Adventures on an 18" Learning Wheel - class of late April

[erk1024]

Off with the bubble wrap! On with the Body Protector + OneWheel!

     

 

 

eWheel 

It was high time to rip off that ugly damn bubble wrap. It was an OK short term solution, but if I had to do it over, I would have gone with the Body Protector from the beginning. There were a couple spots where my ad-hoc protection didn't do the job. But what the hell, it's fairly unscathed considering how many times it got dumped on the pavement!

I'm practicing starting and stopping. I'm jealous of watching experienced riders just step on and step off their wheels casually. Up til now, my mounts have been more of a push-off-hop-on-wobble-for-a-few-feet affair. Now I start with the left foot on the pedal and put my right foot next to the right pedal. I can apply some forward pressure and balance with the left and calmly bring up the right. Also, if I need to move my right foot, I can balance again on the left and skooch my foot into better spot. All that still needs work though. 

Same with the stops. I'm now able to balance at really low speeds, so I can come to a stop and step off the wheel without reaching out to grab it. I'm getting there. For the first time, I charged the battery to 100% and left it on the charger for an additional five hours to let it balance the cells (I hope that's enough time). But I didn't want to leave it at 100% so I took it out after the thunderstorms, at 9pm and rode it for an hour. I went ten miles messing around on twisty, fun bike paths accelerating and decelerating the whole time. And only managed to get the battery down to 93%. The range on these things! Amazing. I'm up to 96 KS miles now.

 

OneWheel

 

I got the OneWheel so my daughter could come out and ride with me. I thought it would be less intimidating and easier for her to learn. (eWheels are great but you have to be up for a challenge with the steep'ish learning curve.) We both learned to balance on it and ride after 10-15 minutes. I could have gotten the Pint for her, as she's a sixteen year old, 120 pound bean pole. But I couldn't have ridden it, it's range is 6-8 miles which means the fun's over after 30 minutes, they are slower and the Pints are backordered from here to eternity and beyond. One guy on the OW forum ordered his in March, and is expected to receive it in July. And if we are being honest, I also wanted to try the OneWheel and the Pint wouldn't work for me.

Previously I downplayed the OneWheel because it was pricey, slow and had limited range compared to a similarly priced eWheel--which is accurate if you're just looking at a spec sheet. But the truth is the OneWheel is a blast to ride. The big fat comfortable tire handles road hazards just fine. Cruising down the sidewalk at 25kph feels fast. It's much more maneuverable than a skateboard--you can take very sharp turns, or even spin around with a twist of the hips. There are roads that would vibrate your feet off with the polyurethane wheels of a skateboard that the OneWheel just glides over. The build quality of the board is excellent, and the app is in a different league than any of the eWheel apps. On the inclines (I can't call them hills) the OneWheel seemed to have good power even with my 120kg of weight on it. I rode it for about half an hour (two wobbly "I just learned how to ride this thing" miles) and only used about 14% of the battery, so the stated range of 12-18 miles seems doable.

There are a couple things you don't get from videos and photos. For one, the wheel itself is bigger and areas where you place your feet are smaller. As you can see in the photo, my (size 14) feet barely fit on there. Also, the OW is perpetually dirty after a ride. That big, soft tire picks up gravel, leaves, twigs or any other debris and plasters it to the underside of the board or the fender or it stays on the wheel itself. I rode my KS18xl in the exact same conditions, and it was no more dirty than when I left the house. I might carry around a stiff brush with me next time to clean off the OW before I put it in the car after a ride. An advantage of the OneWheel is that it stands by itself. No need to lean it up against something, when you stop, you just leave it wherever it is. But the downside is, you can't trolley it anywhere. And at 27 pounds, it's not exactly "light" to carry around.

So which is better, a OneWheel or an electric wheel? It's kind of like asking, what's better a sports-car or a Jeep? They are both fun and different. It depends on what riding experience you want. And there is no reason you have to pick just one! A OneWheel could work for short commutes or just having a stress relieving jaunt after work. But if you're a speed demon or want to go for long rides, then you should go with a powerful eWheel. As @Jimmy Chang pointed out, the facing forward stance of an eWheel is more comfortable on long rides than the sideways, "twist to face forward" stance of the OneWheel. But the skateboard feel of the OneWheel is also nostalgic if you've ridden skateboards as a kid. 

If you twisted my arm and said I could only have one or the other. I'd still pick the eWheel because I like it on so many levels. It's not just the speed and the range. It's like an electric scooter where you've taken away the handlebars, the front wheel and the spot where you stand--how is that even possible? When you're out riding it, people will stop you and demand to know what it is and how it works. When you explain it to them, they still don't quite believe it.  

 

Edited June 9, 2019 by erk1024
fixed text issues

[Rehab1]

That Body Protector looks awesome! Wow such nice,  pristine pedals. Did you protect those as well? 

[erk1024]

13 minutes ago, Rehab1 said:

Wow such nice,  pristine pedals. Did you protect those as well?

No. They are plenty scraped up. I've just covered up the damage with gaffers tape.   

Edited June 9, 2019 by erk1024

[Jimmy Chang]

That bubble wrap is so rad! Great protection and I bet it is a great theft deterrent!

Love reading about your progress. Keep it up.

[tata]

Great post. I like how you compared them and also made a stand for the onewheel even though I don't think onewheel stand a chance against euc. 

1 hour ago, Jimmy Chang said:

That bubble wrap is so rad! Great protection and I bet it is a great theft deterrent!

I might be wrong but I have never thought about my wheel would be stolen. I often left it somewhere in a store if only for a short period of time. I don't think any thief knows how to ride it or even what it is. 

[erk1024]

10 hours ago, tata said:

made a stand for the onewheel even though I don't think onewheel stand a chance against euc

 

In the end, the EUC probably wins in every category, even safety. Although "fun to ride" is very subjective, so one could argue that point, and easier to learn.

 

I've been reading the forums and it looks like the OW safety situation was bad in 2017, and you can see why. They had a speed leaderboard, in other words, people were competing to see who could go the fastest, and were posting amazing speeds. They were basically incentivizing people to exceed the limits of the board.   

 

The model they had out at the time, the OneWheel Plus had lower voltage (48V) and only 15 cells for a total of 130wh. I think that means the cells had to put out around 15+ amps just to feed the motor 750 watts (750w / 48V). Usually the peak power of a motor is much higher than the stated (continuous wattage) number, but the battery just didn't have the current for much more power.

 

If you believe the internet, the new XR has TWO banks of 15 Samsung 30Q cells for 324wh. So more current for peak loads, and it's also 63 volts, so probably better top speed. They've taken down the "Speed Leaderboard" and now all the leaderboards are about distance, or days in a row ridding, things like that.

 

Another big safety mistake is that there are no audible alarms. They only have tiltback (they call it pushback). The problem there is that if people don't read the instructions, don't pay attention, are distracted by everything else that's going on while riding, feel the pushback but blow it off, or otherwise don't recognize or don't understand what pushback is, they are going to eat asphalt. If the board started beeping like crazy when it was getting close to the limit, it would be a big clue to the rider that something is wrong and they should back off.

 

Edited June 10, 2019 by erk1024
added text

[NylahTay]

Thanks so much for the comparison review! I'm now interested to get a onewheel for all my friends that want to go riding with me. I have an electric push scooter that I let my friends borrow for rides. But the oneWheel would be a fun middle ground that wouldn't be as difficult as the EUC to learn on the fly. 

 

[Mike Sacristan]

1 hour ago, NylahTay said:

Thanks so much for the comparison review! I'm now interested to get a onewheel for all my friends that want to go riding with me. I have an electric push scooter that I let my friends borrow for rides. But the oneWheel would be a fun middle ground that wouldn't be as difficult as the EUC to learn on the fly. 

 

Of all the vehicles I own the Onewheel is the one that is most pure fun. It is easy for some people to learn but not all.
The other day I met a friend of mine. Her name is Angela and she loves surfing. She also rides an electric longboard.

This is what happened:

 

[Esso]

Funny, it was seeing a guy on a Onewheel that got me into EUCs. I thought, man that would be awesome to ride one of those things to work. But then I did some research and I realized that the range is limited and they're not as fast as EUCs. That was a few weeks ago. I had an old MCM3 laying around that I never got around to learning how to ride. Since then I've bought a used Tesla and a used MSX (got awesome deals on both) and I still don't know how to ride! My schedule is so hectic it'll be a solid 2 weeks before I can even think about getting some riding time.

One thing area where I think the Onewheel is better than an EUC is in slow speed travel. The guy I saw on the Onewheel was able to negotiate his way around a large group of pedestrians at slower than walking speed and pivot on a dime.

[Evel_Knievel]

20 minutes ago, Esso said:

Funny, it was seeing a guy on a Onewheel that got me into EUCs. I thought, man that would be awesome to ride one of those things to work. But then I did some research and I realized that the range is limited and they're not as fast as EUCs. That was a few weeks ago. I had an old MCM3 laying around that I never got around to learning how to ride. Since then I've bought a used Tesla and a used MSX (got awesome deals on both) and I still don't know how to ride! My schedule is so hectic it'll be a solid 2 weeks before I can even think about getting some riding time.

One thing area where I think the Onewheel is better than an EUC is in slow speed travel. The guy I saw on the Onewheel was able to negotiate his way around a large group of pedestrians at slower than walking speed and pivot on a dime.

Just a couple suggestions. I have not read the entire thread so my suggestions may be repetitive:

If you have a narrow (normal width) hallway you can use, it doesn't have to be long...start getting on and off while bracing yourself with your arms between the two walls. Even better if the floor is carpeted. Get comfortable with that then try riding down the hallway without bracing yourself (use the wall when needed to avoid falling off). The distance you can ride will slowly increase until you can get on and ride the entire hallway and get off without using the walls.

If you don't have a hallway get a shopping cart and brace yourself while riding the wheel in an open area like a parking lot. Get comfortable with getting on and off while using the cart then without the cart.

If you can find a artificially turfed area (even short grass) you won't need any assistance, just the grit to challenge yourself to ride a little further and break your last distance record.

Total time to learn (about 2 hours). Break it up into 15-30 minute sessions over 2 or more days.  

You might duck tape some cardboard around your EUC as padding so you don't beat the hell out of it while learning to ride it. Learning to ride is hard on wheels!

Keep us posted.

Adrian

[Evel_Knievel]

24 minutes ago, Esso said:

Funny, it was seeing a guy on a Onewheel that got me into EUCs. I thought, man that would be awesome to ride one of those things to work. But then I did some research and I realized that the range is limited and they're not as fast as EUCs. That was a few weeks ago. I had an old MCM3 laying around that I never got around to learning how to ride. Since then I've bought a used Tesla and a used MSX (got awesome deals on both) and I still don't know how to ride! My schedule is so hectic it'll be a solid 2 weeks before I can even think about getting some riding time.

One thing area where I think the Onewheel is better than an EUC is in slow speed travel. The guy I saw on the Onewheel was able to negotiate his way around a large group of pedestrians at slower than walking speed and pivot on a dime.

And one-wheels are no where near the machines that high end EUC's are as you have noted. Not from a performance standpoint or a value standpoint. I'd say the only real advantage is they are easier to learn, but we are talking a couple hours so it's dwarfed by the EUC advantages.   

[Esso]

29 minutes ago, Evel_Knievel said:

Just a couple suggestions. I have not read the entire thread so my suggestions may be repetitive:

If you have a narrow (normal width) hallway you can use, it doesn't have to be long...start getting on and off while bracing yourself with your arms between the two walls. Even better if the floor is carpeted. Get comfortable with that then try riding down the hallway without bracing yourself (use the wall when needed to avoid falling off). The distance you can ride will slowly increase until you can get on and ride the entire hallway and get off without using the walls.

If you don't have a hallway get a shopping cart and brace yourself while riding the wheel in an open area like a parking lot. Get comfortable with getting on and off while using the cart then without the cart.

If you can find a artificially turfed area (even short grass) you won't need any assistance, just the grit to challenge yourself to ride a little further and break your last distance record.

Total time to learn (about 2 hours). Break it up into 15-30 minute sessions over 2 or more days.  

You might duck tape some cardboard around your EUC as padding so you don't beat the hell out of it while learning to ride it. Learning to ride is hard on wheels!

Keep us posted.

Adrian

Hey, thanks for the pointers. I was planning learning at this roller hockey rink near my house but it's always packed with little kids or a hockey match. But then I remembered that there's a gigantic turf field that I can go to with a chain link fence running the entire length. It should be perfect for learning.

The guy I bought the MSX from learned on it only a few months ago and he seemed very confident riding it. I'm hoping my downhill skiing skills will translate. I regularly ski 50+mph on snow, but I doubt I'll go faster than 25mph on pavement. Seems terrifying. 

[Mike Sacristan]

First time on an electric unicycle.
Run the fence. Rest. Think about all the bad things you've done.
Run the fence. Rest. Question why the hell you bought an EUC it's impossible to ride!
Run the fence... fly.

 

[Smoother]

17 hours ago, Mike Sacristan said:

Of all the vehicles I own the Onewheel is the one that is most pure fun. It is easy for some people to learn but not all.
The other day I met a friend of mine. Her name is Angela and she loves surfing. She also rides an electric longboard.

This is what happened:

 

It really cracks me up listening to multilingual people slipping in and out of their known languages in the same sentence. "blah, blah blah backside 180 blah blah blah"

[Mike Sacristan]

32 minutes ago, Smoother said:

It really cracks me up listening to multilingual people slipping in and out of their known languages in the same sentence. "blah, blah blah backside 180 blah blah blah"

Haha 

I'm terrible when it comes to specific terms in swedish. If it's computers I will default to english, board terms the same and so on. One day i'm going to do the swedish challenge. 100% swedish words during a whole day. That will be tough.

[erk1024]

EUC Progress, Fall on the OneWheel

I made my first run to the grocery store on my KS18xl. I didn't want to leave it outside so I heaved it into the cart. I got some strange looks from the other customers and the checkout clerk. Not that I care. I'll take a picture next time. Just a weird juxtaposition of this alien looking black disc sitting in a shopping card with some low carb ice cream bars and my helmet.

I went night riding on a path called the El Rio Trail (https://www.traillink.com/trail/el-rio-trail/)  It's a bike path that goes along a river, under bridges, past Florida Atlantic University. I spotted lots of bunnies and frogs. It was a fun 15 mile ride (I parked a couple miles away at the local Whole Foods market). I would have liked more turns though. I'm at 119.6 miles now--so close to unlocking full speed! (Maybe it's been unlocked the whole time. I currently have my tiltback set at 45 kph, how could I have done that if the restriction was in place?)

But the big thing I've learned recently (after reading a conversation around @seage's posts) is that by having a wider stance (so my ankles are not up against the body of the wheel) gives you more room to tilt the wheel, and this makes a huge difference to low speed turns and general maneuvering. Also with more miles on the wheel, I'm getting so much better at turns, handling bumps, and general riding. It feels great to make progress.

When I got back to my car, there was a man and his son. The man said, "Hey! Ride over here!" so I rode by a couple times showing them how it worked. They loved it. People are intrigued and curious about EUC's--more so than OneWheels, scooters or skateboards. 

That same night, I didn't have quite enough riding, so I took the OneWheel for a spin around my neighborhood. I had a powerful headlamp on, but the area is not as well lit. I was having a great time and was almost back at my house when I came up on a speed bump that I hadn't noticed. I braked hard but still hit the speed bump too fast. Hard to remember what happened after that. I must have spun around and landed on my side. Also my head smacked on the pavement. I was wearing a full face helmet. But for a moment I couldn't get up. I was too dizzy. When I felt OK to stand up, I was so dizzy I almost fell down again. I managed to carry the OW back to my house. I had concussion symptoms that tapered off over the course of about three days. 

One thing about the OneWheel is that it seems if you fall, you tend to fall on your backside instead of falling forward. If the board gets away from you, it tends to take your feet out from underneath you. In contrast, on an EUC, when you have a crash your feet come off and you're more likely to fall forward where the knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist guards can do some good. Once you build up some skill, you shouldn't crash very often (almost never), but it's just one little data point to add.

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by erk1024
added text

[erk1024]

 

I'm selling the OneWheel XR. 

I currently own a KS18XL, a OneWheel, and I got my daughter a Xiaomi M365 scooter. I rode all three yesterday over the same stretch of bike paths to try to figure out where I was going with this whole PEV thing. And the conclusion I came to was there was too much I didn't like about the OW:

1. How do I get off this thing?!

In order to get off the XR, you have to slow to a stop, balance, and (without shifting your weight) lift the heel of your front foot. Or you can jump off with both feet simultaneously. Neither of those is particularly easy, and not easy at all if you are in the process of losing your balance. Worse, if you lose your balance and take the weight off one foot, the board wants to take off, and take your feet with it so you land on your butt, side, or back; avoiding all the body armor you're probably wearing (knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, etc.)

With an EUC, when you lose your balance, you can step off and let the wheel keep going forward (and crash into something). You may not even fall, but if you do, you fall forward where the knee, elbow, and wrist guards can do their job. 

2. Handling

If you're riding over level pavement, then the OW is great. With the big floaty wheel, it's comfortable and it soaks up bumps better than an EUC. The problem is when you start to get irregular pavement or a road hazard that you're crossing at an angle, the board wants to wriggle around underneath you. Also if the path you're on is slanted (even mildly slanted) it wants to turn in the direction of the slant. You have to steer hard to counteract it. I've heard that a Z10 with its wide wheel wants to follow ridges and troughs in the pavement, and I think this is the issue I have with the OneWheel. With a narrower EUC wheel, the bumps are felt AS BUMPS instead of wobbles, and mildly slanted pavement is fine.

3. Too Many Safety Concerns

The worst falls that my daughter and I have had were on the OneWheel. I ended up bruising a hip and my head hit the pavement resulting in a mild concussion. Because the board sticks out forward and back, you can dig the front into a ramp or obstacle or drag the back on a steep downhill. There are many experienced riders having bad falls. I loved watching slydogstroh's videos, and now he got injured in a mid-speed cut-out crash and has to have surgery on his knee. It seems like the EUC's (esp. the Gotway and Kingsongs) have less of these cut-out issues, and there is more warning when the rider is running out of self-balancing torque.

Riding PEV's is super fun, and I'm addicted to it. I'm trying out different devices to see what I like the best. OneWheels are certainly fun, and I can see why people love riding them. Horses for courses. Next thing I'm going to try is a monster scooter. I was having fun on the Xiaomi until I hit the top speed of 25kph (15mph). Of course the 18XL is my current favorite, and that's a keeper for sure!   

[meepmeepmayer]

Don't get rid of the Onewheel prematurely. It might need some time getting used to. Just going by EUC experience.

On the other hand, if it really is unsafe (unpredictable cut-outs), away with it quickly! Does it really do that (unlike EUCs that don't just cut out)?

[Mike Sacristan]

My wife seems to have given up on the Onewheel and has now learned to ride my Ninebot One E+. 
She thinks it's easier.

The Onewheel really wants to do it's own thing when riding it. The other day I pumped the tire way too high and it was hell to ride. So I let some air out and everything felt fine again. I was out riding and I felt it slip away from under my feet, my feet and body followed though. It helps to see it as surfing. 

The Xiaomi M365 has firmware mods that can be done to get it up to 30kmh and beyond.

 

[Mike Sacristan]

I just went for a ride with my wife. She was on the Ninebot and I was on the Onewheel.
It started raining and I was riding on my custom mode which is a bit looser the mission.
All I felt was drama and the wheel slipping away from me haha. So I carved a bit and tried speeding up so I could solve all the problems. The biggest problem is not riding enough. So I have to start putting more miles on that thing. During the last half of the ride everything clicked though and it was easy peasy. Some parts of the road were really crap though and some really leaned to the side so the Onewheel really wanted to pull away from me. #sweatingballs

[HardyM]

Your wheels have something to do with determining how fast or how slow it can go. 
Although smaller wheels are much easier to accelerate faster than bigger wheels. They are not just awesome wheels for cruising, but they tend to roll a bit longer and provide you with more momentum.