Isn't it a great feeling when you can finally ride these things.

[Gasmantle]

Well today I've clocked up my first 100 miles and can only really now say that I can comfortably ride my wheel in a relaxed manner and control it properly 

I've been able to ride it in a very jerky strained manner pretty much from day 2 but it's only today that I feel I can say I'm able to ride with proper control. If you are a newbie all I can say is stick at it and eventually things get easier. In my case once I was able to stay on properly I choose to spend a lot of time just concentrating on cornering by doing miles of figure 8 loops gradually getting to a tighter radius and being able to do it faster. It was boring but keeping at it helped me improve my control and manevourability and that has greatly helped my riding.

At last I can do carving  by no means an expert yet but it's so liberating when you are controlling the machine and not it controlling you 

Edited June 2, 2019 by Gasmantle

[Werner]

Nice to hear. 

This becomes more and more until you don't even think about control, it only happens like going by feet. 

Have fun and always stay on!

[Gasmantle]

20 minutes ago, Werner said:

Nice to hear. 

This becomes more and more until you don't even think about control, it only happens like going by feet. 

Have fun and always stay on!

Thanks   Until now I've still relied a bit on moving my arms to aid balance, that gradually lessened and it's only now that I'm able to control things by just leaning. I find it a great liberating experience when you can get where you want to be with very little effort

[stephen]

1 hour ago, Gasmantle said:

Well today I've clocked up my first 100 miles and can only really now say that I can comfortably ride my wheel in a relaxed manner and control it properly 

I've been able to ride it in a very jerky strained manner pretty much from day 2 but it's only today that I feel I can say I'm able to ride with proper control. If you are a newbie all I can say is stick at it and eventually things get easier. In my case once I was able to stay on properly I choose to spend a lot of time just concentrating on cornering by doing miles of figure 8 loops gradually getting to a tighter radius and being able to do it faster. It was boring but keeping at it helped me improve my control and manevourability and that has greatly helped my riding.

At last I can do carving  by no means an expert yet but it's so liberating when you are controlling the machine and not it controlling you 

Well done @Gasmantle nice to hear of your progress ,i think a wheel upgrade is looming 😊 what's your next choice of wheel ,

Did you find it better changing the angle of the pedals to flat😊

[Gasmantle]

15 minutes ago, stephen said:

Well done @Gasmantle nice to hear of your progress ,i think a wheel upgrade is looming 😊 what's your next choice of wheel ,

Did you find it better changing the angle of the pedals to flat😊

Thanks Stephen 

Moving the pedal angle as you suggested has helped considerably - funnily enough the app says they are set at 6^o although I've measured them and they are now level. 

I'd like to upgrade in a couple of months but haven't really decided yet on what I'd go for,  my initial thoughts were a V10F as I'm already using an Inmotion but now I'm not so sure. There are quite a few wheels to choose from in the £1400 range so I'll look further into options when I'm ready to buy.

Now that I can start to carve a bit riding is so much more fun and I find it less tiring on the legs that it is when I was restricted to riding rigidly upright waving arms around 

Edited June 2, 2019 by Gasmantle

[stephen]

1 minute ago, Gasmantle said:

Now that I can start to carve a bit riding is so much more fun and I find it less tiring on the legs that it is when I was restricted to riding rigidly upright waving arms around 

Yes it's definitely a nice feeling when your just riding and not concentrating on your riding , it gets easier and easier , you've got a good price range  so plenty of options when the time comes 😊👍

[Guest PogArt Artur]

1 hour ago, Gasmantle said:

Well today I've clocked up my first 100 miles and can only really now say that I can comfortably ride my wheel in a relaxed manner and control it properly 

I've been able to ride it in a very jerky strained manner pretty much from day 2 but it's only today that I feel I can say I'm able to ride with proper control. If you are a newbie all I can say is stick at it and eventually things get easier. In my case once I was able to stay on properly I choose to spend a lot of time just concentrating on cornering by doing miles of figure 8 loops gradually getting to a tighter radius and being able to do it faster. It was boring but keeping at it helped me improve my control and manevourability and that has greatly helped my riding.

At last I can do carving  by no means an expert yet but it's so liberating when you are controlling the machine and not it controlling you 

Good to hear you improving

[Gasmantle]

12 minutes ago, stephen said:

Yes it's definitely a nice feeling when your just riding and not concentrating on your riding , it gets easier and easier , you've got a good price range  so plenty of options when the time comes 😊👍

Yea, I think at first you are riding it but having to think about it and always compensating for errors after a while you seem to forget about what you are doing but ride in a more relaxed manner. I liken it to when you first learn to drive a car after a mile or 2 you can make the car move, then you can steer it a bit but need the instructors help, finally after 100 miles or so you can drive with no help and you are ready to take your test 

I kinda like the look of the KS18XL but theres plenty of time to think about things before I buy.

Edited June 2, 2019 by Gasmantle

[Gasmantle]

5 minutes ago, PogArt Artur said:

Good to hear you improving

Thanks 

I guess when I see you on the Z10 I'll be wanting an upgrade shortly after.

[Guest PogArt Artur]

8 minutes ago, Gasmantle said:

Thanks 

I guess when I see you on the Z10 I'll be wanting an upgrade shortly after.

Hahahaaaa

I bet you will want to, lol

[Planemo]

Nice one Gasmantle!

Funnily enough I had my best ride too today on the Z6. Really starting to feel comfortable on it now, and it was the first time I had ridden properly on the road as much of the ride was on country lanes where there are no pavements at all. Lovely ride, had my boy with me on my ebike which he really liked (first ride on it for him). Been playing around with tyre pressures - had 19psi today and it felt really good. The road is sooo much easier to ride on than the poor pavements we have round our way but I have to say, I don't like being on the road generally. Did a circuit of the park on the way back, took a couple of photos while I was there and uploaded the ride to EUC world to remind me of it! 10.8 miles and 50% battery left so I'm happy with that

PS: Your name popping up always reminds me of my childhood when we had to routinely change the gas mantles in the lamps in our static caravan haha).

[Gasmantle]

2 minutes ago, Planemo said:

Nice one Gasmantle!

Funnily enough I had my best ride too today on the Z6. Really starting to feel comfortable on it now, and it was the first time I had ridden properly on the road as much of the ride was on country lanes where there are no pavements at all. Lovely ride, had my boy with me on my ebike which he really liked (first ride on it for him). Been playing around with tyre pressures - had 19psi today and it felt really good. The road is sooo much easier to ride on than the poor pavements we have round our way but I have to say, I don't like being on the road generally. Did a circuit of the park on the way back, took a couple of photos while I was there and uploaded the ride to EUC world to remind me of it! 10.8 miles and 50% battery left so I'm happy with that

PS: Your name popping up always reminds me of my childhood when we had to routinely change the gas mantles in the lamps in our static caravan haha).

Thanks  I was under the impression you had a Z10?.

I kinda do a mix of road, pavement and grass riding at the moment - I found the grass is useful to practice tight turns on, I can experiment knowing that if I fall off I'll be ok then once I have kinda mastered something I go onto tarmac.

I wish I could get a better range though, at the moment my wheel will only charge to 90% and it says thats enough for 22 miles but in reality I'd get nowhere near that. It's seems like I'm in the situation Artur was in a couple of months ago, when you are just learning to ride the range isn't a big issue but once you can start to ride properly  it becomes a limitation. I know Artur said he felt the range was a big motivation to upgrade an I'm kinda finding the same thing.

As for the name 'Gasmantle' it's a long story but goes back to my years working on the railway a long time ago - I acquired the nickname and it stuck but I liked it anyway. I'm also into old Victorian things and very much like old gas street lamps. 

[Planemo]

6 minutes ago, Gasmantle said:

Thanks  I was under the impression you had a Z10?.

I kinda do a mix of road, pavement and grass riding at the moment - I found the grass is useful to practice tight turns on, I can experiment knowing that if I fall off I'll be ok then once I have kinda mastered something I go onto tarmac.

I wish I could get a better range though, at the moment my wheel will only charge to 90% and it says thats enough for 22 miles but in reality I'd get nowhere near that. It's seems like I'm in the situation Artur was in a couple of months ago, when you are just learning to ride the range isn't a big issue but once you can start to ride properly  it becomes a limitation. I know Artur said he felt the range was a big motivation to upgrade an I'm kinda finding the same thing.

As for the name 'Gasmantle' it's a long story but goes back to my years working on the railway a long time ago - I acquired the nickname and it stuck but I liked it anyway. I'm also into old Victorian things and very much like old gas street lamps. 

No it's a Z6 mate. My first was a V5F but I got the Z when my daughter decided to pilfer the V5.

Yep we stayed on grass for a while. I think it really helped build confidence knowing that we were unlikely to get hurt. It also helped with control as well, if you can ride slowly on bumpy grass then smoother pavements and roads are a doddle.

Shame about your V5F, mine still charges fully although like you say I think it's a bit optimistic on the max distance shown in the app. Truth be told I have never maxed it out, I think the most we have done is about 12 miles and it still had two bars so I think 14 to 15 would be the limit and still have some safe reserve.

I was quite surprised with the Z6 today getting 11 miles with 50% left. I think I could get 17 or so with enough reserve to be safe. I am unlikely to be doing more distance any time soon but I would still like a Z10. If you are thinking about an interim wheel, my Z6 will likely be for sale soon (shameless plug). From the sounds of it you are looking to jump straight to a much longer distance wheel but for the money the Z6 is a fantastic wheel with a decent bit more range and power than say the V5.

 

[Guest PogArt Artur]

12 minutes ago, Gasmantle said:

Thanks  I was under the impression you had a Z10?.

I kinda do a mix of road, pavement and grass riding at the moment - I found the grass is useful to practice tight turns on, I can experiment knowing that if I fall off I'll be ok then once I have kinda mastered something I go onto tarmac.

I wish I could get a better range though, at the moment my wheel will only charge to 90% and it says thats enough for 22 miles but in reality I'd get nowhere near that. It's seems like I'm in the situation Artur was in a couple of months ago, when you are just learning to ride the range isn't a big issue but once you can start to ride properly  it becomes a limitation. I know Artur said he felt the range was a big motivation to upgrade an I'm kinda finding the same thing.

As for the name 'Gasmantle' it's a long story but goes back to my years working on the railway a long time ago - I acquired the nickname and it stuck but I liked it anyway. I'm also into old Victorian things and very much like old gas street lamps. 

You're right @Gasmantle regarding my feelings about the E+.

At first I was so proud going out the driveway, and so scared following farther away of the house...

Later It seems so silly, and instead of having joy riding, you getting upset instead...

You wish to go somewhere, but at same time you're aware of range limits...

You naturally raising the speed, to suddenly being tilted back by your wheel...

Then the previous joy becomes issue, the better you get, the more you upset

That's the time for upgrade I think...

I was warned by our friends, that the E+ won't last for long - I didn't want to believe what they say

If I was listened to their keen advices, I'd be better off to start with the proper EUC wheel.

Now it's easy to say, but when you want to start, how can you know whether you going to like it or not?

So you just scared to spent the money, that you could buy a car , don't you?

This is the case 

We are starting with low end wheels to find out, if we like it or not.

We upgrading then - if we can.

[Gasmantle]

2 minutes ago, Planemo said:

 If you are thinking about an interim wheel, my Z6 will likely be for sale soon (shameless plug). From the sounds of it you are looking to jump straight to a much longer distance wheel but for the money the Z6 is a fantastic wheel with a decent bit more range and power than say the V5.

 

Thanks, it may be something I'd consider. 

I've found the V5F to be a great entry level wheel but has it's limitations once you can start to ride properly then need added range and speed.

 

[Gasmantle]

1 minute ago, PogArt Artur said:

I was warned by our friends, that the E+ won't last for long - I didn't want to believe what they say

If I was listened to their keen advices, I'd be better off to start with the proper EUC wheel.

Now it's easy to say, but when you want to start, how can you know whether you going to like it or not?

So you just scared to spent the money, that you could buy a car , don't you?

This is the case 

We are starting with low end wheels to find out, if we like it or not.

We upgrading then - if we can.

I do kinda wish I'd bought a more powerful wheel at the start even a V8 would have been an improvement to the V5F but I'd never ridden an EUC before and knew of nobody that had one I could try for a few hours so I thought it made sense to buy a cheap wheel first then see if I like it.

It's obviously a lot cheaper to buy a decent wheel from the onset but realistically most of us can't justify spending £1500 on a wheel that we may not even be able to ride.

[Guest PogArt Artur]

11 minutes ago, Gasmantle said:

I do kinda wish I'd bought a more powerful wheel at the start even a V8 would have been an improvement to the V5F but I'd never ridden an EUC before and knew of nobody that had one I could try for a few hours so I thought it made sense to buy a cheap wheel first then see if I like it.

It's obviously a lot cheaper to buy a decent wheel from the onset but realistically most of us can't justify spending £1500 on a wheel that we may not even be able to ride.

Exactly ...

I did like more posh wheels, I've been impressed reading specs,and following YouTube reviews...

But how to spent that much for something you just seen on YouTube ?

I didn't know @stephen at all, I've made a friendship just thanks to this forum...

But it was too late to ask him for help, as I already were learning on E+ ... 

I wish I knew him before the E+ purchase, I bet I wouldn't had start off with E+ at all.

Edited June 2, 2019 by PogArt Artur

[stephen]

2 hours ago, PogArt Artur said:

Exactly ...

I did like more posh wheels, I've been impressed reading specs,and following YouTube reviews...

But how to spent that much for something you just seen on YouTube ?

I didn't know @stephen at all, I've made a friendship just thanks to this forum...

But it was too late to ask him for help, as I already were learning on E+ ... 

I wish I knew him before the E+ purchase, I bet I wouldn't had start off with E+ at all.

[Planemo]

Hahahaha! Special friends!

[Guest PogArt Artur]

43 minutes ago, stephen said:

WOOOOOW !!!

Just now, Planemo said:

Hahahaha! Special friends!

hahahaaaa

[erk1024]

Just a suggestion. Unless you are worried about the weight or the cost, might be a good idea to get one of the new big battery wheels (like you mentioned the 18xl). This would be more cost effective than a series of incremental wheel upgrades, and then outgrowing them. You'd get pretty much more of everything: acceleration, speed, range. Just a thought.

[Gasmantle]

1 hour ago, erk1024 said:

Just a suggestion. Unless you are worried about the weight or the cost, might be a good idea to get one of the new big battery wheels (like you mentioned the 18xl). This would be more cost effective than a series of incremental wheel upgrades, and then outgrowing them. You'd get pretty much more of everything: acceleration, speed, range. Just a thought.

Thanks  I've had my V5F about 4 weeks and now that I'm at the stage where I can ride it with reasonable confidence it's becoming more and more evident that I'll need something better before long.

I intend to stick with the wheel I have for a little while longer while I evaluate the options. At the moment range seems to me to be the main reason to upgrade but I also want extra speed. I haven't ridden a larger wheel for long ( I have ridden @stephen Z10 briefly) so I'm not sure what size to go for next.

Despite the lack of range on the V5F I do like it, the wheel seems to be agile enough to control easily and it copes fine with hills. From what I can see after 100 miles of riding it's great for a few short trips of a couple of miles so I think when I upgrade I'd still keep it for travel within the village where I live

[erk1024]

I have a friend at work who has had a v5f for years and loves it. He keeps it in the back of his car just in case he has a mechanical issue. If he gets an oil change and needs to drop off his car at the dealer, then he can just glide home. He said he HAS come up short on range before at different times and had to carry it. And of course, it tops out at 15mph. Which is like flat out sprinting speed for non-Husain-Bolt people. Super portable and really useful wheel no doubt.

But he didn't really keep track of the eWheel scene after he bought his. When I was telling him that my i'm-still-a-newbie cruise speed was 23mph (current settings: 35kph where the beeps start, 40kph tiltback), he was shocked. As for range, I went 22 miles using 30% battery charge on my last ride.

If you get a 1600wh, 2000w wheel... the difference will be huge. I'm probably going to take mine into work tomorrow to let my friend have a go on it. 

 

[Gasmantle]

11 hours ago, erk1024 said:

I have a friend at work who has had a v5f for years and loves it. 

It seems to me that the major drawback with these entry level wheels is the lack of range. On 100% charge the app says 24 miles remaining but that is widely optimistic, at the moment 12 miles would seem to be nearer the true range.

So far most of my riding has been short, stop / start rides while still learning and a lot of that on grass, but now that my riding has improved and I go on tarmac a lot more I'm hoping the range may go up by a couple of miles. (I'm about 80kg)

[Planemo]

The primary reason is that battery packs are expensive. To give you an example, I priced up a custom made 1400wh pack for the ninebot Z, around £700. Not a lot of that is labour time or indeed the BMS either.

I think the fact that reliable entry level wheels are available is excellent though. The V5F is a truly great wheel and gives any user the ability to learn and indeed still carry enough distance to see if they wish to progress or in fact find they cant get along with euc's. Going straight to a £2k wheel is a big ask. Could get a half decent car for that.

You are right about range when hitting the harder surfaces without so much stop/starting. I could get my V5 down to 2 bars just messing about for an hour over the field when I was learning and I doubt I did more than 5 or so miles. It takes a lot of power to move a human and wheel up to even 10mph and that combined with repeating it many times when learning soon soaks up the battery. Cruising non stop at 15mph will get you much more range. I certainly think your suggested extra couple of miles or so will be correct on the V5, if not more.

Dont forget too that many people use euc's purely for commute so 15 miles can be more than enough for them.