MTen3 - Mother of all Teaching Wheels

[winterwheel]

I'm throwing this out there in case there people who are teaching or thinking about doing so. 

I teach people to ride wheels, and they pay me to do it actually, not much, but its there. I've just passed 100 students in my three years of doing this. What I want to pass on to the community is this:

The MTen3 is the mother of all teaching wheels.

I never start people on this wheel, normally I start them on a 16" wheel (adult males) or a 14" wheel (women and children). For some people this is enough; the process works and they get to riding and away they go.

For some people it isn't. Now understand, my goal is to get them riding and out the door in one two-hour session. As you might imagine, some struggle to meet that deadline, especially since it begins with a half-hour of me blathering on about wheel safety and procedures and whatnot.

When it becomes clear that they are not going to make enough progress by the end of the class to be riding I move them to the silver bullet... the MTen3. I have them do some back and forth with it, first on the spot, then a few feet along the wall, and then ten feet or so, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

And this works. Every single time. They build up that little level of comfort and then, before I can stop them they are riding around the rink, holding on to nothing, under their own power.

Then I either let them rent the MTen3 for a day or two, or if there is time and they look comfortable I put them back on the bigger wheel.

 

[.....]

Intimidation has always been something that stalls learning. I can totally see how the mten helps break that barrier! Its a nifty wheel for learning slow moving skills and backwards too. Pretty cool that you can make a little coin by teaching people on the euc. Maybe you should start selling too? How many student per day would it take, to keep food on the table and a roof over your head?

[M640x]

8 hours ago, winterwheel said:

I'm throwing this out there in case there people who are teaching or thinking about doing so. 

I teach people to ride wheels, and they pay me to do it actually, not much, but its there. I've just passed 100 students in my three years of doing this. What I want to pass on to the community is this:

The MTen3 is the mother of all teaching wheels.

I never start people on this wheel, normally I start them on a 16" wheel (adult males) or a 14" wheel (women and children). For some people this is enough; the process works and they get to riding and away they go.

For some people it isn't. Now understand, my goal is to get them riding and out the door in one two-hour session. As you might imagine, some struggle to meet that deadline, especially since it begins with a half-hour of me blathering on about wheel safety and procedures and whatnot.

When it becomes clear that they are not going to make enough progress by the end of the class to be riding I move them to the silver bullet... the MTen3. I have them do some back and forth with it, first on the spot, then a few feet along the wall, and then ten feet or so, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

And this works. Every single time. They build up that little level of comfort and then, before I can stop them they are riding around the rink, holding on to nothing, under their own power.

Then I either let them rent the MTen3 for a day or two, or if there is time and they look comfortable I put them back on the bigger wheel.

 

I have to say that the mten3 is what kept me in the sport.  I started on a KS14S.  For the life of me I could not ride that damn thing after literally 2 weeks of trying.  It wasn't until I got the "silver bullet" Mten3, that I started to be able to ride.  Put about 60 miles on it then got a Z10.  I'm now at nearly 2000 miles and haven't looked back. 

Edited June 13, 2021 by Senior Coffee

[winterwheel]

9 hours ago, ShanesPlanet said:

Intimidation has always been something that stalls learning. I can totally see how the mten helps break that barrier! Its a nifty wheel for learning slow moving skills and backwards too. Pretty cool that you can make a little coin by teaching people on the euc. Maybe you should start selling too? How many student per day would it take, to keep food on the table and a roof over your head?

I work it as $25/student for a two hour session, with (in non-pandemic times) being able to do a few students per class. More often I work the rental wheel option though - renting a wheel out for $50 for a weekend or a $100 for a week and throwing the lesson in as a free perk for new renters. I could charge more for this if I didn't have a good day job already and needed the money; other locations are renting wheels for double my rates and TBH, people would pay it. Also, this is for starter wheels; premium wheels go for a higher rate.

I did sell for a bit in the first year, but now one of my students has gone on to start a wheel biz and I'm more than happy to let that part of it go. I didn't like the sense of my evangelizing having an undertone of me trying to sell people something. That said, it could have worked had I chosen to go that way. 

I'd highly recommend anyone who can manage the startup costs to go ahead and do this.

The key to getting started is being able to afford to buy a batch of wheels (usually the minimum is 10) direct from the manufacturer. The math is harder if paying retail for the wheels. They don't have to be big wheels -- a few 14" and a few 16" is all that's needed to get started. The biggest logistical issue is finding a place to teach, for me I'm blessed to have a community skating rink nearby that is a perfect training location. Lugging wheels out to the site and back is a problem, I built a wagon of sorts for this. If I was willing to use a car that would simplify things a bit, but tossing four or five wheels into a car twice a day isn't that much fun either.

And of course, the key to all of it is... an MTen3. 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2021 by winterwheel

[M640x]

34 minutes ago, winterwheel said:

I work it as $25/student for a two hour session, with (in non-pandemic times) being able to do a few students per class. More often I work the rental wheel option though - renting a wheel out for $50 for a weekend or a $100 for a week and throwing the lesson in as a free perk for new renters. I could charge more for this if I didn't have a good day job already and needed the money; other locations are renting wheels for double my rates and TBH, people would pay it. Also, this is for starter wheels; premium wheels go for a higher rate.

I did sell for a bit in the first year, but now one of my students has gone on to start a wheel biz and I'm more than happy to let that part of it go. I didn't like the sense of my evangelizing having an undertone of me trying to sell people something. That said, it could have worked had I chosen to go that way. 

I'd highly recommend anyone who can manage the startup costs to go ahead and do this.

The key to getting started is being able to afford to buy a batch of wheels (usually the minimum is 10) direct from the manufacturer. The math is harder if paying retail for the wheels. They don't have to be big wheels -- a few 14" and a few 16" is all that's needed to get started. The biggest logistical issue is finding a place to teach, for me I'm blessed to have a community skating rink nearby that is a perfect training location. Lugging wheels out to the site and back is a problem, I built a wagon of sorts for this. If I was willing to use a car that would simplify things a bit, but tossing four or five wheels into a car twice a day isn't that much fun either.

And of course, the key to all of it is... an MTen3. 

 

 

Wow that's awesome.  It was more than a month before I could ride like that.

[RetroThruster]

I'm probably one of the few here that paid for lessons before ever riding an EUC, I did a 30 minute class and rode a 14" and 16" wheel, I remember wanting to go back to the 14" so I guess it stands to reason that the mten could be a great wheel to learn on.  But, having owned an mten for quite some time now, I don't feel like it's any easier to ride than a 16"+ wheel, if anything, it requires a higher level of concentration.  I think if one of my friends wanted to learn, I'd let them try my MCM5 first, it reminds me of the mten believe it or not, just a bigger version of it.

[winterwheel]

11 minutes ago, RetroThruster said:

But, having owned an mten for quite some time now, I don't feel like it's any easier to ride than a 16"+ wheel, if anything, it requires a higher level of concentration.

I definitely don't recommend it as a wheel for students to own for their first wheel, only as a wheel to get over the hurdle of getting off the wall, and after having started them on a bigger wheel to get used to the mechanics. The MCM5 would be fine for that if I had one. But when students start they are riding at super-low speeds, the MTen3 is easier to balance at those low speeds than bigger wheels, so it becomes the training bail-out wheel if they are having trouble riding without holding on to something.

Once they get over that hurdle it's back to any regular-sized wheel, which are much easier to ride at higher speeds than 10kmh.

This isn't theory, it's been proven many times with actual students over the past three years.

Edited June 13, 2021 by winterwheel

[EUC Sharkman]

Big agree here. Taught my daughter how to ride on a MTen3, and currently teaching my wife. Lookin to teach my dad on the MTen3 as well. Above all, I think the stability of that wider tire and being low to the ground helps overcome that initial fear and intimidation.

 

I learned on a “shaky” Ninebot One E+ Back in January. That wasn’t a lesson in balance, but in overcoming some real fear, especially when I had both feet on the pedals and trusting the machine not to throw my 230 pound ass to the ground. Since then, I feel like my Tesla is that cliché “extension of my body”. But I remember that feeling even now when I ride the NB every so often to keep the battery refreshed and that taste of fear still lingers. I never rode the MTen3 though for fear of bending the axle...maybe for a couple feet or so but it was struggling! Still, a great learning wheel.

[jtm94]

Really cool to see this service being provided. I'm still new and I watched as many videos as I could on the topic to help me get going. I'm still riding the Ninebot One E+ I learned on and it feels like a completely different wheel than the one I learned on just a few weeks ago.

[Denny Paul]

What are the best learner wheels in your opinion?

I teach others too, having passed the Euc bug to at least 15 others now. I have an mten3 and then an msp, but I’m afraid of having anyone toss that wheel around cause of how fragile I’ve heard they can be.

I imagine durability is probably the most important factor for you right? 

[winterwheel]

I have from the start accepted that wheels are going to get abused when I use them to teach lots of people... I order spare parts with the wheels so I can replace shells and whatnot at the end of the year. One of my rules is that learners must not try and save the wheel if they have a step off; let it go. On occasion I'll roll a wheel out on its own and let it fall over just so they know I'm serious. I'm happy when new rental wheels get their first few scratches so students won't feel so compelled to be careful with the wheel.

The low-speed riding that students isn't particularly hard on wheels. The damage when they go over is for the most part is cosmetic.

The primary model I'm using right now for teaching this year is the Tesla/T2. Last year it was the 16S. The most important factor for me was to have a wheel that wasn't too expensive but would be up to handling a variety of riders sizes and activities. The battery config on the Tesla line combined with its price is what led to its choice for this year.