A History of Excellence
Metroboard is one of the oldest names in electric skateboarding with an 18-year-long tradition of building tough, dependable boards, made from premium components and providing unparalleled support.
It was back in 2003 when Metroboard founder, Ilan Sabar, first caught sight of a homemade (DIY) electric skateboard. At the time, Ilan was a mechanical engineer working for Hewlett-Packard and living in Tel Aviv. That skateboard—with its massive lead-acid battery hanging underneath and tethered controller—looked like so much fun that the mechanical engineering gears just started whirring.
In 2004, he moved back to Portland, Oregon, quit his job at HP, and founded the company.
Ilan spent a few years designing, prototyping, and sourcing supplies for production. Back then, powerful brushless motors were not very common, and there were few options for remote controls, speed controllers, batteries — everything had to be designed from the ground up. (There was Tupperware® involved.)
The first Metroboard sold was in 2007 in Portland, Oregon.
After a few months of building Metroboards in his basement for local buyers in the Portland area, Ilan was satisfied that the boards he was producing were robust and reliable enough to start selling nationwide. Keeping riders safe by ensuring reliability was a key factor.
Metroboard was one of the first companies to sell electric skateboards.
The truth is that a company called Motoboard developed an electric skateboard way back in 1975. Louie Finkle, who started the company Exkate, gets credit for developing the modern-day electric skateboard. E-Glide is the only other e-skate company from this era which remains in operation today.
In 2012, Alan Shibata joined as partner to help with mechanical design and to oversee production. Ilan moved back to Israel and somehow managed to provide around-the-clock support to Metroboarders all over the planet.
The next five or six years saw quite a few electric skateboard companies come and go. Many were driven by crowdfunding campaigns or investors (or both). Some serious competition started to emerge which drove innovation. Electric skateboards had entered a new age.
The New Age
After years of building custom single-kingpin boards, there was a demand for a robust double-kingpin board made from top quality parts. (Apparently, not everyone wants to go in a straight line as fast as possible.)
Ilan credits Alan with being the mechanical brains behind the MetroboardX. Offering a superior carbon fiber enclosure, indestructible custom CNC’d trucks, dual 6374 130kv motors and an ingenious automatic belt-tensioning system — when the MetroboardX hit the market in 2018, it was the fastest, longest-range double kingpin convertible (2-in-1) electric skateboard on the market and quickly earned a reputation as one of the finest boards you can buy.
Geared for the Discerning Rider
Metroboard has always been a lean operation. Compared to bigger companies that could afford to buy massive stock and spend lots of money on marketing, our philosophy has always been to cater to the discerning buyer.
Since about 2018, the market has become heavily saturated with inexpensive (even cheap) electric skateboards. A few of them are actually pretty nice and go real fast. If that’s what you want, we’re not going to try to talk you out of going that direction. However, If you desire a top-of-the-line product delivered with world-class customer support, we'd love to have you join our family.
You see, we don't just sell electric skateboards. We sell peace-of-mind, too. Our fanatical dedication to quality and support has always been our secret sauce. We know we build a great product because, we all ride what we build. We know that supporting those whom support you is key and foundation to have a great reputation.
In 2021, Ilan made the decision to leave Metroboard in the capable hands of his long-time business partner and mechanical engineer, Alan Shibata, and fellow e-skate artisan, Jeff Johnson of Hoyt St Electric Skateboards. Sean Unger, who has been hand-assembling Metroboards for years is still doing so and taking up the mantle of support. We have knowledgeable ambassadors who are (for some reason) always online to help answer questions. Together, we are continuing that long-standing tradition of excellence.