ks 16s day 1 issues

[WILSONEUC]

So, this is my first post here on this forum and purchased a kingsong 16s. I started at an old track , the fencing is surrounded by grass unfortunantley so i had to start on the track itself without balancing aides.

So im practicing placing my dominant leg on the right  and the ks 16s is a heavy sucker , trying to keep it balanced. I felt a little more in control of it but a previous knee injury from my onewheel accident a couple weeks ago aggravated the experience .

I practiced kick riding one leg and only got about 8 feet with it. It is really hot today so at this time im getting kind of aggravated from the heat and hitting my kick leg against the pedals. (My legs are short so having a hard time finding some clearance to kick.

So i practiced a little bit of kicking some more with dominant leg on pedal, and shins are aching, knee is feeling kind of sore. I get on i get off and then i fell to the right of the EUC. I tried to land but my left foot kept moving the EUC and i twisted my right knee again heard that sucker go pop. So that was it for the day, walked it off . How do you dismount this thing when you are unbalanced and need to get off when falling to the side without the thing taking off on you, turning you up like a pretzel on the ground. Not a good experience and discouraged for spending this money

[mrelwood]

Welcome to the forum and to the greatest hobby and transportation the whole of mankind has invented! 

Starting the learning period is hard, especially without good and detailed instructions. To make the learning period much shorter and more useful, I suggest you watch a few beginners guides on YouTube, on repeat. This is perhaps my favorite as the most comprehensive learning aid:

What doesn’t help is that while the 16S is one of the best wheels in its class, it’s sidepads are very low and hence don’t offer much support for mounting. I solved the issue by DIYing extensions to the sidepads, which allow me to have support stable enough even for one-legged riding:

 

I’m absolutely sure that you as well will get past the first step in the learning curve. There will be other smaller steps later on, but at some point they tend to just click into place. And I believe they’ll do so fast if you have the groundwork of the EUCO video above to jump from!

Edited July 12, 2020 by mrelwood

[RockyTop]

@digison08 This is one of those rare times that I suggest a new approach.  Some people do real well learning while pushing a grocery cart or something similar.  This will get you used to  controlling the wheel. You can come back to the mounting once you have a reason to do so.  

[DS1]

I recieved my first wheel a couple weeks ago and mounting is the hardest part for me.I found a big empty parking area that had a 12' handrail along edge to practice. Then I would park my truck with tailgate down about 20' away to give me a goal and something to hold on to when I got there. As I could not turn yet. I am just now practicing mounting.I just wanted to send out a word of encouragement from one beginner (and Mainer )to another. Keep at it as the feeling of gliding is very rewarding.

[Llorx]

I got my first wheel about 3 weeks ago and the first days were really hard, but they were 3 key things that helped me from struggling to do anything to going offroad on a 14'' wheel in only 2 weeks. The first key was a video explaining how to get balanced on one foot:

With this you can go up and down the wheel pretty easy, and you can turn and manage the wheel side-tilting easily too, but it added a lot of inner-shin pain so the second key was to buy this https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B07TC5BTNQ which is not hard, but foamed, and worked like a charm. And well, another key is to lose your fear. When you fail you will simply jump off the wheel. At noob speeds you will not faceplant or anything

Edited July 13, 2020 by Llorx

[Scottie]

On 7/12/2020 at 4:21 PM, RockyTop said:

You can come back to the mounting once you have a reason to do so.  

I want to second that. Mounting came along a little later for me, many weeks actually. And others here have mentioned that once you get some gratification from riding around a bit, that will encourage you to stick with it and learn the other things. And being able to ride the thing after you mount will make the mounting itself go easier.  But, to be free to go anywhere you want, free mounting is a necessary skill to untie you from your training areas.

And you can't watch too many videos. Fill your mind with what you need to do and what it should look like. Then work out for yourself what works for your learning pattern and physical abilities. We are all different there. 

[WILSONEUC]

Thanks guys, everything is starting to click for me. 10 hours later spread over 5 days . What helped was just launching off from a basketball hoop pole in a school playground, doing it over and over till i got use to it. Then took it to a local track, and then to a walking/bike path. It gets better everyday.