MTEN 3 in Manhattan?

[bigdbag]

Hi everyone, I'm looking to buy my first wheel.  I'm interested mainly in the fact that these are fairly compact devices that can hit fairly good speeds and range.  But mostly for the compact nature.  The MTEN3 seems to be much smaller than most other wheels in it's speed/range class.  My primary concern is that at 10in., is this not viable for what is approximately a 1.2mil commute to work and back?  The streets in Manhattan are... not ideal, there are a lot of small bumps and dips, but I wouldn't say they're that rough, especially in the bike lane-dominant route that I take on my segway mini right now.  

Does anyone have experience with the MTEN 3 for city commuting?  Or should I just get a slightly bigger wheel like the MCM5/KS14d/s? 

[Marty Backe]

@houseofjob should be able to help you since since he commutes in NYC and owned an Mten3. I think I can predict his answer, but then again if your commute is literally ~1-mile maybe he'll surprise me.

I would certainly use my Mten3 for short commutes, but NYC offers unique challenges that I have no experience with. And perhaps not all parts of Manhattan are the same, in terms of the road/sidewalk crappiness factor?

Edited May 16, 2019 by Marty Backe

[houseofjob]

7 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

I think I can predict his answer, but then again if your commute is literally ~1-mile maybe he'll surprise me.

 

@bigdbag Yes, as @Marty Backe states here, I used an MTen3 for almost a year for my trips from UWS to Penn Station for catching NJTransit on the weekends.

For literally just 1.2 miles, yes, the MTen3 works just fine, just don't expect to use the full speed of the MTen3 most of the time, as many potholes in NYC are bigger than the MTen3 tire itself.

But I ultimately got ride of my MTen3 because:

• in NYC, riding the sidewalk is too crowded and slow, which forces you to ride bike lanes and some car traffic'd streets. The diminutive size of the MTen3, while great for portability, puts you in a state of constant edge, trying to watch out for both potholes and overzealous drivers.
• when you must ride in NYC streets, especially Midtown-type areas, not being able to accelerate properly out of the way due to road conditions is not pleasant. Also, for some reason, a bigger form factor wheel gives me a bigger sense of ease/security riding amongst car traffic.... not sure exactly why.

 

Whatever you do end up getting, being in NYC, I would strongly recommend staying away from thin tire EUC's and getting one that is 2.5" wide or wider. When you navigate the moon craters of the NYC streets, you want a wider, more stable base to realize the wheel's higher speeds, as well as give you more error correction when you do hit the inevitable unseen pothole (wider tires take longer to fall over).

[bigdbag]

19 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

 

@bigdbag Yes, as @Marty Backe states here, I used an MTen3 for almost a year for my trips from UWS to Penn Station for catching NJTransit on the weekends.

For literally just 1.2 miles, yes, the MTen3 works just fine, just don't expect to use the full speed of the MTen3 most of the time, as many potholes in NYC are bigger than the MTen3 tire itself.

But I ultimately got ride of my MTen3 because:

• in NYC, riding the sidewalk is too crowded and slow, which forces you to ride bike lanes and some car traffic'd streets. The diminutive size of the MTen3, while great for portability, puts you in a state of constant edge, trying to watch out for both potholes and overzealous drivers.
• when you must ride in NYC streets, especially Midtown-type areas, not being able to accelerate properly out of the way due to road conditions is not pleasant. Also, for some reason, a bigger form factor wheel gives me a bigger sense of ease/security riding amongst car traffic.... not sure exactly why.

 

Whatever you do end up getting, being in NYC, I would strongly recommend staying away from thin tire EUC's and getting one that is 2.5" wide or wider. When you navigate the moon craters of the NYC streets, you want a wider, more stable base to realize the wheel's higher speeds, as well as give you more error correction when you do hit the inevitable unseen pothole (wider tires take longer to fall over).

So one thing that sticks out to me from your reply (thank you for sharing your experience in NYC, that was super helpful), is not being able to accelerate properly in the case of an unusual road condition.  I was under the impression that the MTen3 has some torque-iness to it since it's 800w/84v and weights 20-something lbs?  I think I'm ok with slowing down in bumpy areas for the most part (I'm mostly ok going 10mph on my segway mini lolo).  For me portability takes precedence over ride comfort/speed, if that makes sense?  But yea, if I can't accelerate *when I need to*, then I think I'll have to look at the MCM5 or something 14in or so. 

Considering my preferences, is there another smallish wheel you might recommend?  While the idea of having a nice fat tire and some density in the wheel is ideal, I don't see any wheels that are basically <30 lbs without sacrificing power.  

[houseofjob]

46 minutes ago, bigdbag said:

So one thing that sticks out to me from your reply (thank you for sharing your experience in NYC, that was super helpful), is not being able to accelerate properly in the case of an unusual road condition.  I was under the impression that the MTen3 has some torque-iness to it since it's 800w/84v and weights 20-something lbs?

Yes, the MTen3 is an amazing wheel, in a vacuum: a veritable engineering marvel for sure! And the torque is most definitely there.

But you can't accelerate on a 10 inch wheel into an NYC pavement minefield, with some potholes being deeper than the 5", more-than-half-the-MTen3-tire-diameter, unfortunately.

 

46 minutes ago, bigdbag said:

I think I'm ok with slowing down in bumpy areas for the most part (I'm mostly ok going 10mph on my segway mini lolo).  For me portability takes precedence over ride comfort/speed, if that makes sense?  But yea, if I can't accelerate *when I need to*, then I think I'll have to look at the MCM5 or something 14in or so.

Yes, we all say this when we are coming from slower wheels or first starting out. But as humans, we ultimately experience the disease of wanting more / better .

Of course, you could truly be about portability over comfort/speed, but half the riders I've seen here in NYC who start off saying this, change their tune quickly over time, as they start to experience all different manner of EUC.

 

FWIW, I've also owned the MCM5 too (another fantastic wheel in a vacuum), but sold it as well, due to the thin tire reason I described above: too much unnerving attention needed when navigating NYC landmines and car traffic.

If you see my signature on desktop, I've just about bought, tried, and sold every viable compact EUC available on the market today, always searching for the right compact extra EUC myself. But that search for me still continues, unfortunately.

Hopefully one of the manufacturers down the line will listen to my cries for a 14 x 2.5 or 14 x 3 tire'd EUC, as this will be the perfect size for a compact, bad streets wheel IMHO

 

46 minutes ago, bigdbag said:

Considering my preferences, is there another smallish wheel you might recommend?  While the idea of having a nice fat tire and some density in the wheel is ideal, I don't see any wheels that are basically <30 lbs without sacrificing power.  

I think, in your case, ignorance is bliss, as literally any wheel will prove better overall than your Segway Mini, in terms of convenience, portability, practicality, etc.

Ideally, I wouldn't go thinner than 2.5" wide tires on NYC streets, which leaves you with the small 10 x 2.75 MTen3, or 16" diameter plus wheels.

But that's just me, having gone through so many EUCs over the past 3 years, and not willing to sacrifice that degree of comfort any more for minimal portability (all EUC's, even the big ones, are extremely portable IMHO), or be neutered at dangerously slow speeds in NYC car/bike traffic.

Edited May 16, 2019 by houseofjob

[Marty Backe]

14 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

Yes, the MTen3 is an amazing wheel, in a vacuum: a veritable engineering marvel for sure! And the torque is most definitely there.

But you can't accelerate on a 10 inch wheel into an NYC pavement minefield, with some potholes being deeper than the 5", more-than-half-the-MTen3-tire-diameter, unfortunately.

 

Yes, we all say this when we are coming from slower wheels or first starting out. But as humans, we ultimately experience the disease of wanting more / better .

Of course, you could truly be about portability over comfort/speed, but half the riders I've seen here in NYC who start off saying this, change their tune quickly over time, as they start to experience all different manner of EUC.

 

FWIW, I've also owned the MCM5 too (another fantastic wheel in a vacuum), but sold it as well, due to the thin tire reason I described above: too much unnerving attention needed when navigating NYC landmines and car traffic.

If you see my signature on desktop, I've just about bought, tried, and sold every viable compact EUC available on the market today, always searching for the right compact extra EUC myself. But that search for me still continues, unfortunately.

Hopefully one of the manufacturers down the line will listen to my cries for a 14 x 2.5 or 14 x 3 tire'd EUC, as this will be the perfect size for a compact, bad streets wheel IMHO

 

I think, in your case, ignorance is bliss, as literally any wheel will prove better overall than your Segway Mini, in terms of convenience, portability, practicality, etc.

Ideally, I wouldn't go thinner than 2.5" wide tires on NYC streets, which leaves you with the small 10 x 2.75 MTen3, or 16" diameter plus wheels.

But that's just me, having gone through so many EUCs over the past 3 years, and not willing to sacrifice that degree of comfort any more for minimal portability (all EUC's, even the big ones, are extremely portable IMHO), or be neutered at dangerously slow speeds in NYC car/bike traffic.

After seeing a little bit of the back-and-forth discussion, my sense is that he would be happy with the Mten3. There's nothing that precludes him from moving to a different wheel as time goes by. After all you, you did use your Mten3 for ~1-year. You've moved through a lot of wheels and presumably enjoyed using them all. But you're a seeker of the perfect wheel 

What @bigdbag needs to know is that the Mten3 is a great wheel and actually does have amazing acceleration abilities and will not fail him as an under-powered wheel. You just can't accelerate blindly into the pothole strewn streets of NYC.  

[houseofjob]

25 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

What @bigdbag needs to know is that the Mten3 is a great wheel and actually does have amazing acceleration abilities and will not fail him as an under-powered wheel. You just can't accelerate blindly into the pothole strewn streets of NYC.  

LOL, I knew this would be your possible rebuttal as well 

[bigdbag]

Thank you both for your input, yea I think maybe the one thing holding me back from just getting the Mten3 off ewheels right now is that everything I've read about it and watched on youtube says don't get it as a first wheel.  But honestly it's sort of like what @Marty Backe said, if I feel like it's too small, I can always sell it (most likely keep it for it's unique size and properties) and get a bigger wheel to complement/replace it.  I am a hoarder... I really hope I don't develop a habit like @houseofjob though.  My gf would kill me 

Will update here when I do finally order my first wheel though! I'm very excited to not have bikers zoom by me on my 10mph segway finally lol.

[Marty Backe]

3 minutes ago, bigdbag said:

Thank you both for your input, yea I think maybe the one thing holding me back from just getting the Mten3 off ewheels right now is that everything I've read about it and watched on youtube says don't get it as a first wheel.  But honestly it's sort of like what @Marty Backe said, if I feel like it's too small, I can always sell it (most likely keep it for it's unique size and properties) and get a bigger wheel to complement/replace it.  I am a hoarder... I really hope I don't develop a habit like @houseofjob though.  My gf would kill me 

Will update here when I do finally order my first wheel though! I'm very excited to not have bikers zoom by me on my 10mph segway finally lol.

FWIW, I know of at least one person who bought the Mten3 as their first wheel and learned on it. And a local rider ( @Kens ) learned on the Luffy, an under-powered cousin of the Mten3. So hopefully that allays your concerns about getting it as your "first wheel".