thefork Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 I was thinking that I wanted to write down my progress in EUC riding, sort of like a diary, so why not share it with you guys? This topic will focus on my thoughts and impressions as I learn to ride, but I will also write a little bit about the EUC itself (Inmotion V5F+) since I know that some of you are interested in hearing what a n00b thinks of it, compared to someone with a little more experience. My next post will be about my first day riding the vehicle (ok, toy). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonTheMad Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 @thefork excellent angle: "what a n00b thinks of it" ? Hower I bet you will become an expert in no time! Looking forward to your diary posts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefork Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 1 hour ago, JonTheMad said: @thefork excellent angle: "what a n00b thinks of it" ? Hower I bet you will become an expert in no time! Looking forward to your diary posts! Jul 15, Friday morning: I've been at my mother's country house for one day. The EUC is expected to arrive on Tuesday next week, but as I wake up and grab my phone (always the first thing I do) I notice a failed delivery attempt at around 9:30 am. Dang! Now I'll still have to wait until Monday. Although it's earlier by one day than originally expected, the wait is almost unbearable. Jul 18, Monday afternoon: Ok, time to collect. I finally have the wheel but cannot ride it yet. It's now time to go back to the country house, a 3 hr drive. I did have just enough time to unpack it and attach the included mudguard and trolley handle (thanks @Jason McNeil). First impression: it looks gorgeous! Jul 19, Monday evening: Dinner is eaten and I have free play (I'm an adult, but I still play). Yey! I don't have any protection for the wheel so I decide to start on the grass. After spending half an hour grass-wise I give up and move to the guest house porch where there are some railings and such to grab on to. What a difference! Another 15 minutes here and I can go from one side to the other (about 1.5 meters) most of the time without falling. I now move over to the garbage bin by the gravel road outside the house. Having tied a rope around the handle (to save the EUC in case of a fall, not to hold on to tightly), and disabled the lift button in the handle (important if using a rope!), it's now time to try my luck. Grabbing hold of the bin I can easily get on the wheel (although my shins are starting to feel bruised). But I fall. And fall. This is going nowhere, who am I kidding? And then, suddenly, I don't fall -- until about 50 meters down the road. Calling it a victory, it's time for bed. Total training time so far: about an hour. Jul 19, Tuesday morning: After a quick breakfast, it's wheel time! I start by setting max speed to 15 kph, get on the wheel, and immediately fall. Second attempt: yes, I'm doing it! And this time I ride all the way to the mailbox, some 750 meters away! I ride back to the house. Reflection: 15 kph feels fast! Still, I want to try higher speed, so this time I set it to 20. Down to the mailbox I go, and then back. Nice! 15 kph now seems silly slow and 20 is the new black. Upping to 25. Down and back. Wow! It's hard to imagine wanting to go faster than this. Time to cut (well, untie) the rope and re-enable the lift button. I go back and forth for maybe 30 minutes, constantly noticing improvements in balance and stance. Time for a break, my feet and legs are killing me! Soon I'll write about how the afternoon went, but right now it's time to check the mail! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
US69 Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 fantastic....go on reporting :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefork Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 21 minutes ago, KingSong69 said: fantastic....go on reporting :-) Thank you, I will very soon. I just want to say that if anyone has any questions either regarding my experience as a beginner or about the wheel itself, please feel free to pose. I don't see a need to keep this thread absolutely "clean" if you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunka Hunka Burning Love Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 Congratulations on the progress and sharing your diary with us! Although I do have to admit that I was a little disappointed as I thought there would be more tales of intrigue and details of secret longings for Mr. Darcy while you were courted by other noble countrymen of ill repute! Or at least some tales of maybe how you and your wheel had to be stashed away in the attic to avoid detection and the prosecution of occupationist oppressors! Where's the juicy bits man?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefork Posted July 20, 2016 Author Share Posted July 20, 2016 48 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said: Where's the juicy bits man?! Sorry, no juicy bits (are you sure you're on the right forum?). ? Jul 19, Tuesday afternoon and night: This time I'll just jot down my thoughts in the form of an unordered list. - Progress is slower now, but my low-speed riding is still improving rapidly. - Turning sharply at low speed works sometimes, but sometimes not. - Getting on without support is still hard, but doesn't feel impossible anymore. - The wheel feels very powerful! Accelerating to top speed in the middle of a 12-15% incline is no sweat at all. - Range seems good. I'll have to do more testing, but I believe I could probably get around 35 km out of one charge. - The built-in headlight works really quite well. I went on a trip to (you guessed it) the mailbox at pitch black nighty-night sleepy-time and had no trouble staying on the gravel and on the wheel. Although the light gave me at least five meters, I did notice that I was only looking about three meters ahead. - The light also came in handy as I put away the string trimmer that I had left out. Good thing the former comes on a wheel! - Riding on the grass is now possible for the most part (some bumps are still too big for me to handle). - Total riding distance so far: 32.6 km. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunka Hunka Burning Love Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 4 hours ago, thefork said: Sorry, no juicy bits (are you sure you're on the right forum?). ? Wha... What? This isn't the "Fans of Jane Austen / Anne Frank" diary sharing group forum? I must have clicked the wrong window... Oh man, my bad my bad .... That explains all this weird talk about riding around on one wheel and unusual mailbox visitations in the middle of the night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloudust Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Great diary! I'm thinking if I should get Inmotion V5F+ or Ninebot One P.... dilemma... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefork Posted July 20, 2016 Author Share Posted July 20, 2016 37 minutes ago, cloudust said: Great diary! I'm thinking if I should get Inmotion V5F+ or Ninebot One P.... dilemma... Dilemma? I think not! Just read everything you can find in this forum on those two wheels. I think that the Inmotion should come out a pretty clear winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fat Unicyclist Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 38 minutes ago, cloudust said: Great diary! I'm thinking if I should get Inmotion V5F+ or Ninebot One P.... dilemma... Isn't only one of them actually available for sale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloudust Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 8 minutes ago, The Fat Unicyclist said: Isn't only one of them actually available for sale? Sorry, I meant Ninebot One E+ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefork Posted July 20, 2016 Author Share Posted July 20, 2016 25 minutes ago, cloudust said: Sorry, I meant Ninebot One E+ Ah I see. Take a look at what @Jason McNeil has to say on the matter. For me the 9bot was not even a consideration. https://www.ewheels.com/product/inmotion-v5f/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fahrtwind Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Nice diary! Could be written by me one year ago except the long distance to the Mailbox as my letters are thrown through my front door How ever, there are many reasons to cycle arround. My new hobby is to drive the trashcans to the street on tuesday evenings and playing Ingress. I had hurting legs and feet for the first weeks altough I am a trained runner (at least 20km per week). This took the most of the time: getting relaxed on the wheel without terrifying seconds because of bumps, changing ground. It needs sometime to stop thinking about you´re driving a uniwheel and driving it routinely. I wish you nice and safe rides without any faceplants! Keep on practicing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunka Hunka Burning Love Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 When I first started riding I didn't keep a journal of events, but I sort of remember what happened even though I try to forget. I'll share it with you now. Day 1 - Turned on EUC, tried to get on, epic fail, injured shin. Ow. Day 2 - Put training wheels on, was able to scoot around a parking lot while holding the belt/leash! Yah baby! So easy! Day 3 - Removed training wheels, at hockey rink, trying to get some forward lean going, veer and crash to the side. More shin pain. Day 4 - Practicing in my kitchen. Zooming back and forth in between chairs beside me. Making black marks on the floor due to weird Generic greasy tire. Day 5 - Learned a few new swear words. Taped some side pads on. Kept crashing wheel in parking lot. How the heck do those Youtube people actually get on this thing? Day 6 - In denial - blaming cheap Generic wheel for likely being defective since I cannot ride it. Likely never will. Wasted my $300! Day 17 - Finally able to ride around in a basketball court but waving arms to balance and turn like a mad man. Day 65 - Cruising around the neighbourhood like a celebrity enjoying all the fame and fortune! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juick Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 @HunkaHunkaBurningLove Haha, it was very similar for me. Only Day 3 for me was like: I can go forward without falling now (mostly). Lets check how fast it can go! After getting to 14-15 km/h I wheeled over medium sized crack in pavement which catapulted me forward, hurting my elbow quite bad. I had to wait another week before trying again, because I could not use my arm at all due to pain. (had really big dark purple bruise too) Bought some safety gear after that and was more careful and everything went smooth since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 26 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said: Day 1...... LOL, I enjoyed your memories 27 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said: Day 6 - In denial - blaming cheap Generic wheel for likely being defective since I cannot ride it. Likely never will. Wasted my $300! Seriously...you must be kidding, don't wanna flaunt but here is video from my actually second full day of riding. I got my first generic late in the Friday evening 4 Dec, took it outside immediately but 130wh battery gave up after an hour and so, three more sessions next day and one more in Sunday 06 Dec when I took the video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunka Hunka Burning Love Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 I have to admit there were some dark times where I thought there's just no way I'm going to be able ride this thing. Maybe it's because I haven't ridden a bike for a long time or the fear of injury instinct was getting in the way. Was yours a 14" generic as well? Mine came with the tire pumped up like a rock, and honestly it was pretty challenging. I almost gave up at one point, but adding the side cushions really saved the day. With the Ninebot and 16" wheel it just seems so much easier, maybe because of the extra weight it doesn't seem as tipsy as my generic. I can laugh about it now , but back then it was the hardest thing to get used to. It took my only a few moments to get riding on a hoverboard, and I've ridden skateboards before as well as a Ripstick Board which was tricky. I don't know. This generic wheel was just a terrible, terrible struggle for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 14 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said: Was yours a 14" generic as well? Mine was 14 too and as you said the tire was pumped as a rock. Similar experience, the wheel was shaky and too light. Very inconvenient to step on it without assistance, I learned this skill after a week. After month riding KS16, I got a chance to try my old generic again...oooh boy, I almost felt like a beginner again for the first 10 meters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 15 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said: It took my only a few moments to get riding on a hoverboard Same here, I stepped on it felt it (stood in almost no motion) for a 10 seconds and just started to ride. 17 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said: I've ridden skateboards before Me too...a lot, but some 36-37 years ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunka Hunka Burning Love Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Did you watch any videos before starting to learn? I think I might have watched mainly the ones where people are riding like pros so I thought man it can't be that hard. I don't think I watched any instructional ones though so I had this idea of I got this cool new wheel, and I'm going to ride it on the first try. Boy it was not as easy as it looked! Even in the rink, I could balance on it while holding the side wall, but for some reason I just could not find my balance while leaning forwards as it would veer off all the time. It's strange - even now I'm not sure what I was doing wrong. After I found my balance point it slowly improved. Turning was a trick though as I'd have to wave my arms a bit to help turn and balance at the same time. It's very weird how my learning progressed. I wonder if I would have had more luck starting on the Ninebot. The extra weight just makes it seem more less prone to tipping when starting from a stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pasi Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 I bought my generic just know nothing about euc. Never seen videos etc... 1.st day I started with training wheels and it sounds good. Fortunately one training wheel got broken and I had to take them off. After that it was very difficult. 3.rd day evening when it was dark I went into hiding place where I can be alone, and I had skiing poles with me (I am quite good skier, but it did not help) to get balance. (I hope to have a video of that evening???). That evenig I learn to ride from place to place but not without support when start. After some days I studied hop-on hop-off system. First weeks I used calf/leg protection because first days they got extremely painful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefork Posted July 20, 2016 Author Share Posted July 20, 2016 1 hour ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said: Did you watch any videos before starting to learn? I think I might have watched mainly the ones where people are riding like pros so I thought man it can't be that hard. I don't think I watched any instructional ones though so I had this idea of I got this cool new wheel, and I'm going to ride it on the first try. Boy it was not as easy as it looked! Even in the rink, I could balance on it while holding the side wall, but for some reason I just could not find my balance while leaning forwards as it would veer off all the time. It's strange - even now I'm not sure what I was doing wrong. After I found my balance point it slowly improved. Turning was a trick though as I'd have to wave my arms a bit to help turn and balance at the same time. It's very weird how my learning progressed. I wonder if I would have had more luck starting on the Ninebot. The extra weight just makes it seem more less prone to tipping when starting from a stop. Yes. Yes I did. After ordering the V5F+ I had to wait for over three weeks before receiving the wheel, and I did nothing BUT watch videos (including instructionals) and read the forums during that time. I also had a Google Alert on Inmotion, so as not to miss anything important. Oh, and I built a training "wheel" to practice stepping on and off (see below). I haven't tried any other wheels but I imagine that a larger and heavier one would be easier to get going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
US69 Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 5 minutes ago, thefork said: Yes. Yes I did. After ordering the V5F+ I had to wait for over three weeks before receiving the wheel, and I did nothing BUT watch videos (including instructionals) and read the forums during that time. I also had a Google Alert on Inmotion, so as not to miss anything important. I haven't tried any other wheels but I imagine that a larger and heavier one would be easier to get going on. i learned on a 14 and now meanwhile own a KS18.... i think learning on THAT wheel would go a LOT faster...as it leans to your knee...so for the first balancing...yes...would be easier :-) but not for learning curves and driving like fahrtwind....it does not have this agility! before Ks18 i could not drive one feet...with the 18... its sooo easy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 2 hours ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said: Did you watch any videos before starting to learn? Yes, I did and deliberately looked for the instructional ones. But I fell across this forum sort of late...three weeks after my generic has arrived. Otherwise, I would probably not have bought generic EUC but branded one like @thefork did. 2 hours ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said: Even in the rink, I could balance on it while holding the side wall, but for some reason I just could not find my balance while leaning forwards as it would veer off all the time. Riding EUC requires brain & muscle skill which is completely new. I remember in the beginning, on every new path, territory, environment, etc., I was loosing balance because the brain could not cope with the all new information. Not to mention how the wheel wobbled my first times in the crowd...I even thought mechanical/electronic failure had happened...and now I eat ice cream (both hands occupied) while slaloming among the crowd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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