Uniwheel Gadget show

[fubar925]

Long time lurker first time poster........!

 

Well after following the release of the Uniwheel I got to spend 5mins which was not enough time..!

 

I ride day to day a Ninebot E+ and I bloody love it but with it being a company shrouded by smoke and mist and slight of hand as much as I love the bot I hate not knowing what is coming from these guys...  what the bloody firmware is going to do or what is updated with each release... Then you have the fact they release a model 2 months later there is a newer model... Which is faster goes further etc etc... My bugbear is not knowing and not being able to make educated decision on my next purchase..!

 

Which brings me to Uniwheel which I came across on facebook of all places and have followed them with eagerness... I like the fact these guys are in the UK maybe summit to do with project 42? and seem to have a passion for electric unicycles, And after reading a few press releases started to get a little excited.. I signed up to there website for updates signed up to facebook, twitter...blah blah blah. Then I found out they were doing a beta!!!! but alas it got delayed and the next thing i knew it got canceled in fact I am unsure if it did get delayed but it did get canceled and I didn't find out it was canceled until I email one of the team..... To say I was gutted would be a understatement.. I wanted to try this unicycle I wanted to help build the product I wanted to be part of a community of a uk unicycle group.. But the most annoying thing was the lack of communication from them. It felt like Ninebot .

 

Right which brings me to now.. I had a bit of a moan on facebook about the beta being canceled and got invited to the gadget show to have a demo and a chat... I had about 5mins max on the wheel so can't give a proper review what I can say is I liked it alot i liked the weight the safety features the auto off feature is killer and a quick demo of this proves to me this is going to be one of the features on uniwheels that we can't live without but never really notice (apple fingerprint unlock). You ride upto some steps flip the pedals up the wheel goes to sleep get to the top drop the peddles and it's ready to go... brilliant feature!! and I reckon a overlooked one which will be the norm on all wheels soon.. The lights/reversible light (it knows which way your riding) was only seen in daylight! and in fairness from a distance it did catch my eye, Would it work at night I'm yet to try but I think it would, could it guide you home... I don't know. I didn't get to see the app at play I tried to sneak a look but was to slow... Lol...

 

So after spending the smallest amount of time with the guys and asking questions!!! I am filled with more questions. I did ask about the battery size and kilometers out of single charge but was told the batteries are being upgraded or bigger batteries were on the way. I also asked if the battery could be charged out of the unit? yes but we have not fully developed the charger yet..!. I also asked about the motor and yes it may be upgraded.... So what is the the upgrade path? How much are the batteries going to cost? Are we looking to the ninebot way of things? Are these add ons going to be premium?... 

I wanted to chat to the guys further but they were busy and rushed the gadget show was rammed for a everyday unicyclist maybe they should hold a open day for us because it was not the best area or setting....

great wheel if not perfect YET.... 

[Keith]

@fubar925 Thank you for that report. It is such a pity that the Uniwheel people are so inactive on this forum, it leads to a feeling that what looks like a really great product is becoming vapourware.

wouldn't an open evening/day be a brilliant idea :-)

[Eryk88]

6 hours ago, Keith said:

@fubar925 Thank you for that report. It is such a pity that the Uniwheel people are so inactive on this forum, it leads to a feeling that what looks like a really great product is becoming vapourware.

wouldn't an open evening/day be a brilliant idea :-)

Hi Keith, 

Thanks for this comment we really appreciate your help here; I am sure you know how hard it is to launch a good product in a small team... We don't have time to get involved here as much as we would like as we are busy making a product with no mistakes, one which will not let you down and meet our high expectations! All team at Uniwheel have been working 12h days in-order iron out the last issues and deliver the product soon!

Thanks for your support I am glad you understand 

reagrds

Eryk on behalf of Uniwheel team

[fubar925]

Hi @Eryk88

Did I chat to you on Thursday?

Are you or the team active on any other forums..? 

Brett

[Jurgen]

On Friday, April 01, 2016 at 11:38 AM, Keith said:

@fubar925 Thank you for that report. It is such a pity that the Uniwheel people are so inactive on this forum, it leads to a feeling that what looks like a really great product is becoming vapourware.

wouldn't an open evening/day be a brilliant idea :-)

which makes me wonder whether we're on the wrong medium (forum), or they are working on the wrong wheel....

The beta program cancelled, why because noboby was interested? This would be my first guess, and if that is so, the future doesn't look bright for uniwheel. A pitty because  there are a lot of smart ideas in the design, just not what we seems to be looking for at first....

[Yev]

@Jurgen

the only reason for the silence is that the team is extremely busy at the moment, as we are at the very final stage before the first customers will receive their Uniwheels.

Although we frequently have a look at this forum, this is indeed not the only medium we are focused on. 

For example, we have just come back from London Motor Show where we had a huge interest and support from the general public (over 25K attendees) introducing our wheels to them (most of them still are not very familiar with the concept of self-balancing electric wheel). This is a big step towards wheels being socially accepted on the streets that can eventually influence regulations which in some countries are still very strict. We have also few more events lined up. 

We appreciate your interest and will post updates here as regularly as we can. Please feel free to email us at info@uniwheel.co.uk if you have any questions. 

[fubar925]

Yev.... If you have time to look then you have time to engage with the folks on here.... We are the guys that are going to buy these wheels not Tiff Needell.. (did he get a beta wheel?)

 

 

[Jurgen]

@Yev Doing pre-launch activities for the general public with a niche product is always an interesting marketing approach.

What do you believe are the specific needs of the general public with regards to EUC's?

 

[Jeffrey Scott Will]

Hello @Yev & @Eryk88! Any updates on production? The chatter from interested riders has died down to complete silence on the forums and facebook groups - is the product still moving forward? I really like some of the new ideas you guys bring to the table.

[LorenW]

I wish there were some updates from Uniwheel. I have been so excited for the release. 

[Jurgen]

On 5/19/2016 at 7:45 PM, Jurgen said:

@Yev Doing pre-launch activities for the general public with a niche product is always an interesting marketing approach.

What do you believe are the specific needs of the general public with regards to EUC's?

 

 

On 6/13/2016 at 4:27 AM, Jeffrey Scott Will said:

Hello @Yev & @Eryk88! Any updates on production? The chatter from interested riders has died down to complete silence on the forums and facebook groups - is the product still moving forward? I really like some of the new ideas you guys bring to the table.

the forum members here are probably too much 'niche' to bother about, they are probably too busy with their 'general public' marketing campaign

[LorenW]

1 hour ago, Jurgen said:

 

the forum members here are probably too much 'niche' to bother about, they are probably too busy with their 'general public' marketing campaign

Yes... Very disappointing.

[Paddylaz]

Can't say I'm surprised. This company attempted to capitalize on the whole 'British made' U.S.P  despite questionable/no legality on British roads/pavements/parks.

Also that post above about operating on other mediums reeked of arrogance.

Pretty sure this forum is the absolute hub of euc related internet resource.

 

[TremF]

They are probably looking at the general public hoping they will shell out for their wheel (although most people turn off when I tell them what decent EUC's cost) because they have fielded more professional riders and realised that we want a much bigger battery to be able to cover many more miles.

The Uniwheel costs as much as as top end Gotways and Kingsongs but with much less power, speed and range.

[MaxLinux]

On 4/1/2016 at 7:38 AM, Keith said:

it leads to a feeling that what looks like a really great product is becoming vapourware.

It's not "becoming" vaporware. It long ago already became vaporware.

[steve454]

21 hours ago, MaxLinux said:

It's not "becoming" vaporware. It long ago already became vaporware.

it should be deleted until it comes back to life, perhaps?

[meepmeepmayer]

I wonder what happened. The wheel looks fully developed.

Did they run into a problem? Out of money? Gave up because for some reason it wasn't competitive/profitable enough?

If they designed "proper" electronics (made for all extreme cases etc without dieing, proper safety, ...) that's quite an effort, it would be sad if that was lost.

[houseofjob]

Apparently they were experiencing a bunch of crashes / fails: 

 

[Keith]

On 28/03/2017 at 1:14 AM, houseofjob said:

Apparently they were experiencing a bunch of crashes / fails: 

........ in the design software they were using - not the wheel! That video was an advertising piece for a design software.

Personally, I think they got embroiled in Patent issues they couldn't resolve cheaply enough. I also think it must now be dead in the water as it has been overtaken in all except its safety concepts - that and the use of LiFePo4 batteries are the bits I would like to see other manufacturers copy. My wheel already doesn't have the performance and range it had when I got it less than 1.5 years ago, with LiIon cells.

[Paddylaz]

I'm not sure how much of a factor this was, but I can tell you: the launch party thing in Shoreditch was terrible.

The turn-out was great. Lot's of smartly dressed people etc. It was a fancy venue, club style lighting and music.

But the area they had cordoned off for guests to try the machines was (I'm not kidding): about 5metres x 5 metres. And there were about 5 demo units in this tiny area. And it was packed full of people.

Obviously no-one who is reading this needs to be told you can't stay on these things when you're motionless.

So.....no matter what journalists or industry-people they managed to get there, all those people really saw were guests struggling to stand on almost completely still machines. Even when the uniwheel reps attempted to demonstrate, because this area was so small they struggled themselves, or could only go extremely slowly for say, 2 metres before running into someone and having to stop.

It was so bizarre. They should've had it during the day, on a tennis court or something. But of course, they wanted the sexy night-time glamour or whatever ?

[vladmarks]

3 hours ago, Paddylaz said:

I'm not sure how much of a factor this was, but I can tell you: the launch party thing in Shoreditch was terrible.

Dude, the fact that you didn't feel like you belong there is still not good enough of a reason to slam the efforts of the team. What keeps surprising me is how you profoundly stick this opinion to every unrelated conversation about Uniwheel. Especially here: "Oh, I don't know why there are delays in production and official launch, but it is possibly because I think their launch event sucked"!

On the topic: you can spend 5 minutes in Google or on the phone to discover how much it costs to hire a venue in EC1-EC2 per square meter. Of course they didn't want to hold a grand opening in a parking lot having invited BBC reps to the event. Also, you may remember that the folks used the long walkway outside of the place to practice it. Example: the Engadget reporter learning inside, riding corner to corner, then outside:

 

I'm also sure you have followed the communications and heard that you were fully welcome to come over and meet the team in person at a later date, either in London, or any of other "super fancy and glamorous" events like GSL or London Motor Show? I know that several people from the forum have met the guys at Gadget Show, some went and met the team in London offices. 

Off the topic, since you've shown to be rather hateful towards marketers and PR in itself, I'm keen to learn something. How would you present the product alike to the UK/London crowds? Would that be a tennis court sesh with some tents and refreshment tables in Beckton? Maybe instead that would be an underground parking lot somewhere in Harrow with only EUC riders invited? Would be really exciting for me to learn how you would envision such thing.

 

[Paddylaz]

29 minutes ago, vladmarks said:

Dude, the fact that you didn't feel like you belong there is still not good enough of a reason to slam the efforts of the team. What keeps surprising me is how you profoundly stick this opinion to every unrelated conversation about Uniwheel. Especially here: "Oh, I don't know why there are delays in production and official launch, but it is possibly because I think their launch event sucked"!

On the topic: you can spend 5 minutes in Google or on the phone to discover how much it costs to hire a venue in EC1-EC2 per square meter. Of course they didn't want to hold a grand opening in a parking lot having invited BBC reps to the event. Also, you may remember that the folks used the long walkway outside of the place to practice it. Example: the Engadget reporter learning inside, riding corner to corner, then outside:

 

I'm also sure you have followed the communications and heard that you were fully welcome to come over and meet the team in person at a later date, either in London, or any of other "super fancy and glamorous" events like GSL or London Motor Show? I know that several people from the forum have met the guys at Gadget Show, some went and met the team in London offices. 

Off the topic, since you've shown to be rather hateful towards marketers and PR in itself, I'm keen to learn something. How would you present the product alike to the UK/London crowds? Would that be a tennis court sesh with some tents and refreshment tables in Beckton? Maybe instead that would be an underground parking lot somewhere in Harrow with only EUC riders invited? Would be really exciting for me to learn how you would envision such thing.

 

Hi Vlad! I’m glad I’ve got you talking. You guys are a hard bunch to get information out of.

I’ll respond to your points systematically if that would suffice:

 

1) “Dude, the fact that you didn't feel like you belong there is still not good enough of a reason to slam the efforts of the team.”

Where on earth did I say that?

 

2.) “Oh, I don't know why there are delays in production and official launch, but it is possibly because I think their launch event sucked”!”

If you’re going to put something in quotation marks that I apparently said, it needs to be produced verbatim, Vlad. You can’t just make up your own thing and then assign it to me. LOL.

 

3.) “On the topic: you can spend 5 minutes in Google or on the phone to discover how much it costs to hire a venue in EC1-EC2 per square meter.”

The actual venue size was decent, my criticism was directed at the size of the try-out area. I think I made that fairly clear to anyone with an IQ above that of a ham sandwich.

 

4) "I’m also sure you have followed the communications and heard that you were fully welcome to come over and meet the team in person at a later date, either in London, or any of other "super fancy and glamorous" events like GSL or London Motor Show?"

Yes I was aware. My post was related to the night I attended. What’s your point?

 

5)“Off the topic, since you've shown to be rather hateful towards marketers and PR in itself”

My post gave the impression I hate the entire industries of Marketing and PR? That seems a stretch. I’d be fascinated to see if anyone else got that vibe from my post. 

 

6) "I’m keen to learn something. How would you present the product alike to the UK/London crowds? Would that be a tennis court sesh with some tents and refreshment tables"

Yes. That would be much better. Coincidentally, that’s exactly what Inmotion did for the launch of the v5. Except from the looks of their video it’s a skatepark type area, not a tennis court. But it appears it went very well.

 

 

I hope I’ve responded comprehensively, Vlad. Now that we’ve got you talking (you’re an elusive bunch!), what’s the latest on the Uniwheel?

[vladmarks]

18 minutes ago, Paddylaz said:

1. “Dude, the fact that you didn't feel like you belong there is still not good enough of a reason to slam the efforts of the team.”

      Where on earth did I say that?

That's been your main narrative about the event since your very first post about it. 

18 minutes ago, Paddylaz said:

The actual venue size was decent, my criticism was directed at the size of the try-out area.

You should then realise that the try-out area cannot take the size of the whole venue. 

19 minutes ago, Paddylaz said:

I think I made that fairly clear to anyone with an IQ above that of a ham sandwich.

Classy behaviour. For some reason, my opinion of you didn't change a single bit after these remarks

22 minutes ago, Paddylaz said:

Yes I was aware. My post was related to the night I attended. What’s your point?

If you were so eager to try the wheel out, the night you attended was not closely the only opportunity to give the device a fair judgement. Which of course doesn't seem to be something you're giving on a regular basis.

24 minutes ago, Paddylaz said:

Yes. That would be much better.

I'd like to see you invest mils into R&D over the years and launch a product in a parking lot. Inmotion had an established distributor network and 4 generations of products before they have launched V5; this means they can do a product release via WeChat only and be absolutely sorted. If I had to explain it to a person with an IQ of a ham sandwich, imagine going on a first date with a girl (b2b, b2c customers, journos etc). If you brought her to a chicken shop, how likely is it that there will be a second date? 

34 minutes ago, Paddylaz said:

Now that we’ve got you talking (you’re an elusive bunch!)

If you consider your spectacle of ignorance to be an achievement, I have bad news for you. At the moment I am not affiliated with the team that develops it in any way, although I helped them with the actual event that you loved so much. I am lucky enough to know the members of the team personally and occasionally stop by for a look-around, but feel I have no right to disclose anything related to the situation.

[Paddylaz]

1. “Dude, the fact that you didn't feel like you belong there is still not good enough of a reason to slam the efforts of the team.”

 

Sorry, I'm still confused by this. What does this even mean? 'Belong' in what sense? I'm a bit confused as the seems an odd response to criticism of a simple launch night.

 

[meepmeepmayer]

If Siemens was involved, no wonder they failed

In all seriousness, the video shows the wheel is really light and narrow, but who wants a slow wheel that can go 10km max? Maybe they just realized nobody would have bought the thing (question is, why no stronger wheel). Seems they also overdesigned the shell. Who needs elaborate software for that, look at the simple shells Gotway gets away with, these are actually superior. I don't understand why other manufacturers go for these complicated designs.

It would be really sad if this was a patent issue. Is Jason Chen hardline about competitors? Or did you think of some other, unrelated patent (troll)?