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WARNING: Reverse speed of 15.9mph on mini


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Bought Segway mini day after xmas and notice reverse/backwards speed was only about 1-2 mph. Updated firmware a few days later and noticed speed was faster going backwards but didn't pay attention to mph or try to go fast. Then today started to see how fast it does go backwards and chickened out at 6 mph. (WARNING: steering will be reversed while stand on mini in opposite direction and operating!) So I decided to stand on the mini backwards and try top speed, I went 15.9 mph and thought I was going to wipe out! If the Segway mini would just do 13-14 mph in forward I would be content.

 

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As far as I was aware all hoverboard, eucs etc. can go the same speed in either direction.

If they were limited in any way going backwards it could have a disastrous effect on their ability to self balance!

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10 hours ago, JES said:

Bought Segway mini day after xmas and notice reverse/backwards speed was only about 1-2 mph. Updated firmware a few days later and noticed speed was faster going backwards but didn't pay attention to mph or try to go fast. Then today started to see how fast it does go backwards and chickened out at 6 mph. (WARNING: steering will be reversed while stand on mini in opposite direction and operating!) So I decided to stand on the mini backwards and try top speed, I went 15.9 mph and thought I was going to wipe out! If the Segway mini would just do 13-14 mph in forward I would be content.

 

So what's your max forward speed the? Cos if it's a lot less, maybe backwards is the new forwards.

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Forward speed is still 10.9 mph at lean back. I would say it's a software/program fluke and it is not safe! But as a hobbyist who tinkers it was exhilarating! I made an electric bike a few years ago that would go 42 mph without peddling. The Segway mini at almost 16 mph with no lean back was too fast. I have pondered with rewiring the steering stick and ride it backwards but it is unsafe. 

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On 09/01/2017 at 9:56 AM, Gimlet said:

As far as I was aware all hoverboard, eucs etc. can go the same speed in either direction.

If they were limited in any way going backwards it could have a disastrous effect on their ability to self balance!

It's not quite clear why this should be the case. I have a hard time to see how if the wheel goes, say, only at 5km/h forward, the balancing could lead to zero or negative speed even for the shortest period of time. It seems that already the mass of the wheel is entirely prohibitive for this to happen.

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  • 3 months later...

There always has to be a speed limiter on self balancing devices like this.  They cannot function without one.  It's not like an e-bike or other non-self-balancing device that can just be pushed until the motor reaches the maximum speed that the system can produce and will continue on at that speed.  With self balancing vehicles like this, when the rider gets to the edge of what the motor and power system can handle while still keeping the rider upright in all sorts of terrain conditions, it has to either tilt back and slow down or allow the rider to fall forward and crash.  There's no other option. 

A lot of people complain about the MiniPro's speed limit and think it's just that Ninebot/Segway don't want us going fast in case we do something stupid and hurt ourselves and then sue them.  But there's more too it than that. 

The MiniPro limits the speed to about 17-18kph and keeps plenty of power in reserve to be able to keep up a rider of the maximum weight limit without falling forward.  If it allowed the rider to ride at closer to the motor and power system's maximum output, there would not be enough power left over to keep the rider upright should they hit a bump, hit a sudden decline, brake hard, lean too far forward, lean too suddenly etc.  There has to be a speed limit somewhere for these machines to work, and that limit has to be well under the maximum output.

Having said all that...I wish my MiniPro was just a little bit faster!  I'm a light weight rider and I know it could handle me just fine at 20kph.

 

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Don't forget braking distance - the device in essence has no brakes.  You've nothing to hold onto when slowing down rapidly - leaning back (yourself) is the only way to counter the momentum which would otherwise shoot you off forwards.  And as you slow down, you need to lean less back.  All in all, they have to set a speed where you have a reasonable chance of avoiding an accident - possibly hitting someone or something - while enabling you to stay on board (a combination of what you do and what the device does).  Never mind the legalities, I'd say they have a moral obligation to make it reasonably safe, while making it reasonably fun and useful - for riders of all abilities, all ages, all physical dimensions, and all characters.  A very hard thing to judge.

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I tested the reverse speed on FW1.4 and crikey, you're right JES! I removed the knee bar (so the reversed steering didn't kill me) and hopped on backwards. I got to just over 20kph and chickened out of going faster as it's pretty scary with no steering at that speed. Has anyone tried this on 1.4 and do you know when tiltback kicks in? If the steering can be reversed electronically, as someone already said "maybe backwards is the new forwards". ? 

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20 minutes ago, RooMiniPro said:

If the steering can be reversed electronically, as someone already said "maybe backwards is the new forwards".

I guess you could just get used to reverse steering, kinda like inverted steering in a flying game. I would be will to try to used to it. 

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9 minutes ago, Pezman said:

I guess you could just get used to reverse steering, kinda like inverted steering in a flying game. I would be will to try to used to it. 

Unfortunately that won't work.  Instead of leaning into corners we'd be leaning the opposite direction.  Yikes!  Imagine riding a bike and leaning left into a corner but turning the handle bars right.  Instant disaster. 

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9 minutes ago, RooMiniPro said:

Unfortunately that won't work.  Instead of leaning into corners we'd be leaning the opposite direction.  Yikes!  Imagine riding a bike and leaning left into a corner but turning the handle bars right.  Instant disaster. 

I guess so. When I imagine it in my head it seems doable. Knees go left body shifts right and I turn right. But in my head and in practice may be a very different thing lol. 

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1 minute ago, Pezman said:

I guess so. When I imagine it in my head it seems doable. Knees go left body shifts right and I turn right. But in my head and in practice may be a very different thing lol. 

If you decide to try it at high speed please make sure to have someone catch it on video and practice how to tuck and tumble in advance :D 

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@kasenutty

Really ?  Are you sincère ? 

Well come in Bordeaux France enjoy good wine and best beach in the world from biarritz to lacanau and join me for a funny ride in my city 

Today with remote monitoring my mini people laughing when I shouted " come on SLAVE and stop beeping about my weight !  ?" 

People said its funny its smart  and me I answer "No it isnt funny take more than 15kg since I bought it I don't walk for going to shopping "

Sometime people running or doing gym sport and I shout " Wàaaaaaa Im so buzzy riding look at me Im à big sportive geek!????

http://www.bordeaux-tourism.co.uk/?_ga=1.135941297.1865039163.1492644932

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  • 1 month later...
3 hours ago, FreeRide said:

Are firmware revisions less than 1.4 limited in their backward speed?  or do they have beeping that can't be disabled in reverse? Specifically versions 1.2.8 and 1.1.7? 

If I remember right, the "warning when going back too quickly"-option wasn't present before I upgraded from 1.2.2 to 1.3.1

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On 5/29/2017 at 5:49 PM, Vik's said:

If I remember right, the "warning when going back too quickly"-option wasn't present before I upgraded from 1.2.2 to 1.3.1

Yes I think you are right.  I just checked firmware 1.2.8 and it did not appear to have the speed alert setting in the App unless I missed it the first time around as I was not too sure where it should be.  I decided to upgrade to v1.4.0 instead of attempting a downgrade to 1.1.7 since I already had the new App anyway it might have been harder to downgrade anyway on my iOS phone.  Now the 3kph or so limit can be switched off and not beeping all the time.  

Now the strange thing is even though I use the same App and User for two different wheels I still have to complete the training again on the second wheel and even after the 1km trip to remove the 10kph speed-limit I was surprised the limit only went up to 16kph I think vs 17.9/18kph on my other machine with 200km on it.  Even on the app you can see with the little red dashed line that it is not fully enabled for the max speed.  So on 1.4.0 there is still another level of a few kph that is unlocked with good driving behavior or further mileage.   

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8 hours ago, FreeRide said:

Now the strange thing is even though I use the same App and User for two different wheels I still have to complete the training again on the second wheel and even after the 1km trip to remove the 10kph speed-limit I was surprised the limit only went up to 16kph I think vs 17.9/18kph on my other machine with 200km on it.  Even on the app you can see with the little red dashed line that it is not fully enabled for the max speed.  So on 1.4.0 there is still another level of a few kph that is unlocked with good driving behavior or further mileage.   

I had to complete the training on every minpro of mine. But I've upgraded them all to 1.3.1 almost right after and all of them got 18.5km/h max speed after 10km or so..

16km/h limit sound strange... What are Ninebot/Segway up to? Making the unit even "safer" now or what?

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