Gotway Unreliability is a Myth

[peterpeco]

I have several wheels including 5 Gotways, none have failed and I have fallen off many times. Gotway have got a reputation of more accidents or failures than other brands because they have been brave enough to give the rider complete freedom in setting up his machine. There have been riders who are risk takers or just plain stupid when setting up their machines and then riding flat out and when they come a cropper they complain. Any rider with half a brain in their heads will understand that an EUC's performance will be governed by it's specification coupled with rider weight/size and they should set the wheels limits accordingly. 

[Hatchet]

So, your experience erases all the experiences of others? 

"Half a brain"

"plain stupid"

That'll convince people of your agenda.

[US69]

[RockyTop]

I have not been riding long enough to have an opinion on reliably but I did buy a GotWay because it is fast and I am crazy.  

[dieterGRAMS]

Iono man. My gotway cut out on me.... but I was doing 24.5mph on an MCM4  

[kasenutty]

Paging  @Shad0z

It's time to come meet your new best friend

[Shad0z]

I dont think gotway is less reliable In that regard, if you get it out of the box and it works, i think the old models yes, theyre were a few models with issues,  but if you get it out of the box and it works then its not going to cut out and be un reliable with cut outs, in that sense i think ita about the same as any other company, but thats where it changes because over time there can quality issues like the shell and also people reported mosfets blowing, but i think blown mosfets thats a thing of the past with the new ones, but tbh im not 100% sure how it will be long term with the new gw wheels, but gotway reliability ist a total myth, a gotway wheel doesnt cut out anymore than any other wheel, but quality issues that is another story

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

The only reason I bought a Gotway Tesla is that I saw that they listened  to us here on the forum and implemented some improvements.  There weren't many axle fractures for Gotway wheels unlike the older KS14 wheels, but they ended up increasing their axle size anyways to help accommodate larger gauge motor wiring while strengthen that area.  They also changed up their connector to wire quality by crimping and adding heat sleeves so they seem to be responsive to customer feedback even though they have withdrawn their presence here.  The fan cooling strategy with the improved cooling heatsink tray on the Tesla works well.  My wheel hovers around 40-45°C while in operation.

Unfortunately I think we bugged them too much about failures that they said to heck with it and stopped posting here.  It's too bad since we did give them our honest feedback, and it was good to have them active on the forums.  @Linnea Lin Gotway

[Jerome]

I am not even a Gotway rider, but at this stage Gotway appears to be as reliable as any other euc maker. I hope the face planting urban legends die. It is getting way to old. I chose another brand but it had nothing to do with reliability or safety concerns.

[The Fat Unicyclist]

10 hours ago, Shad0z said:

I dont think gotway is less reliable In that regard, if you get it out of the box and it works, i think the old models yes, theyre were a few models with issues,  but if you get it out of the box and it works then...

You say this like it is expected that when you get it out of the box it may not work?   

[Shad0z]

1 hour ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

You say this like it is expected that when you get it out of the box it may not work?   

"if it works out of the box"

 

we all know about the bad gotway qc standards  
but mostly it does

[RockyTop]

I respectfully would not say the following on a non GotWay thread.  

   READ AT YOUR OWN RISK  

I am currently a GotWay fanboy, but if another brand builds a better wheel I will jump ship in a heartbeat.  I have not heard much in the last year about newer GotWay models failing. The boards , mosfits and axles are bigger and better.  If you turn off all the safeties and face plant at 42 MPH that is not GotWay's fault.  I say "Live Free or Die" or maybe "Live free and Die"  ........my choice. 

KingSong: This is my other favorite brand. I love my KS16s. It is an amazing wheel. It might not be the dream wheel that some are looking for but you get A compact  powerful rugged versatile wheel at a good price. With the KS16s as my example I picked the KS18L as the wheel to have in 2018............... How many problems can a wheel have!?  And what's worse,  You can't point a finger at the actual problem.  KingSong can't even figure it out.  I still have faith that KingSong will make good but this is very disappointing. 

 InMotion: I try my best to stay off the V10  thread.  I see a bunch of adults standing around a kid's toy expecting a software fix to turn it into a one wheeled Harley Davison.  It simply does not have the components to do what it claims on the box.  InMotion lost my trust with it's outrageous lies and exaggerations.  

Ninebot: ........................ Still waiting............ They have only made one new wheel in four years?  I sure hope they get it right because at this rate it will be 2022 or 2023 before the next one comes out . At first I thought the Z10 was a gimmick but it might just be a wheel to have. I just wish there was a bigger battery version that is about 10 pounds lighter. 

So Why are we talking about GotWay failures when it seem like everyone but GotWay is failing? If GotWay can figure out what you want they will build it for you!

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

It is funny how quickly the EUC industry (and EUCs!) can change on a dime.  Sometimes over-engineering or a simple mistake can also play havoc.  Can anyone say Hubble Hobbled space telescope?  When you have million dollar complex designs with huge flaws it shouldn’t be a big surprise these smaller engineering marvels experience similar problems.

Gotway seems to keep it simple and runs with some tried and true design elements now that they have learned from past mistakes.  If they can continue with that trend and keep it going while focusing on quality control they will keep being a market leader.  That is not to say that all their wheels are perfect (ahem 100 V Monster water short circuit @n2eus).

But you never know, their next wheel could be a lemon too.  We’re so early in the game that often we don’t realize we are riding on some of the first generation mass produced wheels that we automatically expect Lexus quality from the get go.  How old is the modern automobile?  Give it 50-100 years, and I’ll bet the EUC manufacturers will get there eventually.  I’m sure the Ford model T had some problems too early on.

[RockyTop]

6 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

we don’t realize we are riding on some of the first generation mass produced wheels that we automatically expect Lexus quality from the get go.  How old is the modern automobile?  Give it 50-100 years, and I’ll bet the manufacturers will get there eventually.  I’m sure the Ford model T had some problems too early on.

Very true.

I have yet to see a brand advertisement for an EUC. (other than YouTube product release videos) So We are kinda like prototype product testers. 

[Shad0z]

2 hours ago, RockyTop said:

I respectfully would not say the following on a non GotWay thread.  

   READ AT YOUR OWN RISK  

I am currently a GotWay fanboy, but if another brand builds a better wheel I will jump ship in a heartbeat.  I have not heard much in the last year about newer GotWay models failing. The boards , mosfits and axles are bigger and better.  If you turn off all the safeties and face plant at 42 MPH that is not GotWay's fault.  I say "Live Free or Die" or maybe "Live free and Die"  ........my choice. 

KingSong: This is my other favorite brand. I love my KS16s. It is an amazing wheel. It might not be the dream wheel that some are looking for but you get A compact  powerful rugged versatile wheel at a good price. With the KS16s as my example I picked the KS18L as the wheel to have in 2018............... How many problems can a wheel have!?  And what's worse,  You can't point a finger at the actual problem.  KingSong can't even figure it out.  I still have faith that KingSong will make good but this is very disappointing. 

 InMotion: I try my best to stay off the V10  thread.  I see a bunch of adults standing around a kid's toy expecting a software fix to turn it into a one wheeled Harley Davison.  It simply does not have the components to do what it claims on the box.  InMotion lost my trust with it's outrageous lies and exaggerations.  

Ninebot: ........................ Still waiting............ They have only made one new wheel in four years?  I sure hope they get it right because at this rate it will be 2022 or 2023 before the next one comes out . At first I thought the Z10 was a gimmick but it might just be a wheel to have. I just wish there was a bigger battery version that is about 10 pounds lighter. 

So Why are we talking about GotWay failures when it seem like everyone but GotWay is failing? If GotWay can figure out what you want they will build it for you!

i agree, the newer gotway models are great, the mcm 5 has been out for a while, i havent seen a single post about a failure on an mcm5! thats great, that just makes me feel even more safe about my msuper X purchase  

[dmethvin]

2 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

Give it 50-100 years, and I’ll bet the EUC manufacturers will get there eventually

On the downside, my body won't last 50 more years. On the upside, maybe they can preserve my head in a jar like Futurama Richard Nixon and I can safely ride by nodding my head without my jar breaking. I guess I can still faceplant tho.

[RockyTop]

8 minutes ago, dmethvin said:

On the downside, my body won't last 50 more years. On the upside, maybe they can preserve my head in a jar like Futurama Richard Nixon and I can safely ride by nodding my head without my jar breaking. I guess I can still faceplant tho.

Use Jello in a shatter proof jar. I prefer "red" Jello. 

    What a way to see the world, in a rose colored ........... jar?

[yourtoys7]

Out of 4 Gotways that I have owned over many years, I fell on mcm3 and msuper v3s (both times I pushed the wheel over)... Where Gotway could improve is improve the app and create something that will vibrate the phone or speak when certain speeds/ power etc. being reached. Z10 is setting a New bar high, but I would buy another gotway and recommend one anytime.

[Boogieman]

I can only speak for the 1020Wh tesla i bought in like...beginning of june. I learned to ride on it= several low speed crashes. And had one high speedish (35km/h maybe) crash and then a few below 20km/h (estimates as i could jump of and run beside it imstead of falling) in the woods and over rough grass (wabbit holed) and several tilt overs @ allmost standstill when balancing through "bushes and fields" and learning to go backward (still struggle..grrr)

My first 1'000km are completed this summer.

Im gonna do a teardown this winter and see how the lubed up foot pad shafts hold up. At the beginning i noted they were not lubricated and had started to wear very early (posted a fix here somewhere) so lubed shafts and loctited axle nuts.

Also made some precautionary stuff on wiring as it was not very "nice and clean", this winter ill try to seat motherboard in some bump protection stuff (rubber...foam...dunno what might work yet)

Also need to clean the sand paper sruff on pedals (done it twice allready) more thorough as it does not stick my foot as good now, dirt finds its way down in the hollow parts in the grit.

Ill try to remember to post pictures here of the "winter service"

[eddiemoy]

The reliability issues with the older wheels is not a myth. They have listen to this forum and addressed most of the issues where they can.  Thicker wires, heat wrap, thicker axel, bigger mosfets.  The fixed some other design issues like on the new MSX, the access to the air valve have been increased.  The V3s+ and older versions were shit.  So difficult to access.  They’ve done nothing to the trolley handle, it is still as bad.  But I guess it is better than a bolt on.  The internal layout is still very bad, not professional.  They seem to have upgraded the screw holes. The shell is still not water resistant.  No effort there.   Think the tilt back algo is still unreliable.  That is why people turn it off where as I rely on it on the KS side to keep me out of trouble.  

They have made some notesble improvements, enough for me to dip my toe into the GW again with the MSX.  It takes a while to turn their rep around. 

[Xoltri]

@eddiemoy what's your issue with the tiltback algorithm? On my MSX it is smooth and flawless, set at 36km/h.

[eddiemoy]

1 minute ago, Xoltri said:

@eddiemoy what's your issue with the tiltback algorithm? On my MSX it is smooth and flawless, set at 36km/h.

No, I’ll saying on older models.  Haven’t seen enough people use it on the MSX to know if it is reliable and what speed it is reliable at.  I.e.  if you have it set to 55kmph, will it still be able to keep you safe when you run down to 30% battery?   If you are running it at 36kmph, why do you have the MSX?  Plenty of wheels able to do reliable tilt back at 36kmph. 

[meepmeepmayer]

6 hours ago, Boogieman said:

this winter ill try to seat motherboard in some bump protection stuff (rubber...foam...dunno what might work yet) 

Bad idea!! Wobbly board = wheel going crazy and you might crash!

There were some Teslas where the board got a little loose and exactly this happened. But this is the first time I hear someone wants to do this on purpose Think about it, the gyro sensor is on the board after all. Detach that from how the wheel actually moves... what do you expect to happen that isn't disaster?

[Boogieman]

2 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Bad idea!! Wobbly board = wheel going crazy and you might crash!

There were some Teslas where the board got a little loose and exactly this happened. But this is the first time I hear someone wants to do this on purpose Think about it, the gyro sensor is on the board after all. Detach that from how the wheel actually moves... what do you expect to happen that isn't disaster?

Hi, i notice i was not very clear.

what i meant was that I want to add something between the plastic chassis and the board to make a tighter fit = make it 100% rattle free.

Electrical components like capacitors are not a fan of constant rattle and vibrations.

I am not going to detach it from the holder and put it in some kind of foam bucket, i just don't know how thick damping i can fit between board and chassis slot. Maybe only a string of rubbery glue might fit, i dont know. I just saw videos of board dismantle and it seemed to sit pretty lose/wiggly/rattly and that is never good with electronics, nor for exact response from gyro (even after calibration).

[Xoltri]

13 hours ago, eddiemoy said:

No, I’ll saying on older models.  Haven’t seen enough people use it on the MSX to know if it is reliable and what speed it is reliable at.  I.e.  if you have it set to 55kmph, will it still be able to keep you safe when you run down to 30% battery?   If you are running it at 36kmph, why do you have the MSX?  Plenty of wheels able to do reliable tilt back at 36kmph. 

I see.  I bought this wheel for the big tire and more comfortable ride, and it is everything I could hope for.  I have it set at 36 because I'm not comfortable wiping out going any faster than that, so I can't say how the tiltback behaves at 55.  Although the unload speed of my wheel is 79km/h so at 55 it seems like it should have a lot of reserve.

The wheel beeps at you if you overdrive it when the battery is low.  May be tough to hear at 55.  I haven't hit the low battery 'get off me' tiltback yet.