The Moo Posted September 27, 2018 Share Posted September 27, 2018 Hi All, First off, thank you guys for being such a supportive and awesome group of people. This forum is the exact reason that set my mind to buy an EUC in the first place. Anyway back to my question. I am about to order a KS 16S from Jason at eWheels and thought that it would be a good idea to buy some accessories at the same time so that I don't have to pay for shipping multiple times. Since at the very beginning of my commute there is a 15° downhill that lasts for about 2km, I was thinking due to regenerative braking that I should only charge the battery to about 80%. Should I get a charge doctor, 5A fast charger or something else that limits the amount of charge put into the wheel? Also is there anything else that I should pick up from Jason while I'm at it (spare shell, tube etc...)? Also, what pressure is recommended for KS 16S tire? I am 150lbs and 6"2' and am climbing steep roads. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted September 27, 2018 Share Posted September 27, 2018 Duct tape and dense kayak foam is your friend, and be sure to place one layer of duct tape on the corners of the pads, replace them as they get worn down from falls. Pad your wheel everywhere until you stop falling. I recommend using an outlet timer for charging to around 85%, you plug the charger into the outlet timer, set the outlet times for about 3 times the time you rode (say you rode 20 minutes, set timer for 1 hour). In my opinion the KS16S is the workhorse of wheels as it does everything well. Most riders say that it is slow, but I prefer to view any wheel faster than the KS16S to be inappropriately fast and hence dangerous. I don't like this emphasis of passing bicyclists using a wheel because wheels are far less stable and reliable as those higher speeds (hypocritically I do ride my MSuper with a motorcycle helmet while passing 100% of bicyclist), and in my opinion you should be riding faster than people jogging yet slower than people bicycling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 I start my ride down a long steep hill also. I love the Charge Doctor. Highly recommended. A lot more precise than an outlet timer. Most important accessories though - helmet and wrist guards. I started with cheap wrist guards, then replaced them with Flexmeter Double Sided Wrist Guards D3O. They are awesome and feel much more substantial than cheap ones. Here's an Amazon link, but I found mine on sale at REI. http://a.co/d/7Z8w4Ae Just get the good wrist guards to start. No reason to waste money on cheap ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 @The Moo, you have done great groundwork already! You’re up to a good start. As mentioned, padding the wheel for learning and the rider for riding minimizes scratches and breaking on both. Highly recommended. As the leg contact point is low on the 16S, you might end up using some of the foam as a leg support extension. Charge doctor is great for exactly your situation where you start riding from the top of a hill. When fully charged, my 16S alerted about overvoltage even when braking stronger at level ground. An important thing to note though is that you need to let the charging do cell balancing every now and then. It is done by leaving the wheel on the charger for at least an hour after the charger indicator turns green. How you start riding after that has to be figured out though. Never try to ride through any beeps! I’m sure you have already watched a lot of videos on how to learn riding. Just remember to leave room for the wheel to tilt between your legs, it helps a lot with balancing at slow speed. And don’t tie your hand down to hold a strap, you need your whole body to balance! A spare tube wouldn’t hurt, but since replacing a tube is quite laborous, using a puncture sealant beforehand is the preferred method for most. Slime is the most popular, but non-latex based ones don’t dry up and need a refill. I think I used 3.3 bars on the original 16S tire, but I weigh 92kg. I’d say you can find your preferred pressure between 2.5 and 3.5 bars. Higher turns easier, so might be good in the beginning. The tires do have a tendency to slowly lose air, so be sure to check the pressure every few weeks or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyboyEUC Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 Don't know if this is the type of "accessory" you were looking for but I bought a small dog leash to tether the EUC to me (used carabiners to clip it to my waist. I've also seen surfboard type ankle straps). The only times I've "fallen" (aka step off) the EUC kept going headlong into curbs, light posts, etc... Then I bought the leash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Spears Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Falling 3" is not much of a fall. Even while travelling at 15 or so mph. I have never needed the wrist guards or all the outher safety stuff that seems to be so prevalent with this Community. Why a person neads all that safety gear is a mystery to me. If riding fast wear a helmet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 3 hours ago, Gary Spears said: Falling 3" is not much of a fall. Even while travelling at 15 or so mph. Yeh, spoken by someone who has never faceplanted due to a sudden failure. We had a guy like you a couple of years ago, called us all wimps, “All you need to know is how fall!” then came off riding at speed along a lakeside beach wearing just shorts. He did at least have the decency to publish the photos of his injuries afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cg Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 safety equipment, I used my wrist guard many times... - falling driving over holes in grass fields when in-experienced with my Z10, not really any equipment needed since it was soft fields... - falling when going backwards over a sewer (first time) (wrist guards took hit ) - falling when a bicycle stopped in the middle of the bikelane faster than I could stop (wrist guard+kneepads and elbow guards hit) - falling when learning to go fast as possible in grawel on Z10 (wrist guards hit) - falling when driving of track in the forest, and hitting some massive roots with only one side of EUC... (actually no equipment helped me, but both my angles where bleeding after ) - falling when driving in the forest high speed over a hill with a stone on top, EUC and I continued in different directions :), wrist guards (+lesson learned, hold on to unit when passing tops at high speed) That was about one month worth of equipment, I didn't fall the last two week, only had to step of because going on stepper hills than I could balance or unit could not deliver energy, not sure which one of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cg Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 ohh, and ofcourse, falling due to unit failure on my generic 14" after descending a step hill that fried the batteries, don't worry, they don't make them so crappy any longer. wasn't wearing any equipment, don't remember if I was hurt, it was in 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 11 hours ago, Gary Spears said: I have never needed the wrist guards or all the outher safety stuff that seems to be so prevalent with this Community. Have you ”needed” the seat belt in a car? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 11 hours ago, Gary Spears said: Falling 3" is not much of a fall. Even while travelling at 15 or so mph. I have never needed the wrist guards or all the outher safety stuff that seems to be so prevalent with this Community. Why a person neads all that safety gear is a mystery to me. If riding fast wear a helmet. I've said this before. But 15 mph is pretty darn fast. Most of us, at an all out sprint, can't run faster than 10mph. Imagine, without warning, sprinting into a wall. This situation is pretty close to falling on a wheel at 15mph: Stand on a 3 ft stool. Tie rope around your ankles. Have a "friend" stand behind you and without warning, yank your feet out from under you! I've fallen (with injury) twice. Once my head hit the pavement - thankfully wearing a helmet. I wasn't wearing wristguards though, and my wrist took about 6 months to fully heal. I got smarter after that and now wear wrist guards. My second fall, I landed on my butt - bruised my tailbone pretty good, but the wristguards helped. I see EUCers all the time, most without wristguards, some without helmet. It's just not smart. Many places require helmets for bike riders - and bikes have 2 wheels! 30 minutes ago, mrelwood said: Have you ”needed” the seat belt in a car? Exactly - you don't need it until you really need it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffroy Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 I don t like wearing all these protections and I still not wear any... consequently I felt twice broke one wrist for sure and the other is still painful after 6 months !!! Wrists are very fragile, ... means won’t ever rebuilt as day first ... so my advise wear protection !!;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Circuitmage Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 On 10/1/2018 at 1:44 PM, Gary Spears said: Falling 3" is not much of a fall. Even while travelling at 15 or so mph. I have never needed the wrist guards or all the outher safety stuff that seems to be so prevalent with this Community. Why a person neads all that safety gear is a mystery to me. If riding fast wear a helmet. My WORST fall was going 5mph after hitting someones garden bricks next to a sidewalk. Plus, the cheap kneepads I had on actually bit into my knees. I still have scars almost 1 year on my knees. It took 3 months for the wounds to heal. If I had gone to the hospital I'm sure they would have wanted to put stitches in them, as the cheap plastic knee pads tore into my knees. One had about a dime size hole in it. Also, wrist guards have helped saved me pain from at least 3 falls. So yeah....not just safety gear...but good gear. Especially when you are starting out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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