Hello & Thank You!

[LewisF]

I've been a silent peruser of this forum for too long! A time comes when that's just not OK anymore and you have to get involved...

Hello all! I'm Lewis - I've been riding my trusty (touching several logs as I type that!) mSuper v3 here in Leeds, UK since Jan for daily commute and have been loving it! Discovered EUC & migrated due to long-term knee problem (used to love cycling) & this fantastic device has saved me a slow death from boredom (i.e sitting in traffic).

I want to say that I think this forum is a truly brilliant place - it's rare to find such a positive, informative and communal place on the web (perhaps I'm looking in wrong places... haters.com wasn't too friendly). But - seriously - I feel I owe everyone here a thank you all for your inputs and shared experiences which I have found so helpful and enjoyable over the last few months.

Electric Unicycling sure is a fascinating & fun way of getting about - although I can't help but feel I'm playing one long game of Russian roulette, always the subtle dread of the cut-out & faceplant looming like an odd smell on an otherwise lovely day! Anyone else get that? Surely the evolution of this tech must see some failsafe built in... 

On a sidenote, I co-run Music Vine (musicvine.net) which provides great music for use in videos etc. I may be able to sort out a discount for community on here if useful for anyone - just drop me a message if interested :-)   

Looking forward to getting involved on here and being part of this great community! 

  

[Keith]

38 minutes ago, LewisF said:

Electric Unicycling sure is a fascinating & fun way of getting about - although I can't help but feel I'm playing one long game of Russian roulette, always the subtle dread of the cut-out & faceplant looming like an odd smell on an otherwise lovely day!

Lewis, welcome on board, good to have a few more Brits!

As an introductory post I think your above sentence sums it up absolutely perfectly. I hadn't really thought about it until you mentioned it but yes its spot on ?

Having said that, I cannot help feel that the perceived risk is actually part of the fun - got to do something to keep the adrenaline flowing.

[Scully]

Nice to have you on board :-)

[meepmeepmayer]

Hi!

Since your wheel is from January, it still has the old motor connectors that can fail under stress. If you haven't done already, redo them for better (lower) chances to "win" the Russian roulette

[Trey Lewis]

This community is the second friendliest I have ever been a part of. The first being the Dogecoin subreddit, to the moon!

[WARPed1701D]

Welcome. I'm originally from Chelmsford in Essex. Moved to FL, USA 9 years ago and maybe coming back this October. I've been interested to hear from other UK members about how you have found using the wheel when the law is sketchy. Have you had any issues? You said you commute. How far and where do you normally ride? Path, road, park, cycle lanes. What speed do you average?

[LewisF]

11 hours ago, Keith said:

Lewis, welcome on board, good to have a few more Brits!

As an introductory post I think your above sentence sums it up absolutely perfectly. I hadn't really thought about it until you mentioned it but yes its spot on ?

Having said that, I cannot help feel that the perceived risk is actually part of the fun - got to do something to keep the adrenaline flowing.

Thanks for the warm welcome Keith!

Completely agree, the sense of risk (even if it's actually very low) definitely adds an exciting dimension. I imagine it's similar - but more intense - feeling for parachuters, i.e completely putting yourself in the hands of something else not failing...

Now playing actual Russian roulette while riding EUC - that would be upping the heat!   

[LewisF]

10 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Hi!

Since your wheel is from January, it still has the old motor connectors that can fail under stress. If you haven't done already, redo them for better (lower) chances to "win" the Russian roulette

Thank you for letting me know! Do you know where I can find more info about how to check/improve this? 

I had also heard that opening-up the case can compromise water resistance - which, if true, wouldn't be ideal with amount of rain we get where I am. Do you have any thoughts on that?  

[Keith]

5 minutes ago, Keith said:

@WARPed1701D, this was discussed in detail after a rather worrying incident here:

Suffice  to say, the above reported persecution REALLY worried me and has significantly lowered the 'fun' when I'm riding. I've been a lot more careful where/when I ride since then. In particular I stay away from roads that might have a traffic police car on them as they are the most likely (IMHO) to react.

Having said that, last year we had a car parked in our street in which the alarm went off every 30 minutes or so all night for an entire weekend and neither the police or local council would do anything. It was parked outside my house the following weekend. After an absolutely miserable Friday night people witnessed the owner return, tear up all the dozens of notes on his windscreen and leave again. That night, after the police refused again to do anything more than notify the owner (who lived miles away) a neighbour flipped and smashed the car to pieces, the police came VERY quickly to that but the entire street came out when they tried to arrest him. In the end the police themselves helped rip out the car's wiring until the alarm stopped and they released the neighbour without charge the next day. Didn't prosecute the car owner either though!

The point of this long story is that I realised then that the police cannot cope with what was a serious disturbing the peace incident so, with the possible exception of Traffic Police, who is going to give a toss about us unless you have an accident.

 

[LewisF]

6 hours ago, WARPed1701D said:

Welcome. I'm originally from Chelmsford in Essex. Moved to FL, USA 9 years ago and maybe coming back this October. I've been interested to hear from other UK members about how you have found using the wheel when the law is sketchy. Have you had any issues? You said you commute. How far and where do you normally ride? Path, road, park, cycle lanes. What speed do you average?

Thanks for the welcome 

I commute 8 mile round trip each day into Leeds City Centre. I'm fortunate in that I live close to a canal - the well-maintained tow path takes me more-or-less all the way in, keeping me far from traffic/horrible junctions.

With that said, I do sometimes ride around the city (using mixture of cycle paths, pathways, roads and pavements) and have found it to be OK, but there are certain routes I just wouldn't take without a lot of caution. For example, the main road from our place into the city centre has so many other roads leading straight onto it (i.e traffic coming on and off the road) that it has always been a hazardous route for cyclists (even with cycle path). On EUC at speeds I think a road like that would be a death trap - I've seen a few times that car drivers can look right through me, so combine that with the amount of traffic cutting through, turning on and off the road and it's a risk I just wouldn't want to take. Cycle paths that are isolated from the road or quieter routes seem fine to me and if I'm riding on the pavement I'll generally take it very slow (for a number of reasons!).

I have ridden past police a few times and received curious looks - nothing dramatic to report there. As I say, generally I tend to keep to routes/areas where there are fewer police anyway and also where I'd imagine they'd be less likely to be concerned about it/stop me about it.   

If you do end up coming back to this side of the pond, I hope you have a smooth move!  

 

[meepmeepmayer]

1 hour ago, LewisF said:

I had also heard that opening-up the case can compromise water resistance - which, if true, wouldn't be ideal with amount of rain we get where I am. Do you have any thoughts on that?  

Zero problem. Opening the case won't change anything regarding water resistance. The shells are actually really good quality and precise, more than one might initially expect from Chinese plastic parts. If you only open the side panels (which is all you need to get to the motor connectors) that's even less of no problem. Maybe make sure there's no obvious gaps on the front/ top where water would get in.

As for the actual water resistance, you never know and nobody really tested it and there are no guarantees. Realistically, even crazy downpours should be no problem (maybe protect the power/USB button a bit). The board is coated in water-repelling stuff, the shells seem to be tight enough, someone's wheel even fell into water for a few seconds and no water got in, I don't think there ever was a report of a Gotway wheel failing in rain.

1 hour ago, LewisF said:

Thank you for letting me know! Do you know where I can find more info about how to check/improve this?

I don't know much about that because that problem was before I got a wheel and I never did any soldering or so. There's some threads about it in the Gotway forum (can't find the right ones, look for threads some months old with a lot of replies). Maybe someone more knowledgeable can link you to the interesting posts about how to re-do the motor connectors. @Rehab1 maybe? (He certainly can tell you how to do it - how he did is hidden somewhere in here.)

The connectors failing only happens under continuously high currents (aka going up a long hill) as the current heats and melts the solder. So this is not an urgent problem if you didn't have it yet. But long term, might be worth the peace of mind to do new connectors.

--

For both questions, here's the speedyfeet video of an msuper V3 teardown and rebuild. Much more than you need, but gives you an idea how stuff looks. Board side is the right side (you would only need to remove the side panel to get to the board). You can also simply ask your dealer about the connectors, maybe a good first step.

 

[Rehab1]

45 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

I don't know much about that because that problem was before I got a wheel and I never did any soldering or so. There's some threads about it in the Gotway forum (can't find the right ones, look for threads some months old with a lot of replies). Maybe someone more knowledgeable can link you to the interesting posts about how to re-do the motor connectors. @Rehab1 maybe? (He certainly can tell you how to do it - how he did is hidden somewhere in here.)

Here is a link and video where I install the new bullet connectors.

 

[WARPed1701D]

3 hours ago, Keith said:

@WARPed1701D, this was discussed in detail after a rather worrying incident here

  Thanks for the link. I'm surprised I hadn't found that one. I've asked how all those who contributed are doing 7 months on.

[WARPed1701D]

3 hours ago, LewisF said:

Thanks for the welcome 

I commute 8 mile round trip each day into Leeds City Centre. I'm fortunate in that I live close to a canal - the well-maintained tow path takes me more-or-less all the way in, keeping me far from traffic/horrible junctions.

With that said, I do sometimes ride around the city (using mixture of cycle paths, pathways, roads and pavements) and have found it to be OK, but there are certain routes I just wouldn't take without a lot of caution. For example, the main road from our place into the city centre has so many other roads leading straight onto it (i.e traffic coming on and off the road) that it has always been a hazardous route for cyclists (even with cycle path). On EUC at speeds I think a road like that would be a death trap - I've seen a few times that car drivers can look right through me, so combine that with the amount of traffic cutting through, turning on and off the road and it's a risk I just wouldn't want to take. Cycle paths that are isolated from the road or quieter routes seem fine to me and if I'm riding on the pavement I'll generally take it very slow (for a number of reasons!).

I have ridden past police a few times and received curious looks - nothing dramatic to report there. As I say, generally I tend to keep to routes/areas where there are fewer police anyway and also where I'd imagine they'd be less likely to be concerned about it/stop me about it.   

If you do end up coming back to this side of the pond, I hope you have a smooth move!  

 

 Thanks for this. I'm glad you have some good options for routes from A to B. I hope to live rural but within commuting distance of a city, maybe York. It sounds like if I were caught on a country lane on a wheel I might be in trouble. 

[nute]

Im in hampshire, out in the sticks to the north of Winchester and south of Newbury. I tend to ride my euc around our village and on the south coast where there are decent long paths. Ive also ridden in south london a few times and in the 18 months since i started I've not had any trouble from the police or indeed from pedestrians. I sort of know our local PC and she has no issue with me on the pavement.

I did speak to one of the guys at Project 42 a while back and they use esc's in london a lot and haven't had any problems. He did say that way back when the exploding batteries in hover boards were all over the news a couple of them were stopped and told off but nothing since. 

Its nice to see that there are actually quite a few brits on here ... I'm determined to meet up with @Paddylaz in london at some point, be nice to catch up with a few others too...

[Dingfelder]

Hello and welcome!

[Carlos E Rodriguez]

The soldered connector from motor to main board are an issue unthreatening prolonged up hills. A rc hobby store could do it for you. Have fun. 

By the way we must be the dumbest people in the world. We are the only kind that knowingly will use a device that most likely will cause a fall 100% eventually due to a failure. Lol. Love it. Bicycles are pretty safe, planes have redundant system, fighter planes have eject seats. Cars have dual chamber brake cylinders and air bags. 

We are just crazy for the trill. The only safe is 10mph or below. Otherwise get the fastest wheel because it just does not matter. Lol. 

[vladmarks]

On 02/07/2017 at 2:48 PM, nute said:

I did speak to one of the guys at Project 42 a while back and they use esc's in london a lot and haven't had any problems. He did say that way back when the exploding batteries in hover boards were all over the news a couple of them were stopped and told off but nothing since. 

Must've chatted with me

On 02/07/2017 at 11:08 AM, LewisF said:

I have ridden past police a few times and received curious looks - nothing dramatic to report there. As I say, generally I tend to keep to routes/areas where there are fewer police anyway and also where I'd imagine they'd be less likely to be concerned about it/stop me about it.   

Before Oct 2015 I had tons of lovely chats with local police folk, including the guy I nearly talked into getting one. Two milestones cracked their confidence - CPS article addition in regards to hoverboards, and several cases of bad injuries/death of a kid in Croydon. Generally, however, there are two massive "no-no"s that may get you stopped - looking like you are about to fall off every step (not necessarily due to experience, but also leg fatigue or substances), and riding recklessly thereby being a potential hazard to pedestrians or the traffic. So long as you avoid these, your potential risk is reduced to minimum.

The only case of fining across the isles that I can recall is the Welsh Airwheel rider who rode into / was hit by a motorcyclist, and went on a massive rant right on the street. Two no-no signs right there - attracting too much attention and riding irresponsibly. 

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/man-ended-up-six-points-12031624

[esaj]

7 minutes ago, vladmarks said:

CPS article addition in regards to hoverboards, and several cases of bad injuries/death of a kid in Croydon.

I was not aware someone had actually died riding an EUC, unless that's the kid who fell under a bus riding his hoverboard? Either way, just a matter of time, especially with the really fast wheels...

[vladmarks]

Just now, esaj said:

unless that's the kid who fell under a bus riding his hoverboard

My bad phrasing played a joke, apologies. Exactly the case I was referring to. I can hardly remember any examples of when an EUC rider was stopped and fined because of the past things with EUCs. It's only ever the infamous hoverboards or the exact behaviour of the EUC rider on the spot

[Kroy]

On 02/07/2017 at 11:08 AM, LewisF said:

Thanks for the welcome 

I commute 8 mile round trip each day into Leeds City Centre. I'm fortunate in that I live close to a canal - the well-maintained tow path takes me more-or-less all the way in, keeping me far from traffic/horrible junctions.

With that said, I do sometimes ride around the city (using mixture of cycle paths, pathways, roads and pavements) and have found it to be OK, but there are certain routes I just wouldn't take without a lot of caution. For example, the main road from our place into the city centre has so many other roads leading straight onto it (i.e traffic coming on and off the road) that it has always been a hazardous route for cyclists (even with cycle path). On EUC at speeds I think a road like that would be a death trap - I've seen a few times that car drivers can look right through me, so combine that with the amount of traffic cutting through, turning on and off the road and it's a risk I just wouldn't want to take. Cycle paths that are isolated from the road or quieter routes seem fine to me and if I'm riding on the pavement I'll generally take it very slow (for a number of reasons!).

I have ridden past police a few times and received curious looks - nothing dramatic to report there. As I say, generally I tend to keep to routes/areas where there are fewer police anyway and also where I'd imagine they'd be less likely to be concerned about it/stop me about it.   

If you do end up coming back to this side of the pond, I hope you have a smooth move!  

 

On 02/07/2017 at 2:36 PM, WARPed1701D said:

 Thanks for this. I'm glad you have some good options for routes from A to B. I hope to live rural but within commuting distance of a city, maybe York. It sounds like if I were caught on a country lane on a wheel I might be in trouble. 

Make it York & we could have a unicycle threesome sometime!
I bumped into another Leeds lad who has an Inmotion V8 a couple of Saturday's ago, he was out in York for some beers.  Unfortunately I can't remember his name & despite apparently being on the Inmotion app, I can't find him. 

[WARPed1701D]

4 hours ago, Kroy said:

Make it York & we could have a unicycle threesome sometime!
I bumped into another Leeds lad who has an Inmotion V8 a couple of Saturday's ago, he was out in York for some beers.  Unfortunately I can't remember his name & despite apparently being on the Inmotion app, I can't find him. 

Another tick in the "pro" box for York!