Kingsong 14C first impressions

[manuelz]

My experiences with the Kingsong K14C

 

Reading this, keep in mind that I have no prior experience to electric unicycles. This is just a personal impression and opinion, written down by a complete novice concerning electric vehicles… This is not a review, this is just my impression. I’m not a reseller of KS and not affiliated with KS

 

I was fascinated by electric vehicles since a longer time now, but never really got into it – the costs were just too high, I couldn’t justify spending money on a toy, nor could I afford an electric car or motorcycle to get to work. A few weeks back I decided to look around a little more, having heard of EUC’s and wanting to try them. After some research I found out that you could do a 30 minute Solowheel “Lesson” close by to a friends house. So I invited myself for a coffee at his place and took him with me to try the Solowheel. It was a very fun experience, shaky, but I managed to drive around a little on my own after only a few minutes.

The spark was lit and I started my search for my first EUC. Money was still a big issue, so it had to be cheap. My wife didn’t want me to get one at all – saying it’s a waste of money and something that will lie around the house after just a few days, collecting dust (I have to admit, I do tend to do that).

I decided that the wheel shouldn’t be just a toy, but my new way of getting to work – instead of taking the bus. Its about a 4km trip one way, all up hill.

It couldn’t be a solowheel for me, waaay to expensive. I found some products in Switzerland, which looked kinda cheap – and were not very expensive (I visited those guys yesterday at one of their events – shout out to www.superwheels.ch o/ - btw – their product is allright, now that I’ve seen it. But doesn’t compare ty my KS), I found some chinese models for direct import, and some others. One of my biggest worries was:

I’m kinda heavy (90kg) and need to drive up some rather steep paths – will a cheap wheel carry me? (at first I wasn’t sure if any wheel could do it, but the Solowheel proved that it was no problem at all)

 

I decided to ask in the forums for help and started reading up on brands. That is when I came up on Kingsong – a new manufacturer that seems to listen to the custumer base and implement things the users want.

I contacted Tina from Kingsong and asked her, how I could get my hands on one of her devices. Since there was no reseller in Switzerland yet at this time, Tina sent me one directly (btw, it was only slightly more expensive than the cheapest model I could have gotten in Switzerland – but without middleman) . I decided to go for a KS-14C – 14 inch build in 340wh battery. I could have goe to a  520wh for not a lot of money, but being on a budget and having my wife breathing down my neck I decided that a 340wh should do for my commuting and get me an extra few km’s for fun trips.

My wheel arrived shortly after (1 week for payment, 1 week for shipping) and I had my Kingsong at home J

Some of the features:

-          Kingsong App

-          Automatic restart after crashing – no need to turn the wheel off and on again

-          LED Battery Level (10 steps)

-          Built in lights – white in front, red braking light in the back

-          USB Port to charge gadgets

-          Bluetooth connection for app, updates and music (4 speakers)

-          Saftey features: Beeps start at 22kmh – at 25kmh there is a tilt back. Low Battery protection: warning at 10%, when lower than 5% pedals will rise to decelerate to full stop

 

I took if for a ride straight away – first up and down my street (no problems here, drove it better than the Solowheel a few weeks back, no wobbling), took 2-3 trips to a close by gas station and decided to go for my first trip up the mountain already to see what this baby could do in terms of getting my heavy butt up some steep slopes. I don’t know just HOW steep those roads were, but more than a few times I didn’t think I’d make it, looking at it. But when I tried driving up, the KS didn’t have an trouble at all and brought me up effortlessly. I went up about 300 meters, over the course of 3km, then back down again. My battery showed 2 bars less after that 6.5km trip. Not bad! I was impressed. I started to get cocky and tried to hop on a sidewalk – lets just say it was good that I still had the strap attached at that point J

I did a few more short trips around the house, but then it was time to go to vacation. We went camping in France, and although the car was more than full I found place for my wheel.

I didn’t get to use it as much as I wanted to (just to the fact that we had to do some family stuff as well) but I used it once to go shopping (one VERY steep road (where I’d probably get off my bicycle immediately)) and once around the little lake we were on, on a gravel path.

 

Then I managed to discard my charger, now I’m sitting at home with a 50% charged wheel, having vacation still, lots of time on my hands, and I cant go out drive my wheel ;(

Falls and hurts:

I should have written this text yesterday with something like: so far I’ve never fallen. But yesterday I took a big fall when I went to the superwheel guys. Since their wheel already started tilting back at 12kmh, I felt like I needed the speed of my KS – I hopped on and accelerated quickly. Too quickly J The tilt back kicked in aggressively and threw me off violently. I managed to get 2-3 steps in before I went down into a roll and slid on the pavement for a bit. My ego got hurt more than my body…

Else than that I had to jump off a few times. Especially around the lake: when it became too steep and the gravel too loose, my wheel would loose traction and I’d have to jump off. Maybe I was going too slow, I’m not sure, but that was difficult to judge. When riding on the road I don’t have any problems. I try to keep my speed just under the warning beeps (they are VERY loud) and would wish, I could go a little faster – just before tilt back would be perfect for me. But the warning beeps are just too loud and I feel bad for polluting the neighborhood with my noise…

The bads:

There is a few things that are not ideal about the wheel. Some of them are:

The USB charging port is not protected

The charging port protector is falling off easily - i replaced it with a metal one from banggodd

The warning beeps are too loud for me and bother me

The wheel gives a slight weeeeeeeep while driving - Its not bothering me, but it might bother people that are used to a totally silent ride

The weel smells - I'm not sure if its the plastic, or the tire, or a combination - the wheel smells so strong that my wife forbid me to charge it in my appartment - I have to charge it on the balcony

 

All of those points I communicated to KS - we will see if they will come up with a solution to any of them in the future

 

All in all I’m VERY happy with my purchase, and I would recommend the Kingsong to anyone immediately. The price is very low, for a high quality product which gives me everything I need:

Speed

Safety

Fun

 

Questions are welcome

 

[Jag_Rip]

It was nice meeting you yesterday @manuelz I had fun standing in the cooling rain after those hot weeks we just had.

[hobby16]

Thank you for your review.

 Beeps start at 22kmh – at 25kmh there is a tilt back

• I presume that is the specs, not your observations. Do you think a rider can cruise at 25km/h or it would be outright dangerous with the tillt back?
  is King Song inflating speeds (Kingsong app showing 3kph higher than real speed) like Gotway ?
• Is the front light enough powerfull to ride in the dark (with very few street lights) ?
• Can you access the electronics from outside, without opening the two half casing ?
• Is the charger noisy (fan noise) ?
• How much did it cost you, shipping included ?

[manuelz]

• I presume that is the specs, not your observations. Do you think a rider can cruise at 25km/h or it would be outright dangerous with the tillt back?
  is King Song inflating speeds (Kingsong app showing 3kph higher than real speed) like Gotway ?

I find the tilt back to be allright, not dangerous - if you increase your speed without haste. I'm not sure if the wheel needs some margin to avoid agressive tilt backs when hitting objects or anything of tha tkind?

That said - I never tried to cruise at 25kmh. I cruise just under 22kmh so the beeps do not disturb me. Maybe I'll cut the wires one day - that way I'd try to cruise just before tilt back.

I'm not sure what the Kingsong app shows - but I did check Runkeeper while driving and the gps reading told me that the first beeps indeed started at 22kmh - so my best guess is that the numbers are correct.

 

• Is the front light enough powerfull to ride in the dark (with very few street lights) ?

The light seems quite powerful, but the light up area seems rather small. That said - I didn't ride it by night yet so I cannot give you a concrete answer on that. I try to do that in the next few days.

Can you access the electronics from outside, without opening the two half casing ?

Uhm - I have no idea... wouldn't know how - sorry

 

• Is the charger noisy (fan noise) ?

I did discard my charger - so I can't test it again - but I'm preeeeettyyyyyy sure that it didnt make any noise at all (like.. .98% sure). There was no fan. The charger I have now from Bangodd has a fan and is making some noise. No, it didn't make any noise.

 

• How much did it cost you, shipping included ?

You can contact @tinawong directly through the forums or by email Tina@szkingsong.com - She can tell you where you can get your hands on one of her devices and how much it will cost you

[Gimlet]

Was there a problem with the supplied charger?

Is that why you threw it away?

[manuelz]

No, I was the problem... I had to discard a trunk full of electronic waste - and my charger was in the trunk as well at that time. i realized my mistake about 48 hours and 1000 km later

[manuelz]

Ok maybe I'll not cut the wires.. I just did another trip - and I was still hurting a bit from a big hike last weekend and still remembering my fall last week - so I was very comfortable to ride between 18 and 20kmh - that felt very save and fast enough to me

[esaj]

That said - I never tried to cruise at 25kmh. I cruise just under 22kmh so the beeps do not disturb me. Maybe I'll cut the wires one day - that way I'd try to cruise just before tilt back.

I've actually thought about installing separate kill-switch for the speaker, so I can turn it off and on as I like.

[hobby16]

I find the tilt back to be allright, not dangerous - if you increase your speed without haste. I'm not sure if the wheel needs some margin to avoid agressive tilt backs when hitting objects or anything of tha tkind?

That said - I never tried to cruise at 25kmh. I cruise just under 22kmh so the beeps do not disturb me. Maybe I'll cut the wires one day - that way I'd try to cruise just before tilt back.

I'm not sure what the Kingsong app shows - but I did check Runkeeper while driving and the gps reading told me that the first beeps indeed started at 22kmh - so my best guess is that the numbers are correct.

wow, just awesome. It's like my dream of a better Gotway come true. I'll ask Tina directly, thank you.

No, I was the problem... I had to discard a trunk full of electronic waste - and my charger was in the trunk as well at that time. i realized my mistake about 48 hours and 1000 km later

1000 km later You dumped your Swiss waste in France or what ? Go to Italy instead buddy

I feel sorry for your charger because a fanless one is really nice to use. My Firewheel charger is fanless, it makes no noise and I use it for all my four wheels.

[hobby16]

I've actually thought about installing separate kill-switch for the speaker, so I can turn it off and on as I like.

On my Firewheel, I use the "MODE" switch for the speaker. "Mode" is permanently set to hard (by soldering the two wires).

[manuelz]

1000 km later You dumped your Swiss waste in France or what ? Go to Italy instead buddy

Indeed We had to empty my mother in laws house in South of France

[esaj]

On my Firewheel, I use the "MODE" switch for the speaker. "Mode" is permanently set to hard (by soldering the two wires).

That could work, although I'm not 100% sure if I want to set it to sport-mode permanently (granted that I hardly ever ride with comfortable mode). This goes bit off-topic, but do you have any idea if it's possible to make the lights always turn on when the wheel is on? The button doesn't seem to be latching, instead it seems it just shorts the pins when pressed to turn the lights on/off, so I don't know if it's enough to put a jumper in the pins...

[techflyjy]

try to get kingsong14c  too.

here is a Chinese site review 14 b version has more pic.

http://www.znphc.com/201506/2789.html

 

[esaj]

try to get kingsong14c  too.

here is a Chinese site review 14 b version has more pic.

http://www.znphc.com/201506/2789.html

Wow, looks like they have actually sealed the hole through which the motor cable goes, unlike most manufacturers      From the review via Google Translate:

But time if 170wh power shortage is not recommended at high speed, the current supply is not afraid, cause power outages.

Sounds like the removable 170Wh battery cannot give high currents, so the wheel shuts down at fast speeds?

And specs:

Parameters	Data	Comparison with other models	Explanation
Weight / kg	12.0kg	Lighter	16 Battery weight tap
Speed / km / h	The maximum speed is greater than 25km / h	Similar gotway	Do not advocate riding too fast, safety first
Climbing / °	> 15 °		City flyover easily go up
Life / km	16 Panasonic battery is about 13km		In accordance with the speed of 14-18 run, the middle turn on Bluetooth to play music, as well as front and rear lights power
Pedal Height Length / mm	110mm (height) 193mm (length)	Pedal better than the market
Alarm	Alarm whistle three times	Similar gotway
Charge Time / h	1.5h
Battery capacity / wh	167wh
Motor Power / w	450w		High-speed motor
Charger	67.2v / 2a		Conventional chargers
Package Size / mm	460x235x555
Vehicle Dimensions / mm	447 (H) x404 (length) x164 (thick)

 

Alarms seem to start early, or maybe it's a mistranslation or I misunderstand (However, testing the car in 4 cell battery indicator, the speed over 12 starts continuous alarm, when the capacity is less than 2 grid over eight speed drops began warning):

　Alarm levels similar gotway, speed 23 per second alarm sound, a rate of 25 per second 3 alarm sound speed measurement can be more than 25, but not recommended for high-speed driving, safety first, especially in the low battery condition, it may cause excessive current supply is not on. However, testing the car in 4 cell battery indicator, the speed over 12 starts continuous alarm, when the capacity is less than 2 grid over eight speed drops began warning.

 

[hobby16]

@techflyjy

Great link, thank you.

I wrote a mainboard comparison between King Song and Gotway here : http://hobby16.neowp.fr/2015/07/29/king-song-gotway-comparison/

Mainboard King Song 14 “

Mainboard Gotway 14 “

 

 

[techflyjy]

Hobby16 . You are really a pro!

I think u can just make your own EU now. Maybe not far down the road we might can do it like DIY PC desktop days buy motherboard hardrive case ram put them togather. For EU flash our community based open source firmware . That will be cool.

My kingsong will come in 2 weeks. I will give a impression and show some pictures when i get it. 

They do have one 14 inch with 800w motor but so far only with 680wh battery configuration. Price almost same as 500w one. 

 

[manuelz]

OMG I know someone who found his charger again!

Aparently my wife packed it in a plastic bag with the camera - just found it today. Wohooo! Now I got 2 chargers.. Can't hurt

[manuelz]

I'm driving to work every day now with my Kingsong. So far very realiable and not a hitch. I've got some steep hills on my way and some gravel - no problem at all with my 90kg - I do however drive a bit slower there (maybe around 15kmh.. didnt check). There is 2 intersections that are kind of dangerous (I have to drive in FRONT of the cars), but else than that it's all bicicle lanes. One way is about 5 km (not sure) and it takes me 12 mins door to door with light traffic.

I got very used to drive just under the beep (22kmh) and I feel very comfortable at this speed.

Wasn't stopped by police yet although I pass in front of their station twice every day..

[Jason McNeil]

@Manuelz is right about the beeper noise, even compared to other eWheels it's very loud! This will be partly resolved in later versions (after the 20th) with the updated Bluetooth software, where the user can define the speed at which beeping is set & tilt-back. The bad news is there is (currently) no way to field upgrade the control-board's firmware, whatever version it was that left the factory, that's what your stuck with.
Completely agree about the USB port, there's no adequate protection for inclement weather, this will be sorted out very shortly.

After six days of continuous use, I have to say it's my favourite Wheel by a long shot. Finally a manufacturer to provide the combination of speed/performance & pedal-tilt-back to prevent falling off the max speed cliff. 

[Casey]

So, will we either be able to reduce the volume of the beeping or change the beeping to go off at 24km/h?  Sorry, I am a bit confused.  I am also waiting on a 14C that has likely already shipped.

[Jason McNeil]

Speaker volume is a constant, but the speed at which it is activated can be defined in the App. Unfortunately your Wheel will not likely have this capability, as it was only announced yesterday... 

[johnc415]

@Manuelz is right about the beeper noise, even compared to other eWheels it's very loud! This will be partly resolved in later versions (after the 20th) with the updated Bluetooth software, where the user can define the speed at which beeping is set & tilt-back. The bad news is there is (currently) no way to field upgrade the control-board's firmware, whatever version it was that left the factory, that's what your stuck with.
Completely agree about the USB port, there's no adequate protection for inclement weather, this will be sorted out very shortly.

After six days of continuous use, I have to say it's my favourite Wheel by a long shot. Finally a manufacturer to provide the combination of speed/performance & pedal-tilt-back to prevent falling off the max speed cliff. 

Jason,

Could you compare your experience on the KS-14C vs Gotway 14 MCMs2? I know these are quite similar besides the major difference in max speed shut off - am  interested to hear about the small nuances you might've noticed while riding both, maybe comfort, feel, etc. Thanks!

[Jason McNeil]

I've only had about 5 minutes on the MCMS2, but a couple hours on the early gen 14" Gotways. For nearly a year I've been dying to distribute the GWs, but the lack of pedal-tilt-back & the comparatively small mfg operation deterred me from taking the plunge.    

[hobby16]

This is my way to reduce the Gotway 14" speaker's volume  : http://hobby16.neowp.fr/2015/07/21/keep-the-gotway-quiet/

The other thing to add to the GW-KingSong contest is that the GW housing is very fragile and too tightly adjusted to the wheel, very similar to Airwheels. After my faceplant, I have 1 screw which screws nothing anymore and the wheel touching the housing, making an infernal noise. I have to readjust it with a vice and a hammer to remove the friction. The housing is so fragile that when I ride one-legged (still learning), there is friction because the housing is deformed enought to touch the wheel.

I have no such thing with the Firewheel, which has taken much harder hits. If the King Song housing is as solid, which I believe it is, Gotway is rendered totally obsolete.

[Mono]

 

I have no such thing with the Firewheel, which has taken much harder hits. If the King Song housing is as solid, which I believe it is, Gotway is rendered totally obsolete.

Except that the King Song is, as far as I can tell, about 2kg heavier. I know, you have your personal feud with Gotway, but I would not want to trade it for a much heavier wheel. 

Re. Gotway speaker volume: it would be (much) better if the volume were depending on the speed, but given the volume is constant I wouldn't actually change it (I don't drive under a constant speed warning, I just reduce speed). In noisy environments having a lower volume would be IMHO dangerous. 

The main cons in my books are the missing lights and the somewhat tiny pedals. Just my 2 cents.