About to embark on my EUC journey

[littlebigmac]

A few weeks ago, I went out on a limb and ordered my first EUC from ewheels (ks16x). It’s scheduled to arrive on Saturday and I honestly can’t remember the last time I was so excited/anxious about a big purchase. I feel like a kid awaiting Christmas morning, afraid that I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning and realize Santa isn’t real and that it was all just a strange and wonderful dream.

Now I’m no stranger to risky hobbies. I worked as a bike messenger in Boston back when the brakeless fixie craze was in full swing (still have my old track bike hanging in the shed). I commuted for years on one of the fastest production motorcycles ever made (Honda CBR 1100xx). I’ve done some pretty serious rock and ice climbing, and have skied some crazy lines in my local mountain range. However, for whatever reason, all of this pales in comparison to the fantasy I’ve built up in my head of what it’s going to be like to glide around the city on what seems to be the closest modern equivalent to a magic carpet.

At the same time, I’m under no illusions that my first weeks learning to ride will be even remotely enjoyable or rewarding. I’ve read enough posts on this forum to know that a common reaction after unboxing and trying out a wheel for the first time is “wtf did I just waste $2000 on!!??” I’m fully anticipating a brutal, unforgiving learning period where progress feels nonexistent and the dream of one day gliding effortlessly seems entirely out of reach.

Yet for whatever reason, this just fuels my fascination even more! I think it’s because unlike any of the other sports and hobbies I’ve experienced, this is the one thing that feels likes a truly novel and unprecedented manifestation of 21st century technology, devoid of any recognizable similarities to other familiar activities (everyone and their mother knows what it feels like to ride a bike. Motorcycles are just bigger bikes. Climbing is an inherently human activity - even monkeys do it! Skiing is just like roller skating down a snowy hill, etc.) There’s something so alien and undefinable about the idea of a magical self-balancing wheel that can catapult humans to ridiculous speeds while seemingly controlled by sheer willpower, and as I await my delivery I feel like an explorer on the eve of a great voyage.

Illusions of grandeur aside, I’m both elated and terrified for what’s to come. And like so many who have come before me, I can’t wait to document all of the ugly, horrible, painfully monotonous details as I attempt to conquer this mechanical steed and join the EUC revolution!

And that’s all I have to say about that.

 

 

[The Fat Unicyclist]

It will be harder than you thought. 

You will be able to get it. 

You will absolutely LOVE it!

[Dgar]

Just remember, you may actually learn faster if you work on it in shorter 15 minute chunks then take a break. I'm not sure how old you are but those first few sessions are extremely exhausting physically. Plus, your brain seems to internalize your efforts when you stop and rest or do something else for a bit. Some people have the stamina to work on it a few hours the first day and make great progress. I did three 15 minute sessions a day the first week and that worked great for me.

I have taught a few people since I started and the first time they get on one they think "There is NO way!". Each 10 min that go by it becomes a little more possible until eventually they are riding to the end of the driveway unassisted.

[mtreload]

It will definitely be harder than you thought! But based on your skiing and other experience, you sound like the sort of person that might pick up on it quickly. It took me maybe 2-3 days on my 18XL but my friend who has surfing and snowboarding experience figured it out in 20 minutes.

[.....]

I've had 3 blackbirds... I think this was my second. The car'b birds were much better than the newer efi I had for sure. None anymore, as traffic got too bad and I'm VERY rural now.

Take your time learning. It took me a couple weeks and 2 years later Im still pretty crappy at it.  Congrats!

Edited August 19, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[littlebigmac]

45 minutes ago, mtreload said:

It will definitely be harder than you thought! But based on your skiing and other experience, you sound like the sort of person that might pick up on it quickly. It took me maybe 2-3 days on my 18XL but my friend who has surfing and snowboarding experience figured it out in 20 minutes.

Haha, well considering I've already mentally prepared myself for several weeks of misery and despair, this ought to be interesting! I'd be ecstatic if I was able to get the hang of it in 2-3 days, but I'm not holding my breath. (Or does holding one's breath make balancing easier? I've heard locking the knee helps )
 

12 minutes ago, ShanesPlanet said:

I've had 3 blackbirds... I think this was my second.

Daaaang! I miss my black beauty. I ended up selling mainly because I didn't have a garage to store it in, and even with a cover there are only so many wet Seattle winters a bike can handle before things start to deteriorate. Having to transport a newly-acquired tiny human to daycare in the morning also didn't help, and I think most people around here frown upon riding 2-up with a 2 year old. 

Traffic here is also pretty absurd, hence my excitement to get into this new hobby. I have a ~12 mile commute that I can probably do in half the time riding 20mph on an empty bike trail vs. inching along at 5 mph in rush hour traffic (I've never personally seen an EUC on a Seattle bike trail - I assume they exist but not sure how folks react to this sort of thing around here)

[.....]

Seattle is a good area for riders. Youll find group rides and be a menace with them soon. Or at least you can always hope. Just remember, you get to act like a car but none of the traffic laws apply to you. I think thats how it goes out there.  Or, you could simply ride trails and follow traffic signs and lights. the choice makes it even more fun! I suspect youll be using a lot of pavement... 12 miles = 20 minutes on a sherm. Maybe more like 30mins on a 16x. Of course, the 16x is a good offroader, so maybe you WILL be a trail rider and build some HUGE calves...

Edited August 19, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[Scubadragonsan]

It's indeed one of a kind fun! I use it to commute to work and cruising/sightseeing on my days off. Take it with me on vacation. 5 years later, it's my most used way of commuting, beat buses, cars and ....walking.. Sick me, got 8 of them

[littlebigmac]

Also, I recently came clean to my wife about what I had done (impulse purchasing a $2000 wheel that I have no idea how to ride) and she said "wait, I think I've seen this before" and then texted me this picture:

Not sure what to make of this...

[duanew]

Check this out!

Blathering blatherskite! https://imgur.com/gallery/4R3vYTj

[.....]

We've a rider around here with a  channel that has that tattoo on his arm(euc vibes maybe?). Oddly, Rosie from "the jetsons" is what came to my mind when I first saw one. Start prepping the house now, as you will be buying more wheels. Its time to take the jar off the shelf and reclaim the webbles. Be sure to fail to mention that the euc is more likely to injure you than the cbr100xx was. Helmet laws suck, luckily there isnt much law about these devices.

Edited August 19, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[Scubadragonsan]

1 hour ago, littlebigmac said:

Also, I recently came clean to my wife about what I had done (impulse purchasing a $2000 wheel that I have no idea how to ride) and she said "wait, I think I've seen this before" and then texted me this picture:

Not sure what to make of this...

Decrypted: I think she wants to be known as the one who taught you how to ride it, though she wasn't...and she is always the driver!

[Lex Smith]

What is all this nonsense about EUCs being hard to ride?  Sure there are aspects of it that take a few sessions to get proficient at such as mounting and dismounting smoothly but the actual riding is a doddle.

I think the best piece of advice that helped me was don't bail.  For the first few weeks I would bail at the slightest sign of a wobble but once I stopped doing that I started leveling up a lot faster.

I started learning on a large sports field.   A couple of weeks of that and when I hit the tarmac it felt so smooth and easy.

Good luck and believe in yourself,  you got this!

[houseofjob]

19 hours ago, littlebigmac said:

A few weeks ago, I went out on a limb and ordered my first EUC from ewheels (ks16x). It’s scheduled to arrive on Saturday and I honestly can’t remember the last time I was so excited/anxious about a big purchase. I feel like a kid awaiting Christmas morning, afraid that I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning and realize Santa isn’t real and that it was all just a strange and wonderful dream.

Welcome! You're never gonna wanna waste your time walking to somewhere ever again, too slow, that left-foot, right-foot thing is waaay over-rated 

 

19 hours ago, littlebigmac said:

Now I’m no stranger to risky hobbies. I worked as a bike messenger in Boston back when the brakeless fixie craze was in full swing (still have my old track bike hanging in the shed). I commuted for years on one of the fastest production motorcycles ever made (Honda CBR 1100xx).

You're gonna feel right at home then, this is like the entire demo of NYC EUC riders LOL, most of them are former & current fixie / motorcycle guys

 

19 hours ago, littlebigmac said:

However, for whatever reason, all of this pales in comparison to the fantasy I’ve built up in my head of what it’s going to be like to glide around the city on what seems to be the closest modern equivalent to a magic carpet.

It ruins you from the other side. I have no sense of timeframes or reasonable walking distance any more when I have the occasion I need to take mass transit / walk somewhere, I'm always late ha!

 

19 hours ago, littlebigmac said:

At the same time, I’m under no illusions that my first weeks learning to ride will be even remotely enjoyable or rewarding. I’ve read enough posts on this forum to know that a common reaction after unboxing and trying out a wheel for the first time is “wtf did I just waste $2000 on!!??” I’m fully anticipating a brutal, unforgiving learning period where progress feels nonexistent and the dream of one day gliding effortlessly seems entirely out of reach.

This part is because no one has perfected the best teaching method IMHO (at least on YouTube).

One of the keys in my experience teaching new riders, is attack the free mount first so you can learn the tensions of being on the wheel. Most beginners try to go right away to up and on the wheel, mounting via an aid, but their legs look like jello because they didn't learn that tension first, body weight vs wheel weight juxtaposition.

For free mounting, don't be afraid to mount slightly foot/toes angled towards the wheel, you can always pivot that foot back into a more neutral position on the pedal after the trailing foot mounts. It's when the foot/toes and wheel angle more in a ^ pattern that creates the best tension for mounting IMHO (shin slightly pushes off the shell to "jump" the trail foot on, in a skateboard kick-push fashion.

Once you're on, second next best tip in my experience is, twist the wheel/tire back-and-forth (direction doesn't matter) when you feel the urge to fall over, like a spinning top toy or dreidel, an object spinning circularly at a point will stay upright via angular momentum.

 

 

19 hours ago, littlebigmac said:

Skiing is just like roller skating down a snowy hill, etc.)

You'd be surprised how much skiing knowledge transfers over to EUC if you explore that rabbit hole (I've been skiing for decades myself), though in the beginning, it's not as applicable.

[mtreload]

19 hours ago, littlebigmac said:

Haha, well considering I've already mentally prepared myself for several weeks of misery and despair, this ought to be interesting! I'd be ecstatic if I was able to get the hang of it in 2-3 days, but I'm not holding my breath. (Or does holding one's breath make balancing easier? I've heard locking the knee helps )

Did not realize you are in the Seattle area. So am I! See if you can get invited to the Seattle Beginner-Intermediate EV Rides telegram group. What helped me learn was to keep my eyes forward and not look down. Also keeping my arms at my sides and resisting the urge to flail them around. I used a fence for one day only and halfway through the second day I said "f*** it" and went away from the fence to start trying to see how far I could ride without it and that's when my progress really took off.

Edited August 20, 2021 by mtreload

[littlebigmac]

My wheel arrived today!! First impressions as a total newbie - holy s*** this thing is heavy! Of course I had to do the obligatory test ride in my living room, holding onto both sides of a doorframe for stability. Maybe it’s because I’ve watched so many “how to” videos and spent so much time visualizing how to ride it, it actually felt surprisingly natural to step on and off once I found the one-footed “balance” point side-to-side and braced with the side of my shin when mounting/dismounting.

I got pretty comfortable just rolling forward and backward where it actually felt like I could just let go of the door frame and ride off into the sunset, but I’m sure I’ll have a swift reality check once I take this thing outside and actually try to ride it.

From my short “getting used to standing on it” session, it seemed like when I really clamped the wheel between my legs and sort of tensed my body I felt really balanced and stable and didn’t get any sense of squirreliness or like the wheel wanted to tip over. Not sure if this is actually good form or not, but it seemed to “feel” pretty good. Hanging my toes further forward than might seem intuitive definitely helped as well (I’ve heard this tip from a bunch of folks) and I’m pretty pumped out how it just feels like the thing is alive and wants to haul ass at the slightest amount of forward toe pressure!

The icing on the cake is I have the next 3 weeks off of work so I’ll have plenty of time to really get to know this new contraption! Now if it would just hurry up and finish charging…

[Tawpie]

wheeeee!!!! Remember, short (30 min) sessions over several days work far better than long sessions. Gives your newly discovered muscles time to recover and for some reason sleep is magic.

Try not to clench yer wheel or tense your body, you want to make your muscles learn the micro adjustments. Brain can't think fast enough, muscles have to get trained for automatic. It's like walking: you don't think about balancing, the system handles it for you.

Mantras: Relaxed and loose. Relaxed and loose. Look where you want to go. Look where you want to go. This is the worst $2k I've ever spent (but only for the first day or so). This is the best $2k I've ever spent (until wheel number 2 arrives, and #3—they're more expensive).

Edited August 21, 2021 by Tawpie

[The Fat Unicyclist]

2 hours ago, Tawpie said:

Relaxed and loose. Relaxed and loose.

ie: have a beer beforehand!   

Edited August 22, 2021 by The Fat Unicyclist

[littlebigmac]

I didn’t have the patience to wait for my wheel to charge to 100%, so I took it over to the school near my house to try it out on some fresh smooth asphalt. All the bravado and confidence I had gained while standing on the wheel in my living room immediately vanished the instant I stepped outside with it! I spent the first 10 minutes or so awkwardly inching along using a wall for balance. Then I did a few one legged kick pushes to get a feel for trying to free mount (this was super strenuous so I didn’t spend more than a minute or so on this).

By this time I was pretty drenched in sweat, so back to the wall for more awkward rolling. I started to think about the pointers some of you guys had given, and thought I’d just take a leap of faith and steer away from the wall and try to pick up some speed! This turned out to be my best decision of the day, as the wheel became 1000% more stable as soon as I got up to a slow jogging speed (DarknessBot said I hit a max speed of 7.8mph). 

I took a couple unexpected tumbles that I think were caused by unintentionally braking and then losing my balance (for some reason all the stability of the wheel seems to vanish the instant I start to decelerate). I had the foresight to purchase a roll.nz cover, so the wheel only suffered minor scuffs on the handle and foot pads.

After I felt fairly confident staying upright after a wall launch, I thought I’d really push my luck by attempting a regular free mount. This was hard! The first few attempts were pretty laughable, and I was really struggling to get my left foot into the right position on the pad. I also really struggled to get up enough speed to stay balanced after kicking off, so even when I managed to plant my foot correctly, I’d tumble off like 2 seconds later.

Well I’m not sure how or why, but I was finally able to put all the pieces together and managed 2 successful (but sloppy) free mount starts that resulted in ~45 seconds of somewhat controlled riding (I still feel like I’m just a passenger at this point - the wheel kinda has a mind off it’s own), but hey it’s way more progress than I was expecting!!

4 hours ago, Tawpie said:

Remember, short (30 min) sessions over several days work far better than long sessions

This advice is gold (as a few of you have mentioned previously). I put in about 30 minutes today and was definitely at the point where I probably would’ve injured myself if I kept pushing it. I can already tell I’ll be sore in the morning.

On 8/19/2021 at 4:59 PM, houseofjob said:

Once you're on, second next best tip in my experience is, twist the wheel/tire back-and-forth (direction doesn't matter) when you feel the urge to fall over, like a spinning top toy or dreidel, an object spinning circularly at a point will stay upright via angular momentum.

I’m going to give this a shot tomorrow. I definitely felt like I was more likely to lose my balance when going perfectly straight vs. when I was turning, so I think there’s something to this!

On a side note, DarknessBot said I’ve put 1.1 miles on the wheel already. I don’t see how that’s possible considering how little “riding” I actually did. Could it be that it’s basing the distance off of my GPS position instead of the actual distance ridden?

[The Fat Unicyclist]

7.8 mph...   

You sound like you are progressing along the learning curve. Pacing yourself is a good way to progress. 

Welcome aboard!!!   

 

[Hellkitten]

I’m enjoying reading about your progress. My first wheel arrives next week (hopefully). I’ll be following in your footsteps, or tire tracks as it were. Best of luck on your new adventures! Keep posting about your leading curve. It’s nice hearing about another’s leap of faith. 

[littlebigmac]

18 hours ago, Hellkitten said:

Keep posting about your leading curve. It’s nice hearing about another’s leap of faith. 

I felt the same way reading other folks’  learning experiences, so I guess I felt compelled to just add to the pile in case someone else finds my experience useful or interesting! Good luck on your upcoming EUC adventure! I’m only on day 2 and I already love it!

Speaking of which, I went back to the school today to practice more free mounts with the goal of just getting comfortable enough to stay on for more than a minute at a time. At first it felt like all my progress from the previous day had been erased as I fumbled and fell all over the wheel like a fool! But after a minute or so, the muscle memory just clicked on, and I suddenly found myself up and riding again!

Fast forward 10 minutes and I was still up and riding (like “actually” riding!) and starting to bump up against the obnoxious “PLEASE DECELERATE!!” warning pretty frequently.

From there, things just started to fall into place one after another. I realized that I was way too hunched and rigid, which was sapping my strength and making the wheel feel twitchy and unpredictable, so I stood up straight and relaxed my body, leaning slightly forward with slightly bent knees (a stance that’s familiar from skiing), letting the wheel sort of float between my feet rather than clamping it between my legs (as others here have suggested). This change in posture led to an immediate and profound increase in stability and overall smoothness, and I felt the muscle fatigue start to slowly melt away. At first, it felt like the wheel was going to just slip away without my legs pressing against it (which was pretty scary) but once I got used to the feeling and learned to trust the wheel, the new stance started to feel really, really good (like skiing the most buttery-smooth groomer).

So I just kept riding. And riding. Laps and laps around the little patch of asphalt, getting comfortable with accelerating, braking, attempting tighter and tighter turns, and basically just building up more muscle memory.

I quickly reached the 6 mile threshold which unlocks the wheel’s top speed, so I bumped up the speed alarms to 20mph. I soon found myself hitting that alarm pretty frequently as well, so I bumped them up again to 25, 26, and 28 respectively (1st, 2nd and 3rd alarms). I started to experience some wobbles as I pushed the wheel more, and spent about 30 minutes just trying to get a feel for what causes them and how to manage them. I don’t have any great answers here except that it seemed like uneven toe pressure during acceleration was a likely culprit, and attempting to decelerate by leaning back seemed to magnify them (sometimes dramatically so). I could sometimes get them to dissipate by sort of “hopping” a tiny bit to partially unweight the foot pads, but I’ll need more time/experience to really figure out exactly what’s going on here (and there are a bunch of other posts that go into a bunch of detail on this elsewhere in the forum).

Started hitting the 25mph alarm when I really pushed my toes into an acceleration, but the area I was riding in was too small to be able to sustain this speed for more than a second at most. By this point I felt almost completely at ease and comfortable with basic maneuvering and mounting/dismounting (though my dismounts are still super awkward).

Ended up putting 17 miles on the wheel over the course of 2 hours, which is waaaay more than I could have dreamed when starting out this morning. Looking forward to leaving the tutorial area tomorrow to see what this thing can really do!!

 

 

 

[Hellkitten]

Thanks for the update! Congrats on making some great progress. I hope I catch on as fast. As you come from an avid cycling background (I’ve been a cyclist my whole life urban and mountain trails) do you think the background helps or translates to your learning? I have a loose cycling style and from your last post it seems like that similar concept works for a euc. 

[Tawpie]

oi. 25 already. hmm. yikes.

DANGER Will Robinson!

The 16x is NOT a speed wheel! It says 31 top speed, but it really means 28 so to preserve a little headroom I keep my tiltback at 25. It's not that in theory the batteries and motor and controller shouldn't be able to go faster, but it's fairly well documented that you're taking a big chance. I'm old and breakable so a 25 mph speed limit is fine with me, and I do as much of my riding as possible off road—for me the 16x is an ideal wheel. But if I wanted to go faster, I'd upgrade for sure.

Getting off the nanny soapbox, you're obviously taking to this in a way that makes me jealous, way to go! It's pretty fun, right? Best $2k you've spent in a long time? Saving for the Sherman/Commander/Abrams/S20?/MPro?

Just know your equipment and be careful. You really don't want Mr. Asphault to get in your face, or your hands or arms or legs, trust me on this.

Edited August 23, 2021 by Tawpie

[littlebigmac]

14 minutes ago, Hellkitten said:

As you come from an avid cycling background (I’ve been a cyclist my whole life urban and mountain trails) do you think the background helps or translates to your learning?

It’s funny, because I was just telling my wife that it feels like it combines various skills from a bunch of different disciplines (cycling, skiing, motorcycle riding) and I felt like my experience with each lent different aspects to my overall EUC experience.

For example, I feel like the counter steering/handle bar pressure that’s required to initiate a turn on a heavy motorcycle massively increased my confidence in trying to push the “heavy” 16x into a turn. Skiing helped alot in terms of stance and overall body position as I described in my last post. And yes, cycling absolutely feels like it played a role as well (especially having spent alot of time riding fixed-gear bikes where there’s a similar direct link between your mechanical input and the acceleration/deceleration of the bike). I’m hoping the other cycling skills (riding with traffic, avoiding obstacles, etc.) will also carry over one I start to explore more of the city and inevitably venture out onto the streets. I’m sure there may be other intangible aspects of cycling that contributed to the learning process as well but it’s harder for me to put my finger on them.

I’d say the biggest factor for me picking it up somewhat quickly was just having a fairly high tolerance for risk and a tendency to just go for it when trying something new. On the flip side, this has also led to a lot of injuries and f*** ups over the years, so your mileage may vary…

Either way, you’re in for an adventure and it’s going to be awesome!