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My wheel was ran over by bus. I lucked out.


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Hi all!

I had a ks16s.

To begin with I barely rode a wheel without a safety gear (helmet, wrist pads, knee pads, elbow pads). Maybe a dozen times since I started to ride it in August. Those times when I didn't put the gear there was a short distance and a riding rout was very familiar to me. Usually my commute is 4.5 miles one way to work and back. I rode the wheel every day. In about 3 months I did a little less than 1400 km (1950km in total). I loved the wheel which I bought from @Marcglider. I always charged the wheel to 70% (with a fast charger) and when I was back home from work the level was 43%.

Just yesterday I saw @Marty Backe video where he took a spill riding his Tesla. After watching it I though, I am a very careful rider. Turned out not really. By the way I rode the wheel _only_ on the bike lanes, but not today.

On my way back from work I decided that I want to take a metro for some reason and was riding the wheel to the metro station. On my way I decided to cut my route riding a very short stretch (50 yards) and went against the traffic (it was red light for the cars plus the pedestrians where crossing the street in front of me). That was my mistake. I once I sped up, the very same moment the bus in front of me started to move towards me so fast. The driver likely saw me and he could have stopped, but probably didn't realize that the back wheels has much less turning radius then front so he kept driving. 

I jumped off the wheel and started to look at what will happen. In a moment the bus ran over the very bottom of the wheel. I though a tire only. It was enough to pinch the pedals which punctured the motor from both sides and blocked it. When I picked it up - the unit looked intact but didn't turn on properly - it was just beeping and some kind of weird light pattern kept blinking. 

I got lucky today, really lucky that I am alive and not injured.

Please be safe and please ride safely!

Question to the community:

Do you think I can sell the parts like the handle (has only some scratches), the pedals(regular wear), battery packs, led lights - all seem to be in tact.20181210_212224.thumb.jpg.009364bc75acc8f27ec50eb8ae197c36.jpg

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:shock2:

Wow, what a story. It was very funny & ominous in the first paragraph as you kept referring to the KS16 in the past tense :) :cry2:

I must say, I've never had any of my wheels run over. Looking on the bright side, it's very easy for us to abandon our ride and not personally get run over.

Did the bus even stop?

I think that the only parts that are serviceable from your wheel are the tire and tube, plus misc bits and pieces. I personally would not recommend anyone buy or use the control board or batteries. You don't know what stress they've taken. It's just not worth the riding risk.

Looking on even the brighter side, what new wheel are you going to buy :w00t2:

I hope you have a backup wheel :unsure:

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The bus stopped at the bus stop 50 yards after the accident. The bus driver came out - saw that no one was hurt and went back. 

@Marty Backe , you're very right about the battery pack and the board. I am not going to sell them.

As for the wheel - that was the only one :\   

@Marcglider, I can blame only myself. Lesson learned. Eh... Anyway thank you for selling the wheel - it was a lot of fun!

 

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1 minute ago, Marty Backe said:

BTW, if those pedals are what you consider normal wear, my God man, how do you ride your wheels? :P

Just several scratches. I think I polished the ground just a handful of times. Not too many scratches on the pedals ;) 2000 km also not a lot for the wheel like ks16s. 

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1 minute ago, Marty Backe said:

BTW, if those pedals are what you consider normal wear, my God man, how do you ride your wheels? :P

Yeah, I think that wheel was a sacrifice to the gods in exchange for preserving your life.  

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Sorry to hear about the accident. Glad you weren't hurt. Hope you find a way back onto a wheel soon.

Those battery packs are valuable so I understand trying to see if that can be salvaged. Unfortunately, any physical deformation to the batteries, even damage you might not see, could create a short and cause thermal runaway, leading to a very fiery situation. It's probably best to accept the loss and recycle them.

If you do chose to move forward with attempting to salvage the batteries you'll probably need to find a safe way to charge/discharge them a few cycles to make sure they are ok. Might even need to take the cells out, test them individually, and then put them in a new battery pack. They should be fairly standard 18650 cells. There are lots of tools and guides available for testing and building packs out of them. Obviously, any testing or working with these cells should be done in a fire proof area. There are so many ways those cells can ignite.

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Just now, Marcglider said:

Start saving for a MSX... I got a few hundred miles on mine and no pedal scrapes...:D

I have an MSX and no scrapes on pavement, but plenty from offroad. This wheel loves aggressive trail riding. Give it what it wants: ride harder ;-)

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Just now, meepmeepmayer said:

Maybe it was a Freudian accident, you wanted a new wheel too badly:efeebb3acc: As long as you're not hurt...

@meepmeepmayer, I honestly didn't want a new one. I loved my ks16s :) With bumps and potholes in Washington DC - you rarely go faster than 20-22 mph. And then DC traffic - even in the bike lane sometimes it's just a lane that separates you from the traffic. Pedestrians in DC is a separate topic to talk about. I rode my wheel mostly downtown. Going to miss it until maybe the next one ;)

@existensil, thank you. I might think about some kind of a project for the batteries. I have a couple of ideas already. 

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Happy that you are safe, I'm a french rider and in my town streets are very narrow : this is very usefull to ride with my weel, but also very dangerous because you cannot see what comes when you are on a street crossing. In winter I prefer to use my Xiamoi M365 for long rides, freeze can be a very bad surprise on the road with a wheel = by the way if you have solutions about that, I'll take ! ;)

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On 12/11/2018 at 11:03 AM, Magyar Bullbyzar Prod said:

Happy that you are safe, I'm a french rider and in my town streets are very narrow : this is very usefull to ride with my weel, but also very dangerous because you cannot see what comes when you are on a street crossing. In winter I prefer to use my Xiamoi M365 for long rides, freeze can be a very bad surprise on the road with a wheel = by the way if you have solutions about that, I'll take ! ;)

When I was riding the wheel, usually it's my hands that got cold because of the wind and cold weather, so I instinctively hid them behind my back holding each arm by another alternatively.

On 12/11/2018 at 1:01 PM, RockyTop said:

Dang!! ...... I almost bought that wheel for myself. ........Poor thing didn’t have a chance. It was killed by a much bigger wheel.  :cry2: :crying:

@RockyTop, I emailed to Marcglider a few hours earlier (than you posted on the forum :) ) about my intention to buy the wheel.

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@Ruslan I just got hip to this topic. Glad that you are okay. Metrobus drivers are the biggest "A"holes on the road. I bet that he didn't even stop. In what part of the city did this incident occur; downtown, Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, Mt. Pleasant, Petworth, Shaw, Brightwood, etc, etc? Great that you stayed frosty enough to avoid injury. 

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On 12/11/2018 at 11:03 AM, Magyar Bullbyzar Prod said:

Happy that you are safe, I'm a french rider and in my town streets are very narrow : this is very usefull to ride with my weel, but also very dangerous because you cannot see what comes when you are on a street crossing. 

Valuable info for my son, who will be leaving DC to live in Paris for 6 months in January. He will likely be riding an EUC while there. 

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On 12/10/2018 at 10:45 PM, Ruslan said:

With bumps and potholes in Washington DC - you rarely go faster than 20-22 mph. And then DC traffic - even in the bike lane sometimes it's just a lane that separates you from the traffic. Pedestrians in DC is a separate topic to talk about. I rode my wheel mostly downtown.

Depending upon one's score on the adrenalin junky scale DC is either a nightmarish, or an incredibly fun obstacle course. 

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On 12/10/2018 at 10:20 PM, Marty Backe said:

BTW, if those pedals are what you consider normal wear, my God man, how do you ride your wheels? :P

In DC? over many potholes and dead rats mushed flat by Metrobus drivers.

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2 hours ago, Ruslan said:

 

@RockyTop, I emailed to Marcglider a few hours earlier (than you posted on the forum :) ) about my intention to buy the wheel.

Ahh!  Sneaky.   The KS16s usually sells quickly. I am still looking for one. It seems every time one is available it is listed as pickup only or the asking price is real close to the brand new eWheels price. I think I may have waited too long because my wife is now asking for the KS18 xl. 

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45 minutes ago, Lutalo said:

@Ruslan I just got hip to this topic. Glad that you are okay. Metrobus drivers are the biggest "A"holes on the road. I bet that he didn't even stop. In what part of the city did this incident occur; downtown, Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, My Pleasant, Petworth, Shaw, Brightwood, etc, etc? Great that you stayed frosty enough to avoid injury. 

It occurred in Foggy Bottom, Washington circle. I was going against the traffic - totally my fault, but thanks for the support Lutalo. With this thread I just wanted to give a heads up to everyone to be cautious.

46 minutes ago, Lutalo said:

In DC? over many potholes and dead rats mushed flat by Metrobus drivers.

So true :)

54 minutes ago, Lutalo said:

@Ruslan on the upside, it looks like your now in the market for an 18L. Great wheel with the adaptability required for DC streets. 

As of now I need to create a budget for a new wheel. Maybe 18L, but I would like to try it first, although I really liked the ks16s. It absolutely fit my needs.

38 minutes ago, RockyTop said:

Ahh!  Sneaky.   The KS16s usually sells quickly. I am still looking for one. It seems every time one is available it is listed as pickup only or the asking price is real close to the brand new eWheels price. I think I may have waited too long because my wife is now asking for the KS18 xl. 

@RockyTop, I myself missed a couple of opportunities to buy the wheel on the second hand market before I bought the wheel from Marc :)

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2 hours ago, RockyTop said:

my wife is now asking for the KS18 xl. 

I think if you are seriously going down that road, you need to do yourself a favor and find someone to let you ride their MSX... that wheel is flat out Awesome... I can also tell you my Tesla is now my favorite wheel and you know how much I loved the 16S... :)

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3 hours ago, RockyTop said:

my wife is now asking for the KS18 xl. 

If you love her with all of your heart and soul order the XL right now. 

If you like her most of the time, but.......  get her an Inmotion V10

If You want the insurance money get her an MSX and disable the tiltback. :efee8319ab:

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13 minutes ago, Marcglider said:

I think if you are seriously going down that road, you need to do yourself a favor and find someone to let you ride their MSX... that wheel is flat out Awesome... I can also tell you my Tesla is now my favorite wheel and you know how much I loved the 16S... :)

  @Marty Backe and @Hunka Hunka Burning Love are not making the Tesla look good. If I had one I would be riding at 30  mph on a 16" wheel. ( I had to give up sports bikes for the same reason.) 

   I have a MSX.  My wife has the KS16s.  My daughter has a MS3+. I was going to get another KS16s  for my son-in-law. But now my wife wants a KS18xl. She likes lights and speakers and from what I have gleamed from @eddiemoy the KS18xl is better for people that are not forceful thrasher heathens (like me). I would get the KS18xl  for my wife and give the KS16s to my son-in-law. Plus my GotWay stable is getting full.   

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