Norwich Girl Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 9th March 2016:- Me and my mate took a trip down to London from Norwich to go and see the Uniwheel and chat to the guys who designed it. I currently have an X8 but am now looking for a faster wheel. My mate rides a Solowheel Xtreme. My opinion:- After spending an hour with these guys and then testing their Uniwheels in the back road, I was pretty impressed. It rode well and was comfortable (I'm female). In my opinion, reading through some of the comments here on this excellent forum, you should have confidence in the motor power numbers etc and not judge these guys by the standards of other EU manufacturers who stretch the truth. Maybe do what we did, and go visit them before offering opinions on the Uniwheel and get an understanding of it, and them and their ethos. These guys are passionate about their product and really seem to know what they are doing, with the valuable experience of having come for the automobile industry. You should also know that they have decided to back away from the beta testing for many reasons. They said they will be supportive in case of product malfunctions on the first wheels off the production line on wards, and being a business woman myself, I found them sincere in their comments. They are clearly out to please their clients and are, in a sincere way, 'Geeks'. The design was not just skin deep but went into the components too with 'safety' being very high on their list in order to satisfy not only themselves but the regulative authorities in the UK. I really got the sense that these guys genuinely really care about all aspects. The Lipo batteries seemed easy to swap over and I would personally not have an issue with carrying the spare in my backpack (handbag ;-) ) For me, the design was better in reality than on picture and I was suitably impressed all around. Because I don’t know the technical jargon I can't quote much here but when these guys say it goes 22kph, I believe them! (despite being a blonde). This seems to be a real quality product compared to much cheaper units although I personally do feel it is still priced a little on the high end, but maybe this cost is an issue for me only because of the falling prices of the other EU's out there at this moment in time. Lets face it, in comparison, the Solowheel Xtreme is a pretty amazing quality wheel but again, the price is OTT. Quality and safety isn't cheap! Go and see Steve and his team and give the new Uniwheel a ride! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johrhoj Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I think you are very smart to go and see (and try) the wheel for yourself. If only I lived nearby, I certainly would take your advice and pay them a visit. Now at least I have your impression. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norwich Girl Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 1 hour ago, johrhoj said: I think you are very smart to go and see (and try) the wheel for yourself. If only I lived nearby, I certainly would take your advice and pay them a visit. Now at least I have your impression. Thank you! I certainly dont live near London, it's a 2 hour journey for us here in Norfolk, but we are a bit crazy on wheeling and getting the correct one for us :-) but same country I guess! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musk Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Thank you for the report. I'm curious about this new company and love to hear more about the safety-focused engineering and battery swapping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 @Norwich Girl, well done, I live in south west London and it wouldn't have occurred to me to try to visit them. i too have been surprised at the negative comments when few understand yet how the LiFe cells that Uniwheel use will actually perform in the real world. We see the damage that crap cells in hoverboards have done to the reputations of all such devices and yet attack a company that clearly aims to create a safe product. Just the fact that they've thought out the big worry (to me) of changing a tire (a very very far from trivial task in nearly every other wheel!) speaks volumes. Like everyone else, I'd need to see it £200 or so cheaper or with a spare battery, to seriously go for that rather than say the KS-16. Added to that, the time since it was announced is now beginning to feel like an eternity. Of course, if the Uniwheel was the only wheel that actually had approval for use on UK footpaths my opinion on what I was willing to pay would rapidly change. The battery has been designed to be air travel safe, probably that is no longer enough in the current climate, but imagine a situation where you could hire just the battery at your destination, At that point taking your wheel overseas on holiday with no battery installed becomes very practical ( sorry just daydreaming - my wife wants to go on a Segway tour this summer in Malta and I'd REALLY like to tag along on my wheel instead of paying €60 or so to ride a Segaway!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linnea Veteran Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Maybe GotWay Msuper will be your good choice. Big battery, powerful motor and fast speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizardmech Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 On 3/18/2016 at 8:52 PM, Linneaunicycles said: Maybe GotWay Msuper will be your good choice. Big battery, powerful motor and fast speed. Not very safe compared to uniwheel though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linnea Veteran Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 2 minutes ago, lizardmech said: Not very safe compared to uniwheel though. 18 inch wheel is much safe than other size wheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizardmech Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Just now, Linneaunicycles said: 18 inch wheel is much safe than other size wheel All the chinese models currently lack basic safety features such as automotive grade MCUs, braking circuits to prevent BMS cutoff while braking, cooling for the mosfets and many other things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linnea Veteran Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 12 minutes ago, lizardmech said: All the chinese models currently lack basic safety features such as automotive grade MCUs, braking circuits to prevent BMS cutoff while braking, cooling for the mosfets and many other things. Maybe you are talking about the none brand wheels from China. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musk Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Perhaps Gotway is one of the most reliable (but still risky) current-generation electronic designs. There certainly seems to be fewer reports of failures with that brand. I'd definately pay more for segway-level redundancy and backup systems inside the wheel. An extra $1500 is nothing compared to the cost of breaking parts of your body and living with the daily consequences of having damaged something that can't be medically restored back to 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliverH Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 On 21.3.2016 at 7:50 AM, Linneaunicycles said: Maybe you are talking about the none brand wheels from China. As the MSuper having more a balance board and less functions (undervoltage protection and so on) than a full BMS the MSuper has no problem with peak load. It's not fair to disturb in a competitor sub forum to look for future customers. I like my MSuper but it doesn't fit for all. But coming back to topic the UniWheel thread here. The UniWheel will have it's customers and there will be a continued development with further improved products. An UniWheel customer will not buy a MSuper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriull Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 On 21.3.2016 at 7:37 AM, lizardmech said: All the chinese models currently lack basic safety features such as automotive grade MCUs, braking circuits to prevent BMS cutoff while braking, cooling for the mosfets and many other things. On 21.3.2016 at 7:50 AM, Linneaunicycles said: Maybe you are talking about the none brand wheels from China. By now there is no real "braking circuit" implemented in any euc - neither brand nor nobrand. Either batteries are overloaded/stressed or the mosfets(? Maybe even motor coils?) endangered. Cooling for the mosfets seems to be quite undersized/at the limit by now for the motor/battery power available. i am quite interessted how gotway solved these problems - unfortionately here in the forum is no technician from any brand euc manufacturer involved to clarify things. We (as customers) are on our own here to guess about/identify problems.... Just some (great and motivated) resellers are engaging themselves here. But, as already mentioned this is a uniwheel thread and it would be nice and polite to state the innovations and improvements for this known problems in one of the many new gotway anouncements. For Uniwheel i hope any design issues known from other unicycles are solved - with the prior announcements of the qualification of the design team and the asked price for this wheel there should no issues to be expected! I am really looking forward to getting a new innovative competitor on the market, who hopefully changes standards in regard of driving safety! ... hopefully... Edit: i stroke through the company name - imho there were no overheating or shutoff probs reported? At least i can't remember any - sorry for the namedropping.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OliverH Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 6 hours ago, Chriull said: By now there is no real "braking circuit" implemented in any euc - neither brand nor nobrand. Either batteries are overloaded/stressed or the mosfets(? Maybe even motor coils?) endangered. Cooling for the mosfets seems to be quite undersized/at the limit by now for the motor/battery power available. i am quite interessted how gotway solved these problems - unfortionately here in the forum is no technician from any brand euc manufacturer involved to clarify things. We (as customers) are on our own here to guess about/identify problems.... Just some (great and motivated) resellers are engaging themselves here. But, as already mentioned this is a uniwheel thread and it would be nice and polite to state the innovations and improvements for this known problems in one of the many new gotway anouncements. For Uniwheel i hope any design issues known from other unicycles are solved - with the prior announcements of the qualification of the design team and the asked price for this wheel there should no issues to be expected! I am really looking forward to getting a new innovative competitor on the market, who hopefully changes standards in regard of driving safety! ... hopefully... I caN only tell you my experience with the MSuper. It looks like it recuperates a lot energy back in opposite to a first series KS18 with the old PCB and 500 W motor. I've stressed a MSuper 850 Wh last year on a tour up-/ downhill. No problem at all. With the KS18 I can show you overheating and really forced tilt back with a stop. There're differences between the products. But you don't find a product where all is perfect. There's a lot space for improvements left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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