Research approach
Content is written in original English prose synthesising publicly accessible sources. We prioritise primary materials — Kickstarter campaign pages and updates, specification sheets, contemporaneous press coverage, trade show documentation, and corporate announcements — over unattributed forum anecdotes. When secondary sources disagree, we note conflict rather than silently picking a winner.
Source categories
- Crowdfunding archives: 2015 Kickstarter funding totals, backer counts, promised specifications, update timelines.
- Corporate communications: Launch announcements (March 2017), acquisition reporting (November 2018).
- Technical documentation: Published specs — 40 km/h, 15 km range, 99 Wh, IP65, dimensions, weight.
- Press and reviews: Independent hardware reviews from launch window corroborating performance claims.
- Visual media: Diagrams, campaign photography, editorial illustration where licensed assets unavailable.
- Web archives: Wayback Machine and similar tools for pages no longer live on original hosts.
Verified historical facts (core set)
Founding in Hamburg, 2015; founders Johannes Schewe and Kilian Green; Mellow Drive modular dual hub-motor system; Kickstarter €309,978 / 364 backers / €100,000 goal (May–June 2015); March 2017 launch; November 2018 TQ Systems acquisition; Buddybuddy deck partnership on Cruiser and Surfer; specification table reproduced across technology pages.
Copyright & originality
All page text is original prose written for this archive. Facts are drawn from public sources; wording is not copied from press releases, Kickstarter pages, or reviews. No third-party photographs, logos, or manuals are embedded in this build.
Illustrations are original SVG files generated for this project — schematic diagrams and editorial graphics, not reproductions of official product images. See copyright & trademarks for full details.
Copyright compliance
This site was built to avoid common copyright problems:
- No hotlinked images — all visuals are stored locally in
/assets/ - No copied articles — content is synthesised, not scraped or spun
- No official logos — only a generic archive icon, not the Mellow Boards corporate mark
- No external fonts or CDNs — system fonts only, reducing licensing dependencies
- Trademark disclaimers — on every page footer and in the imprint
Third-party trademarks are referenced descriptively when discussing historical products and companies. That is standard practice for independent journalism, archives, and educational resources.
What we do not claim
Current product availability, warranty support, firmware hosting, official contact channels, or post-acquisition roadmap unless independently verified and cited. Trademarks belong to their holders; this site uses them descriptively for historical identification.