Feeling cursed: Back-to-back faceplants with injuries

[marc]

Here is my accident experience after >10000km:

1st EUC:  unbranded unicycle 14" wheel 300W nominal:

- motor cut-off at 15km/h, not even fallen, I continued running => advice: don't buy unicycles with  low speed limits, with low power!

- smaller wheels makes you slow down  at every discontinuity on the road (pavement, pits) and they can make you loose your balance (=our main fear) and fall more frequently at non-flat roads => advice: buy bigger wheels for riding stability. I think even 16" is not big enough. my next EUC will be again 18" and not the Gotway Tesla because power is nothing without control. 

The rest is with Gotway Msuper v2 18" 1000W nominal, speed limit 45km/h: 

- balance lost but not fallen,  tilt forward at 45km/h without helmet, motor did not cut off (if it did: I was nearly dead) (what is tilt forward? => when reaching max. power the motherboard keeps on delivering max. power instead of cutting the current: so you lean forward but without acceleration of the wheel but without cutting off of the motor too, this makes you loose your balance in forward direction, if you react quickly by leaning backwards you save your live which was the case here) I was not fallen but I lost during a second my balance to forward direction but this was the most dangerous incident I ever had => advice: buy a EUC with backward tilt before EUC limits (was not the case for GotWay!) , buy EUC which continues delivering max. power at his limits (Gotway is very good at this point, he knows that motor cutoff is the worse thing that a EUC can do, it avoids at all prices)

- fallen at 5km/h: at day I rode in a large tunnel where it was a little dark (since I rode at day I did not had my light on), I saw a pit of 15cm, I leant heavily backwards to brake, the EUC gave his full power to brake again without cutoff, I leant so heavy backwards that I fell backwards at +-5km/h, no injury => advice: buy a EUC that keeps on max. braking power without cutting off (Gotway is good at this point) , buy a EUC with very powerful lights (even new EUCs have tiny lights which are insufficient to see dips on the road), buy bigger wheels since I would fall forward instead of backwards in this case if I had a 14" wheel because a 14" wheel can fit more in large dips. 

- insufficient braking power: I braked too heavy so that EUC reached max. power and held continuously this power on. but since I asked more power than max. power of the EUC, I lost my balance during a second to rearwards direction,  I reacted quickly by leaning forward to decrease my deceleration. => advice: by a EUC with high power so that your motor can brake with high deceleration in case of need. again no motor cutoff after reaching max. power (very important)

- fallen at 5km/h: from standstill I accelerated so much that motor reached max. power and kept this max. power continuously.  With my heavy backpack, this time I was not flexible enough to make a reflex and to decrease my forward leaning.  I had a full cover motorhelmet on, if I had a bike helmet on, my nose and teeth would be broken=>advice: 3kW motor did not give enough acceleration power => advice: buy EUC with highest power.

I would like to know what solutions there exists for overheating of mosfets. Fans? passive cooling with the wind? susceptible for dust? battery and motherboard behaviour at end of their life.

[LanghamP]

2 hours ago, marc said:

 

I would like to know what solutions there exists for overheating of mosfets. Fans? passive cooling with the wind? susceptible for dust? battery and motherboard behaviour at end of their life.

Set your phone to buzz at you via WheelLog when you exceed a certain number of Amps, then practice being cautious in those situations.

You may be surprised just where you use a lot of power, in situations that you wouldn't think so.

In my case, I use the most power (or used to) when

--Mounting a wheel while sitting on a wall. NEVER do this! Don't even think about doing this. I had the highest energy spike ever recorded by WheelLog when I did this. I used to do this a lot when first learning (easiest way to mount a wheel). I've wondered how many new riders have bricked their wheels from momentarily pushing it against an immovable object. I suppose a fuse would protect it from this, and this does seem a situation that would occur more often than an override situation by the rider.

--Starting from a stop when not using a skateboard start.

--High-speed braking, in the initial phase; essentially slamming on the brakes from high speed. Don't do this.

--Slight bumps at high speed. I'm convinced dropping your wheel into a hole at low speed is less dangerous than hitting a smaller bump at high speed.

The common theme of all these energy spikes is the wheel being caught behind you then having to struggle to maintain balance, which is why I strongly recommend the hardest ride setting possible. However, if you can learn to just jump your wheel, like half an inch or less, then those energy spikes seem to entirely go away.

I jump my wheels by quickly straightening my knees; the wheel rebounding makes it jump almost instantly. You can also crouch and then jump which works better over curbs until it doesn't, as I've had a few huge crashes over curbs, so much so that I greatly fear curbs.

[Marty Backe]

8 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

Set your phone to buzz at you via WheelLog when you exceed a certain number of Amps, then practice being cautious in those situations.

You may be surprised just where you use a lot of power, in situations that you wouldn't think so.

In my case, I use the most power (or used to) when

--Mounting a wheel while sitting on a wall. NEVER do this! Don't even think about doing this. WheelLog recorded the highest energy spike when I did this. I used to do this a lot when first learning (easiest way to mount a wheel).

--Starting from a stop when not using a skateboard start.

--High-speed braking, in the initial phase; essentially slamming on the brakes from high speed. Don't do this.

--Slight bumps at high speed. I'm convinced dropping your wheel into a hole is less dangerous than hitting a smaller bump at high speed.

The common theme of all these energy spikes is the wheel being caught behind you then having to struggle to maintain balance. However, if you can learn to just jump your wheel, like half an inch or less, then those energy spikes seem to entirely go away.

I jump my wheels by quickly straightening my knees; the wheel rebounding makes it jump almost instantly. You can also crouch and then jump which works better over curbs until it doesn't, as I've had a few huge crashes over curbs, so much so that I greatly fear curbs.

Sage advice that everyone should hear 

[ir_fuel]

7 hours ago, marc said:

 

- balance lost but not fallen,  tilt forward at 45km/h without helmet,

Wow, that's just crazy, doing that speed without a decent helmet. Without any helmet  

 

BTW where in Belgium do you live?

[marc]

On 7/4/2018 at 12:53 AM, ir_fuel said:

Wow, that's just crazy, doing that speed without a decent helmet. Without any helmet  

 

BTW where in Belgium do you live?

 

normally I ride 25km/h and I obey the beeps (I never listen to music to hear the beeps) but at that moment I was distracted apparently. 

I proposed tilt back as solution for overspeed but there are also people who fall due to agressive and sudden unattented tilt back

[ir_fuel]

On 7/12/2018 at 2:25 PM, marc said:

 

normally I ride 25km/h and I obey the beeps (I never listen to music to hear the beeps) but at that moment I was distracted apparently. 

I proposed tilt back as solution for overspeed but there are also people who fall due to agressive and sudden unattented tilt back

Sometimes it's hard to hear the beeps with the wind. I have tiltback set at a (for me) crazy speed which is still within the euc's margin with good battery. Just in case.

[Shad0z]

 atleast you didn't break your collar bone like me