Inmotion "V13" announcement forthcoming!

[Paul A]

Yes, 40kg at 70kph going to cause a lot of damage to anything or anyone it hits.

There are warning beeps and yet it seems some ignore them.

A tumbling Sherman bouncing up and through a windscreen of an oncoming car..

Numerous videos of NY riders racing at high speeds on highways/tunnels for cars....and crashing after cutouts...

Will it then be:

We will learn from this tragic unforeseeable, unexpected, unpredictable, mistake. 

It was an accident, beyond control, no one is responsible..

[Eucner]

5 hours ago, Lex Smith said:

After watching the kinetic energy of a 40+kg veteran flying away from its rider after a 70km crash I would not want to be tethered to it . . . It would tear your limbs off!

Or imagine what would happen if crashed rider and tethered wheel would go at different sides of a traffic pole or light post.

[bynx]

Pure speculation, but - piggybacking off the Eevee teaser - hot-swappable batteries seem like the logical "unprecedented" upgrade for the V13(00) (given that we're unlikely to see any consumer-grade solid-state Li-Ion batteries for years still).

...That, or simply the decision to create two wheel sizes for a single model release (e.g. 16" and 20").

Almost everything else - suspension, BMS, motor wattage/speed, battery size - are all incremental changes, and hardly groundbreaking.

Tethers and airbags... I don't think we'll ever see those on a stock EUC, for the same reason we don't see them on stock motorcycles, despite government safety regulations - airbags are cumbersome, single-use, and accidental deployment would make them a massive safety risk; and being tethered to a hurdling chunk of metal sounds like an awful idea personally, but no-one's stopping you from chaining your leg to a Sherman's roll-bar if you absolutely have to.

[Rollin-on-1]

Individual cell monitoring...aka "accessible BMS", high speed, and perhaps designed for quick tire changes are the only "new" things I'm expecting to see here.  

Edited December 19, 2021 by Rollin-on-1

[AtlasP]

The stupid simplest feature I still feel is long-overdue would be a button on the handle to deploy/drop the pedals. This wouldn't have to be motorized or anything complicated, just a very simple mechanism that would retract the magnets (probably sliding them up vs in would be easiest) so the pedals would fall. Conversely I don't mind kicking the pedals back up into place (it's still very satisfying).

Edited December 19, 2021 by AtlasP

[Unventor]

2 minutes ago, AtlasP said:

The stupid simplest feature I still feel is long-overdue would be a button on the handle to deploy/drop the pedals. This wouldn't have to be motorized or anything complicated, just a very simple mechanism that would retract the magnets so the pedals would fall. Conversely I don't mind kicking the pedals back up into place (it's still very satisfying).

Of a similar vein, the first time I saw the rails on the original Sherman my brain wanted to see a couple legs slide down out of the vertical corner rails to serve as a stand. Of course something automated with pistons would be sweet, but this could even be just a manual tube-in-tube sliding bolt lock.

Unfortunately ideas like these are probably too late to make it into next wheel. 

I am tagging you to this so you can feed it back to engineers @INMOTION_Fiona @Cecily Inmotion

Btw it might be great to interduce yourself so we know what you do and whom to ask questions. 

[That Guy]

It is interesting to read thoughts about all these cool ideas such as swappable batteries, automatic pedal deployment, automatic horizontal adjustment of lights and of course, air bags... :-) I am sure however, that the novelty will be in the performance.

Connecting all pieces of information we have, the new thing will be really fast and really powerful. We know that it will be the fastest wheel ever, which can only mean 100kph (60mph) maximum speed (120kph free spin). And we also know that the range will be better than any other InMotion wheel, which means at least 100km (60 miles) real world. To achieve all that it will have to have a motor bigger than 3kW and at least 2500Wh of energy. I wouldn't be surprised if in order to achieve greater power they decided to get to unprecedented operating voltages like 130V or higher (although I don't know whether it is possible to achieve with the conventional battery packs). And it will have to be at least 20' or better 22' (for the high speed stability).

Ah, and I also think this wheel will have to be really heavy. Maybe it won't be as heavy as Abrams, but the extra weight of suspension will have to push it over Sherman and Commander...

Edited December 19, 2021 by That Guy

[ugoaps]

Seen on Telegram

[RagingGrandpa]

Two flavors, suspended and rigid?!

[meepmeepmayer]

25 minutes ago, ugoaps said:

Seen on Telegram

Inmotion Sherman?

I love how the lower body is rounded and has no corners that can catch on stuff. The tire always protects it! Obvious but nobody did it like this before.

[RagingGrandpa]

5 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

the lower body is rounded and has no corners that can catch on stuff.
Obvious but nobody did it like this before.

Z10, 16x, V11, V12?

[supercurio]

53 minutes ago, ugoaps said:

Seen on Telegram

I like what I'm seeing here.
Although I'm not sure exactly what I'm seeing with the extra handle everywhere 

And I'm ready to design a mudguard for one or the other to 3D print, because my pants and backpack are gonna get caked otherwise!

[meepmeepmayer]

1 hour ago, RagingGrandpa said:

Z10, 16x, V11, V12?

Somehow this looks nicer than those.

[Eucner]

19 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Somehow this looks nicer than those.

Indeed looks really nice, but I'm disappointed in V11 style suspension.

[AtlasP]

On 12/21/2021 at 3:53 PM, Eucner said:

Indeed looks really nice, but I'm disappointed in V11 style suspension.

I'm not. Still objectively superior ride quality to non-suspension wheels for street/vehicle use, while having less moving parts and an overall simpler and therefore potentially more robust mechanism, less space taken by suspension means more room for batteries, etc.

Leaving aside those who are interested in pretending to be an extreme sport, this still makes a ton of sense for most normal street/vehicle-use wheels at this stage.

Edit: turns out there is a more advanced suspension hidden inside--posting below--so this post is no longer accurate.

Edited December 27, 2021 by AtlasP

[fbhb]

4 hours ago, Eucner said:

Indeed looks really nice, but I'm disappointed in V11 style suspension.

Inmotion will most definitely have refined how the "V11" style suspension is constructed, likely upgrading the plastic slides that wear out far too quickly! Linear bearings have been around for many, many years and could be an option to maintain the compact suspension Inmotion looks to be adhering to here!

Edited December 22, 2021 by fbhb

[That Guy]

KS-S18 KS-S20 vs IM-V11 IM-V20... Status Quo? 

(Ah, and meanwhile next door: Veteran Sherman Veteran Sherman Max... )

[Unventor]

5 hours ago, Eucner said:

Indeed looks really nice, but I'm disappointed in V11 style suspension.

Well the patents application that someone found and posted on telegram explain a very different suspension system to the V11 design. 

But like the render picture above, I don't put too much into this yet as there is only a outer co tour picture hinting the product so far. Once we see a real life product that is ready for sale that when I would be able to evaluate what to expect. But not until we have seen the first handful of rider talking about after ridi g it, that is when I can set my expectations about the ride feel. Which is very important to me. 

As a side note, at this point I don't think the KS S20 is a ready for sale wheel just yet despite some shared videos. 

[Tawpie]

18 minutes ago, Unventor said:

I don't think the KS S20 is a ready for sale wheel just yet despite some shared videos.

And thankfully, I think that KingSong agrees... if the additional delay and words to the effect of needing to "correct ergonomics" after getting Kuji's input. Hopefully both companies will have the long view in mind and will hold release until it's ready-er.

To me though, IM had a very nice road suspension design that seems to be well executed (according to V11 owners). I wouldn't be surprised to see it again on a fast, long distance, Sherman competitor. Since they reference being super speedy, I don't think they're going after those of us that like to play in the dirt as much as they are the pavement eaters. Perhaps they understand that 'heavy' and 'off-road' present conflicting design objectives and are aiming to please road riders, where heavy isn't quite as much of a liability.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Tawpie

[That Guy]

I think this "blue bird" will have similar weight to Sherman (minus battery plus suspension), somewhere about 35-40kg hence lifting bars. Also due to the round bottom design, the centre of gravity may be slightly higher than Sherman's making it a little bit more head-heavy. ...Unless of course, it is not 22", which is quite possible looking how short the handle appears to be...

Edited December 22, 2021 by That Guy

[InfiniteWheelie]

That curved bottom looks good.

Edited December 22, 2021 by InfiniteWheelie

[yoos]

I like the looks though in the right version the asymmetric shapes in the shell (above the pedal, below the vertical handles) seem odd. Perhaps they cover up some suspension details?

The fact that the shell fully hides the suspension is a good thing! In a crash there is much less danger of damaging the suspension than for an S18/S20 or the V11 which has its saddle+pedals exposed. 

 

[Tryptych]

On 12/18/2021 at 11:27 PM, Lex Smith said:

After watching the kinetic energy of a 40+kg veteran flying away from its rider after a 70km crash I would not want to be tethered to it . . . It would tear your limbs off!

So many people don't understand the tether concept 

It is not just a tether - that would be moronic.  It is a breakaway tether that can only handle 5-10 lb of force before it breaks - just enough to tip your wheel over. It can't "tear your limbs off" or drag you along with the wheel.

Here's a true story: I once had to do an emergency stop from high speed on my Sherman when it had stock (crappy) power pads on - the little tiny ones that are barely 1inch thick. My legs didn't have good grip on the wheel and I slipped off the back and landed on my butt and slid. No problem, I wear padded shorts. However.... My Sherman stayed upright for 150+ feet, balancing itself and maintaining it's speed, it then hit a curb and hopped up onto the sidewalk and kept going right into pedestrians. 

So... Anyone using a high speed 60lb+ wheel around pedestrians should seriously consider a breakaway tether. It's a very underrated and misunderstood piece of gear.

 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Tryptych

[yoos]

A breakaway tether is a great idea (not only for street riding but also offroad to prevent wheels tumbling downhill to their demise). 

For street riding another mechanism could be used seems totally feasible with current tech: a load sensor to stop the wheel in the case of no load. There are a ton of details to work out: how and where to implement the load sensor, which load and time thresholds to set (ramp jumpers and trick riders need the option to turn it off completely) and, finally, how to best stop the riderless EUC. The trivial way to brake would be to simply apply braking torque: the body will slam in the front as a result and the wheel will stop in a tumble. Another, elegant way would be to first accelerate so the body would tilt back considerably and then balance it in this position (in other words use tiltback to lean the euc body back and then brake as normal. With a perfect algorithm the wheel could even let the body eventually touch the ground in a controlled manner). A third elaborate way would be to start with a braking torque but not too hard so the body would slam forwards (but not too hard) and then would break by friction with its front bumper. Finally, if a seat is installed it would act as a nice bumper should the EUC ram into something during this top-forward braking maneuver. 

However, those fantastic controlled braking scenarios are likely to fail due to wind/lateral impacts, bumps etc. So perhaps the best scenario is to somehow let the wheel fall on its side to slide whilst still avoiding a tumble. For your entertainment, here are some illustrations of those riderless braking ideas.

 

[Tryptych]

6 minutes ago, yoos said:

a load sensor to stop the wheel in the case of no load

Yeah I was thinking of this as well, it should be standard issue on the heavy high speed wheels.