68bugboy Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 Took an 18 mile trip a couple days ago. My feet really hurt bad after that. In fact, one of my feet is still a little messed up. I decided something had to be done to accommodate my size 13 feet. Here is what I came up with. Waaaaay more comfortable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Romero Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 6 hours ago, 68bugboy said: Took an 18 mile trip a couple days ago. My feet really hurt bad after that. In fact, one of my feet is still a little messed up. I decided something had to be done to accommodate my size 13 feet. Here is what I came up with. Waaaaay more comfortable! Hmmm. How does a bigger platform relieve the foot pressure? Has it worked for you? What is the platform made from? ➰ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted July 14, 2018 Share Posted July 14, 2018 More details please. I'd love a larger platform, it's the one thing i like about the Elite over the mini-pro as much as the small speed boost. I have small feet and still could benefit as i like long trips using multiple batteries. Looks like you used some very dense foam for the top layer of your platform, don't know the name of it. How was it mounted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68bugboy Posted July 14, 2018 Author Share Posted July 14, 2018 I would've replied sooner but I reached my posting limit (which is apparently 3) for the day and had to wait 24 hours to post again. Newbie rules I guess. The platform has a thin wooden base with two 1/2" metal strips on each side for support. The pad is from a 3'x3' section of interlocking mat that was once used at a karate school. It was painted with some automotive vinyl paint. It is attached to the original footpads with industrial strength Velcro. That stuff is amazingly strong. So the whole thing can be taken off if needed and go back to original footpads. Did another 18 mile trip today with the new set up. The pad did a nice job cushioning the bumps. The Velcro held strong with no slipping. Me feet were still a little sore at the end of the trip. But nowhere near as bad as the last trip. I am very satisfied with this setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 Thanks! Sounds very interesting. I'm going to look for the right type of foam, and I'm thinking at hard surface on the top as well might be beneficial. Cleaver way to mount it. does the weight of the platform make the mini-pro think there is someone standing on in still when you step off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68bugboy Posted July 15, 2018 Author Share Posted July 15, 2018 The platform is pretty light. At first it acted as normal. However, after riding for a while today, it would sometimes think there was someone on the unit. When dismounting it would give the standard beeping. Then a couple seconds later it would beep again as if someone was on it. Then a couple seconds after that it would beep again as is it had been dismounted. This behavior would repeat itself over and over. Those foot pads seem to be very sensitive. The weight of the platform must be right on the edge. It wasn't too much of a problem though. I will study this behavior a little more. I still think the benefits outweigh the problems. Maybe a little foam around the outside of the original footpads for support would help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 10 hours ago, 68bugboy said: ..... Maybe a little foam around the outside of the original footpads for support would help. Thanks for the update. I started buying some materials to try something similar, I'm excited based on what I know about the large foot base on the Elite and various EUC pedals. I think your idea of a little supportive foam to keep the platform from registering is just what is needed, With the just the right foam it seems like it is close enough to the edge of registering, that this should be enough to offset it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68bugboy Posted July 15, 2018 Author Share Posted July 15, 2018 Rode for a little bit today and no problems with the Minipro thinking someone was on the unit. Weird. Be sure to post a picture when you are done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 How is this working out for you? I'm just creating a template for mine today. The poor MiniPro has been neglected this summer, and I want to get it out for more substantial use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68bugboy Posted August 26, 2018 Author Share Posted August 26, 2018 I have been super happy with this set up. It does a nice job cushioning the feet on bumps. It also allows you to reposition your feet every so often to relieve foot fatigue. I wouldn't want to be without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 Great! Thanks for the update. Really looking forward to trying this, not sure i can finish it today, but maybe depending how other plans go. Ps. Added suspension seat-post to the ebike 3 weeks ago, what a great improvement on rough gravel roads and off-road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68bugboy Posted August 26, 2018 Author Share Posted August 26, 2018 Let us know how it works out for you. If you use Velcro to attach the platform be careful when you take it off because it might pull the rubber footpad out of it's housing. Don't ask how I know.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 3 hours ago, 68bugboy said: Let us know how it works out for you. If you use Velcro to attach the platform be careful when you take it off because it might pull the rubber footpad out of it's housing. Don't ask how I know.... Yes, already thought of the problem with the foot pad, as i had to disassemble one to reattach it last year. My plan right now is to use 3M fastener, but i'm sure it will have the same issue. I hope to be able to develop a technique to remove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68bugboy Posted August 26, 2018 Author Share Posted August 26, 2018 The best way is SLOW & CAREFUL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted August 26, 2018 Share Posted August 26, 2018 Made the first of 15 basic cuts (5 per layer in my 3 layer sandwich), and I think another 6-12 small ones might be needed for clearance issues with the control-bar quick-release and lock point. Update: I have the base done. I have to leave it now for today; the plan is now to attach just the base to the Segway. I rode it a bit with out it being securely attached, did the same with the template also. The increased height may not be to my liking, but that will take a hard trail test of the final system for me to understand what that will feel like. I know on the Elite it seems a little more off-putting to be higher up, but my platform in the end should be only about 45mm or 60mm if I go for extreme foam. Hopefully I can spend some time on it during the week to get the fastening system setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Finally i have my first full prototype. Each layer is removable in theory to allow testing of different materials. This took way longer than i expected. Maybe opting for something simpler would have been better. In theory now i can test that. No report yet on how it performs, but testing of just an extended base without any foam layer was positive in that it did allow for slightly more foot movement and because of my fastener strips there was some flex which although small did seem to help a bit. Still need to put some grip tape on top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68bugboy Posted September 3, 2018 Author Share Posted September 3, 2018 Looking good! I did not find a need to have a piece of wood on the top with the foam pad I used. I just bought a cheap doormat at Home Depot for $3.00 and cut it to fit and glued it to the pad. Now all you need are some monster tires. Here is my current setup. Larger platform with monster tires. I could not be happier with the ride it provides! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Cool, I might try a new top layer as I think it will provide more cushioning; I like the idea of the doormat. I had wanted to make each layer removable so I could test different materials so each of my layers uses fastening stripes. For a simple test I can just remove the top board, but I would like to protect the foam a bit so out side of testing it with sock feet I've not wanted to try it yet because I'm afraid my boots would damage the foam. Also I'm still not sure if the adhesive on the fastener strips has boned with enough strength, so I can actually remove layer with out damaging the foam. I was able to remove the base from the segway a couple of times, but it was not very easy. I put some red grip-tape on top and did 23km today. I put it through a pretty extreme test off road and rocky for a good part of that. My feet were still sore so there was no night and day difference in this test, but being able to move my feet more did help. I think they are recovering more quickly also. The gravel road part did seem quite improved as did even asphalt, but the pressure point seemed to move much more towards my heal now, but that might be caused buy the flex in the board itself because of the 5mm space caused my the fastener strips. Generally it is a smoother ride, and certain types of bumps became almost fun to ride, but others were still felt pretty good and over all I still had pressure points. Thanks again for your idea of Velcro, while I didn't use that specifically it was the general solution to the problem which I had been thinking of. I think I have those tires. They look the same as what more4mini is calling the Speed-Tires, but have not had time to test any of the alternate tires. Looks like you did a nice job modifying the fenders. At least this got me out on the Segway again, but man adjusting to the slow speed was killer. Maybe I better try to switch the tires before winter. I was also forced to update the Ninebot App to the new Segway branded one, what a pain, forced updates are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68bugboy Posted September 4, 2018 Author Share Posted September 4, 2018 This is the kind of padding I used. https://www.greatmats.com/products/taekwondo-mats.php#specs More like rubber than foam. Very hard to damage. It looks like they will send out a free sample. Not sure how big it is. You should for sure change the tires. They are taller so you get more speed, not that much but noticeable. They are also much wider so they are much more stable. Especially on bumps, cracks etc. I was even able to install them without the use of tools. Just put my weight on the edges and they popped on pretty easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted September 4, 2018 Share Posted September 4, 2018 Thanks for the link to the pads, I saw that style when I was looking for different material, but don't have any on hand right now. I have some different foam densities so I have a few options to try. I used the softest foam I had because I was wedging it between the two hard surfaces which makes it much stiffer. I think I have my plan for my next test, and it should be easy to complete in a day or two. I have to try to take advantage of of the flexibility I worked hard at for changing the layers. Very interesting you didn't find changing the tires difficult and even did it without tools. I think all the reports of the difficulty in changing the tires has held me back a bit, as I didn't want MiniPro to be out of business too long. I do have tools though, and my tires are going to need changing soon as after 900km and quite a bit of off road and gravel roads have taken their toll on them. They have been great tires though. My original plan was to put different tires on my different MiniPros, but never happened as I didn't want to accumulate too many miles on the other units, I wanted to see how much I could get out of this one, that I've grown kind of attached to. I also have the hybrid tires to try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 Here is my second prototype. My test got cut short due to a totally weird battery failure, on a freshly charged battery. This build is simply the hard platform, high-density foam (higher than used in my first prototype) and then non-paper backed grip-tape right on top of the foam. I consider this 2 layers. After about 20km with some of that an extreme test, this revision does appear to work noticeably better than rev-1. If the weather cooperates, and the battery keeps working, i might do an long test trip next weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68bugboy Posted September 10, 2018 Author Share Posted September 10, 2018 Looks good! Seems like standing directly on the foam would be better than on the wood. Better cushioning for your feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 In rev-2 i’m essentially standing right on the foam with only the flexible grip tape in-between to protect the foam abd provide a secure grip in all weather conditions. There is no wood in my designs i use Poly based platforms. The foam pads can be removed from the platform, and platform removed from the minipro and then the foam pads will attach directly to the foot pads on the segway. I have not tried that yet, but about 5mins to do the swap. I’m going leave it like this for a bit longer before trying other options. Now being modular i have a number of possible tests i could do, but not enough time to trst them all properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68bugboy Posted September 10, 2018 Author Share Posted September 10, 2018 I like the idea of modular. Do you think that just foam alone will be too flexible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRide Posted September 11, 2018 Share Posted September 11, 2018 2 hours ago, 68bugboy said: I like the idea of modular. Do you think that just foam alone will be too flexible? The foam alone might be fine, I would need to test it, and I will. When I started the project I thought I needed to start with a firm base because I require firm soles in my shoes and the larger even firmer base on the Elite was more comfortable than the MiniPro, so I thought that was the way to go. The uneven sagging of the foot pads and the fact that they are too small I wanted to counter with the solid platform. Is the foam is right on the pads then there will not be much support under foam beyond the pad so the overall size of the foot support will only increase a small amount. with the firm platform on the bottom the base is a lot bigger. I may modify it so I can even mount it back a little further as I have extra room in the front I don't really need and sometimes I think having a bit more over hang in the back would be good. However support right up at the front seems not so critical, so putting the foam right on the pads might just work fine. I even have a high-density 1.5" foam I could use. One more long trip with rev-2 so I have a good reference point and I will try the next revision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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