Falling off your EUC without hurting yourself (POLL)

[Skylightica]

There's been lots of discussion on injuries and wearing protection, especially as of late. Maybe it's BMS failure, maybe the wheel caught a rock, but it seems that faceplants are inevitable.

Please add to the vote! Perhaps this could people decide on a riding speed they're comfortable with, and how much protection to wear. There's no right or wrong answer -- except the honest truth!  (Your answers are anonymous.) Thanks for your help!

Speaking of bailing off EUCs at high speed, on this thread,
@csmyers caught his highly-skilled high speed bailout roll on video, 
@Gimlet suggests riding with your knees bent to run off at high speeds,
@Jurgen and @lizardmech give nice pointers on martial arts rolls to bail at high speeds.
It's an interesting read even if you're not skilled enough to attempt rolls at high speeds, I'd recommend it.

[Jurgen]

Excellent initiative!!!

Cant wait to see the results.

[dpong]

I voted I wear no helmet, but normally I wear a plastic baseball helmet which is not normally associated with wheeled sports.  For what it's worth.  And typically no more protection than that.  I have rarely run off and only at very low speeds.  

My POV barrel roll (thankfully at low speed) looks like this when I'm doing it.  Baseball helmet fell off as I impacted the ground.  It's probably only good for the first bounce. 

 

[MarkoMarjamaa]

My father used to say : Empty barn doesn't need a roof

 

[Tyred]

Was curious about the results, not really surprised with them either...

 

[RidingInTheRain]

I'd like to defend my choice of not wearing a helmet (yet): since my Q3 has a max speed of 14km/h before starting to beep and tilt back, I don't feel unsafe on it at any speed I drive it at. Once I upgrade I will however make a habit of wearing my bicycle helmet due to the higher speed.

[ThatCharlieDude]

After reading about a couple of bad falls recently I have started wearing a helmet, wrist-guards gloves and jacket. I keep my speed down so I'm pretty sure I could run off of it. I'm wearing the gear as another level of protection in case of something out of my control happens like a car or pedestrian suddenly getting in my way. 

[OliverH]

An EU should be safe enough to get a ride at 20 km/h max. speed with no problems. If not it's a bad design/ not tested well. If the manufacturer states a max load of 150/ 120/ 100 kg it must be ridable with that weights under normal conditions. No EU limits the riding speed under not optimal conditions => behaviour handling.

[Mono]

@Skylightica, maybe you should clarify what you mean by injury (in particular for non-native speakers). I once had a fall with a bruised knee and a thick lip, which bothered me rather moderately for a few days. Does that count as injury? 

[Jurgen]

39 minutes ago, OliverH said:

An EU should be safe enough to get a ride at 20 km/h max. speed with no problems. If not it's a bad design/ not tested well. If the manufacturer states a max load of 150/ 120/ 100 kg it must be ridable with that weights under normal conditions. No EU limits the riding speed under not optimal conditions => behaviour handling.

well, the way the marketing guys make their publicity is: the weel goes 25km on a full battery, the wheel can carry 120kg, the wheel can reach 30KmH

In our head we keep these max values, but this doesn't mean the wheel goes 25KmH with 120kg at 30KmH

If the big guy is a smart guy, he buys a wheel with a bigger battery and travels at a lower speed

 

[Skylightica]

19 minutes ago, Niko said:

@Skylightica, maybe you should clarify what you mean by injury (in particular for non-native speakers). I once had a fall with a bruised knee and a thick lip, which bothered me rather moderately for a few days. Does that count as injury? 

Excellent question! If the injury convinced you to go slower or wear more protection next time, then it counts as an injury. If you're still riding at the same speed and wearing the same protection, then you're saying that you don't mind that it could happen again, so it doesn't couldn't count as an injury. (Or if you think the average person would not tolerate that kind of suffering.) The definition is up to the voter. 

For example, personally I wouldn't count bruises or scrapes that take a few days to heal as an injury. But I would count any kind of face or head damage as an injury because that's just where my personal threshold for getting hurt lies.

[lizardmech]

6-10km/h hard BMS cut while abusing generic wheel to see if it does it. Just wearing clothes, my knees weren't bent and I was gripping the wheel with my legs so jumping and rolling did not seem possible. It didn't hurt at all, I only scratched one hand a little due to rocks on the pavement. However if you aren't use to falling you might hurt yourself. Then again I have seen people break their collar bone from tripping while walking and another snap their forearm while slipping on a footpath. 

[SlowMo]

For me, Knee pads and wrist guards are a must and we do not travel without them. We haven't had a fall due to motor shutting down and doing a free wheel which is the worst thing that a rider could experience at any speed. I had one bad fall when I was still learning where I landed on my butt and hurt my left wrist (without wrist guards) while trying to go down a very slippery 20 deg. marbled slope. My left wrist still hasn't recovered fully until now. 

[OliverH]

6 hours ago, Jurgen said:

well, the way the marketing guys make their publicity is: the weel goes 25km on a full battery, the wheel can carry 120kg, the wheel can reach 30KmH

In our head we keep these max values, but this doesn't mean the wheel goes 25KmH with 120kg at 30KmH

If the big guy is a smart guy, he buys a wheel with a bigger battery and travels at a lower speed

 

A safe wheel would realise from current reading at some defined speeds that the driver is more heavy and reduce ma. speed by self. But that's an other generation of wheels. 

[Jurgen]

41 minutes ago, OliverH said:

A safe wheel would realise from current reading at some defined speeds that the driver is more heavy and reduce ma. speed by self. But that's an other generation of wheels. 

IPS already does this, the wheel slows down, it starts beeping and if you try to push it  the pedals start tilting more and more.

Apparently the IPS wheels model 121 types and Lhotz (I'm not sure about the Zero) slow down well before the battery would run out of current so it still has enough juice to tilt the pedals. I feel quite safe with this feature, although i guess you could still overheat it and provoce a shutdown driving uphill.

[Gimlet]

8 hours ago, Skylightica said:

Excellent question! If the injury convinced you to go slower or wear more protection next time, then it counts as an injury. If you're still riding at the same speed and wearing the same protection, then you're saying that you don't mind that it could happen again, so it doesn't couldn't count as an injury. (Or if you think the average person would not tolerate that kind of suffering.) The definition is up to the voter. 

For example, personally I wouldn't count bruises or scrapes that take a few days to heal as an injury. But I would count any kind of face or head damage as an injury because that's just where my personal threshold for getting hurt lies.

By this definition I've never injured myself despite taking the skin off my hands similarly to Jason's recent accident and breaking my nose in the same fall. Incidentally that was when Jason visited and we stopped in a pub for me to clean up a little of the blood that was streaming from my hands and my nose which I quickly pulled straight.

Maybe it's because I've always liked hazardous pastimes and acept that minor injuries are just an acceptable part of the overall enjoyment. 

It's important to pick yourself up and laugh off any incident, that way it doesn't stick out in your memory as a particularly bad event. 

[OliverH]

4 hours ago, Jurgen said:

IPS already does this, the wheel slows down, it starts beeping and if you try to push it  the pedals start tilting more and more.

Apparently the IPS wheels model 121 types and Lhotz (I'm not sure about the Zero) slow down well before the battery would run out of current so it still has enough juice to tilt the pedals. I feel quite safe with this feature, although i guess you could still overheat it and provoce a shutdown driving uphill.

On my T350 this feature is not implemented (production 2014). If I go beyond a safe speed (around 13 km/h) the IPS becoming soft and is slightly tilting for- and backwards like a rocking horse.

[spikes2020]

I like this poll, at least some thought was put into the answer choices +1 =)

I may ware gear i didn't post if i feel that i am going to be pushing the limits or the weather is slippery or something....

 

[Mono]

23 hours ago, Skylightica said:

Excellent question! If the injury convinced you to go slower or wear more protection next time, then it counts as an injury. 

This happens even without any injury. If I fail to climb a curb and run it off, or even walk it off, I go more carefully the next time. It's called learning and, in my case, doesn't need injuries. 

[playdad]

So... it's quite obvious that most people here who don't wear protection yet do so because they haven't had a "big" fall! That's expected but not a good combo. The fall will always come and it might be a lesson too late. Wear your protection, people!!

[AlanR]

Strongly agree with wearing safety gear after 3 bad falls. two due to EUC shutting off without notice -there is no way to prevent a face-plant and once with my new EUC a 9B1E+ when I was distracted by my grandson and clipped a street bollard - shoulder still painful after 3 weeks!!

So, safety gear - helmet, WRIST GUARDS, and knee guards are a minimum requirement.  Going backwards definitely safer with some butt cushioning clothing!

[edwin_rm]

I have run off falls at 20 kph repeatedly, but one time it was raining and my hands were occupied with an umbrella, so I had a nasty wipeout at that speed. The other fall that caused injury was at >30 kph. I'm considering wearing motorcycle race gear as suggested above, if I get a wheel that can do 40 kph or more.

[castShadow]

"Usually" I don't wear knee or elbow and yes, no helmet but ... technically I can't put that on a poll because I have more than one helmet and several knee pads,several elbow pads, and now getting into forearm protection and I use all of them often.  I do different kinds of riding and the majority seems to be practicing slow speeds at the park or parking lot.  I always wear wrist guards however.  Except in the beginning when I couldn't find my rollerblade wrist guards (this was 2 years ago?) and I have sprained my wrist a few times because of that so now I always wear wrist guards.  If I do any other type of ride other than already mentioned then I wear the helmet - I will also wear the helmet plus elbow pads if I am practicing or planning on riding backwards (I'm sure I'll hit my head and elbows when I fall from going backward).  If I plan to ride fast at all I want the forearm and knee pads added as well, so that will be a complete set, or almost complete.  So that will be helmet, wrist, elbow and knee pads. 

Good to add to your safety gear collection are hand and finger protection as well - look at Vee's reinforced punching glove type of protection.  Also forearm protection might be good against road scrapes and this could be simple elastic sleeves or up to full hard shell carapace armor (would be cool for that Batman look). And then full face helmets would be great like what longboard riders wear.  Going further you can get into motorbike safety gear.

Look at it this way, if you try skiing or snowboarding, you gotta pay for gear - you need snow pants at least

[Shoe73]

What do people recommend for wrist guards with finger protection? Skateboarding wrist guards have a plastic piece on the wrist that can take the sliding on asphalt where gloves normally get torn. Do they have gloves with this kind of protection?

[SuperSport]

13 hours ago, Shoe73 said:

What do people recommend for wrist guards with finger protection? Skateboarding wrist guards have a plastic piece on the wrist that can take the sliding on asphalt where gloves normally get torn. Do they have gloves with this kind of protection?

http://www.amazon.com/Hillbilly-Wrist-Guard-Gloves-Finger/dp/B0046EZ37Q

Due to cost, I use a thin leather motorcycle glove and wrist guards combined.  The wrist guards have plastic on front and back.  Wrist probably won't Break, but fingers will bend back a lot, hopefully not breaking.  I've busted a few fingers over the years, so not looking forward to any more.