Jump to content

My 84-volt Nikola Triumphs, Tribulations, and Failures


Recommended Posts

53 minutes ago, Unventor said:

Anyway so you got you Nikola back up running again @Marty Backe?

Does it feel different with a new board? 

As for your paint job, looks good. But I still madly envy your red KS18XL look. 

We shall see.... If we get a real bad winter... I might go crazy if I can't ride and do/get a paint job too. 

My Nikola is running, but only on flat ground, and not too fast. Otherwise it'll overheat. I might be down and out for another couple of weeks.

No, the wheel feels identical to the previous version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/4/2019 at 5:42 AM, Patton250 said:

 OK here we go. It’s 94°F here in wonderful Tampa Florida. I took the Nikola out for a ride for approximately 10 miles and the temperature never went above 43°C .  You can hear the fan running. Anyway I assume it’s the fan.   I hope this is somewhat helpful. 

Am I the only one getting confused? 😅

So the new Control Board that Marty received has that "black cable" (with no where to connect to)

That "black cable" might be a common grounding cable for both the fan & speaker,  meaning if it's not connected, it may result in the fan being unable to work? (As in Marty's case)

Am I correct that Patton250 has just received a new Control Board too (but his version has no "black cable") and his Nikola is working fine with the fan operating normally?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, wongster said:

Am I the only one getting confused? 😅

So the new Control Board that Marty received has that "black cable" (with no where to connect to)

That "black cable" might be a common grounding cable for both the fan & speaker,  meaning if it's not connected, it may result in the fan being unable to work? (As in Marty's case)

Am I correct that Patton250 has just received a new Control Board too (but his version has no "black cable") and his Nikola is working fine with the fan operating normally?

No. Mine came with the new board. I just bought mine last Friday. Had it overnighted for Saturday delivery. Jason had his guys install the new board in mine before shipping. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, wongster said:

Am I the only one getting confused? 😅

So the new Control Board that Marty received has that "black cable" (with no where to connect to)

That "black cable" might be a common grounding cable for both the fan & speaker,  meaning if it's not connected, it may result in the fan being unable to work? (As in Marty's case)

Am I correct that Patton250 has just received a new Control Board too (but his version has no "black cable") and his Nikola is working fine with the fan operating normally?

No. My board is fully configured. The black cable is connected. Just the fan doesn't work. Either the fan is bad or the daugherboard that drives the fan is bad.

I don't think @Patton250 has opened his wheel to know.

Another member (can't remember his handle at the moment) received a new board, but his black cable is missing. I don't believe he has installed it yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

No. My board is fully configured. The black cable is connected. Just the fan doesn't work. Either the fan is bad or the daugherboard that drives the fan is bad.

I don't think @Patton250 has opened his wheel to know.

Another member (can't remember his handle at the moment) received a new board, but his black cable is missing. I don't believe he has installed it yet.

could just go to a computer store and buy a 12V blower fan for a few bucks.. plug it right into the 12 volt header?

Edited by Rywokast
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, Rywokast said:

could just go to a computer store and buy a 12V blower fan for a few bucks.. plug it right into the 12 volt header?

I'm sure I could hack something together, but I'd rather just use a working control board.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

No. My board is fully configured. The black cable is connected. Just the fan doesn't work. Either the fan is bad or the daugherboard that drives the fan is bad.

I don't think @Patton250 has opened his wheel to know.

Another member (can't remember his handle at the moment) received a new board, but his black cable is missing. I don't believe he has installed it yet.

I received a replacement board from Jason and my board is the one that does not have a jumper cable.  I've emailed Jason to ask him to check the other boards since the only two boards I've seen in the wild are Marty's board (has a jumper cable) and my board (missing jumper cable).  I can make a jumper if it's needed, but I have no idea if it is.  Not going to attempt the replacement until I know for certain what is going on.

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Once this board issue gets fully sorted I think the nicola is going to be one of the best all around wheels made! 

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the 16x and nicola compare once all the bugs are worked out. 

I'm pretty sure one of them will be my next wheel. It might come down to which one can have the tire changed easier.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Flying W said:

Once this board issue gets fully sorted I think the nicola is going to be one of the best all around wheels made! 

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the 16x and nicola compare once all the bugs are worked out. 

I'm pretty sure one of them will be my next wheel. It might come down to which one can have the tire changed easier.

Rough roads huh? Knock on wood, but I never had to change one of my EUC tires yet.. I slime mine though, so perhaps that helps? I have noticed with my Nikola that when riding it to work and back pressure drops but not so much while riding it elsewhere. Well, ignorance is bliss, don't want to look at the tube. Yeah, will be interesting to see the 16X feedback once it's actually released in people's hands.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Nils said:

Rough roads huh? Knock on wood, but I never had to change one of my EUC tires yet.. I slime mine though, so perhaps that helps? I have noticed with my Nikola that when riding it to work and back pressure drops but not so much while riding it elsewhere. Well, ignorance is bliss, don't want to look at the tube. Yeah, will be interesting to see the 16X feedback once it's actually released in people's hands.

wow, youre very lucky.. changing an euc tire is an experience no one wishes they had lmao.. how many kilometres do you think you have ridden? i estimated ~20k and had about 10 tire changes... i think only for one of them was a hole caused by something piercing the tire.. the rest wore out

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Flying W said:

Once this board issue gets fully sorted I think the nicola is going to be one of the best all around wheels made! 

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the 16x and nicola compare once all the bugs are worked out. 

I'm pretty sure one of them will be my next wheel. It might come down to which one can have the tire changed easier.

I've changes KingSong and Gotway tires. I can tell you that they are both different and each has there own pluses and minuses. Neither one is better. Just different. That should not be part of your decision.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Marty Backe said:

I've changes KingSong and Gotway tires. I can tell you that they are both different and each has there own pluses and minuses. Neither one is better. Just different. That should not be part of your decision.

they both suck in different ways haha.. neither are a pleasant experience but just be glad they no longer use self tapping screws directly into the plastic.. now THAT might be something that could sway me to one direction or another as to their longevity... after changing the tire a few times on my 16s, and on my v5f, the shell was noticeably looser, i could basically pop it off with my fingernail and it never quite "clicked" into position anymore.. im so glad they moved to machine screws into brass inserts it feels so much more quality.. i have never actually disassembled a gotway wheel surprisingly, do they also use phillips screws? one big thing that annoys me on my ks16s is every screw is a phillips head and when they are so ridiculously tight, you can end up stripping them easily.. i will grant inmotion this, they at least are using hex and not phillips so even though ive changed the tire three times, my v5f has no stripped screws

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Rywokast said:

they both suck in different ways haha.. neither are a pleasant experience but just be glad they no longer use self tapping screws directly into the plastic.. now THAT might be something that could sway me to one direction or another as to their longevity... after changing the tire a few times on my 16s, and on my v5f, the shell was noticeably looser, i could basically pop it off with my fingernail and it never quite "clicked" into position anymore.. im so glad they moved to machine screws into brass inserts it feels so much more quality.. i have never actually disassembled a gotway wheel surprisingly, do they also use phillips screws? one big thing that annoys me on my ks16s is every screw is a phillips head and when they are so ridiculously tight, you can end up stripping them easily.. i will grant inmotion this, they at least are using hex and not phillips so even though ive changed the tire three times, my v5f has no stripped screws

Yes, Gotway uses the self-taping phillips screws. What I like about a lot of the Gotway wheels is you don't have to disconnect any electrical cables/connectors like in the KingSong wheels.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, h3X said:

If you'd like, you can replace the self tapping screws with matched pairs of machine screws and thread inserts. I plan to do so when I get my Gotway, whichever model it's going to be.

yea i might do that when the time comes to take apart my V2 KS16.. hopefully its not any time soon. but the MSX and nikola have already implemented this presumably they wont go back

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, h3X said:

If you'd like, you can replace the self tapping screws with matched pairs of machine screws and thread inserts. I plan to do so when I get my Gotway, whichever model it's going to be.

True, but in all of my Gotway wheels over the years, I've never had the screws fail on me. So it's probably not worth the effort. If I were you, I would wait for it to become an issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Marty Backe said:

True, but in all of my Gotway wheels over the years, I've never had the screws fail on me. So it's probably not worth the effort. If I were you, I would wait for it to become an issue.

i guess it depends.. i had to take apart my second KS16 four times, and two of the screws were spinning freely they couldnt be tightened again, the outer shell never sat flush like when it was new.. small things like that bother me a lot lol, just seems so chintzy.. and the some of the large screws securing the inner shell were stripped like crazy because KS torqued them on there so ridiculously tight

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

True, but in all of my Gotway wheels over the years, I've never had the screws fail on me. So it's probably not worth the effort. If I were you, I would wait for it to become an issue.

I can imagine that many people screw in the screws incorrectly and cut themselves a new thread every time. Then it is pre-programmed that the threads are already defective after the 2nd time. By wrong I mean that the screw is simply screwed in without finding the right position to take the same thread.

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, buell47 said:

I can imagine that many people screw in the screws incorrectly and cut themselves a new thread every time. Then it is pre-programmed that the threads are already defective after the 2nd time. By wrong I mean that the screw is simply screwed in without finding the right position to take the same thread.

they are meant to be used in metal or wood, not thin soft plastic.. i always start them by hand if its possible to do so, but the plastic is like butter to a screw lol.. not something that is meant to be removed and put back in over and over.. i do think it would be easily possible to make yourself a new thread because like i said, soft plastic.. hence why they should be machine screws in inserts as all new EUCs are now

Edited by Rywokast
  • Like 1
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do not like this cheap solution either and nothing goes over machine thread screws, but with feeling and the right technique you can screw screws also in soft plastic several times without problems.

Provided one finds the same entrance into the old thread by slowly turning it counterclockwise. 

  • Like 2
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/5/2019 at 9:28 PM, Rywokast said:

wow, youre very lucky.. changing an euc tire is an experience no one wishes they had lmao.. how many kilometres do you think you have ridden? i estimated ~20k and had about 10 tire changes... i think only for one of them was a hole caused by something piercing the tire.. the rest wore out

I couldn't say, but definitely not any like yours, that's a lot of miles! We'll eventually it will happen of course, but so far it's been good (knock on wood..).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/5/2019 at 10:42 PM, Marty Backe said:

True, but in all of my Gotway wheels over the years, I've never had the screws fail on me. So it's probably not worth the effort. If I were you, I would wait for it to become an issue.

Gotway no longer uses self-tapping screws for assembly.

Since at least the MSX, Gotway has used embedded housings and machine screws. For wheels that aren't abused, crashed, or ridden that hard, I think it's a significant improvement. But I've had plenty of old-style Gotway screws (MSV3 and earlier) shear through the plastic, and I've also had several of the housings for my new-style Gotway screws (MSX and newer) break away from the plastic they were connected to. This is after 5,200 miles in 9 months and plenty of jumps, crashes and other abuse. That's about 1,200 miles more than I got out of either MSV3. And my MSX still runs!

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, who_the said:

Gotway no longer uses self-tapping screws for assembly.

Since at least the MSX, Gotway has used embedded housings and machine screws. For wheels that aren't abused, crashed, or ridden that hard, I think it's a significant improvement. But I've had plenty of old-style Gotway screws (MSV3 and earlier) shear through the plastic, and I've also had several of the housings for my new-style Gotway screws (MSX and newer) break away from the plastic they were connected to. This is after 5,200 miles in 9 months and plenty of jumps, crashes and other abuse. That's about 1,200 miles more than I got out of either MSV3. And my MSX still runs!

 

Don't listen to this guy, he abuses the hell out of his wheels :laughbounce2:

;)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/5/2019 at 10:42 AM, Nils said:

Rough roads huh? Knock on wood, but I never had to change one of my EUC tires yet.. I slime mine though, so perhaps that helps? I have noticed with my Nikola that when riding it to work and back pressure drops but not so much while riding it elsewhere. Well, ignorance is bliss, don't want to look at the tube. Yeah, will be interesting to see the 16X feedback once it's actually released in people's hands.

So far so good on flat tires for me too. My mcm5 was almost bald at 1k miles and my 16s needs a tire right now at 1400 miles. 

I'd love it if the manufacturers could make these more serviceable in the future. I'd love to be able to change tires just to find the one I like best but I know there is only so many times you can open up a wheel before things start to strip,  or not clip in correctly. 

Tire changes will be less frequent for me now though. I just lost my job (26yr only new boss and I didnt get along :facepalm:) and I doubt my next job will be within wheel range so the wheeling will be come fun on a day off but not my daily driver. 

If any wheel brothers have an opening send me a PM, no harm in seeing if there is a good fit :rolleyes:

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...