Scooters/E-Bikes?
E-bikes yes. I’ve covered a couple e-scooters – I don’t really like the kickscooter form factor but I might cover the ones I find interesting. No plans for EUCs at the moment but I just want to say evX’s EUC videos are insanely great.
8. You injured yourself downhilling recently. Will you continue this sport?
My goal for downhill skating was always to just be good enough to get down a hill safely with glove down slides. There is this small hill not even 2 km long that I practiced on that I want to conquer. Before my accident, I got to the point where I could skate down that hill without messing up maybe 1 out of 3 times. I’ll be satisfied if I can do it 4 out of 5 times while filming myself with a selfie stick. Actually let’s make that 2 out of 3.
I intend to achieve that goal but right now I’m having ankle mobility issues from the surgery that need to be resolved first. Not sure how long that’ll take.
9. What would you like to see less of in the esk8 world?
Hyperbole – from both manufacturers and customers. And less focus on power, which really only appeals to people in the esk8 bubble.
10. What would you like to see more of in esk8?
There’s a ton of room for improvement in the remote and in quality of life features.
