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


Bob Eisenman

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26 minutes ago, Cerbera said:

only it was too fast rather than too close

yeah, of course I was also too fast :wacko: For each distance there is a tolerable max speed and for each speed there is a tolerable min distance and speed is always adjustable whereas distance might not be ;)

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On 12/6/2016 at 2:07 AM, Smoother said:

 

I wish I had a @Marty Backe helmet mirror to watch all the people who turn to get a better look "after" I have wheeled by. I can see their heads turning out of the corner of my eye.

:)  I do use my mirror for that sometimes.

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I really enjoy people asking me questions about my Ninebot, and love the comments by youngsters such as:-

Oh my god what is that?

Wow, that's cool

Its a Segway!

Where did you get it?

How much was it?

Can I have a go?

We pioneer EUC riders must make a good impression with the general public in the hope that eventually we are legally allowed to ride them here in the UK!

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I've started waving and saying hello (hola, actually) more.  People do seem to like that.

passed a cyclist today going up a very steep hill.  He was huffing and puffing and barely making any progress.  As I passed ( at about 12kph ) he said something in Spanish.  " English" I yell back at him, now 20 m behind me.  "Very good" came his response.  I thanked him.  Even some cyclists like EUCs 

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Had someone lean out of a van stopped in traffic to shout 'Oh you lazy bastard'.

"Abso-bloody-lutely" I said, and gave him the thumbs up. With perfect timing, the traffic moved, and he stalled trying to follow it.

I was still laughing about that a full 15 minutes later.

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On 12/6/2016 at 7:25 AM, Rehab1 said:

Regarding what to say, I found this short clip during a ride a few weeks back. I probably should have stopped to explain further but I was late for supper.

 

You said "I'll be back".  They haven't left and are currently still standing there waiting for your return.

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4 minutes ago, John Eucist said:

You said "I'll be back".  They haven't left and are currently still standing there waiting for your return.

Ugh... you were not suppose to hear that:o

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On 12/5/2016 at 5:13 PM, Cerbera said:

a massive dog with him, not on a lead

My neighborhood has an abundance of dogs. I worry that a dog will chase me and bite me and/or cause me to fall. Somewhat to my surprise, dogs in my neighborhood are consistently fenced in, and the ones not fenced in seem very well trained, because they come to the edge of their yard and bark, but they do not run after me. One time a dog did run after me, but in a curious or friendly way, not aggressive, but he kept going in front of me, and I almost fell trying not to run into him! I often pass people walking their dogs, and again, I have been very fortunate because the owners always are able to restrain and/or calm down their dogs. So I am very thankful that I have had excellent luck so far with dogs while riding my wheel!

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45 minutes ago, MaxLinux said:

My neighborhood has an abundance of dogs. I worry that a dog will chase me and bite me and/or cause me to fall. Somewhat to my surprise, dogs in my neighborhood are consistently fenced in, and the ones not fenced in seem very well trained, because they come to the edge of their yard and bark, but they do not run after me. One time a dog did run after me, but in a curious or friendly way, not aggressive, but he kept going in front of me, and I almost fell trying not to run into him! I often pass people walking their dogs, and again, I have been very fortunate because the owners always are able to restrain and/or calm down their dogs. So I am very thankful that I have had excellent luck so far with dogs while riding my wheel!

You are lucky to have such levels of control going on - over here, 50% of dogs are not on leads, and are free-running anywhere within a 300m radius of their owners. A lot of dogs don't show interest though, and a few seem actively afraid of the wheel (or more probably the high pitched noise it makes), so it's not all bad, but I'd say about once a week, or 1 ride in 7 that a loose dog will cause me some sort of problem, usually not a serious one. You only have to worry when you find the 1 dog in 50 that totally views you as coursing prey, and will ignore all the shouts from its owner in blind pursuit of you and your wheel. I've found that the way to deal with this is to dead stop, do a 180, and hold your position, which usually stops that dog in its tracks long enough for its owner to catch up and grab it. I have never had to use my go pro on a stick to defend myself from dogs (or anything else for that matter), but I suppose if it came to it, and there was no other choice, you use what you have...

Of course if you have an MS3, and suitably smooth path, you can outrun almost any dog ;) Not greyhounds.. 

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On 08/12/2016 at 9:55 AM, Smoother said:

I've started waving and saying hello (hola, actually) more.  People do seem to like that.

passed a cyclist today going up a very steep hill.  He was huffing and puffing and barely making any progress.  As I passed ( at about 12kph ) he said something in Spanish.  " English" I yell back at him, now 20 m behind me.  "Very good" came his response.  I thanked him.  Even some cyclists like EUCs 

Living on a hill I often pass pedestrians, slow cyclists and cyclists pushing thier bikes while heading up the hill...

The most common content is, "That's cheating!"

To which I just reply, "No, it's fun..."

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3 hours ago, MaxLinux said:

My neighborhood has an abundance of dogs. I worry that a dog will chase me and bite me and/or cause me to fall. Somewhat to my surprise, dogs in my neighborhood are consistently fenced in, and the ones not fenced in seem very well trained, because they come to the edge of their yard and bark, but they do not run after me. One time a dog did run after me, but in a curious or friendly way, not aggressive, but he kept going in front of me, and I almost fell trying not to run into him! I often pass people walking their dogs, and again, I have been very fortunate because the owners always are able to restrain and/or calm down their dogs. So I am very thankful that I have had excellent luck so far with dogs while riding my wheel!

I hate the dog walkers that have 4m leashes, and they're on one side of the path with the dog across the other...

Perhaps I need a front-of-wheel-leash-slicer mod? 

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2 hours ago, Cerbera said:

Of course if you have an MS3, and suitably smooth path, you can outrun almost any dog ;) Not greyhounds.. 

Until your motor wires come undone ??

12 minutes ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

is, "That's cheating!"

To which I just reply, "No, it's fun..."

"My, game, my rules"

10 minutes ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

they're on one side of the path with the dog across the other...

Or those that have more than one dog on 4m leads, each in opposite directions and the owner not even considering your needs to wheel past without reeling in a hairy, four legged Marlin, with your wheel

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I try to be as respectful as i can to people but answering the same questions over and over again is very annoying for me. I generally vary how i respond to people based on how genuine i think there interest is and how they approach me. If people are screaming at me from the other side of the street, or try to block my path to force a conversation i generally give super quick answers as i pass. When peoples first question to me is "How much?" i just say "ewheels.com" as passing. When i'm not in a rush and someone shows genuine interest and approaches me in a respectful way i will go into more details with them.

 

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11 hours ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

Living on a hill I often pass pedestrians, slow cyclists and cyclists pushing thier bikes while heading up the hill...

The most common content is, "That's cheating!"

To which I just reply, "No, it's fun..."

Just smile and say "Yes, yes it is," as you roll by... B)

I'm a bit of an attention whore when I'm riding.  I'll wave at people and say hi.  I might even stop if it's a hot cutey who wants to ask me some questions.  :whistling:  I had one lady ask me for a ride so I said suuure hop on (piggyback style)!

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41 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

 :whistling:  I had one lady ask me for a ride so I said suuure hop on (piggyback style)!

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@Czestnut that guy didn't read the owners manual or said who cares? I got a hot chick riding with me:lol:

It might be even more fun with her in front, then oops, sorry I didn't see that rock there as you are cradling her head lovingly:whistling:  Of course going at a slow speed when you both fall off the wheel;)  Preferably into a hay stack or on the beach.

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Here in UK most of the people are very curious about the euc and say nice things like " that is cool ! " , " that is hot !"  ," that is sick !"  or " impressive ! "  and even "awesome ! "  but i have felt some resentment aswell , i have been called a cheeter many times  and had people asking me how many times i fell of the thing or how damaged this is.

i gave up stoping to talk  because i had some few people being nasty after luring me into a conversation with initial genuine questions . People feel  unconfortable  with new things that they do not fully understand . The initial reactions to cars and bikes were very bad aswell.

As early addopters we should be polite and fliendly to people and very cautious and careful while riding  in order to promote a posive public image to the eucs but i have learned that not everibody is polite and openminded and i need to  preserve myself aswell.

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I always stop to chat to people where possible - generally the response is really positive and people love the tricks.

When using the trolley handle I got quite a few "What's that?" questions (& comments) so decided to have some fun by adding two stickers to my wheel. On one side is a guide dog sticker (I tell people it's an electronic guide dog - unsurprisingly people rarely believe this); on the other side I have a sticker saying "MARK VI TRUNDLE WHEEL" - I have actually had some (reasonably) serious conversations regarding the measuring capabilities of my NB1 :)

Wheel.png

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It's been talked about before but one of the (kinda depressing) things I've noticed in London is that when I'm in the park, 90% of people (and there are many) who stop me are tourists or from somewhere else originally. 

Brits have a natural aloofness and reticence. You get the 'looks', but few have the confidence for an approach.

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18 hours ago, Jonathan Tolhurst said:

I have a sticker saying "MARK VI TRUNDLE WHEEL" - I have actually had some (reasonably) serious conversations regarding the measuring capabilities of my NB1

That's funny, you know, in a way it does measure distance, but not in feet but in kilometers or miles.  I am going to say it's a high speed trail distance measure machine, just checking the distance to the signposts:P

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On 12/9/2016 at 7:16 AM, Smoother said:


i

 

19 hours ago, Paddylaz said:

It's been talked about before but one of the (kinda depressing) things I've noticed in London is that when I'm in the park, 90% of people (and there are many) who stop me are tourists or from somewhere else originally. 

Brits have a natural aloofness and reticence. You get the 'looks', but few have the confidence for an approach.

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

 

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16 minutes ago, 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

 

Couldnt disagree more.

Everyones seen them in china, malaysia, singapore, the US (ish)....but not the UK. I get stopped even just carrying it. 

My point being, the obvious english locals rarely have the courage to ask. They just stare. Constantly. Especially men of a certain age who perhaps don't watch youtube etc.

They look, but don't engage. It hasnt changed since early 2015.  

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On 12/10/2016 at 7:25 PM, steve454 said:

@Czestnut that guy didn't read the owners manual or said who cares? I got a hot chick riding with me:lol:

It might be even more fun with her in front, then oops, sorry I didn't see that rock there as you are cradling her head lovingly:whistling:  Of course going at a slow speed when you both fall off the wheel;)  Preferably into a hay stack or on the beach.

Pic is actually of the guy who started the GTA (Toronto) EUC FB page.  Hunka reminded me of it with his post.

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On 12 December 2016 at 9:21 PM, Mono said:

Same as with Cannabis then.

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!!!

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