Kristof Willen

Waar gebeurde dat ergens ? Ik heb de indruk dat men in het Antwerpse heel wat minder tolerant naar monowheels kijkt. Het zou interessant zijn om de zero-tolerance hotspots hier te melden.

The kill switch on my trusty Gotway Nikola+ is starting to behave badly: it sometimes stops working, even while carrying the wheel. This is No Fun (tm), frightening and possibly even deadly when this is happening while descending some long stairs in the station in the middle of the morning commute crowd. It is a usability nightmare to stop/start the wheel each time before dealing with stairs, not even mentioning the irritating BEEP-HEY-LOOK-AT-ME-TOODOOLOO startup sound. Does anyone have an idea how easy this is to repair ?

You should have a minimum insurance for riding a (motorised) vehicle (burgerlijke aansprakelijkheid/responsabilité civil). Most insurance companies can offer you one, but nowadays most family insurances cover electric unicycles as well. Inform you (well) with your insurance broker. Take care that maximum legal speed is limited to 25 km/h; especially in cities you have to be careful.

What happened to that Master mud guard at 2:02 ?

I had a chance to test drive the S20 today. Here are my findings: (Disclaimer : I currently ride a Nik+, never rode a wheel with suspension. Total EUC experience = 10.000km) It is a really beautiful and impressive looking wheel This thing is large and heavy. Steers like a large truck. Turning on the spot seems almost impossible. The engine is still powerful enough to give enough torque so accelerating is still quite good. The wheel is wide, but not so that it is cumbersome. Pedals are high ! I love the pads ! I really like the pads - so much that when I hopped back onto my Nik+, I immediately missed them. The handle sucks. I'm 6 ft tall, it is way too low to steer it comfortably, and combined with the heavy weight makes it difficult to maneuver. I really like the giant spiked pedals conclusion : quite disappointed with the heavy steering feeling, I was looking to replace my Nik end this year with an S20, seems I'll hold on to my current wheel for another year or so...

Whoa, that knobby V11 tire looks quite impressive, almost mistook the wheel for a Z10 !

No, it's rather the engine. I suspect myself to be too cautious, went on a commute yesterday, without any problem. People always warn a new (other-than-stock) tire really forces you to learn to ride again. Turned out to be true, almost got thrown off the wheel in the first turn. Seems the famous gyro effect on the Nikola has disappeared completely with the new tire (CST 1773).

Yes.

So I've changed the tire on my Nikola & put everything back together. The wheel powers on nicely, I did a careful & very short first maiden trip for the new tire, but then I heard a strange noise when returning home. I thought it to be the fan which had maybe some sand in it (the inner shelves had some dust & sand accumulated in some corners), so I opened the wheel again to verify. Turned out the fan isn't even spinning ! Maybe I am paranoid, but I have the impression the wheel makes more noise than before. See the video, the sound can be heard in the last seconds, it resembles a bit like a cat purring. Just want to be sure nothing is wrong before I stress the wheel in full force again... https://youtu.be/LYYZOq3Hoek

Meh. I don't think wheelchairs are that much fun either.

That video is just... magnificent!

Another funny one: I was at the local bakery, putting my gloves on before heading home, when suddenly an elderly woman in an electric wheelchair passed by. She exclaimed : "Oh, that looks marvellous ! You're going to ride that ?" When I confirmed, she said : "Sweetheart, you're making me sooo jealous!". Made me chuckle... We kept chatting for a while, she was very interested how it felt to ride an EUC; turned out she suffered from MS. Elderly people always react very enthusiast on EUCs...

One of the reasons why I absolutely detest riding close to water : the slightest tumble can transform your 2000$ machine into a wet brick.

It's an additional (smart) light with a USB rechargeable battery. The faint Gotway Nikola rear light with its embossed logo hardly can be defined as a rear light. Added because I wanted to be more visible when riding at night. The smart light part is that it can detect when I'm breaking, and then changes from a blinking to fixed LED.

Ok, when waving, just make sure to use all fingers, not just the middle one (especially to cops).