EUC Dilemma

[VikB]

18 minutes ago, Tasku said:

Your risks would be similar to riding a bicycle. Bent your knee and you got suspension.

 

Based on what I have learned about EUCs so far the risks seem to be higher than riding a bicycle at the same speed. Both in terms of the likelihood of crashing and the seriousness of the injuries. That's just my gut feeling at this point. 

If I came down on the question of EUC safety to a decision they were as safe a pedal bicycles I'd be really happy. 

 

[RockyTop]

3 minutes ago, VikB said:

Based on what I have learned about EUCs so far the risks seem to be higher than riding a bicycle at the same speed. Both in terms of the likelihood of crashing and the seriousness of the injuries. That's just my gut feeling at this point. 

If I came down on the question of EUC safety to a decision they were as safe a pedal bicycles I'd be really happy. 

 

It depends. I thought the same thing. My family rides quite a bit. Bicycles and EUCs side by side. Two of us on EUCs and two on bicycles. Over a two year span riding as a group: 

Bicycles 3  crashes EUC 1 crash. 
 

Disclaimer: I take more chances when bicycles are not around. I push things and expect to crash. 

[VikB]

29 minutes ago, RockyTop said:

It depends. I thought the same thing. My family rides quite a bit. Bicycles and EUCs side by side. Two of us on EUCs and two on bicycles. Over a two year span riding as a group: 

Bicycles 3  crashes EUC 1 crash. 

If the family takes equal turns riding bicycles and EUCs that would be one thing. If the same people ride bicycles and the same people ride EUCs all the time than the information is less useful since the folks riding bicycles might just crash more no matter what mode of transport they'd use.

[PLEASE_DELETE]

Deleted.

Edited March 18 by PLEASE_DELETE

[WI_Hedgehog]

2 hours ago, winterwheel said:

I teach many people to ride, I never encourage them to come to this forum because of the endless, overly alarmist, mother hen perspective on safety.

I ride motorcycles, sometimes I wear armored gear (in one instance a full-face helmet saved my life), usually I don't. Not wearing gear doesn't make driving a motorcycle any safer.

I ride fast hoverboards, usually "slowly" and without gear (however, when riding "fast" I wear gear). When a sensor went bad at very slow speed and tore up my knee resulting in 9 months of rehab, wearing gear wouldn't have helped. Random failures happen in high-current electronics, ignoring that doesn't mean it won't happen.

Wheels, though, unless I'm going slow I wear gear. Thanks to several of the members here I know the risks and make a personal choice to do so (because I'm new, and I suck at riding wheels  ). I'm thankful for the people that showed me the dangers because I make more informed personal decisions, BUT, I don't tell others to wear gear--that's their choice, just like I don't wear gear when doing other things is my choice.

Like this guy, totally awesome...mostly:

Anyway, here's more "fun:"

 

 

[winterwheel]

Exactly my point.  People here just can't resist the urge to scream about how unsafe our sport is.

[RockyTop]

2 hours ago, VikB said:

If the family takes equal turns riding bicycles and EUCs that would be one thing. If the same people ride bicycles and the same people ride EUCs all the time than the information is less useful since the folks riding bicycles might just crash more no matter what mode of transport they'd use.

I always ride EUC. My son-in-law always rides bicycles. My wife and daughter ride both EUC and bicycles equally. Remove me and my Son-in-law and the score is:

bicycles 2 crashes 

EUC  0 crashes. 

This is riding 30-50 miles each weekend 40 weekends a year for two years. This is bicycle training for triathlons so the speed is pretty high. We have to swap out EUCs at the halfway mark to keep up with the bicycles. I kill the battery on the 84vMSX and 18XL in about 28 -32 miles ( 1555wh) 

 

[RockyTop]

If you watch YouTube videos all day you will get the impression that most people have GotWay Wheels and crash all the time. All the numbers that I have seen say that KinSong sells the most wheels InMotion comes in a close second and Gotway sells by far the least. The truth is that crazy YouTubers buy Gotway wheels. I am going to do something crazy stupid and post it on YouTube. ............. I just need a camera. 

[WI_Hedgehog]

4 minutes ago, winterwheel said:

Exactly my point.  People here just can't resist the urge to scream about how unsafe our sport is.

Life is unsafe, knowing the risks helps. Kart racing is probably around the same level of safe (also loads of fun!):

 

 

[Scottie]

On 4/25/2021 at 10:58 AM, ShanesPlanet said:

Amazing how we can all talk back and forth from distances across the globe and of different ages and sexes, yet this place remains fairly civil and enjoyable. Frankly I just can't figure out how this happens, but am glad it is..

It must be because we are all the same kind of crazy! ... being stubborn, or persistent enough to learn these machines is the filter. It is like the annual Oshkosh, Wisconsin EAA Fly-In where the aviation minded crowd is probably the 2nd largest outdoor gathering behind the Indy 500 (pre-covid), and yet not a speck of trash on the ground, anywhere.

I will enjoy goofing around without safety gear, in the quiet street in front of my house for an hour, where my speeds are less than 10 mph. But when I go for a real cruise I will put the stuff on. This echos what many have already said. We measure our own risks and tolerances. 

As my wheels age mileage-wise, my trust will diminish, but not go to zero. I gauge and adjust my confidence in the wheel against some of the numbers found in @ShanesPlanet other thread from a while back. Granted, anything can happen at any time with the wheel, but barring anything horribly unusual happening, these numbers give me some confidence in the durability.    

[winterwheel]

Knowing the risks is fine, haranguing people constantly about them is super boring.

[Tawpie]

10 minutes ago, winterwheel said:

Knowing the risks is fine, haranguing people constantly about them is super boring.

 

This is so true. I just do it because I figure that once every EUC rider looks like a power ranger, my yellow ranger getup won’t reveal my other (secret, shhh) identity.

[xiiijojjo]

The chance of crashing is 100% if you ride for long enough. 

One person has had a very serious injurie at less that 10km/h.

Hubris insures nemesis, eventually. 

[.....]

7 hours ago, WI_Hedgehog said:

Life is unsafe, knowing the risks helps. Kart racing is probably around the same level of safe (also loads of fun!):

 

 

Usually I don't like seatbelts....

[andrew900nyc]

Thanks for all the information/videos on wobbles and crashing and crashing in general. It is somewhat encouraging that the vast majority of crashes have not been due to electronics failures, though surely that is not a reason to have complete faith in these machines, as many of you have pointed out. I very much appreciate all the tips on how to reduce the chances of becoming intimate with the concrete. 

On a side note: NYC is quite a spectacular place to explore by EUC. If there's anyone who lives in Manhattan or visits who'd like to check out some cool places, it would be great to have a riding buddy. I'm not looking to try to keep up with the speed junkies, but I also wouldn't be a good fit for someone who cruises below 20 kph most of the time. If you like to take things slow when the road and/or surroundings call for caution, but cruise in the 25 kph - 35 kph zone when appropriate, then our riding styles are probably pretty comparable. I'm usually not riding faster than 35 kph for very long, so a few bursts here and there by either one of us shouldn't be a problem. I just wouldn't want to try to keep up with you if your average cruising speed is over 40 kph.  

 

 

 

[andrew900nyc]

2 hours ago, xiiijojjo said:

The chance of crashing is 100% if you ride for long enough. 

One person has had a very serious injurie at less that 10km/h.

Hubris insures nemesis, eventually. 

 

I often hear the same thing in the hang gliding community yet I know a good number of pilots who are 10 - 15 years older than I am, have been flying most of their lives, and have never crashed.

While I agree that anything is possible, I do not ride with the attitude that I am guaranteed to crash at some point. When I jump on my wheel, I have the same attitude that I have when I strap myself into my hang glider and I'm standing at launch - complete confidence in my abilities and total confidence that I will not crash. If for any reason (such as feeling too tired, conditions not right, etc.) I have any doubt while standing at launch, I don't launch and drive back down the mountain instead. I don't think of it as hubris in the sense of pride, but if hubris is self-confidence, then I guess I am guilty of having it. I believe self-confidence in dangerous sports is necessary. I believe those who don't have sufficient self-confidence are more likely to crash. I also believe that people who have unwarranted self-confidence (meaning those whose skills aren't as good in reality as the person perceives them to be) are more likely to crash. Riding (or operating any vehicle) with self-confidence requires the recognition of the limitations of one's skills. That's why you won't see me blasting down a road at insane speeds like chooch tech!

[Flying W]

@ShanesPlanet my 70yr old dad and I play a milder version of chicken on the EUCs. We ride at the beep head on passing out shoulders a few inches apart. For him that's 22mph on a 16s and about 37mph on an rs HT. Both app speeds but even with the inflated speeds it's a hell of a lotta fun. 

The only thing he will wear is wrist guards, he had three good falls from not seeing speed bumps (a bunch of a slow speed learning falls) so it's not like he doesn't know what can happen, but his generation doesn't wear safety gear. 

I'm sure one day we will clip and and eat shit, but that's what makes it fun. 

I'd like him to wear some protection, I'm also in my 40s and don't "bounce" anymore....it's more of a splat followed by soreness but at his age the injuries are semi permanent.

Most of the time I wear knees elbow writs and a bicycle helmet. If I'm going out to ride hard especially in the dirt I wear a motorcycle jacket dirt bike helmet (with the dust screen cut out for easier access to nicotine) wrists and knees. If I'm going shopping I don't wear any gear at all. 

I prefer riding with minimal gear but I have a kid amd a wife that depend on my ass getting to work. 

Out of all the fun toys I view the EUC as relatively low risk for just riding around. Most of the times I've crashed hard on the dirt bikes I've needed something set or bolted back together, same for mnt biking. I don't worry about broken bones or surgery on the EUC even though it could happen. 

 

[Dgar]

I do find putting on protective gear annoying but once I took a fall at 40kph I realize how easy it is for things to go sideways unexpectedly. Thankfully I had just gotten a full face helmet the day before and had decided to try it out. There was a huge scrape right along the chin guard that I'm sure would have broken my jaw if I had not had on the new helmet. (I actually messed up my shoulder, had a HUGE bruise on my hip and scraped up my elbow pretty good. Thankfully nothing long lasting.)

One thing to remember also is that when we take chances and get injured, it isn't just us who are affected. Many of the people in our lives are also affected...as care givers, rides to the medical appointments, etc.