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beginner tips


sickswan

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Hey so I just got my first wheel it's a generic one. This one is called a zip wheel by eightball, there is a few on ebay starting at around 270 quid. 

I got mine second hand from there for £165.50 delivered to my door with training wheels, charger and safety strap. There's a few scuffs here and there but just makes me feel better about scuffing it up my self lol.

First impressions are that it looks fairly sturdy and not too badly built (time will indeed tell)...

So I've strapped on the training wheels and strap and had a quick lean backwards an forwards against a wall... My first impressions are how the hell does anyone manage to ride one of these things haha.

So any beginner tips welcome! 

I'm taking it round a mates in a couple of hours were he has a bigger garden full of flat grass as mine is a bit choppy an it's took me 10 years after a crazy night with a bonfire to get my grass to look anything like grass again so don't wana be ripping that up haha... so I figure I'll go dig his garden up (shh don't tell him I said that) lol. 

I will update this later tonight after I've shed some skin and twisted a few joints.. seriously tho I figure this could be a good start to a thread about do's sand don'ts and all other manner of wisdom when first starting..

Looking forward  to all your input will try an get a few videos and snaps to show you where I'm at so ya can point out what I'm doing wrong..

Cheers 

Luke

 

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Congratulations on your new generic wheel :D

I think the fastest way to learn riding an EU is to take off the learning wheels and have a friend walk with you while you ride your wheel.
Hold one hand on his/hers shoulder and the other hand on your strap.
Try keeping your body straight and dont lean on your helper.
Keep your eyes straight ahead and look where you want to go.
The wheel is much easier to balance when you have some speed, so dont drive too slow. 

Oh, and check out a couple of the 60 second videos by "Ninebot UK" on youtube. Especially the "How to get on" video.

Good luck!

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Cheers dude will give that a try.. I read somewhere to let the tyre down a little to help stability.. I know this works with motocross/enduro/trials bikes ( I used to run around 4 psi in my trials bike) sound about right?

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Throw away the training wheels firstly. There a gimic to aid sales  

 

Then  use the skate board method of starting, ie. Place left foot lightly on left plate and sort of hop your right foot say twice like your pushing a skate board the step on. This way the wheel is moving forward so you have momentum. 

Best at advise is to look forward not down at your feet. 

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Ok guys first days over and I don't think I did soo bad in the end vids are uploading to youtube as I type. Managed to get going without much control but I was going even managed a ride back from the park with a fair few dismount and I managed to get down a curb too wahoo will link vids when there done uploading..

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@sickswan: Not bad at all, considering you're riding on soft ground with training wheels. Get some protection and try it on hard surface (asphalt or such), then after you feel you can ride it without the wheels, try without the them or with one training wheel only. It will take some learning to get going without the training wheels, but after you get that, the rest is "just" learning braking, stopping and turning, and then you've got the basics down.

To get going, I myself lean the wheel against my stronger legs' shin (right foot on pedal, wheel leaning to shin), then sort of "hop" my other feet on the other pedal and immediately start leaning (slightly!) forwards to get going (so I'm actually stationary for a split second). To me, that seems easier than the "skate board"-kick start, to others, the other way around. See which one works for you better.

You can get rid of the strap once you learn to stop the wheel without it going anywhere, it will be easier to balance then with your both hands free, but I wouldn't suggest leaving the strap until you got controlled stopping figured. Basically, for me, it's just the opposite of getting going, braking to stop, then lifting my left foot to ground, holding my right foot on the pedal so I can keep the wheel stationary and prevent it from falling over.

"Normal" braking (slowing down) happens just by leaning backwards, but in case you need to stop faster, I have done it by bending my knees a little bit, leaning slightly back and pushing the wheel forwards from myself. Just be careful, if the battery is low and there isn't much torque, it might not be able to handle this, and you could accidentally kick the wheel from under you, until you've learned how it behaves and get the "feel" how far and how fast you can push it.

Turning in faster speed happens simply by leaning, in slow/crawl speed you sort of tilt the wheel by pushing the other pedal down and lifting your opposite foot a bit (so you're standing upstraight, but the wheel is tilted to the direction you want to turn). With the 14" generic, I can do very small continuous circles this way, with the 16" Firewheel, not that small, but narrow bicycle lane is enough for me to do 180-degree turns on with it too.

Have fun!

 

Edit: Oops, just noticed there were more videos, where you already ride on asphalt without training wheels... :D

You should probably start learning to ride at walk/crawl speeds soon...

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Thanks for all the input guna have a day off today.. I've lost all the hair on my legs on the inside above the ankles and there bruised to buggary had a quick go round at a mates today with his crosser boots on seems better while learning less rubbage/ankle clanging lol so guna dig mine out for tomo it's just too nicer day not to drink beer in the garden today haha 

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just finished with the gaffa tape and sponges I had lying around seems to help a lot with comfort for now but looks like an abortion haha ah well practical over pretty hey. don't think I could take another ankle clang getting on haha

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On 6/11/2015 at 11:17 PM, sickswan said:

Any tips on what to use for padding on the parts my legs and ankles rub? I'm thinking gaffs tape and sponges...?

simple shinbads as worn by football players, turned to the inside by about 90 degrees, these cost around 5 bugs a pair.

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