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Am I riding this wrong?


Samuel White

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Hello my name is Samuel. I just got my first electric unicycle for Christmas and it was amazing. It came with the training wheels already on, so I eventually took it outside to ride it. I would get on the unicycle and lean forward, soon reaching max speed. The unicycle would gradually slow me back down to prevent from going too fast. It worked fine. However, and this is where I am a bit confused, when I took the training wheels off.. I would get on and begin to lean forward in order to increase my speed. Then BAM! The machine would just stop and I would almost fly into the pavement. I can go about 2 mph but as soon as I begin leaning forward and try to go faster it throws me off. It is VERY annoying. I took a slo-mo video and tried to figure it out. However I didn't see any part of the unicycle hitting the ground.  It really has been scaring me because I only go about 2-3 mph... and when I try to go faster it suddenly stops and throws me off. Could it be something to do with the angle? Am I riding it wrong? I put the training wheels back on and went full speed no problem...

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1 hour ago, Samuel White said:

Hello my name is Samuel. I just got my first electric unicycle for Christmas and it was amazing. It came with the training wheels already on, so I eventually took it outside to ride it. I would get on the unicycle and lean forward, soon reaching max speed. The unicycle would gradually slow me back down to prevent from going too fast. It worked fine. However, and this is where I am a bit confused, when I took the training wheels off.. I would get on and begin to lean forward in order to increase my speed. Then BAM! The machine would just stop and I would almost fly into the pavement. I can go about 2 mph but as soon as I begin leaning forward and try to go faster it throws me off. It is VERY annoying. I took a slo-mo video and tried to figure it out. However I didn't see any part of the unicycle hitting the ground.  It really has been scaring me because I only go about 2-3 mph... and when I try to go faster it suddenly stops and throws me off. Could it be something to do with the angle? Am I riding it wrong? I put the training wheels back on and went full speed no problem...

Well......The brand sounds a bit dodgy so I'm not sure if there's some fundamental  flaw that's preventing adequate performance (not unlikely).....But generally speaking the training wheels are completely useless. The whole concept of the euc is that you balance on it similar to a tightrope walker (I.e. tiny shifts in weight distribution from left to right). Training wheels are the exact opposite of their name. There IS NO training because they are essentially doing the balancing for you. 

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I think these are generic Airwheel X3 clones ... I've seen the name on Aliexpress and Banggood http://www.banggood.com/H1-Electric-Unicycle-Solo-wheel-With-Bluetooth-Speaker-LED-Light-p-962628.html .   My own experience on the Airwheel is that they are OK for flat paved surfaces, but even the slightest incline is a challenge for them, and generally they are harder to ride because they don't have any power (at all).   When I switched over to my IPS Zero, I was amazed at how comfortable it was.  Now that I have an Inmotion V8, I'm even more spoiled.   

My advice is to throw away the training wheels and strap ... they are both a pain and don't help (in fact the training wheels are very difficult to use, because you can't turn or balance with them) ... practice along a wall (which is I think better than a railing), and you will improve ... and once you do, see @Jason McNeil for Inmotion, KingSong or IPS.

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Just now, Paddylaz said:

Well......The brand sounds a bit dodgy so I'm not sure if there's some fundamental  flaw that's preventing adequate performance (not unlikely).....But generally speaking the training wheels are completely useless. The whole concept of the euc is that you balance on it similar to a tightrope walker (I.e. tiny shifts in weight distribution from left to right). Training wheels are the exact opposite of their name. There IS NO training because they are essentially doing the balancing for you. 

Yeah I've only seen 1 video on YouTube with the brand "Mohoo". I don't know if it's actually a good brand like ninebot or something. 

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Just now, Chris Westland said:

I think these are generic Airwheel X3 clones ... I've seen the name on Aliexpress and Banggood http://www.banggood.com/H1-Electric-Unicycle-Solo-wheel-With-Bluetooth-Speaker-LED-Light-p-962628.html .   My own experience on the Airwheel is that they are OK for flat paved surfaces, but even the slightest incline is a challenge for them, and generally they are harder to ride because they don't have any power (at all).   When I switched over to my IPS Zero, I was amazed at how comfortable it was.  Now that I have an Inmotion V8, I'm even more spoiled.   

My advice is to throw away the training wheels and strap ... they are both a pain and don't help (in fact the training wheels are very difficult to use, because you can't turn or balance with them) ... practice along a wall (which is I think better than a railing), and you will improve ... and once you do, get an Inmotion or IPS.

Yeah I just put the training wheels back on as a test. It works great when they are on (leaning forward and going fast) but when they are off it is very difficult to do that. It could be me doing it wrong, I will keep practicing.

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5 minutes ago, Samuel White said:

Yeah I've only seen 1 video on YouTube with the brand "Mohoo". I don't know if it's actually a good brand like ninebot or something.

Learning to ride these things is extremely hard. When I say hard....The area where I ride is full of hardcore skaters and bladers. None of them last two seconds on the wheel. It simply takes time to learn the nature of the balance required.

Obviously it's impossible from here  to know if your difficulty is because of a malfunction or because of your inexperience....But yeah bottom line is you need a decent wheel and an investment of decent time (no matter how young and/or fit you are). The rewards are worth it though.....

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Just now, Paddylaz said:

Learning to ride these things is extremely hard. When I say hard....The area where I ride is full of hardcore skaters and bladers. None of them last two seconds on the wheel. It simply takes time to learn the nature of the balance required.

Obviously it's impossible from here  to know if your difficultly is because of a malfunction of because of your I experience....But yeahh bottom line is you need a decent wheel and an investment of decent time (no matter how young and/or fit you are). The rewards are worth it though.....

Yeah I don't know how much they paid for it.. although they did say it came from China. I might consider buying a ninebot for around $600. I feel it will be a ton better and last longer.

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4 minutes ago, Samuel White said:

Yeah I just put the training wheels back on as a test. It works great when they are on (leaning forward and going fast) but when they are off it is very difficult to do that. It could be me doing it wrong, I will keep practicing.

It will shortly come to you ... some people say they get it in an hour or so of practice, but it was I'd say about 5-7 hours before I had my "ah-ha" moment, and I realized how to balance and ride for long stretches (I was on a tennis court, trying to ride in circles, and pushing over to the chain-fence when I felt unstable).   After the "ah-ha" you will expend a lot less effort (particularly "core" effort in my experience) as you improve...

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10 minutes ago, Chris Westland said:

I think these are generic Airwheel X3 clones ... I've seen the name on Aliexpress and Banggood http://www.banggood.com/H1-Electric-Unicycle-Solo-wheel-With-Bluetooth-Speaker-LED-Light-p-962628.html .   My own experience on the Airwheel is that they are OK for flat paved surfaces, but even the slightest incline is a challenge for them, and generally they are harder to ride because they don't have any power (at all).   When I switched over to my IPS Zero, I was amazed at how comfortable it was.  Now that I have an Inmotion V8, I'm even more spoiled.   

My advice is to throw away the training wheels and strap ... they are both a pain and don't help (in fact the training wheels are very difficult to use, because you can't turn or balance with them) ... practice along a wall (which is I think better than a railing), and you will improve ... and once you do, see @Jason McNeil for Inmotion, KingSong or IPS.

lol the wee man does no bad on his wee airwheel x3,  though being small probably helps the power issue slightly.............he is currently looking at upgrading though.  

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Just now, Chris Westland said:

It will shortly come to you ... some people say they get it in an hour or so of practice, but it was I'd say about 5-7 hours before I had my "ah-ha" moment, and I realized how to balance and ride for long stretches (I was on a tennis court, trying to ride in circles, and pushing over to the chain-fence when I felt unstable).   After the "ah-ha" you will expend a lot less effort (particularly "core" effort in my experience) as you improve...

I see. Practice makes perfect they say!

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When wee J was learning I basically just ran alongside him, and he held my hand and we let go when i felt he was balanced enough,  we did it like you would teach a child to ride a bike.  haha  worked for us.  

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1 hour ago, WeeJ said:

When wee J was learning I basically just ran alongside him, and he held my hand and we let go when i felt he was balanced enough,  we did it like you would teach a child to ride a bike.  haha  worked for us.  

Ahhh youth ... nothing like low weight, low CoG, fast reflexes, and indestructibility ...

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40 minutes ago, MaxLinux said:

132Wh and 350W motor, so pretty much an Airwheel X3, though some of the other features are innovative.  Still, I would go for the Inmotion V5+ on the next step up ..

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4 hours ago, Samuel White said:

It was given as a gift. It says "Mohoo" on the side.

It is a Huaxni H2.I learned on this wheel and it is a really good beginner wheel. @Questor also learned on this wheel and he recently had it for sale in the private sales section.The wheel should do about 10mph before you get the speed tiltback.If it will only do 2 mph and no tiltback then something is amiss.Did you try riding it in the reverse direction?

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Those cheap  generic wheels are usually underpowered and have a small battery. I remember when I first had my Fastwheel Eva Pro a year and a half ago. I did not order any training wheels and learned after watching some YouTube videos and by trial and error. I ordered training wheels after my first day of frustrated learning. By the time they arrived a week later I never even  needed the training wheels. 

Anyway, to get to the point, I then put on the training wheels and felt I had to lean forward harder to make the EUC move forward. Since your brain is used to leaning excessively with the training wheels on, when you do try to move forward without the training wheels, you overlean on the cheap low battery powered EUC. This leads to either overexerting the underpowered motor and / or overdraining  the cheap low battery capacity to the point of the EUC shutting off. I remember watching a video of someone used to riding a real EUC like the King Song 14C and then trying the Fastwheel Eva Pro. He made the Fastwheel accidentally shutoff when he overleaned having been used to the King Song's  responsiveness. 

Next time you get on your Mooho and you are moving, try leaning very slightly forward with just your feet to accelerate. Your mind has probably been used to leaning your whole body forward since you learned with training wheels on. Just my 2 cents. 

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If you post a vid it will be easier to answer whether the problem is the wheel or whether you just have to learn the technique how to ride it.

Check out this thread

for basic learning advice. 

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