manuelz Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Hey guys. First post here after reading through half of your forum I'm looking into buying my first EUC. I drove a Solowheel the other day and loved it, but its way out of my budget. So I'm looking into direct import from China. Budget 500 bucks.My weight: 90kg, Commute 8km one way, hilly area, gravel, rain I found 2 options but have no clue if one of them is a (fairly) good choice or not. I want of course as much bang for my buck as I can get. They both dont sport lights, which I'll have to fit myself since we need to have those here in Switzerland. Also important: 20km/h max speed - by law. But I do want the full speed if anyhow possible. And no beeping at 12km/h!First choice is Aisu - the 9C9 model with 21km range looks great and might be the one for me. It comes in at just above 500 bucks shipping included. They make commercial saying the use good parts - but ofc I cannot verify that and everything they say sounds chinese to me (I have no clue about chips ect)Second find is Etech - its a bit cheaper at 400 bucks with shipping - but finding detailed information about it seems to be a problem. It does look great though on the pictures - but pictures often look good.So my questions are:Does anyone know any of those models or can give me any advice on it or other models in my price range?I will probably upgrade in a year or 2 to a named model, but to try and to fit my budget it's gonna be a no name...Thank you for any advice!Manuel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimlet Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Never heard of either of them.When I searched for my first cheap euc I went through the Chinese sales sites and made a short list of wheels with more open casings as I didn't like the idea of the case catching on kerbs etc. Then from that short list I google the names of each wheel until I found one that actually had a website so that I would have a point of contact to help sort out any problems.I ended up paying a total £230 for an EYU.CO delivered, when it arrived it had a tilt of 8% when at rest so I contacted the company straight away and even though it had been supplied by dxtreme they sent me a link to a video showing me how to reset it and we're generally very helpful.I still upgraded within 2 weeks as the 350W motor and 132Wh battery couldn't get my weight up the steep hill outside my house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esaj Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Hate to burst your bubble, but there are a couple of things you probably haven't taken into account:Most manufacturers exaggerate the range you get from the batteries (I don't know how they come up with the numbers, do they test them with something like 40kg rider downhill with tailwind? ), most generics have 132Wh or 170Wh batteries, seeing what ranges other people are getting, you're using 10-20Wh per kilometer, maybe 15Wh per km could be good average, but varies according to acceleration/hills/rider weight/road surfaces/temperature etc. I'm lightweight at 57kg (maybe around 60kg or a little less with safety gear), and I get something like 22-24km out of the Firewheel with 260Wh in good conditions (granted that battery packs don't have their full charge anymore, after hundreds of cycles). Also, almost all the generics usually use the same parts, the motors are probably 350W and the mainboards all have tilt-back and beeping warnings starting around 12km/h, with a top speed between 15 and 18km/h, depending on your weight etc.Also, on top of the unit-price + shipping, you have to pay customs duties and taxes (usually Value Added Tax, VAT), so the actual price is going to be higher. I'd say your best bet might be to try and find a used cycle domestically (isn't @^tom^ from Switzerland? Does he have any used wheels for sale?). There's also at least www.wheelzworld.com that's located in Switzerland, but they sell only Gotways and are probably out of your price range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuelz Posted June 21, 2015 Author Share Posted June 21, 2015 U know thats kind of the reason why I did this post.. because I want one very bad but I think I'll just be getting garbage and through my money out the window... I contacted tom and asked him Thanks for that hint. Maybe I really have to take a step back and save for a better alternative - or as you said, find a used one (i got no problems with that ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimlet Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I think I was lucky with my first wheel as it got through customs without any duty being added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esaj Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 U know thats kind of the reason why I did this post.. because I want one very bad but I think I'll just be getting garbage and through my money out the window... I contacted tom and asked him Thanks for that hint. Maybe I really have to take a step back and save for a better alternative - or as you said, find a used one (i got no problems with that )Most generic wheels are ok for start and practicing, but you'll likely want to upgrade faster than a year or two, depending whether the EU bug bites you or not, and from what I'm seeing, it usually does bite At least the TG-brand seems to have been reliable generic, I have some noname generic myself (it does have a logo but it's in chinese characters), that was bought used and has taken a lot of beating, still works just fine, I've had to open it a couple of times, first time the charging wires came off from the port inside the battery compartment, so had to solder them back on, and second time weeds, hay and such had gotten around the axle and were making noise, so I had to dismantle the shell to get it cleaned. Minor problems you probably could get with any wheel, other than those two occasions, it has worked with no hitch, despite taking a beating over my practicing period. After exactly 4 weeks of riding the generic (around 300km), I had the Firewheel, and haven't looked back since (I've ridden the generic a couple of times since, but whenever heading out for some real cruising, it's always the Firewheel).Practicing on the smaller wheel was good, and the shell took quite a banging, also had a couple of more major falls. After I had learned to ride with the generic, I could get going with the Firewheel straight away, also the Firewheel has fallen over exactly once when I was hopping a curb stone, so even after over 300km of riding, the shell is still like brand new (it was replaced with a new by the previous owner before selling, who had broken the original shell in practicing & off-road riding). So both of my wheels are actually second hand (as my signature states) and from the same person (vee73 here in the forums). I think I was lucky with my first wheel as it got through customs without any duty being added.Possible, but if ordering from overseas, I wouldn't count on it if you've really spread your budget tight and can't afford to pay the duties & taxes should they hit those on top Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
^tom^ Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 @Also important: 20km/h max speed - by lawForget the LAW:Your are not allowed to drive any of those without a license-plate and that plate you only get with a "Typengenehmigung" and what I know, there is not one wheel on the world-wide market that have it or has a change to get one!And yes, I have the Rockwheel 12 inch for sale, but the 500 bucks will not be enough (as I wrote you in our personal conversation) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmethvin Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Your are not allowed to drive any of those without a license-plate and that plate you only get with a "Typengenehmigung" and what I know, there is not one wheel on the world-wide market that have it or has a change to get one!The laws vary a lot by jurisdiction though. In the USA you don't need to register a wheel, get a license plate for it, or have an operator's license in any state. Each state sets the rules for where they can be ridden (streets, bike lanes, sidewalks) and the maximum speed. Generally it's somewhere around 10 to 15 mph (16 to 24 kph). We can thank Segway for doing a lot of the regulatory work here, the laws were a lot more restrictive until it came out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobby16 Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 @manuelzFor commuting, (to work, I mean), counting what the wheel brings in in term of gain of time, less car usage, near zero energy bill, less stress in traffic jam or public transport, ponctuality... even a 1000€ wheel is stil cheap. Except if you compare it to a bike.For a 8km one-way ride, you can divide your travel time by 2 using a high performance wheel like the Firewheel compared to a generic 350W / 14" wheel. It's what happened to me. So I will never use my generic 14" wheels for commuting, they are too slow and too dangerous because of the lack of power (and I am only 65kg, I prefer not to imagine them carrying you on hills with gravy roads). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuelz Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 The other possibility would be to buy a reeeeally cheap one (275) to learn how to ride and decide later..but I think thats even less worth..I see your point about commuting costs hobby16 - but a year subscription for the public transport in my town is 700 bucks - and I guess if its snowing and raining i'll take the bus anyways (which it does half the year) - so it would take me at best 3 years to have those 1000 bucks back. Whats the average lifetime of a EUC ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuelz Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 Allright, I made my decision. Thank you everyone for chiming in. I decided to go for a King Song 14 KS 14B with 340wh battery. I will give you a Review once I got the item and tried it a few days/weeks (i'll be in vacation in between, so it's gonna be at least another month)Price wise ist slightly over my Budget, but I decided its worth it and I can sell some stuff to make up for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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