Post-crash wheel care best practices?

[Spaghetteh]

So last night my buddy dumped my two week old 16X after losing control to speed wobbles. I wasn't there to see what happened and none of my logs from the EUC World app seem to be coming trough, so right now all I've got to go off of is his description and the minor damage to the wheel.

I'll start out by saying he's okay and walked away with no serious injury. Just a few bruises, plenty of road rash, and hopefully some added humility towards operating these devices. He's lucky considering he's been resistant to any gear I've offered him and opted only for a bike helmet and some wrist guards. After the crash last night he asked me to send him some links to the stuff I wear. Gear is your friend.

Anyway, now I'm stressing about the health of my more or less brand new wheel. My best guess is that he was going somewhere around 25mph (40kph) when the wobbles kicked in. He said he tried to brake but that it didn't do much good and he bailed, so I'm guessing he went down somewhere around 15-20mph (25-30kph). There's evidence of an impact on the right side panel (no cracks, but a big scuff mark and some of the neoprene liner seems to have fused with the plastic panel), minor scrapes on the carry handle, and the pedals are pretty chewed up.

The wheel seems to have recovered just fine and he was able to make the 5 minute ride it back to base without issue. Apart from the cosmetic damage I was unable to detect anything else wrong with the wheel by pushing it around or from the dashboard snapshot, though my logs of the event seem to have been lost.

I've done some reading on the forum and it sounds like it's suggested that I watch the voltage and current for anything weird while charging. The wheel needs to be discharged a bit before it can be charged again though. Is there anything I should do before I ride it? Should I disassemble it and check for internal damage? I'm terrified about any chance of starting a house fire. Any advice here would be helpful. Thanks.

Edited September 3, 2021 by Spaghetteh

[Tawpie]

Yikes, that's unfortunate. Glad your buddy didn't hurt himself worse than he did.

The 16x is very durable, but just to be safe I would open it up and look for the usual damage suspects, especially to the batteries (both sides). Torn/cracked heat shrink, dents or holes are bad signs. Then a close look at the wiring. Hopefully your pedal rods didn't get bent and you can get the pedals off.

But if it looks ok, watch it closely during charge (EUCW can log that, turn on CSV logging) and make sure it charges normally to 84V. Ride slowly for a while, maybe on bumpy grass to shake out any issues... then slap him around a little and get back to having fun!

Forgot to mention: he owes you a bottle of QUALITY 18+ year old single malt. Fair is fair.

Edited September 3, 2021 by Tawpie

[Chriull]

We just had/still have 

 

[Spaghetteh]

3 minutes ago, Chriull said:

We just had/still have

Thanks, I was checking that post out but it seemed like it it might be under different enough circumstances to question whether it applied to my own. I guess I could have commented in there with this question rather than making a whole new thread. Will keep that in mind for future posts.

[RagingGrandpa]

1 hour ago, Spaghetteh said:

my buddy dumped my two week old 16X after losing control to speed wobbles.

he was going somewhere around 25mph

Should I disassemble it and check for internal damage?

Not really.

It's typical for modern EUC's to crash on pavement and have no electrical damage.
More specifically, I've got a couple local 16x riders and all of their wheels have gone for a tumble at 25+ without further catastrophe.

If it helps you sleep at night, sure, pop the lid and look around; but most people don't
 

And regardless of crashes, always pay attention to changes in recharging behavior over time, for any EUC...

[.....]

Ride it... or better yet, make your friend buy it at full value, since it was HIS fault entirely. Itll help ya pay for the fancy new 18XL otw   Some of my ks wheels have slid and/or tumbed end over end. Absolutely no damages aside from cosmetic. The trolley handle got the worst of it. YOu can open it to check, but nuthin beats a good ole fashioned FULL SEND!

Edited September 3, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[Spaghetteh]

Update:

I took the side panels off for the learning experience and peace of mind. No apparent damage to the internals which is good. However, I did notice some tiny metal shavings from the screw mounts... Which doesn't seem ideal. Especially from the ones that hover directly over the control board. Has anyone else encountered this?

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Spaghetteh

[.....]

21 minutes ago, Spaghetteh said:

Update:

I took the side panels off for the learning experience and peace of mind. No apparent damage to the internals which is good. However, I did notice some tiny metal shavings from the screw mounts... Which doesn't seem ideal. Especially from the ones that hover directly over the control board. Has anyone else encountered this?

 

THIS is exactly why I wish ANY euc company would invest a few more pennies in quality screws. What you are seeing is the brass from that insert as a crappy screw had to cut threads into the insert during original install. Quality inserts and screws would solve this, along with helping us keep from stripping screws by mere proximity with a screw driver. 

Just blow the shavings off and move on, it is what it is. As for your worry... YES, brass and chinesium screw shavings can play hell on a motherboard. I like to touch my screws with bees wax before reinstall. You WILL NOT catch me using any kind of threadlocker, NOR overtightening them. Stripping screw heads, and breaking those inserts loose from their seats is a concern, so be gentle on reassembly. ALWAYS press parts together by hand, DO NOT use the screw to pull parts together. I bought an assortment pack of quality screws and I replace every screw I come across that I can, during maintenance. People complain that the cost of euc's would skyrocket if they used quality bits. Oddly enough, I bought a few lbs of quality screws for very cheap. Imagine how cheap it would be if the euc companies bought quality in bulk. So, anyone else willing to pay an additional $10 per $3000 wheel, for some decent hardware bits?

So, is that rubber glove filled with some sort of white powder or what? Prolly not, or you would have long since experienced a cutout and bounced back up with a smile.

Edited September 4, 2021 by ShanesPlanet

[Tawpie]

13 hours ago, ShanesPlanet said:

So, is that rubber glove filled with some sort of white powder or what

shhhhhhhh.

It's actually, and I kid you not—I'm serious as a heart attack, how KS solved water-in-the-lift-switch. A latex balloon closed tight with a zip tie. Works too.

Edited September 4, 2021 by Tawpie