whats the oldest age one can ride an euc ???

[RockyTop]

1 minute ago, scubadragosan said:

I became 50 years younger. Others thought I was a 18 years old teenager on the wheel! COVID is really on my side keeping my face all covered!

Yeah, Now when woman cross the street to avoid me I just assume it is because of COVID and not my ugly sinister appearance.  

“ Thank you for being safe ..... “ 

[redsnapper]

There are 80yr olds with 60 yr old bodies and vice versa. I dare say that although a typical 80yr old has a much higher risk of fracture on falling, the type of 80yr old who would gravitate towards EUC riding is likely to be already active and in better health thereby making for stronger bones, better balance & and lower risk. if anything we need more activities to juice up the mind/body as we age. At 80, if I can play ping pong, ride euc and get it on with my wife (not simultaneously - although that would be something!!!!) I think I would be pretty happy!!! Something to shoot for ...

[GothamMike]

39

[Dgar]

I will be 60 in a couple of months and everyone I knew told me I was too old to be doing this. I proved them wrong. I did take a number of falls at low speed and a few weeks ago took a tumble at over 25mph. I was wearing my protective gear so other than a sore shoulder and a scraped up arm I was OK. The run off thing is real though. One time I was practicing going down a hill in a park and had to jump off. It was all I could do to keep from falling and making a spectacle of myself in front of everyone. I need to work on my short jogging to get a little better at run offs. Always wear your gear and if you go slow and can jog a few steps you will probably be OK. If you  know how to fall you will be even better.

[Ubute]

Thanks for all the considered answers. I'm 71, not 80, and still relatively active. Reading all the feedback, I think I can be careful and protected enough to avoid serious injury. I can jog, (not for long!) and I can take a fall. I tripped over the other day dragging branches to a bonfire and went down on my hands and knees and hip. Nothing was broken, but I'd have been less sore and scratched if I'd been wearing safety gear!

Ooh, it's exciting. I think I'm going for it!

[Dgar]

Glad to hear you are diving in. Let us know how it goes.

[Ubute]

My V8F arrived a week ago. Fantastic! Unfortunately so far I have been restricted to very light sessions of a few minutes a day because of a bad fall a few days before THE ARRIVAL. We live on a cliff top and it gets steep very quickly if you're in the wrong shoes...

Anyway, I'm improving in my one-foot control, and today I was able to do a full pirouette on the lawn, my left foot spinning on the ball. I drove round and round until I got too dizzy. With the angles just right there was no pressure on my right knee at all.

Unlike when I try to scoot forwards on one leg, but that's getting a bit easier too. Thank heavens the 1970's windsurfing accident tore the ligaments in my left knee,  my non-dominant side. I wouldn't trust my left knee with what my right is having to do on the wheel. Anyway, I can now drive forwards nearly a metre on the grass.

Only a couple of times though because this really kills my kidney area which took the brunt of my fall. Five minutes a day, I've really got to let my side get better first...

Look, I know these are paltry achievements in the scheme of things, my pirouette and my one metre run, but to me they are encouraging signs that this will be possible for me. Woo Hoo!

[Tryptych]

3 hours ago, Ubute said:

Look, I know these are paltry achievements in the scheme of things, my pirouette and my one metre run, but to me they are encouraging signs that this will be possible for me. Woo Hoo!

That's really awesome, I hope I can be as adventurous when I get older! Here are some tips that I can't resist giving you (regardless of age I suggest this to all new riders):

1.  Take it slow, baby steps everyday, don't rush.
2.  EUCs are very hard on your legs and feet, especially when you just start. After a while muscle memory will start to kick in and it will get easier and less painful.
3.  Wear padded shorts (as well as the standard 4 pieces everyone recommends - full helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards). Padded shorts are the most underrated piece of gear you'll buy. They are cheap, comfortable to wear, and someday they will save your ass, literally (and your hips too).
4. Once your up and riding: I have recently discovered that compression socks and compression knee braces pads really help to reduce reduce the fatigue and aching that most people (regardless of age) get after a long ride.
5.  Use the EUC World app if you have an Android, it is far superior to the InMotion app.
6.  Speed cap your V8F in the software to 25 kmh for at least your first year (it is like this by default - I'd leave it that way forever). 
7.  You can easily overpower the V8F if you lean too hard forwards or back. From the start it is a good idea to train yourself to never accelerate hard and never decelerate hard.

Good luck have fun!!!

 

 

[Ubute]

16 hours ago, Tryptych said:

That's really awesome, I hope I can be as adventurous when I get older! Here are some tips that I can't resist giving you (regardless of age I suggest this to all new riders):

Thanks Tryptych for the encouragement. I think your tips are excellent from even my limited experience. I'm actually thinking of reducing the speed cap to 15km/hr because that's going to be scary enough for a while I imagine. It might also give me a taste of tilt back, which I understand can be disconcerting. I'd like to experience that before I face it at higher speeds.

I have already bought padded under-shorts as part of my essential gear. "Bumsavers" the Roller Derby girls call them and I'm not embarrassed to wear them too. You just don't ask, "Does my bum look big in these?"

It's interesting that the only safety gear I have that was designed for EUC riding are my GyroRiderz gloves. I'm a guitarist and the fear of messing up my hands is almost greater than hitting my head. There's no way I was going to wear just wrist guards. Everything else is from a different sport. Motocross knee guards - Leatt Dual Axis; skateboarders' neoprene ankle guards and elbow guards; slalom skiers' helmet.

When I first got interested in EUC about eighteen months ago I agonised about it all, my age, the risks etc.  I concluded I was a stupid old geezer who was clinging on to youth, so I abandoned the idea. But it didn't go away and it crept up on me again. Now I've realised that I AM a stupid old geezer who is clinging onto youth, so why not embrace it? Back then hardly anyone on Youtube was wearing safety gear. EUC riding seemed to be mostly about wafting along bike paths in the countryside. Dig deeper and you could find dudes cruising through the New York traffic in t-shirts and shorts, that's it. There was obviously a dare-devil element, but that's not what attracted me. I was drawn to the magic of moving like that, the simplicity of the machine, the direct control through movements of the body rather than through handlebars and levers. And it seemed like something an old geezer could do without too much effort, after the learning stage of course.

Now the same Youtube pundits are sporting split lips and broken wrists and are all advocating safety gear. (Some are still filming themselves riding without any while they talk about how essential it is!) My fantasy didn't originally involve suiting up like a Road Warrior but I've taken safety seriously.

Pity about EUC World because I'm on Apple. Has anyone used Darkness Bot?

[Tawpie]

most excellent  Another geezer in the ranks.

I’m 62 and about 6 weeks in. You’ll have a blast, and sore feet and sore legs and sore parts you didn’t know were still there. To protect the bones I started with wrist, knee, elbow and skating helmet but getting tangled up in the wheel one day landed me on my shoulder and hip. More sore parts, but nothing bad. So a Super DH helmet, motorcycle jacket with level 2 armor and Demon’s hip+tailbone belt were added. The last tumble was practicing going over speed bumps (very low speed) and that put a mark on my jacket. It would have hurt, but didn’t. So day glo robocop is my look now, and I must say it’s not as bad as it looks. But I think I’m in pretty good shape for the next crash, which will of course be at low speed (working on balance for next summer when I intend to spend time off-road)

[Guy]

Hi guys. I'm Guy. I'm 63. I started riding a V8 a year and a half ago. After about 3k miles on the V8, I upgraded to a 2.7 kWh Nik+, wish I could figure out a seat for it, and love it at 700+ miles. Bicycle and light skate gear for the V8, Pro motorcycle and pro skater gear for the Nik. I have many health challenges, even with balance, yet I ride! Lately I've had balance issues at speed. Hopefully that will pass. Yea man! Ride at any age! Medical professionals and EUC vendors said that I should not purchase an EUC. Yet, I did, and have made it through the learning process to now use the wheel instead of a car. I don't do the tricks as younger riders do, yet I can style/dance/carve with the best of them. Especially to a good song.  Still wish I could ride backwards! Peace, all my EUC friends, from Maine...Guy

[Johnny Rocket 98908]

I just taught a 70year old how to ride and he bought a 16x, and is loving it! If you are in shape and have a desire to ride, you are not too old!

 

 

[redsnapper]

21 minutes ago, Johnny Rocket 98908 said:

I just taught a 70year old how to ride and he bought a 16x, and is loving it! If you are in shape and have a desire to ride, you are not too old!

 

 

mten not an ez learner wheel! im sure he will find 16x way easier!!!

[.....]

52 minutes ago, amelanso said:

mten not an ez learner wheel! im sure he will find 16x way easier!!!

Hell, he's already got it licked! Steepest part of the learning curve is getting rolling! I agree, the mten makes the very first stage tough, but man is it ever the greatest for continued training. I love my mten, its made of awesomsauce and double cheese! Mten is the best for learning to ride backwards.

Edited November 22, 2020 by ShanesPlanet

[Scottie888]

Personally I don't think age per se is an issue so long as one is physically capable. As another poster wrote, its what happens if accidents & the resultant injuries occur & who can deny that possibility is likely esp for a beginner.

So besides the standard taking it slow & easy, I believe its extremely vital for the more elderly amongst us to gear up as much as possible. The young can stumble fall & get right back up but who can deny that its not so simple nor easy for some of us (& I include myself). So IMO, best thing would be a sound exercise program for GPP ie. General Physical Preparedness & short of falling, to gear up so the injuries are limited to the least if such should happen.

There's another thread on this so 'cuse me for beating a dead horse here but IMHO, I feel an Aerostitch Roadcrafter suit to be almost like an equivalent of the Iron Man suit as least in regards to handling EUC speed crashes. I hardly wear mine nowadays as I've weaned off bikes but I have tried it a few times riding my wheel/s esp when I was learning. One time I face planted on grass hitting a depression at speed & besides the tumble, I felt nothing. Ofcos besides the RC, I was wearing a ff helmet & wrist guards too. That said, I think it'll be the same result even if I eat it on asphalt. 

So gear up as much as possible is my $0.02. Regardless of age, it may not be possible to avoid accidents but it might be possible to ameliorate the damage to a great extent.

 

[redsnapper]

2 hours ago, ShanesPlanet said:

 Mten is the best for learning to ride backwards.

Why is that - I have damn near destroyed my ankles with the vorpal pedals while learning backwards. What makes the mten so good for backwards (besides less mass to de-anklify)?

[.....]

23 minutes ago, amelanso said:

Why is that - I have damn near destroyed my ankles with the vorpal pedals while learning backwards. What makes the mten so good for backwards (besides less mass to de-anklify)?

I found that its torque helped minimize the time in transition. Its also less mass to try and change direction. Lowering the tire pressure on the mten made it pretty easy to just stand at near still. THIS stand still is the KEY to riding backwards. The actual riding backwards is not hard as its similar to forwards. Its the transition. I find the smaller, lighter and immeditate response of the mten, to be the key. I can idle in place/pendulum on the mten now, I can hardly ride backwards on my 18, as that pesky transition gets me sometimes still. However, the mten bites me more than any wheel I own. I just think it REALLY likes to lunch on ankles. Its that instant torque that gives it a mean bite, like a rattlesnake. Such a small wheel, but i still respect it. Amazingly tough little bugger too! Its very freeing to have a wheel that takes a beating and you arent even mildly interested in trying to catch it..it bites! I really am quite amazed at how fond I've grown of it. I blame @Marty Backe for my mten disease. I just WISH they made a RollNZ for it! I treat my mten like my old skateboard. Toss it down and start the battle. I keep beating it down and it keeps kicking my ass. LOVE IT!

Edited November 22, 2020 by ShanesPlanet

[Marty Backe]

On 11/22/2020 at 2:23 PM, ShanesPlanet said:

I found that its torque helped minimize the time in transition. Its also less mass to try and change direction. Lowering the tire pressure on the mten made it pretty easy to just stand at near still. THIS stand still is the KEY to riding backwards. The actual riding backwards is not hard as its similar to forwards. Its the transition. I find the smaller, lighter and immeditate response of the mten, to be the key. I can idle in place/pendulum on the mten now, I can hardly ride backwards on my 18, as that pesky transition gets me sometimes still. However, the mten bites me more than any wheel I own. I just think it REALLY likes to lunch on ankles. Its that instant torque that gives it a mean bite, like a rattlesnake. Such a small wheel, but i still respect it. Amazingly tough little bugger too! Its very freeing to have a wheel that takes a beating and you arent even mildly interested in trying to catch it..it bites! I really am quite amazed at how fond I've grown of it. I blame @Marty Backe for my mten disease. I just WISH they made a RollNZ for it! I treat my mten like my old skateboard. Toss it down and start the battle. I keep beating it down and it keeps kicking my ass. LOVE IT!

You're welcome 

[Fraserdude]

I am 63 and have been in to it for about 2 weeks. Nearly bought a onewheel but after seeing Jimmy Chang's onewheel vs EUC on youtube I had to have one. I did not consider the safety aspects, if I had, I may not have bought one. Watching some of the stacks has dented my confidence a bit. So far I have stayed up right but invested in a Bell3R helmet. Already had kneepads, elbow pads and wrist guards (left over from rollerblading days). Padded shorts next. My compliments to people around my age and older who are getting in to it........they are totally cool.  It took me 4 days to be able to competently ride in a straight line (doing about an hour a day) Since then have done a couple of 6k rides and a 13K ride. Have lost it about 20 times and been able to run it out each time. Got my KS 16S limited to 20k and I think it will stay that way for quite a while. Turning skills are improving and there is a nice school car park for practicing sweeping turns (say 2M radius) still rough but did not lose it once on last outing. Looking forward to being able to carve (just a little maybe) Really interested in off road. Plenty of good trails nearby. 

[.....]

2 hours ago, Fraserdude said:

I am 63 and have been in to it for about 2 weeks. Nearly bought a onewheel but after seeing Jimmy Chang's onewheel vs EUC on youtube I had to have one. I did not consider the safety aspects, if I had, I may not have bought one. Watching some of the stacks has dented my confidence a bit. So far I have stayed up right but invested in a Bell3R helmet. Already had kneepads, elbow pads and wrist guards (left over from rollerblading days). Padded shorts next. My compliments to people around my age and older who are getting in to it........they are totally cool.  It took me 4 days to be able to competently ride in a straight line (doing about an hour a day) Since then have done a couple of 6k rides and a 13K ride. Have lost it about 20 times and been able to run it out each time. Got my KS 16S limited to 20k and I think it will stay that way for quite a while. Turning skills are improving and there is a nice school car park for practicing sweeping turns (say 2M radius) still rough but did not lose it once on last outing. Looking forward to being able to carve (just a little maybe) Really interested in off road. Plenty of good trails nearby. 

Awesome to hear! I dont think you are nearing the older of our crowd tho! How ironic, the safety aspect is a BIG reason I choose the euc over the onewheel. Onewheel is childs play to learn and MAYBE safer for the initial learning curve. However, you must not have searched too hard for 'nosedive' and 'injury' videos about the onewheel. I had a OW in a shopping cart and was literally 1 click from paying for it, and a little birdy told me to investigate the DANGERS of it. Thus began 4 days of video watching and calculating odds and risks and finding the euc. After all said and done, I spent a little less and ended up with my favorite wheel to this day! My buddy has a OW and ive ridden it. Its very restricting in compare and with being used to euc response and speeds, a OW would nose me in no time.

You are learning it VERY quickly. Take your time and be easy and theres a REAL possibility that you wont sustain any injuries of note. Once you get very comfy on the wheel, MOST of the risk is simply up to your decisions. I still feel the euc can be a fairly safe activity, if you choose to treat it as such. Hardware failures arent common and we have many options to help keep us safer with great speed and battery settings.  Of course you can also ride the lightning and try to make the wheel your bitch. Much more exciting and the risks go up exponentially! Congrats again on tackling the learning curve so quickly. Youll be comfy and riding around with confidence and control in no time.  *so.. have you decided what your next wheel will be yet? The sickness gets us about the time we barely learn the first one...

Edited January 3, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[Planemo]

3 hours ago, ShanesPlanet said:

The sickness gets us about the time we barely learn the first one...

As soon as I read this the song 'Down with the Sickness' by Disturbed came straight into my head 

[Johnny Rocket 98908]

I taught this 70 year old how to ride in three 1 hour sessions, now he has his own 16X and loves it!

[conecones]

On 1/7/2021 at 9:40 AM, Johnny Rocket 98908 said:

I taught this 70 year old how to ride in three 1 hour sessions, now he has his own 16X and loves it!

Sorry, but there's no way to validate that person is 70 years old with this potato cam footage..This could be a teenager for all we know 

There's such a huge range in physical/mental abilities in people that I don't think age should be a factor. I have a 80+(actual age unknown) yr old grandma that can navigate both IOS and Android devices better than anyone else in my family. She was also hit by a car 2 years ago while crossing the street and suffered nothing more than a few scrapes. Her friend she slightly bumped into still hasn't recovered and still can't walk. It's too bad she has no interest in riding my EUC but I would not doubt her ability to learn lol.

On the flip side a 30 year old co-worker tried my V8 in the office and on the first bail, badly twisted his ankle followed by falling flat on his face - arms at his sides. There's no hope for him.

[yon]

On 9/30/2019 at 4:33 PM, Senior Coffee said:

I'm 55 and just started.  I plan on riding until I'm in the grave.

I’m 55 also and only just started.  I’m lovin it and we’ll chuffed I persevered through the first 100 miles today.  I’m keeping it now and want a bigger one.

[Johnny Rocket 98908]

On 1/8/2021 at 10:59 AM, conecones said:

Sorry, but there's no way to validate that person is 70 years old with this potato cam footage..This could be a teenager for all we know 

There's such a huge range in physical/mental abilities in people that I don't think age should be a factor. I have a 80+(actual age unknown) yr old grandma that can navigate both IOS and Android devices better than anyone else in my family. She was also hit by a car 2 years ago while crossing the street and suffered nothing more than a few scrapes. Her friend she slightly bumped into still hasn't recovered and still can't walk. It's too bad she has no interest in riding my EUC but I would not doubt her ability to learn lol.

On the flip side a 30 year old co-worker tried my V8 in the office and on the first bail, badly twisted his ankle followed by falling flat on his face - arms at his sides. There's no hope for him.

He actually is 70, and he loves to ride.  It helps that he is in good physical condition.