Nikola 100V Plus review/wheelog/journal 🦓

[mrelwood]

16 hours ago, chrisjunlee said:

What was the cable melting failure mode like? Did the wheel abruptly cut out? 

An additional grinding or clacking noise took my attention for about two seconds, but before I had determined wether it was just a pebble in the wheel well, the wheel said ”clack!” and turned off.

I tried to contain the surprisingly scarce amount of operational smoke that was escaping, but failed, hence it was time to carry-a-wheel.

[chrisjunlee]

6 hours ago, mrelwood said:

An additional grinding or clacking noise took my attention for about two seconds, but before I had determined wether it was just a pebble in the wheel well, the wheel said ”clack!” and turned off.

I tried to contain the surprisingly scarce amount of operational smoke that was escaping, but failed, hence it was time to carry-a-wheel.

So in your opinion, if this happened at speed, would you have enough time to slow down? Or would this be a faceplant?

[mrelwood]

2 hours ago, chrisjunlee said:

So in your opinion, if this happened at speed, would you have enough time to slow down? Or would this be a faceplant?

An interesting thought. I don’t think the motor wires can even melt at speed. The hill I was riding for about half a minute down, and immediately half a minute up was steep enough that it would be easier and faster to go up with four legs (hands&feet) than just walking. 

To toast the cabling at a faster speed would require an extremely long incline, and it would still have to be steep enough that an actual fast speed wouldn’t practically be possible.

If it takes a 205lbs guy (+gear) a full minute to burn the wheel at a ridiculously steep hill, I’m pretty sure you for example couldn’t toast the MSX no matter what you were riding up and for how long.

This got me thinking that there is probably a breaking point in incline steepness under which toasting the cables is impossible for a rider of any heft. Every wheel has an overheat protection tilt-back that kicks in if the temps increase slower.

[chrisjunlee]

8 hours ago, mrelwood said:

An interesting thought. I don’t think the motor wires can even melt at speed. The hill I was riding for about half a minute down, and immediately half a minute up was steep enough that it would be easier and faster to go up with four legs (hands&feet) than just walking. 

To toast the cabling at a faster speed would require an extremely long incline, and it would still have to be steep enough that an actual fast speed wouldn’t practically be possible.

If it takes a 205lbs guy (+gear) a full minute to burn the wheel at a ridiculously steep hill, I’m pretty sure you for example couldn’t toast the MSX no matter what you were riding up and for how long.

This got me thinking that there is probably a breaking point in incline steepness under which toasting the cables is impossible for a rider of any heft. Every wheel has an overheat protection tilt-back that kicks in if the temps increase slower.

Ah, at speed, the motor draws less current right? Makes sense.

[mrelwood]

6 hours ago, chrisjunlee said:

Ah, at speed, the motor draws less current right? Makes sense.

For the same output power, yes. And the current spikes are the highest when changing direction, just next to standstill. That’s when the motor efficiency is at it’s lowest, so at speed one can’t keep up the stress level for very long.

Also at very slow speeds the current flows continuously through one cable for the longest time, but I don’t know wether that makes an actual difference.

[chrisjunlee]

== Day 10 - Sat 8/31/2019 ==

Went out for a group ride with the local electric skateboard crew, and it was so much fun. 

Couple of outstanding highlights to my day:

1. I rolled up behind a Canadian goose and did a drive by pat. I'll never forget the feeling of petting a goose - it felt like patting a very firm, upholstered Thanksgiving turkey. Mr. Goose honked in surprise 🦆. Also gives you an idea of how silent this wheel is.
   
2. Random @leadfeathers recognizing me and him saying: "My coworker randomly mentioned seeing you blazing across 520! - he was in his car and he still noticed!" 
3. Sitting 20 ft away from my wheel, trolling people with voice messages played through my speakers - my god shenanigans were had 🤣

Also hit 400 miles:

I'm hitting 38+ mph every outing - this wheel feels amazing past 30mph. The gyro effect kicks in and it feels so steady to go fast. Interestingly, this might be the reason why Kingsong chose such a gyro heavy tire on the 16X: the gyro effect kicks in much earlier ~20 mph, so you don't need to go as fast to get the stabilization benefits. I feel this wheel design can easily push 60mph with higher voltage.

On another note, any ideas if the 100V wheelog percentages are reasonable? Note the 23% drop after 6 miles of fast riding (crossing the 520 bridge):

🦆

[video clips to do: 18XL rider death wobbling out of control]

Edited September 1, 2019 by chrisjunlee

[Mike Sacristan]

14 minutes ago, chrisjunlee said:

 

On another note, any ideas if the 100V wheelog percentages are reasonable? Note the 23% drop after 6 miles of fast riding (crossing the 520 bridge):

🦆

 

Very entertaining reading as always!

The 100V wheels tend to dip more. Is the screenshot from directly after the 6 miles or did you wait 5 or 10 minutes?
I did a 38.3km ride on the Nikola 100v 1845Wh and the battery went down to 68%.

When I go riding with my friend Tobbe (the owner of said wheel) we always discuss the voltage dipping as we both have a bit of battery anxiety.
So we tend to compare numbers and look at our graphs.
I imagine you would get 100km out of this wheel no matter how you ride it (unless you ride full speed with a parachute).

Also what PSI are you at? Running a low PSI is useless on the stock tire it's extremely cushy at medium to high PSI. As long as you don't get bounced around you're good.
 

[chrisjunlee]

11 minutes ago, Mike Sacristan said:

Very entertaining reading as always!

The 100V wheels tend to dip more. Is the screenshot from directly after the 6 miles or did you wait 5 or 10 minutes?
I did a 38.3km ride on the Nikola 100v 1845Wh and the battery went down to 68%.

When I go riding with my friend Tobbe (the owner of said wheel) we always discuss the voltage dipping as we both have a bit of battery anxiety.
So we tend to compare numbers and look at our graphs.
I imagine you would get 100km out of this wheel no matter how you ride it (unless you ride full speed with a parachute).

Also what PSI are you at? Running a low PSI is useless on the stock tire it's extremely cushy at medium to high PSI. As long as you don't get bounced around you're good.
 

Glad you’re enjoying it!

Regarding the 100V percentage reading, I have a hunch the voltage to percentage mappings haven’t been figured out yet. 

And it’s not as simple as it seems. Here’s the most knowledgeable guy I’ve come across regarding capacity mappings - just scroll down to his % tables, it’s kind of eye opening.

Tire pressure: 28 PSI, stock CST tire

Edited September 1, 2019 by chrisjunlee

[Chriull]

2 hours ago, chrisjunlee said:

On another note, any ideas if the 100V wheelog percentages are reasonable? Note the 23% drop after 6 miles of fast riding (crossing the 520 bridge):

 

1 hour ago, Mike Sacristan said:

Is the screenshot from directly after the 6 miles or did you wait 5 or 10 minutes?

 

1 hour ago, chrisjunlee said:

, I have a hunch the voltage to percentage mappings haven’t been figured out yet. 

They are, but only if the batteries rested long enough after any burden.

1 hour ago, chrisjunlee said:

And it’s not as simple as it seems. Here’s the most knowledgeable guy I’ve come across regarding capacity mappings - just scroll down to his % tables, it’s kind of eye opening.

Nice article! Nice idea to make a capacity over voltage graph for different burdens! Unfortionately this burdens are not really known and very varying while riding.

[chrisjunlee]

== Day 11 - Sun 9/1/2019 -  Part 1 ==

I've been using Strava to track my rides, and apparently there's an achievement system with a global leaderboard.

TBH, I didn't give it much thought, since it seemed my e-bike rides were being clumped up with regular bicycles - so not really something I could be proud of. 

And it goes without saying that I'm #1 in a large number of segments. But again, I wondered why I wasn't getting clumped up with e-bikes. Weird.

Then today, I received this comment: 

Hmm, who is this person? I clicked on his profile, and it's some dude with a very spec'd out $9,000 e-bike - holy 😮. Then I realize this was the previous record holder for the segments I've been destroying. In other words, I was in the e-bike leaderboard after all!! 

That just blew my mind. 

My jaw dropped. Let me explain why this was a 🤯 moment. This particular 'segment' is the 520 floating bridge, and it has these raised metal divider bumps that send you into death wobbles. Even bicycles have trouble with them. Therefore, large diameter tires are the way to go. It was nowhere in my reality to be #1, let alone holding my own, against full on class 3 e-bikes with fat 29" tires. Does that make sense? That's why I initially thought I was getting grouped against regular bikes.

tl;dr I'm cruising around on the Nikola, demolishing all time e-bike leaderboard records. The Nikola 100V is that good. 

This puts into perspective how good our EUCs are: You can spend $9,000 on the best electric bicycle having the latest technology, and you will still come short of a $2,500 EUC, ridden by a 2 month old noob.

Edited September 4, 2019 by chrisjunlee

[Mike Sacristan]

Haha you should answer him:

Sorry about your bike. At least you admit my electric unicycle is better.

[chrisjunlee]

== Addendum to Day 4.2 - Sat 8/24/2019 ==

Clip of Nikola smoking cars at 41mph 🔥 Enjoy with speakers.

 

Edited September 2, 2019 by chrisjunlee

[fred8569]

You're right, I enjoyed your song at 41 mph 😂. My poor ears

[chrisjunlee]

37 minutes ago, fred8569 said:

You're right, I enjoyed your song at 41 mph 😂. My poor ears

Turn Left at West Lake Sammamish Parkway East 😂

On another note, did anyone hear the beeps?

Neither could I with that wind noise. 

[Jon Stern]

I wish our wheels had a dynamic volume option. It would be nice if the volume dropped when we are stationary.

[chrisjunlee]

2 hours ago, Jon Stern said:

I wish our wheels had a dynamic volume option. It would be nice if the volume dropped when we are stationary.

YES! I've thought of this as well

I keep on mis-fumbling the volume buttons on my note9 and it sucks

[chrisjunlee]

== Day 12 - Mon 9/2/2019 ==

Last night I ran over shards of glass, and ever since it seemed the tire felt a bit low. Checked this morning, and sure enough, it dropped to 24 PSI from 28 PSI.

Pumped it back to 28 PSI, put on my motocycle gloves and headed out for a lake loop.

You can tell I'm about to push it if I have motorcycle gloves on

5 minutes later, hit new speed record! 42.3 mph! That's 68 kmh!

Even at that speed, I felt well within the limits of the wheel. 

That was my fill of speed for the day - I swapped back to wrist guards (less protection but well ventilated), and took it easy the rest of the ride.

Halfway through the ride, I see a white motorcycle in the opposite lane. I love motorcyclists, so I wave at him. 10 minutes later, I get flagged down by that motorcycle - it's the police 🚨🚓👮. Turns out I'm not allowed on roads with speed limits above 25mph? I was on a 30mph road - it didn't matter that I was doing 30+. First time I've heard of this law.

[Range datapoint] I'm only getting about 45 miles of usable range. 50 miles if you count the last 5 miles being under 15 mph. 

• yesterday I did 30 miles, charged for an hour, and barely got 30 more miles. I estimate 1 hour of 4 A charging is +10-15 miles. My last 5 miles were at 0%, and I was getting 5 beeps ~15 mph (that's gentle acceleration on flat ground). So 60 miles - 10-15 = 45-50 miles.
• today went from full charge to 31% in ~30 miles. That's proportionally 45 miles.

Also broke 500 miles! 🥳

 

Edited September 2, 2019 by chrisjunlee

[houseofjob]

27 minutes ago, chrisjunlee said:

Halfway through the ride, I see a white motorcycle in the opposite lane. I love motorcyclists, so I wave at him. 10 minutes later, I get flagged down by that motorcycle - it's the police 🚨🚓👮. Turns out I'm not allowed on roads with speed limits above 25mph? I was on a 30mph road - it didn't matter that I was doing 30+. First time I've heard of this law.

It seems your officer is not very knowledgeable about the recently changed Seattle EPAMD law either:

 

https://library.municode.com/wa/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT11VETR_SUBTITLE_ITRCO_PT4PEHIBIEPMOFOSCRU_CH11.46RUEPMOFOSC

Chapter 11.46 - RULES FOR EPAMDs AND MOTORIZED FOOT SCOOTERS

 

11.46.010 - Areas of operation.

1. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, motorized foot scooters may be operated on roadways, shoulders, and alleys, but not on sidewalks, bicycle lanes, or public paths.
2. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, EPAMDs may be operated on roadways, shoulders, sidewalks, and alleys, but not on bicycle lanes, or public paths. Where an arterial street contains a sidewalk, EPAMDs shall be operated only upon the sidewalk and not upon the roadway or shoulder. An EPAMD shall not be operated upon the roadway or shoulder of any highway where the speed limit is greater than 35 miles per hour.
3. EPAMDs and motorized foot scooters are subject to limitations imposed by SMC Title 18 on the use of motorized vehicles in parks.
4. Neither EPAMDs nor motorized foot scooters may be operated on public school playfields or public school playgrounds.
5. The provisions of this section limiting the use of EPAMDs and/or electric motorized foot scooters in parks or on sidewalks, bicycle lanes, public paths, public school playfields, or public school playgrounds do not apply to an EPAMD or electric motorized foot scooter when that device is operated by a person with a mobility impairment caused by a physical disability who uses that device to enhance that person's mobility.

 

[chrisjunlee]

9 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

It seems your officer is not very knowledgeable about the recently changed Seattle EPAMD law either: https://library.municode.com/wa/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT11VETR_SUBTITLE_ITRCO_PT4PEHIBIEPMOFOSCRU_CH11.46RUEPMOFOSC

Chapter 11.46 - RULES FOR EPAMDs AND MOTORIZED FOOT SCOOTERS

11.46.010 - Areas of operation.

1. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, motorized foot scooters may be operated on roadways, shoulders, and alleys, but not on sidewalks, bicycle lanes, or public paths.
2. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, EPAMDs may be operated on roadways, shoulders, sidewalks, and alleys, but not on bicycle lanes, or public paths. Where an arterial street contains a sidewalk, EPAMDs shall be operated only upon the sidewalk and not upon the roadway or shoulder. An EPAMD shall not be operated upon the roadway or shoulder of any highway where the speed limit is greater than 35 miles per hour.
3. EPAMDs and motorized foot scooters are subject to limitations imposed by SMC Title 18 on the use of motorized vehicles in parks.
4. Neither EPAMDs nor motorized foot scooters may be operated on public school playfields or public school playgrounds.
5. The provisions of this section limiting the use of EPAMDs and/or electric motorized foot scooters in parks or on sidewalks, bicycle lanes, public paths, public school playfields, or public school playgrounds do not apply to an EPAMD or electric motorized foot scooter when that device is operated by a person with a mobility impairment caused by a physical disability who uses that device to enhance that person's mobility.

[mrelwood]

21 hours ago, chrisjunlee said:

I’m only getting about 45 miles of usable range. 50 miles if you count the last 5 miles being under 15 mph

After watching those two videos of your’s, I’m not at all surprised!

[fred8569]

21 hours ago, chrisjunlee said:

== Day 12 - Mon 9/2/2019 ==

Last night I ran over shards of glass, and ever since it seemed the tire felt a bit low. Checked this morning, and sure enough, it dropped to 24 PSI from 28 PSI.

Pumped it back to 28 PSI, put on my motocycle gloves and headed out for a lake loop.

You can tell I'm about to push it if I have motorcycle gloves on

5 minutes later, hit new speed record! 42.3 mph! That's 68 kmh!

Even at that speed, I felt well within the limits of the wheel. 

That was my fill of speed for the day - I swapped back to wrist guards (less protection but well ventilated), and took it easy the rest of the ride.

Halfway through the ride, I see a white motorcycle in the opposite lane. I love motorcyclists, so I wave at him. 10 minutes later, I get flagged down by that motorcycle - it's the police 🚨🚓👮. Turns out I'm not allowed on roads with speed limits above 25mph? I was on a 30mph road - it didn't matter that I was doing 30+. First time I've heard of this law.

[Range datapoint] I'm only getting about 45 miles of usable range. 50 miles if you count the last 5 miles being under 15 mph. 

• yesterday I did 30 miles, charged for an hour, and barely got 30 more miles. I estimate 1 hour of 4 A charging is +10-15 miles. My last 5 miles were at 0%, and I was getting 5 beeps ~15 mph (that's gentle acceleration on flat ground). So 60 miles - 10-15 = 45-50 miles.
• today went from full charge to 31% in ~30 miles. That's proportionally 45 miles.

Also broke 500 miles! 🥳

 

I was interested in the log of this trip (especially when you hit your 42.3 mph) but it seems like I can't find any other log after August 30th

[chrisjunlee]

== Day 13 - Mon 9/3/2019 ==

Not much riding today besides commuting. But I had two moments of serendipity.

Each morning, with fresh legs I go across a bumpy part of a bike trail - tree roots raised bumps. Each bump you hit, your wheel wobbles. I've been going faster and faster each day, and I suddenly realized: wait a minute, I haven't changed anything at all in my technique. The only thing that's changed is my trust in the wheel.

Epiphany: embrace the wobbles 

I don't know how to explain this without generating a lot of eyebrow raising flaming. Trust the wheel, relax, let it do it's thing. It will recover.

The next bit isn't a complete epiphany, but more of a taste of it.

Riding back to my airbnb in the suburb of Redmond, I was coming in hot, very hot into a wide turn. This was a turn I would usually take at 20 mph max, but here I was 30+ mph, and I had already started leaning into the turn. In other words, it was too late to brake and I had to commit, and commit hard. 

I had to either lean the wheel hard to the point of pedal scraping and wipe out Kuji style, or go wide and hit the curb flying into who knows what. 

And what happened next will surprise you.

I instinctively tucked in low and forward, hanging off the wheel. And for a moment, just for a moment, I felt that familiar weightlessness of leaning off a motorcycle, being supported by centrifugal force. I felt so planted in that position, in that moment, at that speed. And the wheel carved beautifully. It was pure bliss. 

Edited September 4, 2019 by chrisjunlee

[chrisjunlee]

16 hours ago, fred8569 said:

I was interested in the log of this trip (especially when you hit your 42.3 mph) but it seems like I can't find any other log after August 30th

I switched to the EUCWorld version of wheelog, which doesn't support google drive uploads.

I've manually uploaded the files, check again in a bit? I can't attach it here either since we have such a small file limit size.

Edited September 4, 2019 by chrisjunlee

[Gustesta]

8 hours ago, chrisjunlee said:

== Day 13 - Mon 9/3/2019 ==

Not much riding today besides commuting. But I had two moments of serendipity.

Each morning, with fresh legs I go across a bumpy part of a bike trail - tree roots raised bumps. Each bump you hit, your wheel wobbles. I've been going faster and faster each day, and I suddenly realized: wait a minute, I haven't changed anything at all in my technique. The only thing that's changed is my trust in the wheel.

Epiphany: embrace the wobbles 

I don't know how to explain this without generating a lot of eyebrow raising flaming. Trust the wheel, relax, let it do it's thing. It will recover.

The next bit isn't a complete epiphany, but more of a taste of it.

Riding back to my airbnb in the suburb of Redmond, I was coming in hot, very hot into a wide turn. This was a turn I would usually take at 20 mph max, but here I was 30+ mph, and I had already started leaning into the turn. In other words, it was too late to brake and I had to commit, and commit hard. 

I had to either lean the wheel hard to the point of pedal scraping and wipe out Kuji style, or go wide and hit the curb flying into who knows what. 

And what happened next will surprise you.

I instinctively tucked in low and forward, hanging off the wheel. And for a moment, just for a moment, I felt that familiar weightlessness of leaning off a motorcycle, being supported by centrifugal force. I felt so planted in that position, in that moment, at that speed. And the wheel carved beautifully. It was pure bliss. 

Now that you have been riding the Nik Plus for a while, do you have it as your favorite wheel so far?  Now that you felt the need for speed, do you think you can go back to the 16x?

[Arbolest]

On 9/2/2019 at 2:00 PM, chrisjunlee said:

5 minutes later, hit new speed record! 42.3 mph! That's 68 kmh!

Even at that speed, I felt well within the limits of the wheel. 

That... thrills and utterly terrifies me...

While I am jealous of your daring and nerve, I was freaking out because I can hear the wheel go into its 5-beep alarm at 39 mph, and the fact that you then pushed it to over 42 worries me for your safety... Enjoy the thrill, but for god's sake do NOT go any faster! Honestly, I would stop at 40 because any bump or inconsistency in your riding surface at that point might send you over the edge of what the wheel is capable of recovering from!

 

P.S.  Congrats on the big 500!

Edited September 4, 2019 by Arbolest