getting tired of people stopping me and asking me what I'm riding

[Smoother]

On 12 December 2016 at 9:01 PM, jer said:

 

Electric unicycles are a bit yesterday in the UK, everyone has seen them , so you don't get a response. 

It's like normal, until you get arrested, or your wheel impounded of course.

Jer

 

I have only seen two EUCs in the UK.  And as a former Segway owner my eyes are tuned to see things like this.  I would imagine that the majority of Brits still haven't seen an EUC.  Your town must be an EUC hot spot.  The Roswell of EUCs. Roswell West Sussex.

[The Fat Unicyclist]

23 hours ago, Smoother said:

Funny you mention that.  NO. not like cannabis at all. In England the police ignore small amounts of weed for personal use, it's not worth the paperwork and court time.  BUT RIDE AN EUC AND WHOAH BUDDY, YOU'RE GONNA GET NICKED!!!

So... if you wheel while smoking a joint, they will leave you alone? 

[Smoother]

No. They'll take the wheel and leave the joint.

It's a bit like 1930s depression Germany where your wheelbarrow got stolen (yes, I get the connection too) because it was more valuable than the huge pile of almost worthless bank notes you carried around in it ( which got dumped on the sidewalk to make a quicker get away).

[radial]

I'm at the beach this week and just took a short ride on some of the back streets.  OMG, I had no idea this thing would draw so much attention!  People were shouting at me from their balconies practically nonstop.  What is that thing? How fast will it go?  How much did it cost?  So cool, I want one!  A guy stopped his car in the middle of the street to ask me if I would let him ride the wheel.  (Um, no?)  A pack of boys on bikes tried to keep up with me for a while.  One of them said, "Man, you are like the white Jesus on that thing."  That made me laugh 

[Hatchet]

I think it's polite to interrupt their question by slowly lowering your shades, peering over and sighing. "Yes? The wheel right? I'm afraid EUCs aren't for..." <look him up and down> "...you." Then push up your shades and ride away gloriously, knowing you put a "walker" in their place.

Imagine! Walking like some sort of a..beast in this day & age! tsk! There oughta be a law!

[Bob Eisenman]

1 hour ago, radial said:

I'm at the beach this week and just took a short ride on some of the back streets.  OMG, I had no idea this thing would draw so much attention!  People were shouting at me from their balconies practically nonstop.  What is that thing? How fast will it go?  How much did it cost?  So cool, I want one!  A guy stopped his car in the middle of the street to ask me if I would let him ride the wheel.  (Um, no?)  A pack of boys on bikes tried to keep up with me for a while.  One of them said, "Man, you are like the white Jesus on that thing."  That made me laugh 

That sounds about right.

Tonight I got the 'hey..that's cool' and after passing by without saying anything came 'what a wierdo'.?

I had my closest encounter ever with a jogger wearing pink. Fortunately no collisions, just a dramatic squeal and jump away on passing. A Ring Bell might have helped. Poor jogger in pink.?

It's the 'isolated' women who are sitting down as you pass , who attempt to start a conversation (by saying 'Excuse me'....)? that always get under my skin.....as I roll by them.

Packs of kids chasing you on bicycles.....I don't like that.....it happened to me once near the end of a long days ride. 'White Jesus'.....hummm.... these EUCs are kind of pricey and full of trouble (faceplants, lithium ion battery rechargers, cost of additional safety gear) for some families. One man on an apartment staircase once shouted 'why..?' as I rode by in the bike lane.

I should probably rethink bicycle ownership. A girl with a bike and saddle bags packed her groceries as I packed groceries into my back pack. She stopped at a red light between two lanes of cars as I passed her on the sidewalk. About a half mile down the street she went whizzing by on the opposite side of the road (on her bike ) as I rolled back to where I live on my euc.?

Maybe I should have yelled 'excuse me...'!

 

[Shemp]

The best comment I've got recently was "what's that, half a Segway?" To which I replied "couldn't afford a whole one."

[eddiemoy]

I'm new to EUC's, been riding around my town.  One guy shouted at me saying, "great exercise".  Another guy in a Range Rover pointed and said, "really cool".  This past weekend when I was in Baltimore, a guy in a bike said, "really cool".  I get a lot of that.  Many people ask, "hey what is that?" as I wiz by.  

The funniest one was that I was riding around my neighborhood and my son's friend's mom saw me and tried to take a picture to show his son.  When she told his son, the son's response was, "it must have been my friend's dad, he has one of those electric unicycles".

Another group of boys playing basket ball stop and ask if they could try.  I said, "no, it isn't something you can pick up in a few minutes" as I wiz by.

Another family pulling their wagon with two kids, the kids say, "what is that", the dad ask, "can you pull this wagon?"

It definitely stops people in their tracks.  More attention then I would like.  Too bad it has such a steep learning curve.  Or else there would be more people out there riding.

[dmethvin]

We will know the EUC has "made it" when people no longer ask what it is, and when you see people on a EUC but they aren't people you've done group rides with.

The original Solowheel was released in 2011, and prices have come down, you would think there would be more around. For whatever reasons there seem to be pockets of popularity in areas like Paris, but elsewhere they seem super rare even when local laws allow them.

[eddiemoy]

3 hours ago, dmethvin said:

We will know the EUC has "made it" when people no longer ask what it is, and when you see people on a EUC but they aren't people you've done group rides with.

The original Solowheel was released in 2011, and prices have come down, you would think there would be more around. For whatever reasons there seem to be pockets of popularity in areas like Paris, but elsewhere they seem super rare even when local laws allow them.

I think the reason has to do with the difficulty learning to ride.  I know when I bought my Airwheel X3 5 years ago,I gave up learning because it was so difficult.  Seemingly impossible to learn.  I gave up also because of the pain mid calf. 

[Shabba]

On 12/3/2016 at 10:13 AM, Scully said:

Cheer up Bob
If you don't want to stop and chat, don't make eye contact.

Hahaha that's exactly what I do, it's ok to stop sometimes but I just hate when people try to talk to you when ur passing by at like 15-17mph, it's so bad where I live, people stop in the middle of a three lane street to ask me questions and could care less about the people behind them honking the horn 

[Shemp]

Another good recent set of reactions was from a pack of teen girls (and two boys). For context, my wife is extremely pretty and nearly always smiling, and tends to provoke catty reactions without provocation from a certain kind of female, just from her mere existence. The two of us were wheeling in a park and passed the kids. One girl said, in a way that we were sure to hear "wow, what dorks!" and all the other kids simultaneously said things like "whoa, so cool!" "I want one!" "where do you get those?"

[steve454]

On 7/2/2017 at 11:05 PM, Bob Eisenman said:

I had my closest encounter ever with a jogger wearing pink. Fortunately no collisions, just a dramatic squeal and jump away on passing. A Ring Bell might have helped. Poor jogger in pink.?

Saw that in your video, great riding path but so many people to weave through, looks like a hassle to ride there.  You have good skill to ride that path.

On 7/2/2017 at 11:05 PM, Bob Eisenman said:

I should probably rethink bicycle ownership.

Yeah, much less stress to ride a bicycle around people, I've been thinking the same thing, but I want an electric bike. I have the motor and drive wheel, ( Ninebot one E+ ), just need the frame and other wheel.  There is a go kart kit for less than $100 to make a hoverboard in to a go-kart available at Fry's electronics store.  @SuperSport posted some videos of an electric bike (Sondors) that looked like a lot of fun to ride, but a little pricey.  You Tube here I go!

[The Fat Unicyclist]

On 7/4/2017 at 3:42 PM, eddiemoy said:

Too bad it has such a steep learning curve.  Or else there would be more people out there riding.

 

13 hours ago, eddiemoy said:

I think the reason has to do with the difficulty learning to ride.  I know when I bought my Airwheel X3 5 years ago,I gave up learning because it was so difficult.  Seemingly impossible to learn.  I gave up also because of the pain mid calf. 

 

I completely understand your comments, but disagree about the learning curve. I believe that if someone "our age" was given a bicycle with no assistance to learn it would be no easier.

Like a lot of members here I had to learn by myself, and it was very challenging. But, I have also taught a few people to ride and with guidance, they were riding reasonably in just a couple of hours.

So when people ask me now I say, "If you can ride a bike, then you can learn to ride an EUC. It is definitely different, but no harder."

[Bob Eisenman]

I was at Starbucks recently publishing an EUC YouTube video. I left my EUC, helmet, wrist guards and gloves outside of the coffee shop while I sipped coffee and took advantage of the dependable wifi inside. When I left the Starbucks to put on my gear and leave a large beasted female near the Darque tan salon doorway next door ('don't just get a tan...get a Darque tan') quickly sat on the chair next to my gear. As I was about to ride away she interjected her opinion 'that's.....crazy'.

As I mounted the EUC and performed a few circles in front of where she she sat she was lost for words , except those few.

Perhaps I could have said:

....say...those breasts of yours are really large....judging from your top ( lack of cloth in some areas) they must get really hot (in the summer).......do you pose for photographs?

[dmethvin]

3 hours ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

I completely understand your comments, but disagree about the learning curve. I believe that if someone "our age" was given a bicycle with no assistance to learn it would be no easier.

This is exactly what I say to people who ask if it's hard to ride. Nearly all of us learned to ride a bike when we were young and don't recall how hard it was. 

[The Fat Unicyclist]

1 minute ago, dmethvin said:

This is exactly what I say to people who ask if it's hard to ride. Nearly all of us learned to ride a bike when we were young and don't recall how hard it was. 

Yes! And we had someone helping / teaching us!

With someone to explain the practicality of riding an EUC (which I had to work out for myself) it makes it SO much easier. And we see this today when someone posts a video of their kid learning (with their assistance) and they pick it up very quickly.

It's not quite as fluid for an older student, but with guidance it is nothing like the pain I (we) went through.

[eddiemoy]

Yes, without the videos from YouTube, I don't think I would have pushed on to learn it.  Just a short month, I've learned to go backwards and some tricks.  I love it.  But I remember how hard it was to learn in the beginning.  It is definitely harder than learning to ride a bike.  On a bike, you feel a lot more secure.  

 

I dont dispute that it can be learned even at our age.  Lol.  Just difficult and will deter most.  

[LanghamP]

4 hours ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

Like a lot of members here I had to learn by myself, and it was very challenging. But, I have also taught a few people to ride and with guidance, they were riding reasonably in just a couple of hours.

It wasn't hard to learn after watching videos of other people having a hard time learning. I think it took me 15 or so minutes although the "wobbles" took days if not weeks to dispel.

In a way I feel watching video tutorials is, in the long run, detrimental to riding an EUC as I would drop the EUC without a clear understanding of what just happened. If I had to learn to ride, I would actually not recommend watching tutorials, and instead mostly watch others first learning.

Try getting on the EUC a few times, fail, consult youtube, try again, succeed, next step. And in this way progress with a more complete understanding of how EUC.

I find it amusing how simple an EUC looks, but they are really complicated. Really sophisticated. There's a lot of vehicle and user dynamics going on. I mean, there's three almost entirely different ways to go around a turn. That's ludicrous. Several ways of stopping. Several ways of accelerating. Even something simple as dropping off a curb is pretty complicated if you want to land gently.

I used to ride sportbikes a lot. This is better. The cost of entry is far less, and injuries are much less severe when you crash. If I had known about EUC, I would certainly take EUC's over motorcycles.

[The Fat Unicyclist]

2 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

I find it amusing how simple an EUC looks, but they are really complicated. Really sophisticated. There's a lot of vehicle and user dynamics going on. I mean, there's three almost entirely different ways to go around a turn. That's ludicrous. Several ways of stopping. Several ways of accelerating. Even something simple as dropping off a curb is pretty complicated if you want to land gently.

Quite coincidentally I thought about this today, and I recommend you all do on your next ride... As you push off and find your balance, then lean in and feel harmony that we all feel.

Now, just take a moment to think back to your "learning phase" and how it seemed it was never going to happen!

In that moment, thinking about what now seems second nature, I think it is (almost) as good as that moment when it all clicked - and if makes your ride juat that little bit sweeter, then you are welcome!

[meepmeepmayer]

16 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

I find it amusing how simple an EUC looks, but they are really complicated. Really sophisticated. There's a lot of vehicle and user dynamics going on. I mean, there's three almost entirely different ways to go around a turn. That's ludicrous. Several ways of stopping. Several ways of accelerating. Even something simple as dropping off a curb is pretty complicated if you want to land gently.

EUCs are still dead simple. They go where the tilt goes - both longitudinal and sideways.

The ways the body can do the balancing and controlling of these things, that's the complicated part

[LanghamP]

10 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

EUCs are still dead simple. They go where the tilt goes - both longitudinal and sideways.

The ways the body can do the balancing and controlling of these things, that's the complicated part

I have two 14 inch wheels. They behave so differently from each other.

A lot of these wheels' behavior has to be software related, no? Otherwise there's no way a wheel with an axle can feel different from another wheel.

[meepmeepmayer]

Tire width, internal weight distribution, overall geometry, pedals and how you stand on it (which is technically body-side, not wheel-side)... yep there are differences. I'm still maintaining that the complicated part is the body, not the wheel itself, even with software included.

I'm just nitpicking here, don't take it as too significant

[Roll_On]

I live in the heart of Silicon Valley. Have been riding for commute for about a month.  I am the only person riding with it thus far on the road.

What really caught the people off guard was riding up the hill with a decent speed because they are use to seeing slow rider on a bicycle. The other day a driver actually waited on the top of a hill to ask, "Hey, is this something new from Google?"

I am in I.T. and much more into new technology things. Among the many new things, this EUC in a strange way has gotten me so much attention at work and on the commute, that I have even tried to improve my public comment.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

On 2017-07-05 at 4:30 AM, Bob Eisenman said:

When I left the Starbucks to put on my gear and leave a large beasted female near the Darque tan salon doorway next door ('don't just get a tan...get a Darque tan') quickly sat on the chair next to my gear. As I was about to ride away she interjected her opinion 'that's.....crazy'.

As I mounted the EUC and performed a few circles in front of where she she sat she was lost for words , except those few.

You should have said "Yes it's crazy awesome!"  

Any nice looking, skantily clad female with large breasts showing interest in my wheel I'm more than happy to give them a demo / personal lesson in EUC riding.    I'm just friendly that way.