John Eucist Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 The first time I've experienced a "death wobble" was back in mid-2014 when I was riding a geared Rockwheel 12 inch. At that time I accelerated extremely quickly from standstill and it suddenly developed the wobble, seemingly for no reason. I remember that I just could not "un-wobble" it as it got worse and worse over several seconds so that at the end I had to run off the euc. I ran off the euc no problem but then the trailing projectile euc flew into my legs and the spinning tires skinned my calves so it was pretty painful. After that incident I kept thinking what I could have done or what should I do in the future if a death wobble happens again. My conclusion was that I should have tried to quickly decelerate, which is something I didn't do or think of for some odd reason. I said to myself "I must remember to do this if it happens again". I've never had a death wobble experience ever since until a few days ago when I was trying to readjust my foot position on my Inmotion V8. I guess the grip tape and/or that unique rubbery bulge on the edge of the pedal (standard on V8 pedals) caught my shoe while I was trying to adjust and I went into a death wobble again (for the second time ever). Once again, I seem to have forgotten to try to decelerate. The wobble was just as bad as my first experience with the Rockwheel but miraculously after like 5 seconds I was able to un-wobble it while maintaining the same speed (around 20 km/h). After the incident I question myself why I have forgotten to do what I told myself to do "if it ever happens again".Another question I have now is whether or not higher pedals (closer to the spoke) makes it easier to cause the wheel to wobble? Anyways, have any of you experienced "death wobbles"? How did you handle it? Does decelerating work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Eucist Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 For those who don't understand what I mean by "death wobble" here is a video of it happening on a Jeep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerbera Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 19 minutes ago, John Eucist said: Anyways, have any of you experienced "death wobbles"? How did you handle it? Does decelerating work? Yes, and yes; decelerating totally solves it. Ian from speedyfeet also mentions it (and how losing speed saves it) in his massive review of the MS3. CBR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Eucist Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 1 minute ago, Cerbera said: Yes, and yes; decelerating totally solves it. Ian from speedyfeet also mentions it (and how losing speed saves it) in his massive review of the MS3. CBR Can you please link me to this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerbera Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 1 hour ago, John Eucist said: Can you please link me to this? Sure. Can't remember exactly where in the 1 hr + he mentions it though Edit: he talks about it at 54:30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Eucist Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 1 hour ago, Cerbera said: Edit: he talks about it at 54:30 Thank you so much for that. I actually did try to skim around the video (for like 15 minutes) and couldn't find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerbera Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Just now, John Eucist said: Thank you so much for that. I actually did try to skim around the video (for like 15 minutes) and couldn't find it. Yeah sorry - it annoyed me that I wasn't 100% sure if I had seen it there, so I watched the whole damn thing after skipping also didn't work for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Eucist Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 12 minutes ago, Cerbera said: Yeah sorry - it annoyed me that I wasn't 100% sure if I had seen it there, so I watched the whole damn thing after skipping also didn't work for me Since I don't want to abuse my admin powers to achieve this, I'll just plead that everyone else upvote the post above for his kind and selfless act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoother Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 I have quite a few " death wobbles" I attribute it to being new, only having a 14" wheel and not being sure I have found the correct foot placement on my pedals. Sometimes I have it sometimes I don't, always at higher speeds, of course. It is very disconcerting, and I too, slow down to reduce it. I would REALLY like a permanent solution though. Maybe two wheels. Oh no, wait, that would then be an electric bike. Never mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerbera Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 1 minute ago, Smoother said: I have quite a few " death wobbles" I attribute it to being new, only having a 14" wheel and not being sure I have found the correct foot placement on my pedals. Sometimes I have it sometimes I don't, always at higher speeds, of course. It is very disconcerting, and I too, slow down to reduce it. I would REALLY like a permanent solution though. Maybe two wheels. Oh no, wait, that would then be an electric bike. Never mind. I would agree. Less than ideal foot placement, or changing placement less than perfectly smoothly during a ride can start the old wobble and twitch behaviour. Be particular careful of this at very slow speeds uphill - the wobble can turn into a twist if you can't control it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 The only time I've had it is when I've crouched down, perhaps to duck under some trees / bushes. I guess it messes up the center of gravity. After a bit more riding / practice, I don't think it happens any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlymex Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 The first time I've experienced a "death wobble" was back in mid-2014 when I was riding a geared Rockwheel 16 inch. At that time I accelerated quickly from standstill and it suddenly developed the wobble, seemingly for no reason. I remember that I just could not "un-wobble" it as it got worse and worse over several seconds so that at the end I had to run off the euc. I didn't fall and the EUC is fine. The reason is clear, I was used to ridding my IPS 122 with a low tire pressure, but the Rockwheel from my friend is inflated to a very high tire pressure. (I'm sorry John that I imitate your words, I just try to improve my English) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Eucist Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 31 minutes ago, zlymex said: The reason is clear, I was used to ridding my IPS 122 with a low tire pressure, but the Rockwheel from my friend is inflated to a very high tire pressure. So higher tire pressure increases wobble chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlymex Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 33 minutes ago, John Eucist said: So higher tire pressure increases wobble chance? Definitely yes. When people get used to low tire pressure, it takes more strength to adjust for the balance. When switch to EUC with high tire pressure, an over-adjust will happen hence the wobble chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Otal Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 I spent with the ninebot e + when I had less experience with the wheel and I thought that the wobble started because I relaxed in the driving, other times the wobble appears after a jump, but what happens to me now my new wheel MSUPER Is that when I reach 35 klh automatically the wobble begins and I have to reduce the speed a little to control it, I am once concentrated and I do more strength with the legs, but at 35klh the wobble repeats again, I do not understand very well , Is it better to increase the pressure of the pneumatic? Sorry for the automatic translation of Spanish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoother Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 8 minutes ago, Jose Otal said: I spent with the ninebot e + when I had less experience with the wheel and I thought that the wobble started because I relaxed in the driving, other times the wobble appears after a jump, but what happens to me now my new wheel MSUPER Is that when I reach 35 klh automatically the wobble begins and I have to reduce the speed a little to control it, I am once concentrated and I do more strength with the legs, but at 35klh the wobble repeats again, I do not understand very well , Is it better to increase the pressure of the pneumatic? Sorry for the automatic translation of Spanish @zlymex suggests lower tire pressure, and this makes sense. Think how much more tire is in contact with the road, with a low pressure tire, especially in the front to rear plane. Now imagine a tire with such high tire pressure, the contact patch is the size of a pea. How much easier that would be to turn. Since wobble is small turns left to right, making the tire harder to turn, should make the wobble harder to start. But you must decide how low you can go before handling begins to suffer. And there is a danger of pinched/ cut inner tube, cut side wall, or bent rim, if you jump off a high kerb with low pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlymex Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Yes, I remembered once I was riding up a hill with my friend, he started wobbling, and he thought it was his EUC's fault. So we swapped, and he wasn't getting any better. At the end, we think the wobbling has something to do with our new Msuper V3 which has higher pedal position than our V2 before. I also wobbled when I first tried to sit ride with my V3, but I'm not wobbling sit ride my V2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donafello Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Only death wobbles I received were during my first week of learning how to ride. It would only happen at higher speeds and I must admit I almost lost it once of twice because of it. slowing down slowed the wobble down each and every time. From the very beginning I always had my tire pressure at 43-45psi and still ride at that but once I got past my first week of riding I havenot experienced it as bad as I did in the beginning. There were a couple times when starting to slow down that I felt slight wobble but it was very slight and probably because I had my feet not positioned correctly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snurre Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 It happened for me recently and a slight change of body stance suppressed it in my case. I attributed that to stiff and tired legs on a long, straight and bumpy dirt road. But it is definitely a peculiar resonance phenomenon that involves your leg muscles and tire pressure (I raised mine from 35 to 45 psi) and I haven't felt it since my first 100 meters of learning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slaughthammer Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 I got rid of it when I realised I need to put my feet further to the front of the wheel. That way my ankles are closer to the axle, which gives a more direct control over left/right rotation. However, I still get a bit of a wobble when breaking hard from high speed, but not to a point where it would cause me any trouble. Wheel is an ISP Lhotz and tire pressure is at 3 Bar/45 psi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frode Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 I keep the tire on my KS-16 in the range 60-65 psi (max for that tire), and I don't have much wobble trouble. I beleive wobble will lessen with experience and time. If the wheel initiates a wobble I tend to relax the muscles and let it finish whatever it needs to do. It will seldom continue more than a second or two. Most probable wobble situations are riding on ribbed surfaces (especially longitudinal grooves) and also braking going downhill. Btw: I don't think an EUC will make you a "death wobble". You need something like this unicycle for it to become real dangerous. God I wish I had one like that! Listen to the sound. He's put a V8 in there... And the wobble (which did result in serious injuries, but not death) starts at about 45 sec, I think when he starts braking. Can't be easy to brake something like that, because the rider and the engine will end up climbing up inside the back of the wheel. That moves the centre of gravity behind the wheel's contact with the tarmac which to me resembles trying to balance an egg on its end. There is also a longer version of the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4YmVP6i4qw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Eucist Posted November 22, 2016 Author Share Posted November 22, 2016 Actually just doing "lift tests" with eucs, even comparing same models, some will wobble more than others. Not sure if it's an axle alignment problem or "tire balancing" or what. If it's the latter, how can it be improved? Do we have to take apart the euc to "balance the tire"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoother Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 It's funny how different people have cured their wobble in differ ways, some go high pressure, others go low,. Some don't get it anymore, others, like me, get one or two every day. I guess there are so many tire, size, wheel, weight, pressure, gradient, foot position, surface type, speed, combinations, that we will have to each come to our own wobble solutions. I'm at least glad that it wasn't just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frode Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 13 minutes ago, Smoother said: I'm at least glad that it wasn't just me. Oh no! Been there, done that. I only have 3 advices: 1) more milage 2) even more milage and the most important 3) have fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlymex Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 1 hour ago, John Eucist said: Not sure if it's an axle alignment problem or "tire balancing" or what. If it's the latter, how can it be improved? Do we have to take apart the euc to "balance the tire"? Yes, tire should be balanced. When I first receive my Msuper V3, the tire is very good. After my first punctuation and had that fixed, the tire was not balanced anymore, I can feel it riding on a smooth road that the EUC is bouncing up and down periodically. I have to deflated the tire and inflated a bit so that I can manually balance the tire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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