InMotion V14 Reality Check

[Maverick]

It seemed to me when the V14 hit the market, the initial YouTube content wasn't awful, but it also wasn't favorable.  It took hits for being limited to 43mph, poor range, plastic upper body, high price. It had favorables for waterproofing, best climber, torque. True, the launch was a misfire, but ultimately InMotion revised it in black side panels and Samsung 50S batteries.  On the performance side in YouTube comparisons with its chief competitors, the V14 presented as capable but with the exception of Johnny Go Vroom, most other content seemed tepid, however it seems to be a hit in Spain.

Okay, that was a huge lead-in for my question.  When I look at YouTube or forums, I don't see much U.S. excitement for the V14 relative to its chief competitors, and yet, using eWheels as a benchmark of sorts, its original $3,299 price hasn't wavered.  Assuming the V14 isn't doing well in the U.S., I would assume price drops would be happening to move inventory.

I guess I'd appreciate comments.  Is the V14 a silent marketplace sleeper that's actually doing well?  Or, say any V14 thought that crosses you mind.  Be well. ~maverick 

Edited September 2 by Maverick

[litewave]

I agree there seems to be less attention paid to the V14 on this site and on the channels of popular YouTubers in the US. It could be the lack of demo wheels that have been sent out, less promotion by major resellers, and Inmotion's alleged poor engagement with YT channels. Wrongway (based in Poland and sometimes Canada) likes both wheels but prefers the Extreme as a better all-rounder iirc.

I would love to have a V14 but am hoping its price will drop soon now that the Extreme has fallen significantly. I think $2500 is the right price, but $3200 is just too high for me.

 

Edited September 2 by litewave

[Maverick]

Thank you for your thoughts.  My daughter has the V14 and I have the Extreme.  Both are beautiful machines.  For me when I try to do slow tight turns, the V14 tire has a noticeable transition and I always feel like it's going to topple over, but then on the other side of the transition it recovers.  My Extreme stays smooth throughout the lean.  I suspect V14 sales worldwide are respectable but there's no signs of that except for the stagnate price.  Be well. ~maverick 

[Popov]

About 500 people bought v14 from us at a price of 2200-2300 dollars and many are unhappy even with this price.
The quality of Inmo has become very low:
1. Bad oil seal, which starts to creak after 300 km and lets water into the engine, there are already flooded engines.
2. The cheapest bearing that Inmotion could find. Has longitudinal play from the factory.
3. Batteries, in which the contact inside comes off and it goes into the fail. Or the temperature sensor stops working.
4. The fastening of the inner rim of the motor to the rim of the wheel sometimes has play and knocking. As a result, the wheel turns and burns out. One person's turned off while driving because of this. Another one had this malfunction while he was recording a video for the seller.
5. Knocking bushings. They fall out of the guide pipes together with the oil seals. Probably appears with everyone over time.
6. Poor geometry of the guide pipes. Because of this, the suspension moves with difficulty.
7. The pedal mount is poorly made, there is a screw with a sharp end and it makes a deep groove on the pedal pin. And at the same time, you have to tighten it all the time, because it loosens and the pedal does not hold.
8. The headlight burns out. In this case, it can kill the board and the backlight, screen and Bluetooth stop working. Most likely, this is due to overheating, because there is not a gram of thermal paste on the microcircuit plate; the board does not touch the headlight housing to dissipate heat.
9. When falling, the block where the controller is located may fly apart. It flies into pieces or the piece where the handle is attached breaks off.
10. Disgusting firmware. The BMS firmware has an error for the model with 50s elements, at 100% charge it beeps, draws a red error triangle and loses the horizon. At 99%, this goes away. Inmo is in no hurry to fix it, although this problem is more than 2 months old. The second problem is that the percentages are lying. The screen shows from 10-30%, but the voltage is already 96V and the wheel lifts the pedals, loses the horizon and has to be carried in the hands.
11. Very high energy consumption. Shows the worst mileage among many other wheels. There is a person who tests different wheels at one speed (25 km/h) and v14 shows a very bad result.
Some numbers from these tests:
Inmotion v14 - 108 km 
Inmotion v12 - 118 km (Has a 55% smaller battery and a 9% longer range)
Inmotion v11 - 91 km
KingSong 16x - 109 km (Has a 70% smaller battery but the same range)
KingSong S19 - 91 km
KingSong S22 - 124 km (Has a 10% smaller battery and a 15% longer range)
Veteran Pаtton - 130 km (Has a 10% smaller battery and a 20% longer range)
Veteran Lynx - 171 km (Has a 13% larger battery and 59% further range!)
At the same time, Inmotion limited the wheel speed to only 70 km/h, although there is still a reserve. Inmotion does not use all the advantages of 50s battery cells, unlike Veteran Lynx and turns off the energy at 3v
12. The native white spring has a very strong preload and works only for very heavy people. The spring is not the size of the shock absorber, it is much larger than 134 mm, which should be initially. The black INMO spring, which can be bought separately, is no better, has the same problem and is not suitable for light people.
13. Poor assembly, low quality control. All bolts are tightened with different force - the pedal post is fastened with 4 bolts and each is screwed from 2 to 14 Nm
14. The retractable handle is very delicate. It stops fixing or cannot be removed.
15. Hall sensors in the engine sometimes fail.
16. A disgraceful charger with only 3A. And even such a weak device broke down for several people.

I hope I didn't miss anything important
A lot of people who bought the v14 were disappointed and sold this wheel.
Inmo needs to think about quality and support. Firmware should be released with updates, and not pretend that they know nothing.

Edited September 9 by Popov

[Scubadragonsan]

On 9/1/2024 at 10:09 PM, Maverick said:

Is the V14 a silent marketplace sleeper that's actually doing well?

I doubt they are doing well given so many on facebook and elsewhere. Usually when business is not doing well, they've to pump ads and selling directly to consumers! If what Popov  is true, this news get out, business would plummet!

[Maverick]

On 9/7/2024 at 9:32 AM, Popov said:

About 500 people bought v14 from us at a price of 2200-2300 dollars and many are unhappy even with this price.
The quality of Inmo has become very low:
1. Bad oil seal, which starts to creak after 300 km and lets water into the engine, there are already flooded engines.
2. The cheapest bearing that Inmotion could find. Has longitudinal play from the factory.
3. Batteries, in which the contact inside comes off and it goes into the fail. Or the temperature sensor stops working.
4. The fastening of the inner rim of the motor to the rim of the wheel sometimes has play and knocking. As a result, the wheel turns and burns out. One person's turned off while driving because of this. Another one had this malfunction while he was recording a video for the seller.
5. Knocking bushings. They fall out of the guide pipes together with the oil seals. Probably appears with everyone over time.
6. Poor geometry of the guide pipes. Because of this, the suspension moves with difficulty.
7. The pedal mount is poorly made, there is a screw with a sharp end and it makes a deep groove on the pedal pin. And at the same time, you have to tighten it all the time, because it loosens and the pedal does not hold.
8. The headlight burns out. In this case, it can kill the board and the backlight, screen and Bluetooth stop working.
9. When falling, the block where the controller is located may fly apart. It flies into pieces or the piece where the handle is attached breaks off.
10. Disgusting firmware. The BMS firmware has an error for the model with 50s elements, at 100% charge it beeps, draws a red error triangle and loses the horizon. At 99%, this goes away. Inmo is in no hurry to fix it, although this problem is more than 2 months old. The second problem is that the percentages are lying. The wheel shows from 10-30%, but the voltage is already 96V and the wheel lifts the pedals, loses the horizon and has to be carried in the hands.
11. Very high energy consumption. Shows the worst mileage among many other wheels. There is a person who tests different wheels at one speed (25 km/h) and v14 shows a very bad result.
Some numbers from these tests:
Inmotion v14 - 108 km 
Inmotion v12 - 118 km (Has a 55% smaller battery and a 9% longer range)
Inmotion v11 - 91 km
KingSong 16x - 109 km (Has a 70% smaller battery but the same range)
KingSong S19 - 91 km
KingSong S22 - 124 km (Has a 10% smaller battery and a 15% longer range)
Veteran Pаtton - 130 km (Has a 10% smaller battery and a 20% longer range)
Veteran Lynx - 171 km (Has a 13% larger battery and 59% further range!)
At the same time, Inmotion limited the wheel speed to only 70 km/h, although there is still a reserve. Inmotion does not use all the advantages of 50s battery cells, unlike Veteran Lynx and turns off the energy at 3v
12. The native white spring has a very strong preload and works only for very heavy people. The spring is not the size of the shock absorber, it is much larger than 134 mm, which should be initially. The black INMO spring, which can be bought separately, is no better, has the same problem and is not suitable for light people.
13. Poor assembly, low quality control. All bolts are tightened with different force - the pedal post is fastened with 4 bolts and each is screwed from 2 to 14 Nm
14. The retractable handle is very delicate. It stops fixing or cannot be removed.
15. Hall sensors in the engine sometimes fail.
16. A disgraceful charger with only 3A. And even such a weak device broke down for several people.

I hope I didn't miss anything important
A lot of people who bought the v14 were disappointed and sold this wheel.
Inmo needs to think about quality and support. Firmware should be released with updates, and not pretend that they know nothing.

I want to thank you for that candid response.  Overall the EUC market is small and data on sales seems to be closely guarded.  In my observing of forums, youtube, and the non-moving price, I couldn't get a read on whether it was silently successful or not.  Deeply appreciated. ~maverick 

[Rawnei]

If we disregard quality issues (Inmotion has good marketing and people are under the illusion that they have better quality which evidently they don't), then the V14 doesn't really bring anything special to the table, it's not best in class of anything, very mid-tier wheel in comparison to what is available on the market today.

[Unventor]

It might be so for some people but this is not something I see is the case for my V14 50S model. 

Yes the white spring setup is for either heavy people or as marketed towards more jumpy rides. I use it more as a commuter. So I changed it to their black spring shock solution. This works fine for me. 

Whatever some say about quality of the V14 it do holds a new level of design language that makes most services easier than other Inmotion design compared to how complex the model is. Obviously a suspension will add some more service considerations.

The lever of battery insights is something I had as a sales point on my to buy list. And this has not disappointed me yet.

As for range it takes 1% battery pr km ride. That is range at average speed of 25-30kmh with cruise top speed setting of 45kmh. My ride weight is about 95kg in MC goretex suit.

Like so many other things some have positive or negative experiences with any product. I am posting this as I do not see the negativity that is listed here that "others have" but share my own ownership. 

Can be other models out there could do similar on paper or maybe better. But I am very happy with my V14. So much I sold my best baby of V11. 

Note: some will label me as an Inmotion fanboy. I have no problem with that. I stand for my opinion.

[Forwardnbak]

I’ve been lucky I have 4 inmotion wheels and all of them are still rolling perfectly. 
I love my V14 it’s a great small trail wheel, I look forward to rolling on it. 

[Punxatawneyjoe]

On 9/7/2024 at 12:32 PM, Popov said:

I hope I didn't miss anything important

I would be interested in seeing your sources because your list seems a bit embellished. Maybe you had a bad experience with yours but mine and many others haven't had single problem  since unboxing it. Apart from the original shock being crap, and the hybrid tire not having much off road traction. I haven't seen any of the problems you have listed anywhere on forums since the initial batch 1 stanchion tube mold problem. The v14 with a knobby on it can climb any hill and with a good shock it rides like a Cadillac off road. Thanks in advance for your sources.

[jimjam.nyc]

I dont have a v14. But I have owned a few inmotion wheels. Including a batch 1 V12 which may have been one of the more botched launches of wheels to date.

I hate starting with that, because I have had zero issues with my V12 and enjoyed all of my inmotion wheels so far.

I think buying a wheel in general comes with a certain amount of anxiety because you kind of hear either horror stories or just how awesome everything is.

I think it comes down to the inherent danger of getting a lemon on any of these wheels.

Anyway.. Long story short. I dont think the v14 is a bad choice. I think there may be better options in all the categories the V14 falls into, but if the V14 hits all the marks for someone it would probably be a fine choice of a wheel.

I have seen quite a few around NYC riding..

[Skampster]

1 hour ago, Punxatawneyjoe said:

I would be interested in seeing your sources because your list seems a bit embellished.

 

On 9/8/2024 at 2:32 AM, Popov said:

About 500 people bought v14 from us at a price of 2200-2300 dollars and many are unhappy even with this price.

Maybe the unhappy CUSTOMERS he’s dealing with. 

[Punxatawneyjoe]

9 hours ago, Skampster said:

Maybe the unhappy CUSTOMERS he’s dealing with. 

Ohh really? Well that would be pretty stupid to take a dump on a product you sell to the general public.  Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Funny how we don't see any reputable dealers making these claims or any other negative claims about products they sell.

[Funky]

2 hours ago, Punxatawneyjoe said:

Ohh really? Well that would be pretty stupid to take a dump on a product you sell to the general public.  Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Funny how we don't see any reputable dealers making these claims or any other negative claims about products they sell.

Ofc most salesmen could care less what they are selling even said shit. Most important is that they actually sell the shit. No matter how smelly it is.

You won't find many honest salesmen.. Their only goal is to make the sale.

Doh if the salesmen know the turd hes selling is smelly, etc.. He also knows it will be a nightmare with warranty, as flies(buyer) will start buzzing around the salesmen.

Would you still want to sell the turd? If down the road the smell only will get worse? And maybe even more expensive than actually shit he sold in first place. Warranty repairs, to make the shit less smelly.

 

I personally would right out stop selling a specific wheel - if it had that many problems. Even if half of what he said was true.. (Maybe they even stopped selling it.. What say that they can't? So no shooting in the foot.) 

Edited September 13 by Funky

[Unventor]

2 hours ago, Funky said:

Ofc most salesmen could care less what they are selling even said shit. Most important is that they actually sell the shit. No matter how smelly it is.

You won't find many honest salesmen.. Their only goal is to make the sale.

Doh if the salesmen know the turd hes selling is smelly, etc.. He also knows it will be a nightmare with warranty, as flies(buyer) will start buzzing around the salesmen.

Would you still want to sell the turd? If down the road the smell only will get worse? And maybe even more expensive than actually shit he sold in first place. Warranty repairs, to make the shit less smelly.

 

I personally would right out stop selling a specific wheel - if it had that many problems. Even if half of what he said was true.. (Maybe they even stopped selling it.. What say that they can't? So no shooting in the foot.) 

Well I used to be a salesguy of profession. If you are to succeed long term there is only one way of doing this. Being honest.

If you act like you referred to that only leads to bad mouthing and returned products and a stock of products that you will loose money one. 

Now there are a difference to being honest or to do a sales pitch. But this requires you listen and understand your customer. This way you can help a customer to choose a product that suits them, which is not the same as you would buy the same product yourself as a salesguy.

So this can be seen a bit off topic. But if you read how I posted earlier in this thread I knew the suspension would be too hard for me out of the box. But the design of the V14 let fix this by changing this part to something else that suits me better.

This is part reason why I view the V14 as a great product and big step forward. 

But on the other hand if a rider favour LiberKin or Gotway spin off brands, then just number on paper do not always make it a good match to choose another brand. It is also this that makes me have high expectations to Inmotion as the contact I have had with them has shown me some of their way of thinking. It is a trust that to others comes across as fanboy often. 

Now that said being sceptical or taken something with a pinch of salt is a healthy approach in my opinion, but holding a very bias negative tone about salespersons in general will lead you to a negative experience ALWAYS. You will find what you seek.

On a side not. I had yet another appointment at hospital to get drop medicine due to rheumatic conditions I have. Today was the 43rd time. It is every 7-8weeks I do this. You get a relationship with the nurses there coming there so often. Riding an EUC get you noticed even more. But it always being huge smiles laughs and a nice talking point. Yes they know not much about EUCs yet one of the nurses has some in family that rides too. When she saw the V14 first time, that expression was simply priceless. 

Like all other things we do with EUCs trust is a huge part of this. And I had no problems with this on my V11 despite it had some issues down to me and a mother down to a bad lemon part (during the pandemic). All got fixed and served me well. The V14 only build that trust even more also in case I should service at some point. Toe it looks like a lot of thought and feedback I have given Inmotion went into this. A huge step forward. It would have been nice to see a V11 spec made in the design language of the V14. The V11y have some but I don't regret buying my V14.

[Unventor]

5 hours ago, Punxatawneyjoe said:

Ohh really? Well that would be pretty stupid to take a dump on a product you sell to the general public.  Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Funny how we don't see any reputable dealers making these claims or any other negative claims about products they sell.

I agree there are smarter ways to go about this. A good example is how @Jason McNeil have done on countless of times. 

Negative dumps do not improve sales. Jason is a master in the balance of constructive feedback and pushing products forward. Like he also do/did with V14. Thank you for that.

[Rawnei]

Maybe he doesn't want to sell them anymore with all those problems customers were having. 😅

[techyiam]

32 minutes ago, Unventor said:

I agree there are smarter ways to go about this. A good example is how @Jason McNeil have done on countless of times. 

Negative dumps do not improve sales. Jason is a master in the balance of constructive feedback and pushing products forward. Like he also do/did with V14. Thank you for that.

Doesn't Jason has his own people in China to do some assessment of quality before his production batches are put in a container to be shipped over to the US too? That can save some headaches and money.

[Ronin]

In nyc, at least 3-4 riders have a v14. That wheel is getting momentum. It was just badly advertised as an offroad wheel. Advertising wheels with a niche flag will not help with mass sales (offroad, race, jump, whatever it is). I tested it 3min and it rode nicely, was beeping extensively though. 

 

Edited September 13 by Ronin

[litewave]

I don't care about the nitpicks, I still want one.  

[Punxatawneyjoe]

6 hours ago, Unventor said:

Negative dumps do not improve sales

Absolutely correct and if you don't want to sell a particular product because of issues then just don't, it makes no sense to go out of you way to trash a brand and it's probably one of the highest selling brands if not the highest.(no exact data just my and a few others opinions). I had many problems with my v13 and Inmotion and Jason at ewheels worked together to fix all of them, i never had to fight for replacement parts. Every single part was replaced without question and it made a bad experience good. Most all wheels have issues in the beginning and the fact that my v14 has had none is pretty spectacular and believe me i have not been easy on it. I have pedal clipped 4 times now and it has tumbled down many embankments as well as my rigorous pull force testing that exceeded 12k watts on a 4k watt motor with no ill effects. I have beat the crap out of this wheel and it still works flawlessly so that is why I'm skeptical about all of the listed problems. Not saying they don't exist, i just would like to see the proof because it's the exact opposite of my experience.

Edited September 13 by Punxatawneyjoe
fixed my spelling thanks to the wifes proofreading

[techyiam]

9 minutes ago, Punxatawneyjoe said:

I had many problems with my v13

Thanks for sharing, good to know.

10 minutes ago, Punxatawneyjoe said:

Most all wheels have issues in the beginning and the fact that my v14 has had none is pretty spectacular

Was your V14 a later batch? How is range on your V14 compared to your V11?

[Skampster]

8 hours ago, Rawnei said:

Maybe he doesn't want to sell them anymore with all those problems customers were having. 😅

Stop making sense, you might annoy some people. 

[Punxatawneyjoe]

22 hours ago, techyiam said:

Thanks for sharing, good to know.

You are welcome, however i had shared them already here on my v13 thread.

22 hours ago, techyiam said:

Was your V14 a later batch? How is range on your V14 compared to your V11?

It was the 50s batch, so batch 2 maybe? I have not done any sort of range test on either wheel, if i had to guess from the percentage of drain riding the same trail system i would say the v14 has about 30-40% more range.

[techyiam]

1 hour ago, Punxatawneyjoe said:

You are welcome, however i had shared them already here on my v13 thread.

That's entirely possible since I am not constantly reading posts, and I only read from the "recent posts" section. So I end up miss reading a lot of posts.

1 hour ago, Punxatawneyjoe said:

It was the 50s batch, so batch 2 maybe? I have not done any sort of range test on either wheel, if i had to guess from the percentage of drain riding the same trail system i would say the v14 has about 30-40% more range.

That's good news. Your data point makes the range of the V14 sounds more reasonable than what others have reported.

Edited September 14 by techyiam