EUC evolution.

[Gasmantle]

Hi all,

I've been musing a little bit about what my next wheel purchase may be and got thinking a little bit about the direction in which wheel evolution is taking, so I be interested to hear what others think.

I've only been a rider about 15 mths but in that short time it seems that what is available now is a world away from when I bought my first wheel. It looks to me that wheel manufacturers are now focussed more on catering for the enthusiast market with the introduction of ever more powerful and sophisticated wheels and and seem less interested in the low powered entry level / occasional commuter wheels.

Even as little as 1 year ago 'thinner' wheels like the KS18XL were popular but it now looks like 3" wide wheels are now the standard on all high performance wheels

Is the market now settling down into becoming largely high end performance wheels and moving away from a simple commuter tool?

What do others think?

Edited May 25, 2020 by Gasmantle

[meepmeepmayer]

4 minutes ago, Gasmantle said:

Is the market now settling down into becoming largely high end performance wheels and moving away from a simple commuter tool?

High end performance wheels are the better commuter tools for 90% of people Weight/size doesn't really count that much for most - all EUCs are small-ish after all, compared to other ridables.

[AtlasP]

1. As market categories mature they splinter into more specialized sub-categories, which is what I'd argue is happening here. (The latest crop of super-heavy, super-cumbersome high-speed wheels don't replace smaller last-mile commuter wheels, they complement them by providing a different kind of product for different use-cases.)

2. InMotion as recently as within the past 6 months produced a refresh to the top-selling EUC in the world, the V8/now V8F, which is a super-light last-mile commuter model that by itself outsells entire other brands. I'd say the success of it and their continuing to refresh it shows continued dedication to that category which isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

3. Reading the sentiments on a niche forum such as this is highly misleading and might lead one to very different conclusions from what the real market is actually doing. (Meep's declarations above are a perfect example as they are literally backwards to current EUC market & usage trends as indicated both by top etailers and the EUC World global stats.)

Edited May 26, 2020 by AtlasP