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Newbies first day on wheel


esaj

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EDIT: The topic was meant to be "Newbies first DAYS on wheel", looks like I can't change it anymore... oh well...
 
 
Now that I have a little bit (a whopping 5 days from tuesday the 5th to saturday the 9th) of experience with riding, I thought I'd share how it has gone, what I've learned so far and what I feel I need to learn next. It's a tad long, so I thought I'd make own topic for this.
 
I thought at first that I'd put this under Reviews & First Impressions, but then, I have no prior experience riding an EUC, so I don't feel I can really make a review of it (have nothing to compare it against, so can't really tell any pros and cons of the model), and the description of Reviews & First Impressions says " first impressions for *specific models*", and I'm not sure what make and model my generic wheel is   :D
 
So this isn't really anything like a review, more like a diary of my first few days of riding an EUC. It's probably nothing new to people who have already owned one for a longer while, but I thought it might be useful to people interested in EUCs and wanting to hear about my (subjective) learning curve at the beginning, as well as maybe pick up some basic dos and don'ts (mostly don'ts ;)). Of course, each person has their own rate and way of learning and things take more or less time, so YMMV.
 
About the wheel I've used so far:
 
I had already ordered a Ninebot One E earlier, but since I was impatient (it would still take something like 4-5 weeks to arrive), and I convinced myself it's better to train on a cheaper wheel, as I'm sure to scratch it a lot, I bought an used "generic" 14-inch 210Wh wheel from vee73 (I'm pretty sure it's the one he has marked as Smart14" in his signature, because it has a sticker saying "Smart" on top of it).
 
Not sure what the brand actually is (it's in chinese), but it looks very similar to the Saluko-wheels shown here: http://www.electricunicycleonline.com/saluko-one-wheel-electric-unicycle-210wh-14-inch-self-balancing-led-display-white.html
 
Saluko_One_Wheel_Electric_Unicycle_1_.jp
 
Only differences are that the charging port is on the other side of the top than the power button and led-indicators, the pedals are solid (no "holes" on the front- and backside like in the Saluko pictures) and the bolts/screws holding the case together are in a bit different places. Other than that, the shape, power button, leds and specs seem to match, so I suspect it's very close to that (might be that they sell almost the same wheels with different "generic" brands or smaller manufactures just copy each other/use the same parts ;)).
 
 
1st day: Getting the hang of it and first fall
 
I went to pick up the wheel from the post office on afternoon of tuesday the 5th. Got back home, unpacked & left it charging while I finished up my days work. The unit had the training wheels on already, so I decided to go with those. I had bought my safety gear the previous evening, that I've used every time I ride since the beginning (a full-face motorcycle helmet with flip-up chin-part, knee/shin pads and elbow/forearm pads). I also wear some padded gloves I usually use in the winter to (at least a bit) protect my hands from scratches and bruises in case I fall. I use either sneakers or trekking boots that cushion & protect my ankles better. No wrist guards yet, but I plan on getting a pair.
 
My first idea was to use my garage for practicing, figuring that I could use the walls for support and just drive around the floor. It very quickly turned out that the garage was too small and the bare concrete floor was too bumpy (it's pretty worn by around 30 years of treaded winter tires from numerous previous owners and melting water from cars) for any sensible training. After trying hopping on it, moving around a bit and banging myself against the walls for 10 minutes, I headed out to try it on the street. 
 
I live in a dead-end street, that's fairly narrow (two cars can barely pass each other on it, no sidewalks), has high curbs between the road and the front lawns of houses, an incline all the way and ends with a bit wider, but still narrow circular "turnover spot" (I don't know the english term, from Google pictures, it could be 'bulb cul de sac') on one end, and with a crossing of another street and a large square speed bump on the other end. From the crossing, you can turn to another similar dead-end street that's also inclined uphill and has also a turnover spot at the end, or go the other way, down hill a steeper and long descend with a sidewalk to get to other places. The asphalt's worn and cracked everywhere and even has a few small holes in it, so not that ideal, but would have to make do.
 
My girlfriend wanted to help me and walked me along the side of the street supporting me while I tried to balance and keep both the training wheels in the air. After a couple of minutes, she ended up getting her ankle banged by the side of the pedal and I decided to get rid of the training wheels, as I felt they were more trouble than they were worth (the unicycle would turn very sharply if a training wheel hit the ground, which led to the pedal hitting my GF's ankle).
 
I removed the training wheels and put the strap on the carry-handle of the wheel. Now I faced another problem: with the training wheels on, it was easy to step on the pedals, as they would prevent the unicycle from tipping too much to either side. It took few minutes to try and learn how to "lean" the wheel against my inner shin and then lift the other foot to the other pedal. At first, I usually ended up just hopping on the cycle and then hopping off, as I couldn't keep my balance yet, whether it started moving right away or not. Sometimes I just couldn't get my other feet on it, before it would already start moving and I'd have to use the strap to keep it from escaping (or it would just fall over and make that very annoying endless "beeeeeeeep", until you turn it off and back on).
 
After about 10 or 15 minutes of repeats, I started getting some progress. I could get both of my feet on the pedals, and balance on the wheel for longer and longer periods, first going less than half a meter at a time, then a meter, then more... about 20 minutes in I could drive almost half of the street in one go (which is less than 100 meters long, so not that far really ;)). I was holding the strap on my other hand, and usually when jumping off, I needed to use it to keep the wheel from falling or getting away from me. When I got to the end of the street, I needed to jump off, turn the wheel around by hand, and then go the other direction, as I couldn't turn around sharply enough.
 
Sometimes I would get really uneven footing when I managed to get on top, and the wheel would wobble almost uncontrollably between my feet when moving forward. I found that clenching my shins against it would help a bit (probably because my feet would move a little to get into better, more even position). I tried accelerating and braking, shifting my center of gravity back and forth. I could turn a little, but not sharply, as I couldn't keep my balance in slow speeds needed for smaller radius turns. While I already clearly had at least some control over acceleration and braking, it wasn't very precise, I could accidentally accelerate faster than I had meant, then brake strongly, then accelerate faster than I wanted again, then brake again... 
 
Lots of jumping on and off, "beeeeeeps" and cursing later, I felt I had some more control. After lots of back and forth, I could finally (most of the time) drive to the end of the street, brake to see that there were no cars coming, make a really wide 90 degree turn to the another street over the speed bump, and then drive to the end of the street in one go (still needed to stop and turn the wheel around at the end by hand, as even the turnover spot wasn't wide enough for me). This was less than 2 hours later after I had first practiced in the garage.
 
Around this time, doing the "usual" lap between the two streets, my first fall happened. I got going from the end of my street, and had just started accelerating, when very suddenly I fell face forward into the pavement. I didn't even have the time to put my arms on the way, and the chin of the helmet hit the pavement pretty hard. The safety gear paid off, and I didn't get hurt (not even bruised or scratched, other than my ego ;)). I got up, did the lap a couple more times, and went back in to recharge, as the led-indicator was showing the battery state at 2 out of 4 leds.
 
At the time, I thought that maybe the battery was so low that the wheel had turned off due to too rapid acceleration (battery drain), but in hindsight I've figured that probably I had a bad foot position, and simply did a very fast accelerate-brake -combo due to imbalance, and just leaned way too much forward while at the same time the wheel braked and I fell off all by myself.   :)
 
Later that evening, I did maybe another hour of riding back and forth the same two streets and tried to practice more steep turning. Pretty uneventful.
 
 
2nd day: Improving and first dirt-road trials
 
On the second day (wednesday), after finishing work, I started with the same two-street -lap as before, still using the strap. It had rained a bit before, and the pavement was a bit wet, but I really didn't notice any difference in grip. I still couldn't do very steep turns (a bit steeper than the day before, but not much), but I could drive much slower and still keep my balance, as well as control the acceleration and braking more precisely. I also tried to jump the curbs a bit, without much success. Most of the time I could step on the wheel on the first try and get going, but many times I needed to stop and remount to get a better position for my feet.
 
After about an hour or so of riding back and forth, I decided to see if I could go farther. To get out from the dead-end streets where my house is, you have to descend a long hill. Braking while descending a longer, steeper decline turned out to be lot less scary and difficult than I had thought, although at times the speed would get high enough for the cycle to start beeping its warnings and tilting the pedals. After I got safely all the way to the bottom of the hill, I decided to take a quick trip into the hiking paths that start near by. 
 
Before this I had only rode on hard surfaces, and while it wasn't as easy to balance on soft gravel and sand with some small rocks poking out here and there, I still managed to keep my balance pretty well. Of course, from time to time, I had to hop off to avoid falling, and when I wanted to go back, I needed to turn the wheel by hand, as the paths are narrow. After riding in the paths for quite a while, I decided to take small detour by the nearby lake and a couple of other dirt roads, then head home, as it was starting to rain again. When I got home, I noticed the battery indicator was down to 1 led, yet the wheel had easily climbed back up the hill and I didn't really notice any loss off torque or such on the way (on the other hand, I was driving pretty slowly, keeping my speed below the speed warning limit and avoiding fast acceleration).
 
After a recharge later that evening, I went out again, although it was still raining a bit (not much). After couple of laps, I decided to try on a longer route, as the inclement weather would probably mean less traffic. I went to a spot about a little over 2km away from home, riding the paved sidewalks on a steady, not-so-fast pace. Once I got there, I took another route back, riding narrow dirt roads. At one point, maybe around 3.5km in total, I had to stop to do a steep turn and to correct my foot positioning, and at the same time checked the battery indicator. It was still showing full 4 leds. After I got home (about 4.5-5km in total), the indicator was showing 3 leds. In total, I had to stop maybe 5 or 6 times during the entire trip, mostly because of too steep turns that I couldn't do yet, and maybe once or twice because of not getting over a smaller curb cleanly (still couldn't hop the higher ones either). 
 
I found my driving position was a lot more stable and relaxed now, no need to flail my free hand around a lot. Doing the wider turns and general balancing with very small shifts in my center of gravity was becoming a lot more easier.
 
 
3rd day: Riding without the strap and second fall, off-road/climbing tests
 
During yesterdays rides, I had found out that I could stop the wheel safely without it running off anywhere. When stepping off, I could hold it in place with my other foot. Even if it sometimes tilted and fell on its side after dismounting, at least it wouldn't go any farther. And the strap was making things more difficult, as I'd have to hold in my other hand, leaving only one hand to help with balancing.
 
So, I just simply removed the strap and started driving. And boy, did that make a difference. Driving slowly was so much easier as I could use both of my hands to help with balancing. I could do a lot more steeper turns, doing the two-street lap with successful turns on both ends without stops. In very slow speed, by turning my upper torso and then kind of "swinging", I could turn the wheel almost in place. I didn't get it right all the time, but in general, the improvement over riding with the strap was very noticeable (Still, I'd suggest to start with strap until you learn how to stop it more controllably, as otherwise there's the danger that the wheel hits you or someone/something else, if it gets "loose" when you jump off).
 
A colleague of mine, who works from another city, had buggered me about shooting some video of my riding after hearing I had got an EUC. I did try it on the very first day in the garage by placing the camera on a shelf, but the cameras' battery was almost out and died after a couple of minutes. After riding around a bit more without the strap and trying steeper turns, I decided to try if I could record some video by holding the pocket camera in my hand. After a few tries just holding the camera in my hand and driving around, I put it on record and did the usual lap between the two streets. Returning back to my house, I checked the video. Half the time it was pointing to totally different direction than what I was travelling into (as I had trouble focusing on pointing the camera to somewhere, balancing and doing turns at the same time) and I had accidentally stopped the recording by squeezing the camera in my hand during a steeper turn.
 
I did a couple more runs with the camera, still having problems on getting a good shot and riding cleanly. After going down the steeper hill and getting back up while shooting, I ran into trouble; I came up the hill steadily with the wheel beeping the speed warning and tilting the pedals at times, then glimpsed over my left shoulder to see that there were no cars coming from behind me. As I drove over the sidewalks' curb, I think my feet position shifted forwards a bit, as I wasn't clenching my shins against the wheel (maybe I was paying attention to the camera at that specific point, don't remember). I came in with some speed over the speed bump, and then made a small jump down from the bump. While the jump wasn't really long (maybe like 20cm), hitting the ground I felt the wheel tilt forwards way too much, and jumped off it. I managed to take a few running steps, before kicking my left foot on the curb and doing an, um, "somewhat controlled" roll on to a neighbours' lawn.
 
My safety gear paid off again, and I managed to prevent injuring myself again (for the most part, later in the evening I noticed a small, thumb-sized bruise in my upper arm, and one of my toes was a bit banged up after hitting the curb stone, but nothing serious, it ached a bit the next day). But the camera had hit the ground, and the zoom lens cylinders had bent and got stuck. RIP Fuji Finepix J10, 2008-2015. It still turns on and works otherwise, but since the zoom doesn't work at all, it can't really focus on anything. Guess I won't be shooting any videos for a while.
 
After this little incident, I took the camera inside, and returned to ride again. This time I decided it was time to test the off-road capabilities of the wheel a bit more, so I head out for the hiking paths again. I chose a skiing lap (they make ski tracks in the paths during the winter) that's around 2.4km in length, containing various types of terrain from tight packed gravel to sandy to dirt (and lots of big stones, bumps and pot holes along the way). 
 
I was surprised how well the little wheel could handle the rougher terrain the further I went. I kept a steady but not fast speed, circling the biggest stones and holes. One of the steepest climbs has short parts where the incline is closer to 25-30 degrees (I think, I haven't actually measured it any way), and while the wheel really struggled, moving at a crawl speed (it was really a balancing act keeping up myself at such slow speed), it still managed to take me up all the way without stopping. At this point it should be mentioned that I'm fairly light weight, coming in at 57kg with clothes on, and with the helmet and other stuff, probably around 60kg. Still, not bad for an entry-level device, in my opinion.
 
Heading back home, I jumped a small curb when coming out from the dirt paths, and my feet moved a bit backwards (I really need to start paying more attention to clench the wheel with my shins when doing any sort of jumps), so I was now standing more or less like tip-toed on the pedals (the toe I banged on the earlier fall didn't hurt yet at this point). So on I went, up the hill leading to my street, using my toes to shift my balance forwards for climbing. Then, over that same speed bump that I fell after earlier, this time coming slower. But as I came down from it, due to how my feet where positioned, the wheel tilted forwards and I probably did the fastest acceleration to date with it (although I didn't mean to). I probably looked like a mad man with the speed alarm blaring and still accelerating, flailing my hands and just trying to stay up. I quickly managed to get the wheel back under my control before I crashed into a curb or anything else, but it was a pretty close call.
 
 
4th day: Longer run battery testing
 
On the fourth day, nothing really special happened. I noticed I'd again gotten a bit better with my balance, turning etc, nothing spectacular, but steady progress. After riding the usual laps a couple of times for warm up, I decided to try to do some longer runs. I picked routes that contained inclines and declines, pavement and dirt roads. In total, I rode around 11-12km without recharge (measured from map afterwards, don't have a phone with GPS), before heading home. The battery-indicator was showing 1 led when I returned, but I hadn't noticed anything during driving, it climbed even the final hill without any problems at a steady speed. The temperature was around +8 Celsius, so not really optimal for lithium-batteries.
 
 
5th day: Skate park
 
I spent this saturday mostly doing other stuff as it was raining most of the time, editing & encoding the videos from the broken camera, and of course writing this post. I did go for a ride a couple hours ago, and found a skate park maybe 3-4km away. It wasn't big, but it had curved inclines, and it was empty, so I spent maybe half an hour or more riding up and down the few banked ramps and concrete "fun boxes" or whatever they're called. I think it was a good practice about going up and down curved surfaces in faster tempo, trying to learn to stop immediately after climbing up one, then go slow (or fast) down the other side and such. I did have to jump off more than a few times, and the wheels casing probably got a few more scratches along the way, but it was pretty fun. I plan on going back there another time, now it was getting late, so I thought I'd better get back home to do some other things and finish this post.
 
 
So this is pretty much all of my experience with electric unicycling to date, in total I think I've ridden maybe a little less than 40km so far. 
 
 
Things I feel I need to improve next are:
 
-Changing foot positioning while riding
As you can tell especially from my 3rd day experiences, I've learnt that your foot position on the pedals really matters. Of course if your footing is uneven, your going to wobble or constantly lean sideways just to keep going forward, or have hard time turning to one way. While I pretty much get my foot position correct every time nowadays, my biggest problem is shifting my feet on the pedals while riding, as my center of balance tends to go off if I do it in motion.
 
Another thing about foot position is the "front-to-back" positioning, meaning how far back or front on the pedals you're standing. I feel most comfortable with the pedal in the middle of my foot, meaning my toes come over the front of the pedal, and my heel is a bit over the back of the pedal. I think the size of the pedals has an effect on this too, sometimes I feel at least that this particular wheel has a bit too short pedals (the width is ok), meaning that I'd like to have more of the pedal under my foot. If my foot is too much to the back, I tend to compensate by standing more on my toes, which makes precise accelerating and decelerating more difficult. Same goes if my foot is too far front, I feel it's a lot harder to decelerate, since your heel is closer to the center of the pedal. The "correct" positioning probably varies from person to person, and doesn't need to be so precise once your balance and riding skills improve.
 
Currently, if my feet get too badly "off position", I need to stop and remount to get proper footing again. What I mean to practice, is how to move my feet on the pedals more while riding, so I don't need to stop every time to correct it.
 
-Curb jumping and landing
I really need to learn to get better at this, as there are curbs everywhere. Some of them are banked a bit and some of them are just straight up blocks on the sides of the road. I'm bound to be going over them all the time in the long run, so I'd better take some time just to do that: going up and down them in a more controlled manner. Also affects the above point about foot positioning, I need to learn to keep the wheel positioned correctly when jumping down a curb, so my position doesn't change.
 
-More steeper turns, turning in place
I already managed to do pretty steep turns and in-place turns at the skate park, but I also had to jump off or put my foot down many times. Just needs more practice.
 
-Going backwards
This is a longer term goal, and I've not yet planned when I start learning this. I think the best place to do this might be my backyard (if I find even enough spot), because the soil and grass is a lot softer to land on than hard asphalt when I fall backwards (which is going to happen, probably a lot during practicing).
 
Thanks for reading (if you ever got this far). Here's the video from my first minutes in the garage with the training wheels & my third day crash:
 
 
Questions? Thoughts? Comments? Hatemail?
 
 
EDIT: Changed the amount of km's I've ridden so far, as I wrote the post over a couple of days, I didn't take into account the skate park-trip in the total mileage before posting.
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Ok I read it all. Wow, thanks for all that. It's given me plenty of ideas for Saturday when I get my wheel. It's also given me a realistic sense of what to expect.

I was wondering if you could try something for me? Henrik posted a video of his son in another thread. The YouTube link is here:

https://youtu.be/5UDzU4hYh40

Notice how on the 4th day he mounts and then pushes off like it's a skateboard. I was wondering if you could give that a try and say whether it makes things any easier. Or is that how you're doing it now already?

Thanks in advance.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Looks like you're learning at a fast pace. The more you ride the better the feel you'll have for your wheel. Practice circles and figure 8's in a controlled speed. It'll help you navigate between people and different obstacles. Riding backwards, for me, is quickly moving up the short list of things to learn efficiently. 

 

Sorry to see your camera took a beating. Time for an action cam?  ;)

 

Good job so far on your wheel!

 

Cheers!

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Thanks for the video :) Garage seemed just the same as I started :D You will learn a lot faster than I am.
Fortunately, you had to be protected in case of fall. Without them, you'd hurt yourself badly.
Did the camera finally broken?
Your idea to learn first unnamed device is good. Now you do not need to immediately break the great new Ninebot.
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Edit: fixed a couple of typos

 

Ok I read it all. Wow, thanks for all that. It's given me plenty of ideas for Saturday when I get my wheel. It's also given me a realistic sense of what to expect.

I was wondering if you could try something for me? Henrik posted a video of his son in another thread. The YouTube link is here:

https://youtu.be/5UDzU4hYh40

Notice how on the 4th day he mounts and then pushes off like it's a skateboard. I was wondering if you could give that a try and say whether it makes things any easier. Or is that how you're doing it now already?

Thanks in advance.

 

Nice to hear you got something out of my ramblings :)

 

My way of getting moving is holding the wheel against my inner shin (in place), and then just lifting my other foot on it. The wheel might sometimes start moving a little bit forward at this point, but I don't deliberately kick for any speed. After getting my feet in place, I just start leaning forwards to get going. I'll try that "skateboard/kick-start" the next time, but at least on the skate park it was more useful mounting from standstill when starting from a top of a fun box or such (if I had kicked for speed, I'd be going down the slope before getting my other foot on the pedal). It might be easier to do that kick-start at first though, because standing on a non-moving wheel requires more balance than when it's moving.

 

 

Very interesting. I can't wait until my charger comes from Jane so I can get on my wheel :-)

Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks for reading! Hope you get your charger-situation fixed soon.

 

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Looks like you're learning at a fast pace. The more you ride the better the feel you'll have for your wheel. Practice circles and figure 8's in a controlled speed. It'll help you navigate between people and different obstacles. Riding backwards, for me, is quickly moving up the short list of things to learn efficiently. 

 

Sorry to see your camera took a beating. Time for an action cam?  ;)

 

Good job so far on your wheel!

 

Cheers!

 

Thanks, doing circles and figure 8's should be a pretty good way to learn more steeper turns and better control in general. I think the turnover at the end of the street is (now) large enough for me to practice on, in the earlier days I could barely make a 180 degree turn on it   ;)  I'll hold back with the backwards riding for now, but probably start learning it soonish (say, within next week or maybe after that, depending how much time I have to practice other stuff). And yeah, I do need a new camera, but maybe something that can take a bit more of a beating   :D

 

 

 

Thanks for the video :) Garage seemed just the same as I started :D You will learn a lot faster than I am.
Fortunately, you had to be protected in case of fall. Without them, you'd hurt yourself badly.
Did the camera finally broken?
Your idea to learn first unnamed device is good. Now you do not need to immediately break the great new Ninebot.

 

 

Se kaatuminen näyttää videolla pahemmalta kun olikaan, koska kamera lentää ja pyörii pitkin mäkiä... onnistuin ite ottaa muutaman juoksuaskeleen, potkasee jalkani katukiveykseen ja sit pyörähtää nurmikolle. Rikki se meni, tuo ulostuleva zoom-sylinterihässäkkä väänty sen verran, ettei se enää liiku mihinkään suuntaan, koitin sitä väännellä takasin paikoilleen, mutta eiköhän se oo entinen. Onneks ei ollu kallis laite (suht halpa peruspokkari 7 vuoden takaa).

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Imperator:

 

I tried the skateboard/kick-start way today while practicing circle 8's and curb-jumping, but it didn't really work out for me. I found it very hard to get my footing correct if I kicked the ground to push the wheel in motion and then tried to get the kicking foot on the pedal, usually ending up with having to jump off forwards and let the wheel fall behind me. Probably just lack of practising, with time I could probably get going like that, but I prefer my own way of stepping on first and start moving forwards then (if I get my footing wrong, it's easier for me to step back off with my one foot while still keeping the wheel up and in place with the other foot). Try both ways when you get your wheel, and see which one works for you better.

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Imperator:

I tried the skateboard/kick-start way today while practicing circle 8's and curb-jumping, but it didn't really work out for me. I found it very hard to get my footing correct if I kicked the ground to push the wheel in motion and then tried to get the kicking foot on the pedal, usually ending up with having to jump off forwards and let the wheel fall behind me. Probably just lack of practising, with time I could probably get going like that, but I prefer my own way of stepping on first and start moving forwards then (if I get my footing wrong, it's easier for me to step back off with my one foot while still keeping the wheel up and in place with the other foot). Try both ways when you get your wheel, and see which one works for you better.

Yeah I'll try both. Thanks for giving it a go for me. Much appreciated.

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Wow. Long post. Anyway I just learned yesterday how to readjust foot position while riding. I tried to "jump" up on the wheel which gave me some room to adjust the foot. Hard to explain but worked for me.

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I'm just mesmerised by the length of your hair....!

:huh:  :lol:  :D  B)

Heh, yeah, it just keeps on growing... over the years I've had it cut twice (about 30cm off both times). It's nearing the length where it becomes a nuisance again, so might have to visit a barber this summer.

 

 

Yeah I'll try both. Thanks for giving it a go for me. Much appreciated.

No problem!

 

 

It took me a while to figure out what it was lol. Cool locks though :-)

What what was? Locks? I have no idea what you're talking about, sorry... :)

 

 

Wow. Long post. Anyway I just learned yesterday how to readjust foot position while riding. I tried to "jump" up on the wheel which gave me some room to adjust the foot. Hard to explain but worked for me.

I've managed to do small "nudges" to move my feet a bit at a time, still need to keep practicing it.

 

 

Didn't have much time yesterday or today for wheeling. Mostly did just circles, figure 8's and curb jumping yesterday (6th day) on the front of the house for about an hour, today went to see a friend (just normal cruising) and visited the skate park again for a short while. My friend rides an unicycle (the traditional kind), so he tried the wheel a bit, holding on to a railing and then short times without holding on to anything (just going straight). Seemed a bit interested in getting one, we'll see... ;)

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What what was? Locks? I have no idea what you're talking about, sorry... :)

It took me a while to figure out what your hair was lol. In the UK we call them 'locks of hair'. Not sure where that originates from to be honest. Sorry, I should have used more internationally known language.

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@esaj,
Thank you for your quite detailed feedback.
I am not against learning wheels like you, I find them quite usefull for beginners
I use them to train family members, from the youngest (6 year old) to the oldest (64 yo). Without them, my wife would have never mounted a wheel !
My training procedure is 2 learning wheels first, then 1 leaning wheel, then without learning wheel but with strap, it's quite efficient and I'm happy with it. I use the strap but by attaching it to the belt so the two arms are free for balance. It's usefull for example for learning to reverse-ride. True, without holding the strap by hand, you'll find it easier to balance but the wheel will take much more hits than it deserves.

Even with 60kg, I don't think you have a wheel adapted to off road riding because of lack of power. From your descriptions, you must have a 170Wh battery, so the torque is not that bad (more capacity => less voltage drop => more torque => safer rides) but not ideal nonetheless. Even if you feel the wheel "handles well rough terrains", when you will get more speed, you will rapidly feel the lack of torque. So it's better to train yourself on hard roads and wait for a more powerfull wheel (like Gotway) for off road conditions.
Besides, I think that your wheel's electronic board is accessed from inside (accessible only by unscrewing the two half housings), so it's not at all insulated. Humidity and dust will creep in and rapidly accumulate and will kill it, one more reason to avoid dirty roads. I've done such things with my X3-clone, bad idea, I'll won't do it again.
The pedals are quite slippery, if it's not already done, you should attach rubber bands on it (I use the flat parts of old car windshield wipers, they are surprisingly durable) or glue some anti-slip surface used for skateboards, that will add comfort and spare you a lot of falls.
Don't bother yet with feet positionning, it's very high in the learning curve and it's for much later. Likewise, don't worry with steep turns, it will come naturally when you are at ease with going straight lines and get the habit of squeezing the wheel between your legs. The priority should be mounting the wheel and climbing down, you even have a Solowheel tutorial which stresses the importance of that training : mount, ride 1 or 2 meters then climb down. Rince & repeat, again and again, that helps a lot.

About your suspicion of the battery turnoff, since you can ride again after a fall, it's not one. The fall is just because of a lack of power.
With a battery turnoff, nothing will restart until you plug in the charger. But this does not mean that your battery is immune from unwarned cutoff (look up this problem in this forum, how to diagnose and reproduce it and how to fix it).

The fast-forward acceleration that surprised you is quite normal, it's how the wheel (stupidly, IMHO, espcially when I compare to my Firewheel, which only does that at... 30km/h) tries to keep you from overspeeding. The first time it happens, I fall, not you, so I must say your balance is quite good.

Yeah, quite long hair for a boy but nice for a girl. It's definitely a eye turner to have it floating while riding at high speed.
 

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Your post is just as long as your hair. Good right up though and the experience was similar to mine especially getting rid of the strap. The moment I got rid of it, I noticed I felt MUCH MORE comfortable and in control of my EUC. Felt like I used the strap for too long. 

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I really have been encouraged by your post. Thank you for being so detailed. I am 62 yo  revisiting childhood, just got my TG- F3 a couple of days ago, unfortunately it came with the wrong charger, so I am having to wait for a new one. It was fully charged when it came though, and I have played with it till it ran down to one light. Charger will be here in a few days, can't wait.

The effort, length and detail of your post is greatly appreciated, hopefully it will help spare these old bones one or two less falls. I was up to runs of 30 to 50 feet before I ran out of battery, and yeah I couldn't get that far with the strap, so I have already put a couple of scuff marks on it, but like you said, it's a learner. Thanks again for the great post it is very useful and insightful.

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@esaj,

Thank you for your quite detailed feedback.

You're very welcome, and thank you for your input, below are my responses:

 

I am not against learning wheels like you, I find them quite usefull for beginners

I use them to train family members, from the youngest (6 year old) to the oldest (64 yo). Without them, my wife would have never mounted a wheel !

My training procedure is 2 learning wheels first, then 1 leaning wheel, then without learning wheel but with strap, it's quite efficient and I'm happy with it.

 

 

I'm not saying I'm against learning wheels, just in my particular case, I didn't find them useful in my own learning. By all means people should use the learning wheels as long as they feel they're helping or are unsure about going without them.

 

I use the strap but by attaching it to the belt so the two arms are free for balance. It's usefull for example for learning to reverse-ride. True, without holding the strap by hand, you'll find it easier to balance but the wheel will take much more hits than it deserves.

 

Some one else mentioned attaching the strap to their belt, but at the time I saw the post, I had already stopped using it. Good point about starting to use it again when learning to ride backwards. And as I said in my original post, I suggest people keep using the strap until they feel they can mount, stop and dismount their wheel without it getting out of control.

 

Even with 60kg, I don't think you have a wheel adapted to off road riding because of lack of power. From your descriptions, you must have a 170Wh battery, so the torque is not that bad (more capacity => less voltage drop => more torque => safer rides) but not ideal nonetheless. Even if you feel the wheel "handles well rough terrains", when you will get more speed, you will rapidly feel the lack of torque. So it's better to train yourself on hard roads and wait for a more powerfull wheel (like Gotway) for off road conditions.

Besides, I think that your wheel's electronic board is accessed from inside (accessible only by unscrewing the two half housings), so it's not at all insulated. Humidity and dust will creep in and rapidly accumulate and will kill it, one more reason to avoid dirty roads. I've done such things with my X3-clone, bad idea, I'll won't do it again.

What I mean by "off-road" in my post is different what for example vee73 means. When I said off-road, I meant hiking paths that are man-made with packed gravel/sand/sawdust and such. They still have holes, bumps, some rocks and such, but no exposed roots, mud, big rocks etc., like what you see for example in vee73's videos. It's a 14" inch wheel anyway, and not so powerful, so not that suited for REAL off-road, yes. The battery should be 210Wh (haven't checked, but I bought it off from vee73 who told me so, and I trust his word). You're right about the casing/insulation, I doubt the cheaper wheels are very well insulated in terms of dust and moisture.

 

The pedals are quite slippery, if it's not already done, you should attach rubber bands on it (I use the flat parts of old car windshield wipers, they are surprisingly durable) or glue some anti-slip surface used for skateboards, that will add comfort and spare you a lot of falls. Don't bother yet with feet positionning, it's very high in the learning curve and it's for much later. Likewise, don't worry with steep turns, it will come naturally when you are at ease with going straight lines and get the habit of squeezing the wheel between your legs. The priority should be mounting the wheel and climbing down, you even have a Solowheel tutorial which stresses the importance of that training : mount, ride 1 or 2 meters then climb down. Rince & repeat, again and again, that helps a lot.

 

So far my feet haven't slipped in the pedals (they haven't got any grip tape or such, but the pedals themselves have some plastic anti-slip contours), mostly my feet shifted when dropping over a curb or such, when I wasn't clenching the wheel with my inner-shins. I've also been getting better at getting my feet in proper position from the get-go, and can nudge them a little bit at a time while riding to correct my position, if need be.

 

What comes to steep turns and mounting, today I had only about an hour to ride before it got dark, and I spent it mostly doing circles, figure eights and curb jumping. No problems at mounting and stopping, at steepest, I can keep running a circle that's about 60-80cm wide at slow speed, sometimes even smaller on crawl speeds. I can stop in place and stay on the wheel for a while, in-place turns don't go that well yet. Curb jumping is getting better, most of the time I've failed because I go in too slow (ie. the wheel doesn't climb the curb, but just stops on it), but the place I practice in isn't ideal, because when I go up the curb, I immediately have to start turning on soft lawn/gravel, so I don't hit a rocky slope about a meter after the curb, on the edge of our plot, so I don't dare to go in too fast.   ;)  Better find some other place to do this.

 

About your suspicion of the battery turnoff, since you can ride again after a fall, it's not one. The fall is just because of a lack of power.

With a battery turnoff, nothing will restart until you plug in the charger. But this does not mean that your battery is immune from unwarned cutoff (look up this problem in this forum, how to diagnose and reproduce it and how to fix it). The fast-forward acceleration that surprised you is quite normal, it's how the wheel (stupidly, IMHO, espcially when I compare to my Firewheel, which only does that at... 30km/h) tries to keep you from overspeeding. The first time it happens, I fall, not you, so I must say your balance is quite good.

 

Yeah, like I mentioned in the post, in hindsight I figured I didn't fall because of a turnoff, but just simply by accidental braking & over-leaning. I've read about the "torque reaction" and high speed cut-offs before also, haven't experienced them (at least yet), but I've also been wary of pushing the wheel to it's limits (especially on low battery) after the first fall. The later accidental acceleration and (still) my personal speed record that followed was caused by standing too back on the pedals and having to stand more on my toes, meaning I was pushing the front of the wheel down (like leaning forwards, expect my body wasn't) when dropping down from the speed bump. I may have something like "above average" balance, but I'd guess not falling in that case also was at least somewhat down to pure luck   ;)

 

Yeah, quite long hair for a boy but nice for a girl. It's definitely a eye turner to have it floating while riding at high speed.

 

Until it gets stuck into something while I ride, then it's really going turn some eyes when I crash... ;)  Thanks for your response, good to hear a bit different views on things.

 

 

Your post is just as long as your hair. Good right up though and the experience was similar to mine especially getting rid of the strap. The moment I got rid of it, I noticed I felt MUCH MORE comfortable and in control of my EUC. Felt like I used the strap for too long. 

Yeah, it did really change things (for the better). Still, better use it too long than too short.

 

I really have been encouraged by your post. Thank you for being so detailed. I am 62 yo  revisiting childhood, just got my TG- F3 a couple of days ago, unfortunately it came with the wrong charger, so I am having to wait for a new one. It was fully charged when it came though, and I have played with it till it ran down to one light. Charger will be here in a few days, can't wait.

The effort, length and detail of your post is greatly appreciated, hopefully it will help spare these old bones one or two less falls. I was up to runs of 30 to 50 feet before I ran out of battery, and yeah I couldn't get that far with the strap, so I have already put a couple of scuff marks on it, but like you said, it's a learner. Thanks again for the great post it is very useful and insightful.

Nice to hear you've found it useful! Sorry to hear about the charger, hope you get back on your wheel soon.

 

Writing the post was my way of "analyzing" what's been working and what's not (in my own personal case) afterwards, and to share my experiences, it's not meant to be any sort of definite "do this, don't do that"-type of manual or anything, but hopefully gives some tips and pointers to other newbies. What works for me might not work for other people and vice versa. Hope you've got good safety gear, and if not, I strongly suggest you get some.

 

My reasons for getting my learner-wheel revolved mostly around my impatience :rolleyes:   It's still going to be something like 2-3 weeks before I get the Ninebot, the dealer hasn't even told me a definite date, just that "they'll be in stock towards the end of May". But looking at the bright side, at least I should be able to ride it safely from the start, better bang up the learner than it. ;)

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When I said off-road, I meant hiking paths that are man-made with packed gravel/sand/sawdust and such.

Indeed, that's off-road to me, anything that is not paved, concreted or asphalted. Your wheel internals will get a lot of dust rapidly because the design, based on the original Airwheels, is defective.

More and more wheels have scrapped this arrangement (access from inside) for an access from outside, with covers under the rubber pads, so the electronics and batteries are much more insulated from dust and water : Gotways, Ninebot, IPS... and even the cheaper ones like TG-F3, Iezway or Pinwheel.

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True, might be a good idea to see if I can open the casing and do something to better waterproof it, maybe with bathroom silicone (if it sticks). I haven't actually checked whether the battery and electronics can be accessed under the rubber pads, but I doubt it (so probably from the inside of the wheel casing).

 

At least Ninebot Ones are IP65-certified (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code  65 =completely dust proof, can take lower pressure jets of water from all directions). So no washing it with a pressure washer or immersing into water, but otherwise should be ok for dusty off-road, rain and puddles.

 

It's been raining most of yesterday and today, so haven't had much of a chance to practice. Hopefully it clears up a bit by evening so I get to ride.

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True, might be a good idea to see if I can open the casing and do something to better waterproof it, maybe with bathroom silicone (if it sticks). I haven't actually checked whether the battery and electronics can be accessed under the rubber pads, but I doubt it (so probably from the inside of the wheel casing).

 

At least Ninebot Ones are IP65-certified (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code  65 =completely dust proof, can take lower pressure jets of water from all directions). So no washing it with a pressure washer or immersing into water, but otherwise should be ok for dusty off-road, rain and puddles.

 

It's been raining most of yesterday and today, so haven't had much of a chance to practice. Hopefully it clears up a bit by evening so I get to ride.

Easy, check if you have screws under the rim of the rubber pads. Example on a TG (last image of the series): http://trottinetteselectriques.heberg-forum.fr/sutra9032_tg.html#9032

And yes, silicone caulking sticks well if the surface is cleaned (with accetone for example), that's what I use. Without insulation, the life of your wheel will be short and brutish ;)

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All Airwheels are IP56 certified, level 5 dust proof

 

5 Dust protected

Ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it must not enter in sufficient quantity to interfere with the satisfactory operation of the equipment; complete protection against contact (dust proof)

 

6 Dust tight

No ingress of dust; complete protection against contact (dust tight)

 

Should be fairly easy to seal it to level 6

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Got my battery charger yesterday, charged my wheel, wrapped the wheel in Gorilla Tape and cardboard, took off the training wheels, re read all the postings on this thread, hooked the strap to my belt, helmet, gloves, ( oops!, really forgot the gloves, but after a face plant and blood on the road, went back and got them), put on my body armor. 

Did the skateboard shuffle mount over and over, then started out my driveway and up a small hill. My runs went as follows;

10 feet,10 feet,15 feet,20 ', 30', 10', 10', 50', 100', 150', next thing you know I am gone!!! circled the block!! Recharged the battery. rode 2 miles! It's just like everyone says, keep at it, it will click, and when it does it just does. making more than half of my turnarounds.

I did more than my share of unintentional dismounts, but only 4 or 5 uncontested down right falls, ( my 62 year old body is very sore this morning). Down hill is much harder than uphill,  am learning to shuffle feet underway to adjust for up or down steep hills.

All and all, I am confident I am going to be a decent rider eventually, and I have so much to credit to this thread!  Today will be my third charge, I expect to be very sore tomorrow, my goal for today is a three mile ride.

Esaj, Thank you so much for starting this thread and all your comments, as well as a thank you to All who contributed. Now I need a T shirt with hobby 16's logo on it!! LOVE MY WHEEL!!!

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Way to go, young man! What wheel do you have anyway?

I have a TG -F3, same as you. I am 150 lbs and it does quite well with me, haven't tried off road yet, except myfront yard, tho it does seem to do well in short grass.

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