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Alternative names for EUCs?


Roo Williams

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Living in NYC and having worked as a technologist in the advertising industry I’m always interested in how new technologies and cultures get adopted and normalized into our existing culture, and essentially become ‘cool’.

I had ridden BMX, and skated for years when I was younger and adopted the style that came with it. I’m mostly feeling eccentric enough these days to say ‘f*ck it’ and enjoy the benefits of EUC without any street cred but I guess I rock a little of the skate style when riding with turned up jeans and Vans sk8-hi. I’d be lying if I said I wished the general perception of people that see it was that it was a little cooler, because, let’s face it, they’re the most exciting thing to happen to personal transport and they deserve to be.

As a side note, I recently went to pick up takeout food with my matte black full face helmet. As I waited for the food I placed it on the table in front of me and the guy opposite reaches out to shake my hand and he’s like ‘hey man what are you ridin?’ I felt like a goofball when he told me he rode a Harley and I pointed out my Gotway Tesla!! My fiancée (who is a creative director and gets sent free stuff because of her Instagram following ie. a ‘social influencer’, therefore a good barometer in this discussion) loves that story. HAHAHA. ANYWAY, I digress.

In my opinion, one attribute of an EUC that could help edge it a little closer to ‘cool’ is a new name. Any time someone asks me ‘what’s that thing called’ I reply with ‘an electric unicycle’ and immediately feel a wave of cold sweat come over me. In my house it’s become a ‘OneWheel’ although we know that’s something different but I’ll take it over it’s last name, also assigned by my fiancee, of a ‘uni ball’.

What do you guys call it? Let’s take a stab at something new, something descriptive that lands the point but has a chance to become its own thing. A few starters:

Monowheel - Like solowheel but without the brand and connotations of loneliness.

Wheel - ‘I’ll grab my wheel and meet you there’ works!?

...

Edited by RagingGrandpa
restored original title
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I've always liked "eWheel" or "e-wheel".  It's concise and accurate.  Also, a Google search for either yields ewheels.com as the first hit.  I also like "electrowheel" as a retrofuturistic-sounding term.

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Wheel. Or just the wheel/brand name ("ACM", "Monster", "Gotway", "Kingsong"). 2 syllables max is necessary for a concept name.

Onewheel would have been good, but the name was stolen (I blame Solowheel for not using that instead):efee8319ab:

I have the same cold sweat experience as you with "electric unicycle", but if you add "Easy to remember: it's a unicycle, and it's electric!" or "Easy to remember: one wheel, and it's electric" (in German, unicycle = "Einrad" = literally "onewheel") that makes it better. Slightly...

Edited by meepmeepmayer
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i've been defaulting to 'wheel'. in fact, all my friends and relatives (who don't ride) refer to them as such now. i kinda like electrowheel tho..

sometimes i refer to it as my 'ride'.. or 'magical wheel of fun and delight'

Edited by kour
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Lightning Chariot for something more grandiose and mythological.

I like e-wheel, and yep it's good that Jason has managed to lock down that little bit of vocab for us with the site because most people that ask do so as a way to get a term they can search for. Glad 'wheel' has been getting some traction too. 

Electrowheel does evoke visions of Tron for me, haha!

I might start calling it an ewheel to anyone that asks.

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My wife is trying to popularize "eWheel," both because it's easier to say than "electric unicycle" and because she's a Jason fangirl.  She commutes to work every day on a V5F+ and is asked two or three times every trip what it is, so I think it may be getting traction in SF.

Edited by Shemp
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  • 3 years later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/1/2018 at 7:43 AM, novazeus said:

talking to the harley guy, i’d call it a deathwheel.

talking to the government ada mobility assist wheel.

everybody else nerdwheel.

among us wheelfun.

Catching up on this post, loved this response!  "Mobility Assist Wheel " is going to be my go to answer for any noisy 'karens' or officialdom - let them dare to try and have a problem with that LOL.

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  • 2 months later...
On 4/30/2018 at 10:16 AM, Roo Williams said:

I reply with ‘an electric unicycle’ and immediately feel a wave of cold sweat come over me.

Yep... 7 syllables is way too many; plus I'd be willing to bet most people associate unicycles with circus acts and clowns. Overall it invokes a sense of dorkiness.

 

E-wheel is good; it goes along with the trend of preceding electrically-powered mobility devices with "e" (e-bike, e-scooter, e-board, etc). But it could also be confusing considering all of the devices I just mentioned involve electrically-powered wheels; albeit more than one of them.

What about Monocycle? Pretty similar to unicycle but also reminiscent of motorcycle; which are generally accepted as "cool".

Monowheel? Pretty close to "OneWheel"... I've already had enough conversations explaining that what I have is not a OneWheel. Having to say, "No no, it's not a OneWheel it's a MonoWheel" wouldn't be any better.

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I prefer to just go with electric unicycle or monowheel/ewheel. Let's face it, we'll never be cool and if you want to look "cool" then this isn't the hobby for you. 

Still, I once had a kid shout "dude I like your Segway" as I was riding past and I admit I nearly faceplanted from the visceral cringe of having my EUC called a Segway, so I guess I'm not free from the insecurity either. 

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