Inmotion V14 Adventure: a new trail wheel from Inmotion

[Ro.man]

After riding a wheel for 400 km I have finally built up skills to start really enjoying the ride. So I decided that it is time to update my initial impressions review.

Now I can confidently say that the wheel goes where I want it to go, and instead of fighting with the machine forcing it go the direction I need, I’m playing with it, feeling like a superhuman runner. That is the best feeling ride ever!

In tight Phuket traffic it is a lot of fun. I noticed that going around motorbikes is as easy as was going around cars on a bike! The only thing I miss is a rearview mirror.

I have put the beeper to 55 km/h and I hear it quite often on long straights or descents. The beeper is not very loud and have rather soft tone so with all that wind noise at first I didn’t realized it was actually warning me, but later I have adopted to that. My comfortable cruising speed is still around 40-45 km/h. I would say that In tight traffic I’m faster than on my 300cc motorbike. However on the long stretches the wind becomes a problem so I’m not that confident to go fast.

Stock knobby tire has a flat U-shaped profile, so on the high speed it takes a lot of effort to carve or change direction, I’ve purchased Michelin City Grip 90/90-12 tire. It has more “pointy” profile. If that one fits, I plan to install it this week and see if that helps.

The suspension is still a bit too firm for my liking. However, I cannot complain that it doesn’t work. Once I didn’t notice a speed bump at 40 km/h and it swallowed that easily. That scared a crap out of me but it ended up well ). Once I took a trail in the jungle and one of the sections was a scetchy narrow descent with lots of rocks, roots and other obstacles, I totally expected to fall in the bushes but it was too late and too steep to stop, so I decided to just relax and accept my fate. The suspension worked well and I didn’t crash. However, I would still prefer to have a plusher ride so an upgrade shock is in my wishlist.

My longest ride so far was 67 km and I came home with 34% battery left, so I expect 90 km should be possible on this wheel.

I didn't have any problems with this wheel so far. It is a 50gb version from a 2nd batch.

Overall I’m very satisfied with v14 and plan to address few issues that I have with the wheel with some tuning parts. I will update once the upgrades are installed and tested.

[techyiam]

8 minutes ago, Ro.man said:

I’ve purchased Michelin City Grip 90/90-12 tire. It has more “pointy” profile. If that one fits, I plan to install it this week and see if that helps.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on your V14 with the City Grip tire.

11 minutes ago, Ro.man said:

My longest ride so far was 67 km and I came home with 34% battery left, so I expect 90 km should be possible on this wheel.

What was the outside temperature?

[Ro.man]

50 minutes ago, techyiam said:

What was the outside temperature?

like +30

[GPSchile]

On 1/27/2024 at 7:09 AM, CasperBak said:

Thanks! Good to hear that it is at least consistent. I have only tried with this most recent BMS version, so I guess we will see what the future brings. My understanding was that the V13 and V14 had at least passive cell balancing, but i guess the BMS deems it unnecessary given the current voltages of my unit...

I prefer to ask the manufacturer for this type of critical information. I do not know the details of how V14 balances its cells but V13 is a quite special vehicle. What I have learned is that it starts balancing as soon as at 3.6V/cell and/or when having am inter-cell delta higher than 30mA. This is before even starting the CV step of charge. We tend to quickly assume that cell balancing requires top charging but for many electric vehicles it is not the case.
To get this information from manufacturers is not always easy (language barrier, more than one version from the same manufacturer and some just rely on their part provider's criteria ignoring the fine technical details of their vehicles). When it is not possible to get accurate information from its source, of course I get frustrated but I rather accept my ignorance than assuming all vehicles have the same design criteria.
I am not sure if I can openly publish it, so I will not disclose all the details nor the sources of my findings at this point but if it serves to somebody, so far, among the 4 EUC manufacturers only one seems to me to have passive balancing that starts at 4.2V/cell (strictly at the very end of the charge). All others start balancing at lower voltages being V13 the unicycle with the earliest balancing system. Even inside the same manufacturer, the criteria varies among models.
My conclusion is that there is a lot we tend to assume as true and even generalize to all EUCs when in fact we should not.

This industry has no universal standards even for how calibrating voltmeters, nor the lowest discharge voltage per cell limit, nor even on how to build specification sheets, nor the conversion between voltage and SoC, nor on how to do range tests (to name a few cases). Other vehicles (e.g. cars) present import barriers requiring to fit with specific national standards and/or independent certifications. Perhaps someday, if PEV become massive, we will have minimum standards in this industry.
So far, I am very pleased with Inmotion taking the step (time and $$) of submitting V14 for obtaining the first UL 2849 certification in the EUC industry.
I really enjoy Youtube reviews...,  but that type of professional and independent certification, holds a way higher confidence than personal opinions/experiences.
I wish it becomes the standard for all EUC manufacturers.

BTW, I also learned that when fully charged and left a bit on its original charger, V13 does some extra actions. It can re-calibrate its voltmeters automatically (it was even described in some firmware upgrade note). Something that for V11 and V12 series, we had to contact Inmotion for a "remote calibration", V13 does it all on its own. We do not even need to equalize the voltages among batteries before installing them. It is truly a one of its kind vehicle. I see in social media a lot of focus on every problem or aspect able to be criticized. Somebody has an issue and it is quickly generalized, and so on. Despite there is plenty of reasons we should be positive. For me, EUCs are a source of pleasure. This is why I use them.
The entire industry of EUC is evolving quickly, showing very positive advances in technology as well as safety, that perhaps we are not acknowledging with the same passion as every (and likely temporary) issue that some individual unit presented in somebody's video.
I hope a lot of V13's battery management has been transferred to V14 series.  

[CasperBak]

21 minutes ago, GPSchile said:

among the 4 EUC manufacturers only one seems to me to have passive balancing that starts at 4.2V/cell (strictly at the very end of the charge). All others start balancing at lower voltages being V13 the unicycle with the earliest balancing system.

Thank you so much for all the insight. I will try to keep an eye on the voltage difference between cells, as I use my V14 more.

[Hellkitten]

16 hours ago, Ro.man said:

The only thing I miss is a rearview mirror.

A lot of riders mount helmet mirrors and/or use wrist mirrors. I feel naked without one now and I use mine all the time. Glad to hear your feedback over the V14, keep the updates coming! 

[GPSchile]

1 hour ago, CasperBak said:

Thank you so much for all the insight. I will try to keep an eye on the voltage difference between cells, as I use my V14 more.

Some level of imbalance is normal. Cells may have a different internal resistance due to manufacturing differences. The issue becomes relevant when it is significant.
0ne decimal is nothing to worry about. The app shows the batteries with only one decimal and this may sometimes look like a higher delta or lower than assumed (e.g. XX.10 vs YY.09, are really the same value).
By fully charging periodically your EUC, cell imbalance should be under control. Our EUCs do not discharge down to 2.5V/cell either. Their charging discharge range is not as extreme and this helps also to diminish the magnitude of cell imbalance.
Cell imbalance is important but not the only cause of failure. Most of the batteries I have replaced for my friends, and I have spent the time to check them, I found other than cell imbalance as the cause of premature failure. Most of the times the problems were at soldering points and issues at the BMS level. Also, an important cause of premature failure, that I sense we as a community do not pay the enough attention it deserves is physical trauma. The environment our EUC battery cells endure is nothing friendly.

If it helps, as a reference of what to worry about, here is a screenshot of one of the very few cases of a problem I found at a cell level.
It was a new unicycle with a battery factory issue and the battery was replaced under warranty. 

Edited January 29 by GPSchile
clarity

[GPSchile]

6 minutes ago, Hellkitten said:

A lot of riders mount helmet mirrors and/or use wrist mirrors. I feel naked without one now and I use mine all the time. Glad to hear your feedback over the V14, keep the updates coming! 

same experience here. After getting used to them, I cannot go without a mirror.
I prefer the speed I get of the mirror on the helmet rather than on my hand. Also, when lifting the hand, I may confuse the car behind me. But the start was not without issues, related to tree branches 

[Forwardnbak]

I asked about the logs for my v14 dipping yesterday and I was told IM would make an official statement. Not sure when.

I'm still taking it easy on the wheel till I hear.

[Unventor]

1 hour ago, GPSchile said:

same experience here. After getting used to them, I cannot go without a mirror.
I prefer the speed I get of the mirror on the helmet rather than on my hand. Also, when lifting the hand, I may confuse the car behind me. But the start was not without issues, related to tree branches 

Well euc.world support some rear rader warning systems. I don't recall the brand but maybe @Sebacan share some insights.

[Forwardnbak]

I just finished up a range test on the V14

70km with 10% battery left.

(same path - V11 - 80km. V13 - 90km)

92kg with gear. 

30 celsius/wind

not much incline.  

waiting for the logs to see avg speed but often seemed around 40kph

max speed mid 60's

I was having fun the whole way, one single ride I'll edit it up.

Highlight - A girl said I was cute and high fived me (either the V14 or the full faced helmet made this happen)

The wheel had plenty of zip left after the 50% mark.

at 35% i noticed my first tilt back at 49kph

it was pretty beepy around 10% but you could still travel over 25kph up to about 35kph

[Forwardnbak]

I also got word from inmotion they will send me a new firmware on the weekend.

Until then they advised not to jump or go down drops. 

[Forwardnbak]

The firmware is up now they just advised me.  They said the engineers have sorted the problem I experienced.

I just updated.

Dark here now and I already rolled 70km today.

I'll check it tomorrow. 

 

[Forwardnbak]

 

Still showing version 3.0.38, I am sure that was the same version as before the update.

Maybe they just patched it or something. 

[ORDO NOVUS]

 

[Punxatawneyjoe]

18 minutes ago, ORDO NOVUS said:

 

Pure conjecture from a Begode talebearer.  " people are canceling per-orders left and right" " My friends with the v14 say they will never buy an inmotion product again" " Inmotion employees say they hate the new boss"...I'm sure Inmotion employees share their company feelings with you..Ok, I believe you. It doesn't look like you are going out of your way to discredit another wheel manufacturer at all.. Thanks for sharing your opinion

 

[Unventor]

1 hour ago, Punxatawneyjoe said:

Pure conjecture from a Begode talebearer.  " people are canceling per-orders left and right" " My friends with the v14 say they will never buy an inmotion product again" " Inmotion employees say they hate the new boss"...I'm sure Inmotion employees share their company feelings with you..Ok, I believe you. It doesn't look like you are going out of your way to discredit another wheel manufacturer at all.. Thanks for sharing your opinion

 

I can share I am very much looking forward to my incoming V14 50S. Hopefully it is eta mid February. And well I can't help thinking this youtuber has very little of interest for me. 

All I did was to look at who made the video then 10sec after I stopped playing it. 

[Punxatawneyjoe]

10 minutes ago, Unventor said:

I stopped playing it. 

I made it most of the way i can appreciate everyone's opinion. Not that they haven't had their bumps and bruises but, it's better than catching on fire.

[Jason McNeil]

13 minutes ago, Unventor said:

I can share I am very much looking forward to my incoming V14 50S. Hopefully it is eta mid February. And well I can't help thinking this youtuber has very little of interest for me. 

There's valid criticism(s) here: IM are not known for their rapid response to firmware bugs & remediation of reported issues. At the very least, they need to have better communication with their Dealers/Customers for setting expectations.  

[krzys1311]

I want to buy v14 50s but I really would like to get something more than 70kms. I found a comment on yt that they already raised limit to 75km/h? Is it possible that in future they will unlock for example 80?

[Punxatawneyjoe]

1 minute ago, Jason McNeil said:

There's valid criticism(s) here: IM are not known for their rapid response to firmware bugs & remediation of reported issues. At the very least, they need to have better communication with their Dealers/Customers for setting expectations.  

Well if anyone would know, it would be you. So i will stand corrected. Just seems like a hit piece though, cheap. He doesn't even own a Inmotion does he? I respect his criticisms and it's not like they didn't happen. But as always, a lot of grey area.

[Jason McNeil]

4 minutes ago, Punxatawneyjoe said:

Well if anyone would know, it would be you. So i will stand corrected. Just seems like a hit piece though, cheap. He doesn't even own a Inmotion does he? I respect his criticisms and it's not like they didn't happen. But as always, a lot of grey area.

Well I haven't spilled the beans to him of the troubles we're facing with them, it must be a different source, there's got to be near unianimity of all Dealers doing business with them right now 

Edited January 31 by Jason McNeil

[WheelGoodTime]

I used to own a V11 (Thanks Jason! ). I have also ridden every IM EUC since then, including the V14. I accept that you think it's a hit piece, I was ready for blacklash about it from the beginning. However I don't apologize for what I said - many IM employees are saying this and I'm merely their mouthpiece. I'm the voice of the many, many customers who have gotten burned with this dangerous firmware update and their lack of communication about it. Please keep in mind that the only opinions of my own I'm injecting into this video are where I advocated a change in leadership. Something major needs to be done here, and it starts from the top.

Every dealer, influencer, and V14 owner I have communicated with about these issues has agreed that we have a real problem on our hands right now, especially with the lack of demand on unsold V14's. Don't get me wrong, teh V14 is a good wheel with great potential, but the initial launched was botched. They need to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and communicate what they intend to do to right this ship. Yes, I advocated reinstating Bob Yan as CEO, but I'd be very happy with anyone who is savvy in the PEV industry, and most importantly, communicates.

@Punxatawneyjoe I understand why you think I'm a Begode fanboy. I own Begode EUCs, and overall have been happy with them. I've also been rather vocally critical of them as well. I am not exclusively a Begode owner, though, and the only EUC companies that I haven't personally bought from are KS and EB. On a personal level, I believe that the only companies that are on the right track (in general, nobody is perfect) with their EUC business is Begode/EB and Leaperkim. Thanks for your feedback!

Edited January 31 by WheelGoodTime

[Mango]

Inmotion makes arguably the best commuter and short-range wheels, especially the European market they completely dominate. I have their V10 and couple of V8s. Perfect wheels. I have not really been impressed or hyped for their V12 and up models since Leaperkim came onto the scene with the Sherman.

I do think they are struggling and I do believe there's truth in the video.

Not sure what I can add to this discussion. The V14 can be a huge hit if they're able to aggressively lower the price and re-work the suspension arm design (looks so amateurish), get rid of the orange livery and fix their firmware.

[Ronin Ryder]

Accentuated EUC drama for views and clicks, it's just the youtube game. IM has issues but if you know the market, you understand it's just cyclical. All it takes is a good wheel release to erase the past. 2 years ago LK was in deep trouble with the Abrams, now they have the most sought wheel. Best to take some distance and have a high level view. Im not worried for the success of the V14, especially with the batch 2 black version. 

Edited January 31 by Ronin Ryder