Backfire G5 Review

Hey eSkaters!

Whenever I step on any Backfire electric skateboard, I am always reminded of how amazing their eBoards are.

The Backfire G5 is considered an entry-level electric skateboard, priced at US$599, but it offers quality and performance specs that even intermediate riders will thoroughly enjoy.

It’s a stripped-back eBoard, so it doesn’t have all of those fancy extra features you see on some eboards, however, most of the time you don’t really need them.

This is a good old fashioned electric skateboard that is easy to ride and will get you from A-to-B with a smile on your face.

So let’s dive into the Backfire G5 electric skateboard review and see what it can and can’t do.

Backfire G5 Review

Deck and Design

The Backfire G5 has a 39” deck and is built with alternating layers of glass fiber, bamboo and Maple. This makes the deck durable while also being nice and flexy, without being bouncy. So it absorbs plenty of the bumps and cracks on the road but doesn’t feel wobbly to ride.

It doesn’t have shock-absorbing griptape which usually acts as a decent comfort enhancer, although I didn’t feel like it needed it, it was already very comfortable.

The standard giptape is coarse to the touch and keeps your feet in place. Adding to the foot security is the concave shape with raised edges around where you place your feet.

I felt completely secure when standing on the board and it made turning a breeze.

The underside of the deck is accented in red with Backfire’s signature triangular design and it looks great.

Wheels & Trucks

The front wheels are 96mm 80A polyurethane with a contact area of 55mm, and they are really nice to ride on.

They are grippy when cornering hard, but don’t cause too much friction that would reduce the speed and acceleration. Backfire have found a sweet-spot when it comes to their wheels.

The Backfire website doesn’t yet have other wheel options for the G5, but their product page does say you can put 105, 110 or 120mm Cloudwheels on it. So, you can always headover to the Cloudwheels site to get some, but there’s no doubt Backfire will have a set of their own available soon too.

The trucks are 8” 50-degree reverse kingpin and they look awesome. They have a wave like design on them which doesn’t do anything physically, but it does make them look really cool.

On the rear set of trucks, Backfire use a plastic casing to cup the motor cables against the trucks so that they stay out of the way and reduce the likelihood of them getting damaged.

The trucks were setup almost percfectly for my style of riding out of the box. They were loose enough to enjoy some tight turning and hard carving, but weren’t too loose to cause any speed wobbles when riding faster.

Battery and Range

The Backfire G5 runs a 14S2P 363Wh battery with 21700 lithium cells. And is marketed to reach up to 28 miles / 45km range which is quite the distance for a board in this price range.

This range was tested with an 80kg / 180lbs rider averaging 30kmh / 18.5mph and on flat roads. Your range will vary quite a lot depending on your weight, riding conditions and your average speed.

Motors, Speed, and Hill Climbing

The Backfire G5 has dual 700W hub motors and is specced to hit a top spee of 28.5mph / 46kmh with a hill climbing ability of 30%.

During my tests, I hit 38kmh before I chickened out. There was still plenty of room in the throttle, so I’m confident it can hit their marketed top speed.

I rode up a 12.9% hill and it managed better than some other hub motored boards I’ve tried lately. I dropped down to around 15.5kmh at the steepest point, but I didn’t feel like the board was lagging too much. Plus, I’d say I’m much heavier than the average rider who would be buying this board.

The acceleration on flat ground is very smooth without any jolting. It’s relatively hard and fast, but it’s not going to through you off. Not unless you’re completely unprepared for it.

ESC and Remote

The Backfire G5 is controlled with a 14S 60A FOC ESC connected to an OLED remote via 2.4GHz.

The thumbwheel was very responsive and I always felt like the board responded to my thumb movements as expected. There wasn’t any jolting or dropouts, which made me feel very confident while riding.

I don’t know how Backfire do it, but the control feels seamless, almost as if I’m controlling the board with my mind.

The remote has three speed modes, Eco, Sports and Turbo. It also has reverse, cruise control and my personal favourite auto on/off where you just turn the remote on and the board turns on automatically.

The OLED display, although small, has all the useful information such as current speed, trip distance, odometer and board and battery levels.

You can also connect to the Backifre app to get even more realtime data, historical ride data, Rider leaderboard and you can even earn credits to use on the Backfire store by simply riding.

Ride Experience and Overall Quality

I had such a good time riding the Backfire G5.

Although it’s lacking some nice-to-have features like lights, shock-absorbing griptape and bashguards, I didn’t miss them at all.

The lack of these features gives you a pure electric skateboarding experience. And it is a top experience at that.

I was always confident on the board that it wasn’t going to slip out from underneath me when cornering hard, or when accelerating/braking hard.

There’s enough shock absorption in the wheels and flexy deck that I was comfortable the entire time and didn’t get any leg or foot fatigue.

It’s clearly built well and built by skaters. It’s hard to describe, but once you’re on it, you can tell.