New Ninebot E+ Rider! Impressions from first few days.

[Coinbot]

Hello!

  First off, I just want to thank everyone who has posted their experiences to this forum, especially when it comes to new riders. Your advice has made my experience a great one! I figured at the very least I'd share my experiences too, maybe the next new rider might find some motivation / useful information here. But, most of this will just be regurgitating what I've read around the forum!

  I live in Seattle, Washington (rainy) State in the U.S., a climate similar to the U.K. where I spent a few years back in my "youth." From what I see, I fit the average Ninebot profile - I'm 40, a software engineer, not particurly athletic, and had a ~15 minute walk after my train commute that I wanted to speed up. I'm about 210 lbs and 6'4", so there's quite a bit of torque on my inner shin/ ankle when trying to stand on one foot on the bot- but I was prepared to get a little sore.

  A few months ago, while I left the light rail train station and was starting my walk to work, I saw someone riding a ninebot, and he was soon out of sight: whizzing down the sidewalk at a high clip. My initial impression was "wow, that is FAST, actually looks solidly built, unlike the hoverboards, the wheel is big enough for bumps in the road, but I'm sure it's harder to ride than it looks." (I can now say it was not EASY for me to learn at first, but after a few days I'm very happy with my progress.) So about 2 weeks ago, after deciding that even folding e-bikes were too bulky for the train, that I couldn't wait any longer (even though rainy season is upon us) and ordered one off Amazon (through ninebot US) for $745 USD and it arrived about a week later.

  Before I even got the wheel, I scoured this board for any and all information that would be useful. I also watched most of SpeedyFeetUK's videos, all the Ninebot tutorial videos I could find, and the SoloWheel tutorial videos. This thread was also really useful, click on title for link:

 My learning experience in summary:

* Unpacked and noticed that it came with an extension for the tire inflation tube, as well as a bunch of protective foam padding and 3M double-sided tape to attach it. I found a video of how the foam could be attached. Note that it doesn't stick very well to the leg pads, so you can make a long piece and attach it to the sides of the bot on either side of the pads. Even with the padding, my shins were pretty sore for first 2 days. I bought a good helmet for protection, but decided to forego other protective gear. (I haven't fallen down yet, but I may still regret that decision! It'd probably be wise to start with knee pads, wrist guards, elbow pads, etc, as discussed elsewhere on the forum.) I took the foam padding off after the first day (for a static show-and-tell session) and probably should have kept it on longer. However, now that there are some good gouges and scratches, I'm less hesitant to hop off when I know I've lost my balance! Safety first... I'll probably wrap the Ninebot eventually, after my initial scratch-it-up phase is over.

-- DAY ONE -- 

* First 10-15 minutes: did the half-circle, back and forth thing, shown in the tutorials. I quickly realized why people were complaining about the inside of their leg being sore-- the "padding" felt like solid steel while I was learning at first! I also noticed that when I lift the bot without turning it off, the wheel likes to spin fast, and putting it back down on carpet/ floor leaves a nice black burnout mark. Oops!  Note: power off wheel before lifting it.

* Next 15 minutes: I stood on the bot, supporting myself with a hand on the wall, and practiced getting on and off the wheel, the "A-style" or however it's described. It's harder than I expected, as it looks pretty easy in the videos. I found that if my foot on the ground is too close to the wheel, when I jump up, I kicked the pedal, which flipped up, and dropped the wheel a few times (and nearly me.) I rolled on the Ninebot back and forth, supported by the wall, a few times. Then I realized I hadn't checked the tire pressure, which was at a critically low 6 PSI! Note: Inflate tire before hopping on. I inflated to 55 PSI (recommended by SpeedyFeet?) deciding to skip the "low pressure is easier at first" advice. (I think this was the right choice for me, as I didn't have to "re-learn" anything by changing the PSI.) Inflating the tire was easy, using the extension valve that came with my Ninebot.

* I just did this super basic practice for maybe 30 minutes, noticed my legs were getting kind of sore where they pressed against the pads, so I called it a night.

-- DAY TWO -- 

* Next hour (10-15 minute sessions, with 10-15 minute breaks between) I practiced riding in a straight line slowly, about ten feet, in my garage with a smooth floor (it was raining outside, but smooth floor was good for learning.) I tried to avoid using anything to hang on to, which forced me to learn to step on and off the ninebot. It took a while, but it's a well made machine, and I wasn't afraid to have it crash down onto the floor. 

* It was here that something really clicked for me: instead of leaning side-to-side, as if standing on one foot, the key was rotating my body (quickly) to turn into the direction I was falling. Video that shows that is: https://youtu.be/vA2dnxamzQ8 (Thanks to HunkaHunka... I mean Elvis for sharing that link in the thread above!) After about an hour, I could hop on and slowly roll across the garage, twisting like a wildman, but managing to stay upright for 10 feet or so. By "Hop On" I should clarify: right foot on pedal, Ninebot leaning slightly towards left foot on the ground, then simultaneously lean a bit forward and push off with left foot, and attempt to accurately place left foot on the pedal! Still working on that accuracy! If I remember to slow down to a stop first, getting off seems easier, as it's just the opposite motion.

* I found it very helpful to take constant breaks when my shins hurt or I wasn't making any progress. After putting my feet up for a while, then getting back on the Ninebot, I found that I had actually improved in very small increments. But unless you are completely encased in protective gear, expect some bumps and bruises. If you feel PAIN, just take a break. (I had to FORCE myself to be patient with this...)

* Next few hours: I set the speed limit to the lowest setting, 5 MPH or so. This was a good idea--I was overconfident and wanted to go faster, but then when I need to stop or jump off, then I was glad I was still moving slow! I took the Ninebot out to a level, smooth street with nearly zero traffic (I'd have used a parking lot if my street wasn't so quiet.) Practiced rolling straight, stopping, and putting foot down for 5, 10, 15, then eventually 50-75 feet at a time, looking AHEAD, not straight at the ground. Starting was still the most difficult part, and I can hardly say I've mastered it. Sometimes I'd just put my hand on the [edit: PARKED] car to cheat and get both feet nicely placed on the pedals. When I'd get to the end of the street, I'd stop, turn around, and repeat. When I lost balance and had to jump off, it was usually when trying to start/ hop on the Ninebot.

* Learning to go straight before learning to turn: I noticed that wherever I looked, I tended to automatically steer towards that direction. So, keeping my eyes at the end of the road, instead of things on the side, helped me keep it moving in a straight line. Eventually I realized I really didn't understand how to turn, and found SpeedyFeet's "How to Turn" video, which instantly helped a ton: https://youtu.be/z2yaxalPCZw

* Increased speed limit as I gained confidence on the street. After maybe another hour, I was feeling pretty confident. I learned what "tilt back" felt like, and that you actually need to lean back a little to make it stop tilting (instead of just trying to hold the same leaning position!) It's an interesting feeling, and very useful, as it's hard to hear the beeping when you're cruising along.

* Taking breaks along the way, I probably got 2-3 hours of riding in, and although hardly having mastered it, it's a great feeling to be making progress.

-- DAY THREE --

* I found a quiet, paved trail that had some 90 degree turns and some up-and-down slopes. I practiced slow turns, sharp turns, going up steep inclines, STARTING on a fairly steep incline (still pretty difficult!) and going downhill (interesting feeling!) Also practiced "stopping fast" (not too fast) and figure-8 style patterns in a parking lot.

* Every kid in the neighborhood asked me "WHAT IS THAT?" so I was happy to tell them--some parents were trying to whisk them away before they put one on their Christmas list... It's probably smart to consider yourself an "ambassador" of the electric unicycle, as it's a nice privilege to get to ride these on sidewalks! When I see a dense crowd or someone with a dog, knowing that I'm still a beginner, I always hop off and carry it. Since it's sooo quiet, it's probably a good idea to say "on your left" as you pass someone, otherwise they might freak out. That is, assuming, you pass them on the left.

* Riding feels pretty natural, going full speed on a smooth road with the wind in your ears-- what a great feeling!

* Just hopping on the Ninebot and starting is still probably the "hardest" thing for me. I just use a prop (street sign or wall) on occasion, and will keep practicing until it feels natural. Always leaving a wide berth around any other people, and taking it relatively slow for now, are things that seem to serve me well so far!

-- DAY 4, 5 --

* Day 4: Took the Ninebot to work in the trunk of my car. At lunch, I did a test ride around the neighborhood, and a test run to the train station. I'll be carrying across the crosswalks for now-- not worth the risk of crashing in the middle of the road (hah.) Demonstrated in parking lot for interested coworkers. They were amazed at the speed, although I have a feeling I'll be the only one with a Ninebot for the forseeable future  

* Day 5 is TODAY, and I'm "living the dream" that I'd imagined a few months ago. I got on the train with it (fits perfectly under the seat, http://i.imgur.com/ivYW3Hy.jpg ) took it up the escalator, hopped on, and cruised to work in record time! I also realized something: you're only as fast as the slowest, widest pedestrian in front of you! (until you have plenty of room to politely get around, of course.) I didn't really expect to be confident enough to be doing this by day 5, but just goes to show that you don't need a masterful sense of balance and agility to do this thing, and maybe some motivation to take the plunge if you're on the fence.

Anyway, I probably forgot a bunch of stuff, but that's been my experience so far. If I had to pick one key thing that helped me, it'd be the SoloWheel "Balancing" video that is linked above. Of course, knowing how to stop and start without falling down is a given skill, no getting around that! I'm happy to answer any questions if I forgot something.

Thanks again for all those who have paved the way! Glad to have joined the ranks.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Congratulations on learning the 'bot so quickly!  Yeah that Solowheel twisting video helped me a lot too.  It's handy for when you are moving really, really slow almost at a stop to stay balanced.  When you think of it, it's not much different than when you ride a bike and almost come to a stop.  You turn the front wheel to each side to keep balanced.  It's just when you get moving that you don't have to any more.

It's good to see you have a helmet.  A good motorcycle jacket with padding or separate elbow/knee pads and gloves are a great safety measure as well.  I'm practicing my stops  on hills.  Trying to get off on a slight downhill for some reason is a little tricky for me when the ground isn't level.  I was carrying some groceries bags in each hand coming back from the store, and I had to stop at an intersection.  There was a small dip going down, and the wheel kept moving a bit due to gravity.  I think I should have applied more reverse tilt pressure to keep it steady.  Practicing hands-free stops and launches is a good idea where you don't touch the 'bot at all.

[Coinbot]

I couldn't resist the trip to the corner grocery store either--I am pretty sure it was faster than driving the short distance, since I could go door-to-door! It did, of course, end up taking longer, because I stopped to answer some questions people had. But that comes with the territory, I'm quickly finding! And it is a lot more fun than driving, that's for sure.

Thanks again; your posts, in particular, were very helpful to me!

 

[Greg Spalding]

wow...

1.  congrats

2.  thanks for the stream-of-consciousness soliloquy.... WHICH I LOVED... thank you

i hope you will continue to add to this thread with pictures and videos and enjoy every single SAFE mile of travel

welcome

[dbfrese]

Well done, @Coinbot, thanks for sharing your experience. Lots of other beginners will benefit from your experience!

[Coinbot]

Today was raining pretty hard, but I decided to throw on a raincoat and go for it. Still felt stable, and I'm really glad I added grip tape to the pedals last night, as shown here: 

Loving it, really glad I just decided to keep it up despite the rain, and have been taking it to work all week long. I don't plan on riding at night, but will probably get a headlight/taillight next... Winter is coming! And I'll probably try a vinyl wrap at some point. 

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Technically Ninebot rcommends not riding in rain as the wheel isn't perfectly waterproof.  I had to do it due to a sudden rainstorm, and the wheel was fine.  I don't know why they can't weatherproof these like a motorcycle.  People are going to encounter all sorts of weather outdoors.

Have you done the battery securing mod yet?  While you're at it you can place some electrical tape over the top holes where the wire harness clip is.  There are also two holes at the bottom of the side pad boxes which I didn't tape up.  I guess they are there for some air circulation and for the box tabs to lock into place, but you'll find a lot of dust gets inside.

I also reversed my annular light ring connectors as I sort of like the spinning LED patterns to turn in the same direction I'm rolling.

[The Fat Unicyclist]

17 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

I don't know why they can't weatherproof these like a motorcycle.  People are going to encounter all sorts of weather outdoors.

You ride your precious outside???

18 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

I also reversed my annular light ring connectors as I sort of like the spinning LED patterns to turn in the same direction I'm rolling.

And you have a light ring on your annular - did it hurt???

[Vik's]

Congratulations! Welcome to the club!

7 hours ago, Coinbot said:

Today was raining pretty hard, but I decided to throw on a raincoat and go for it.

...

 

Riding my 9b1 in the rain all the time. There are some preventive measures/maintenance you can do to be on the safe side.

Take a look here:

 

 

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Yeah, I had to gently swab her down afterwards with some white baby kittens.  They make for the best cleaning action.

Annular as in once a year, dummy!  The light rings only last one year so you need to buy another set after 365 days.  Geez, don't they teach you proper grammar in school down there?    IPS Riders.  Sheesh!   Used in a sentence - "I get an annular check-up to stay healthy."

[Vik's]

1 hour ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

...

I also reversed my annular light ring connectors as I sort of like the spinning LED patterns to turn in the same direction I'm rolling.

I have a feeling that at some point it was possible to change direction in Ninebot app... Can't quite pinpoint which version though. I can only test a few versions because I get "upgrade to latest firmware... bla bla bla"...

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Do you ride with the app on?  I don't bother anymore because it doesn't track my gps trip.  I am still on firmware 1.2.5, but I have the latest iOS app.  I haven't checked it out thoroughly though.  I just notice in most people's Ninebot videos it's spinning in the wrong direction.  I had to change mine.  Guess I'm a bit annular that way.  

[The Fat Unicyclist]

23 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

Yeah, I had to gently swab her down afterwards with some white baby kittens.  They make for the best cleaning action.

Annular as in once a year, dummy!  The light rings only last one year so you need to buy another set after 365 days.  Geez, don't they teach you proper grammar in school down there?    IPS Riders.  Sheesh!   Used in a sentence - "I get an annular check-up to stay healthy."

Finally, a good use for fluffy kittens!

And thanks for the clarification - I was (obviously) thinking you meant annulus, which down here... actually,  never mind. We'll just leave that one alone. 

[Vik's]

9 minutes ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

Do you ride with the app on?  I don't bother anymore because it doesn't track my gps trip.  I am still on firmware 1.2.5, but I have the latest iOS app.  I haven't checked it out thoroughly though.  I just notice in most people's Ninebot videos it's spinning in the wrong direction.  I had to change mine.  Guess I'm a bit annular that way.  

Not always but I tend to use app to check remaining battery level and milage on some trips. Using it much more with minipro though.

I did swap the light ring connection a while ago because I didn't find how to do it in later versions of the app

[Coinbot]

On 10/21/2016 at 0:20 AM, Vik's said:

>> There are some preventive measures/maintenance you can do to be on the safe side.

 

Thanks for the tips on waterproofing/ battery securing -- I'll do that next! Still going strong after a week of commuting, and happy to say that all the "feedback" from people on the street has been of great interest and amazement. (I'm hoping to get a 1980's-style-jerk yelling NERD! at me some day, so I'm crossing my fingers! ;-)

Clocks are going back an hour pretty soon here, so might have to take a break from commuting until it's light again (don't particularly want to ride in the dark on the sidewalks I've been taking.) 

I don't have trouble lifting and carrying the bot, but I'm intrigued by the trolley handle they sell... might be nice.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Just an aside - to those pesky PETA members chasing after me, I believe in environmentally friendly Ninebot cleaning measures so NO I don't simply dispose of those kittens after wiping.  I'm not a heartless monster!  

I leave them for a bit, and they magically seem to clean themselves before reuse!  Call it "kitten wipe recycling!"  Works much better than those baby ducklings I was using before.  They squirm and peep waaay too much.

[The Fat Unicyclist]

7 hours ago, Coinbot said:

I'm hoping to get a 1980's-style-jerk yelling NERD! at me some day, so I'm crossing my fingers!

I can beat that... I've had a passing boy racer yell "HOMO!" 

I still don't know why he wanted to share his sexual preference with me... But I laughed all the way home anyway! 

[litewave]

21 minutes ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

I can beat that... I've had a passing boy racer yell "HOMO!" 

I still don't know why he wanted to share his sexual preference with me... But I laughed all the way home anyway! 

Were you riding tandem at the time? 

[Coinbot]

Hah! I doubt that'd fly as an insult around here.

Another day, another fun, expedited commute! Spent an hour in a parking lot just practicing stepping on and off the bot--definitely noticing a big difference today. Still a ways to go before I'm completely comfortable stopping and starting quickly.

I'm really starting to think the trolley handle would be handy. I haven't had to carry the 'bot for any substantial distances, but waiting in line for lunch today, it would have been useful. For $60 USD, though, I might have to try and make one. Initial searches around the forum for a home built one haven't yielded anything yet. I do have some machining tools and a 3D printer, so I might as well make use of them...

 

[steve454]

On 10/24/2016 at 4:54 PM, Coinbot said:

I'm intrigued by the trolley handle they sell... might be nice.

At 60 dollars it's overpriced but worth it.  It is flimsy though, don't ride with the telescoping handle in the bracket, if you drop the Bot the handle could break.  It would be great if you can find or design something that would be less expensive.  I'm thinking something like the handle on the Inmotion V5F+ could be used, drill a hole through the Ninebot handle at the hinge end and put a curved handle extension there that you could lift up to the right height.  It could curve around the shell and also double as a mudflap.

[Coinbot]

Looks like telescopic replacement luggage handles are fairly cheap, so I'll poke around and see if I can't rig something up, one of these days.

Or perhaps the handle off an oar (minus the paddle,) it looks pretty sturdy... 

[Vik's]

9 hours ago, Coinbot said:

Hah! I doubt that'd fly as an insult around here.

Another day, another fun, expedited commute! Spent an hour in a parking lot just practicing stepping on and off the bot--definitely noticing a big difference today. Still a ways to go before I'm completely comfortable stopping and starting quickly.

I'm really starting to think the trolley handle would be handy. I haven't had to carry the 'bot for any substantial distances, but waiting in line for lunch today, it would have been useful. For $60 USD, though, I might have to try and make one. Initial searches around the forum for a home built one haven't yielded anything yet. I do have some machining tools and a 3D printer, so I might as well make use of them...

 

As useful as it is, you'll soon forget the price. Sturdy quick-mount is really worth it.

[Coinbot]

On 10/27/2016 at 10:45 PM, Vik's said:

As useful as it is, you'll soon forget the price. Sturdy quick-mount is really worth it.

Good point! Plus, it'll "cost" me at least $60 in time/effort to make something similar (but might be fun anyway.)

[Coinbot]

I just wanted to update this post after a couple weeks of commuting. I am so glad I went for what seemed like a "crazy" idea at the time (buy a Ninebot One for my commute;) the first few weeks have been extremely fun and even proving to be somewhat practical.

So far, every single interaction I've had with people has been positive, with the most common questions being "What is that?", "How long did it take to learn?", "How does it do in the rain?", and occasionally "How much does it cost?"

Certainly still learning, but heading out in the sunshine this afternoon, cruising to a restaurant a few miles away for lunch, was a complete "satisfied customer" experience. Taking it slow, and haven't had any fall-down crashes (yet) even though it's hard to be patient sometimes.

Oddly, I haven't seen any other ninebot (or EUC) riders since I started, maybe because the weather has been bad? I know there are more in Seattle...