msuper v3 review (matte black/rubberized shell)

[kour]

ok, so i've got just a little under 18km (i feel so funny using 'km' - but that's what it gives me!) of riding on this thing. part of that is not owning a car and living in an environment where there aren't very many practice-friendly, large, open flat spaces.

one detail -from what i know, this wheel was a product of gw's new approach to crimping motor wires...a new approach also in regards to shell material!

i'd read a few accounts of unfortunate incidents involving what was said to be bad soldering/redundant heatwrapping of cables/loose hall sensors, i.e., recalls in france kind of stuff and disappointed INJURED buyers... AFTER i'd ordered it! BUT, i had also read accounts where no such problems existed for other (often experienced) riders...even after crashes and long travel-distances. at that point, i figured it was a sort of 'roll of the dice' kind of deal. i thought about other electronics, like, tvs... just go to any retail site and look at the reviews for super expensive tvs... there are always some consumers who get a short end of the stick deal, like, the tv not even turning on, or lines/pixles appear after a couple of months and then their warranty has already expired or they had to endlessly harass customer service and even then they weren't reimbursed, or something.. you know what i'm talking about.

the difference is the implications involved in the malfunctioning of the electronics.. well, also the decisions the rider makes... with a wheel you're surrendering your wellbeing and dollars whereas with a tv you're stationary (usually)

so... i got a full-faced helmet, wrist guards with skid-plates, and knee pads (need to work on wearing those :P) because, what else are you gonna do?

long story short.. i know, it's a super long-winded preface here... today i got to the point where i felt sure enough of my abilities to bring this thing to work... ride it around in front of coworkers and other people who see me around basically. and then some bike trail action and metro area/pedestrian settings.

the only bad thing, which may not be gw's fault, indeed, since i did bash up my wheel earlier on, is the app situation. could also be my asus zenpad tablet.

one thing i really like is the ability to completely turn off tilt back - just give me a couple of beeps.. don't tilt me back bro!

 

 

[Dingfelder]

I haven't gotten my MSuper yet.  How durable do you find the rubberized shell?  To impact ... also to scratches?

I'm hoping it isn't as brittle as the reports I've read of people who've had an unlucky smack-around with either their MSuper's or Monsters recently.  I don't want to be going through shells like candy ... yet I fully expect to fall a lot when learning and have the wheel skittering off crazily here and there for the first month at least.

Also ... how comfortable is that full-face helmet?  It's hard to imagine them being anything but incredibly hot, sweaty/greasy and uncomfortable.

 

 

[Goodman]

22 minutes ago, Dingfelder said:

I haven't gotten my MSuper yet.  How durable do you find the rubberized shell?  To impact ... also to scratches?

I'm hoping it isn't as brittle as the reports I've read of people who've had an unlucky smack-around with either their MSuper's or Monsters recently.  I don't want to be going through shells like candy ... yet I fully expect to fall a lot when learning and have the wheel skittering off crazily here and there for the first month at least.

Also ... how comfortable is that full-face helmet?  It's hard to imagine them being anything but incredibly hot, sweaty/greasy and uncomfortable.

 

 

To be honest with you, I have had a few falls I think for most parts it took them ok but I did knock a small piece of plastic off near the handle. Pictures shows all the scratches and the piece of plastic missing. The white patches near the handle are not scratches its my lens on my iPhone full of my dirty finger prints :).

[kour]

well, it definitely shows, the impact. and i think it's more a question of how well the shell is put together/designed to deal with impact, in this case sic.    the shell itself isn't brittle, just the way it's kept together needs some sort of improvement, in my humble opinion. the shell has some deep gouges, but the only compromise in regards to protection of the battery and electronics came from a lot of direct force on the same area

and i don't think you should expect that you'll fall off a lot... it's more about keeping a handle on the wheel and keeping IT from falling/wildly careening around (since it's an msuper ). i've only genuinely fallen on my ass once (so far), and fortunately it wasn't at some high speed. it was more about bashing my ankles and toes.. that's probably what you should expect more of

the helmet isn't that bad.. just have to figure out the right size... also weight is an important factor. anyway, i don't care if i look weird.. if I'm going down I'm happy to let the helmet take the brunt of the damage and not my jaw/teeth/face

[kour]

19 minutes ago, Goodman said:

To be honest with you, I have had a few falls I think for most parts it took them ok but I did knock a small piece of plastic off near the handle. Pictures shows all the scratches and the piece of plastic missing. The white patches near the handle are not scratches its my lens on my iPhone full of my dirty finger prints :).

wait.. on the rightmost image.. does that penetrate all the way through?

[Goodman]

Nope just a small chip.

[kour]

also, as part of the review, i'll say i appreciate the padding for the legs - it really helps when you need to turn sharply, like, jerk your hips and sort of hop in place to complete a turn. i haven't tried hopping curbs yet

[kour]

11 minutes ago, Goodman said:

Nope just a small chip.

that's good to hear!

[esaj]

4 hours ago, Dingfelder said:

Also ... how comfortable is that full-face helmet?  It's hard to imagine them being anything but incredibly hot, sweaty/greasy and uncomfortable.

The full-face helmets usually have vents for that.

I use a "systems" helmet (I still don't know the correct name for it in English), where the whole front-part lifts up:

 

Helps with getting the helmet on and off without removing my glasses and if things got too hot, it could be opened for cooling down  But we don't get that many hot days here anyway, might be different for much warmer climates.

[Tilmann]

7 minutes ago, esaj said:

...where the whole front-part lifts up

Hope, it's not built like a tanker!  

 

[Scatcat]

5 hours ago, Dingfelder said:

I haven't gotten my MSuper yet.  How durable do you find the rubberized shell?  To impact ... also to scratches?

I'm hoping it isn't as brittle as the reports I've read of people who've had an unlucky smack-around with either their MSuper's or Monsters recently.  I don't want to be going through shells like candy ... yet I fully expect to fall a lot when learning and have the wheel skittering off crazily here and there for the first month at least.

Also ... how comfortable is that full-face helmet?  It's hard to imagine them being anything but incredibly hot, sweaty/greasy and uncomfortable.

 

 

I use a strap in the handle while I'm still learning my new wheel. Not to try to control the wheel while I'm riding, that would just be stupid, but to avoid it rolling away if I lose my balance and jump off. I've adjusted the strap to be just loose enough that it doesn't interfere with riding, but tight enough that the wheel won't fall if I lift and hold on to it while on the ground.

I use it for two reasons:

1) Avoiding dings and scratches while I familiarise myself with the wheel.

2) Avoiding a runaway wheel if I don't unbalance it when jumping off. That has happened to me once with my old wheel, and it is a scary thing. The bloody thing is faster than me and heavy enough to cause damage if it hits someone.

The thing with the strap though is how you jerk on it when needed. Be careful not to lock your arm totally, as you may tear a muscle with a 20kg wheel if you're not careful. Stay loose and kind of "spring" it back under control. There is not much force needed to avoid a roll-away, and as soon as the wheel doesn't run you can hold it or at least dampen the fall to avoid chipping and other damage.

I also use rubber-backed chrome liners bought at a car-store. I've placed them where neither the pedals or the pads will dampen the fall.

I'll probably buy another few meters and redo it, but maybe 15mm rather than 20mm. The wide strips were hard to bend sideways around the contours of the wheel, as you can see on the right strip. 15mm would also be narrow enough that I could extend it over the handle without taking off the 5mm chrome strip that is already there.

[meepmeepmayer]

@kour Don't be scared of manufacturing defects. The one consistenly lacking thing were the bad motor connectors (that was the French recall), which were fixed. Check your wheel's production date, if it is after Chinese new year then the changed how they do the connectors and these never failed (since it's probably April or even later, everything is good; they maybe also improved their quality control a little for later dates).

All the other defects were virtually all one-time events. And they were there from the start. When your wheel has been running fine for 50 km or whatever (once you go metric, you never go back), experience shows it most likely will hold up well for a loooong time.

Of course it can never hurt to do a visual inspection of the board side now and then. But that's more psychology than necessary, I believe. And protective gear is worth it independent of how reliable you think your wheel is. Most crashes here were either intentional/careless/accidental overleaning the wheel, or - more importantly - that one bump in the road that was missed.

[kour]

riding down the bike path after work was sooo awesome! usually i hustle to make it a couple of minutes early to bus stop (by bike path) basically a block down from my work. this time, i got on my wheel and rode down to the stop, then rode about 1/4-1/3 of a mile farther down the path to the next stop and still had time to spare! (i also saw another euc rider! but wasn't able to connect). after that bus ride, last stop near mall/metro, i rode this long sidewalk section i always have to slog down.. but now it's like a dream. the bike path ride totally sealed the deal for me - i'll do whatever it takes to always be in possession of at least one wheel!

[kour]

23 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

@kour Don't be scared of manufacturing defects. The one consistenly lacking thing were the bad motor connectors (that was the French recall), which were fixed. Check your wheel's production date, if it is after Chinese new year then the changed how they do the connectors and these never failed (since it's probably April or even later, everything is good; they maybe also improved their quality control a little for later dates).

yeah, i was told mine had the connector treatment! i don't know when i'm going to do it, but at some point i'm going to take my shell apart.. so far the duct tape seems to be adequate, haha...

[kour]

@esaj  cruising around looking like a spaceman is cooler, anyway

yeah, if it gets a little warm i just flip up the visor - but mine does have air-vents, as well. it's also carbon-fiber.. very light

[Marty Backe]

On 5/25/2017 at 3:32 AM, Tilmann said:

Hope, it's not built like a tanker!  

 

That was hilarious 

[Marty Backe]

On 5/25/2017 at 3:23 AM, esaj said:

The full-face helmets usually have vents for that.

I use a "systems" helmet (I still don't know the correct name for it in English), where the whole front-part lifts up:

 

Helps with getting the helmet on and off without removing my glasses and if things got too hot, it could be opened for cooling down  But we don't get that many hot days here anyway, might be different for much warmer climates.

Is that the actual helmet that you use - looks nice

[Dingfelder]

15 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

That was hilarious 

I didn't watch it until now ... yeah it was!

[esaj]

3 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

Is that the actual helmet that you use - looks nice

Yes, that's the one I use... It's a (relatively) cheap helmet I bought from Biltema (a Swedish store-chain):

http://www.biltema.fi/fi/Autoilu---MP/Moottoripyorat/Henkilokohtainen-varustus/Kypara-ja-visiiri/Jarjestelmakypara-2000023495/

Unfortunately no pages in English, they've got stores only across the Nordic countries (Sweden/Norway/Finland/Denmark). The sun-visor thingy's quite useless, but otherwise it's pretty good.

 

[steve454]

On 5/25/2017 at 8:29 AM, meepmeepmayer said:

All the other defects were virtually all one-time events. And they were there from the start. When your wheel has been running fine for 50 km or whatever (once you go metric, you never go back), experience shows it most likely will hold up well for a loooong time.

I agree, if it works for some time, it is probably going to work for a long time.  Extended warranties are a scam, unless you plan to use something a lot  more than it was designed to do.

[steve454]

16 minutes ago, esaj said:

Yes, that's the one I use... It's a (relatively) cheap helmet I bought from Biltema (a Swedish store-chain):

http://www.biltema.fi/fi/Autoilu---MP/Moottoripyorat/Henkilokohtainen-varustus/Kypara-ja-visiiri/Jarjestelmakypara-2000023495/

Unfortunately no pages in English, they've got stores only across the Nordic countries (Sweden/Norway/Finland/Denmark). The sun-visor thingy's quite useless, but otherwise it's pretty good.

 

That looks great, if the speed is low and the weather is warm you can flip up the chin guard, but if you ride fast you can flip it down in an instant.

[Marty Backe]

2 hours ago, esaj said:

Yes, that's the one I use... It's a (relatively) cheap helmet I bought from Biltema (a Swedish store-chain):

http://www.biltema.fi/fi/Autoilu---MP/Moottoripyorat/Henkilokohtainen-varustus/Kypara-ja-visiiri/Jarjestelmakypara-2000023495/

Unfortunately no pages in English, they've got stores only across the Nordic countries (Sweden/Norway/Finland/Denmark). The sun-visor thingy's quite useless, but otherwise it's pretty good.

 

Thanks. Google Translate (via Chrome) does a decent job of giving me an English page 

[Scatcat]

I have a Biltema just across the road from work, but that helmet feels a bit heavy for my taste. It would probably be good for terrain or high speeds, but for everyday use I prefer a compromise - a Kali City commuter helmet. Basically a bicycle helmet, but a bit more substantial than most. Have thought about a MB downhill full face helmet if I ever go terrain-jumping...

 

[HeavyGoing]

On 5/25/2017 at 3:23 AM, esaj said:

The full-face helmets usually have vents for that.

I use a "systems" helmet (I still don't know the correct name for it in English), where the whole front-part lifts up:

 

Helps with getting the helmet on and off without removing my glasses and if things got too hot, it could be opened for cooling down  But we don't get that many hot days here anyway, might be different for much warmer climates.

Anyone know where to find these in the US?

 

[RichieV]

10 hours ago, HeavyGoing said:

Anyone know where to find these in the US?

 

Just look for modular full face helmets.  Should find plenty out there.