Jayzao Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 Being new to EUC riding, I have yet to fall off and have my EUC get too far away. I drilled around and caught it for a couple of sessions. However, I could see that once you are faster, the unit could bounce down a hill or run into a street. Watching some Youtube videos, we noticed some folks run lanyards and some don't. What is the opinion of the group? Should we get lanyards for our units or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerbera Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 (edited) If my ride is on familiar, mostly level ground then I don't feel I need a leash, although there is something to be said for controlling the distance a wheel can run away from you in an unexpected crash in a busy public area. But whenever I am in such areas I am always going so slowly I don't think it's so much of a risk. But I definitely DO need one if I am doing anything on country trails on hills with uneven terrain ie - where the wheel could fall and tumble for ages if it goes off the edge of a drop-off in the wrong place, or could go bouncing off down a hill where it is free to dash itself to death if you are unlucky with tree and undergrowth placement, or end up somewhere unrecoverable, or worse still, in water ! So proximity to those sorts of things governs whether I use mine or not. Just yesterday I resisted the urge to do a South-westerly assault on the biggest hill around me because I had forgotten one half of my leash setup, and I know the way up there to have perilous sections. But wherever I can reasonably not use one I don't - they are a proper pain in the arse a lot of the time, not least because if you don't want to run your leash between your legs (and no bloke should!) then you have to run it out to the side of you, which means you have to step over it every time you mount or dismount, which drives me nuts, and makes these things very ungraceful and unwieldy. And then there's all the faffing about trying to find what actually constitutes the perfect leash for EUC. I'm a fan of break-away ones for example that extend, and then ultimately snap in a crash, so that the wheel isn't physically tied to you after it has fallen over, which is the only aim of a leash in my book (making it tip over). Other people very much disagree with me about the wisdom (or not) of the 'break-away' school of thought, so you'd have to decide what is the perfect leash for you... In case you are interested, this is what mine looks like... So the top band is a very strong laptop shoulder strap, made exactly the right length to go snugly around my (armoured) waist, with cushioning pad, and Spring-Clip A, which joins to similar clip A on the other part, in theory for easy connection and disconnection. However in practice I fucking hate those cheap spring clips which seem to ALWAYS catch my damn gloves in the closure, and require far more effort than I think they should take to unclip ! B is the connection point to the wheel, a long industrial velcro strap that connects to my Grizzla rear handle very securely. However, that is only held to the cable by 3 elastic hair bands (of all things!), which I have chosen because they will break once the first big tug to the wheel has been imparted, and only then IF the extender section C won't stretch any further. But in most cases I would hope it will, which is why there's a length-doubling section at point C, also held loosely together by a couple of hair bands, but here the cables can pull free at either end, which means that whilst you are not crashing your leash is nice and short, and you don't have to worry about it getting tangled in your wheel or frame, but in the event of a crash, the leash will instantly double in length to let wheel get a safer distance away from you before it falls over when it reaches that limit. Additionally, the lower section is a strong bungee, so can stretch as well, further increasing the distance the wheel can be away from you, AND meaning that forces are exerted more gradually, rather than in a 'brick-wall' sort of way... I have only had the opportunity to test this in a practical, real-world fall just the once, and on that occasion it worked well; the wheel was allowed to get ahead of me by about 2m before I felt a sharp (but incremental!) tug at my waist and it fell over on its side, and cut out as intended. On that occasion there wasn't enough force involved to break my hairbands, so it remained attached to me ! Edited May 20 by Cerbera 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerbera Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 This may help you a fair bit - it's lovely Dawn, discussing the subject... at length 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellkitten Posted May 20 Share Posted May 20 All of the hardcore local off road riders use them. Mostly to stop their wheels from rolling into water or down the sides of cliffs. They all have two breaking points on the leashes. Some of the ride leaders demand you use them on their rides. I don’t know anyone that uses them on the street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayzao Posted May 20 Author Share Posted May 20 (edited) 3 hours ago, Cerbera said: This may help you a fair bit - it's lovely Dawn, discussing the subject... at length Thanks! This is where I got the idea. Dawn seems to believe a tether, lanyard, or leash is the way to go. Have you seen a video where she specifies which ones work best? Some folks say a wakeboard or surfboard leash works best. Edit. Doh, you sent me the video with a recommendation. Edited May 20 by Jayzao Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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