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63 old guinea pig


novazeus

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The effort used in building a road is better used in learning to ride the unicycle, as learning to ride one isn't that hard. Mounting, however, is in a class of its own.

You'll totter around by the fourth push off, and you'll be fine by the tenth albeit unstable. That takes, what, fifteen minutes, and throw in a few hours over the space of a few days?

Of much more concern is your ability to gracefully bail from your EUC.

I still stand by my belief that if you can't make it up to the top going the wrong way of a flight of moving escalators, then you have no business being on an EUC. With one exception 100% of EUC riders look like they could do that. The one exception was this 65 year old man who documented his EUC learning on a NineBot One. Even though he learned, he soon broke his arm from what I thought would have been a minor spill. Old bodies are fragile.

Even then, the EUC took 15 years off his age; he was noticeably more agile and balanced just before he broke his arm. I'm wondering if slack lining would do the same without the crushing fall.

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@LanghamP @Mono @Hunka Hunka Burning LoveI'm just thinking here, probably prematurely, because if my King Song Wheels and this Ninebot wheel get here and even before trying to ride them, upon my inspection, if I think they are junk and not a handy ecological device with a future or can be modified to that extent, remember the launch of Segway a zillion years ago and everybody would have one, I'll learn how to ride mine and play around with them, until they break, but ideas of making them more mainstream, because as much as you guys love them, they ain't mainstream, and I think they are amazing devices for the future if reliable. Learning has to be fun and safe. My little girlfriends will quit at the first broken nail. So on the repurposed conveyor belts, yes they tie them together somehow, these airfields for the rc plane guys were huge, helis only needed a corner to land, just to keep sand from messing up your heli, which now that I think about, that's probably where I'll go, they are usually deserted. But I think I have my perfect commercial solution for my area. In the old days, these traveling skating rinks with tents would come to little towns. Elevated wooden floors for spring(not so hard) rail around the exterior. They were teaching little kids how to skate, no helmet,  no nothing, we survived. I think that could be the perfect pro shop/learning center. Plus chilling fans and the tent as hot as it is here in Tampa now, geez, I'm 4th generation Floridian and I don't want to be outside. It's hot and humid. Might wait til October to even screw with these things. Got fpv goggles coming from dji so I can shoot some decent aerials cause google earth has gotten so slack on their imagery. Got 4 dji drones, two have never been outside. Bob has been a full time job but the best rewarding evah. Now that he's ready for school, mentally sorta, it frees me up to get my chores done. Like I said, just thinking now, but if they are viable, and see what kind of feedback I get from my young gfs, I might move on this. I mean I've got 325 acres. Probably gonna have to sell it off in pieces, first deal comes to fruition soon with a contract for multi family $8 mil for twenty acres, so I'm only doing this for entertainment. With having to keep cattle here for greenbelt (that's a huuuge discount on your real estate taxes) probably gonna be stuck here until I die. Bob and I will be able to go on vacation but finding somebody that is reliable that knows cows and isn't afraid of hard work, forgetaboutit. Obviously the wooden skate tent thing would be multipurpose. Different nights, days, hours, different wheels. Fun way to meet other wheeled inclined folks. Not lookin to build anything permanent here, this land is way to expensive. They just opened like the largest ice skating rink in the southeast next to me, coincidentally.

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Does a consensus on using training wheels exist?

Before learning of this forum I used training wheels to move forward on the generic euc. It was really a leap of faith when I read on this forum that the sooner one ditches training wheels for pure one wheeled balance rides the better. After practicing in a newly resurfaced parking lot, making big loops in both directions I was thrilled to take my 'Step n Roll' for rides up to one half mile in non-stop length using the wheel only. After a few months and maybe 100 miles of riding I bought a Ninebot One E+. The transition  to the Ninebot was easy and the ride superior in all aspects. That was over 4000 miles ago including a broken shoulder from a winter fall at 3500 miles. Tricks are not for me nor is riding backwards which I admire but don't pursue as a riding goal. Breaking a bone, rehabbing it, etc has put my riding into a different perspective since the commitment to become healed (more or less) requires the support, care and concern of several groups of health professionals who have no knowledge nor interest in riding eus's.

Returning to riding has been somewhat of a hang ten experience. The natural moves are all in place but the requisite use of arm strength in the event of a tumble is compromised, hence a don't fall attitude. My last ride was a couple of miles to the grocery store. The ride was sort of aggressive carving with a positive attitude...pedestrians along the way smiled. My Ninebot 'filler extension stem' leaked and was replaced over the weekend with a 'Slime' stem, so I thought I was all set after pumping up the tire (4000 miles on the tire). After shopping I noticed the Ninebot responding very poorly in turns. The tire (16 x 1.95)  had started to deflate. Looking at my email today the replacement tire I ordered (extra inner tube already on the apartment shelf) after catching the bus back to my apartment has shipped out from the Ebay (a NinebotUS supplier arrangement) seller. It was funny when I noticed the tire had deflated. I looked up from the sidewalk and at that time the bus arrived so I hopped on. The driver asked if it was hard to ride and that he had seen me riding before. Without mentioning that my tire was flat I boarded and said the they can be difficult to ride sometimes. Getting off the bus the driver said 'have a good one'. He saved my day from 1 1/2 miles out to my apt. 30 pounds is a lot to lug.

I watched a Gotway Msuper V3S+ video (1600 WH battery) last night. Were it not for my shoulder I would consider with hesitating to buy it. Long rides would be fun considering a radius of 30 or so mikles fir an overweight person like myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guSbgO12oVc

 

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@Bob Eisenman Never been to Salem, or MA, know some girls from Boston, very pretty, so I don't know your terrain as far as hills go but most of FL, Tampa southwards, is flat as a pancake, my property is the first little hilly stuff on the border of city of Tampa. Perfect for these vehicles on multi use paths and we have a zillion miles of them and lots more coming. Perfect for euc's unless they are outlawed yet because of bad press with hover boards, no flames please, that was a criticism of government. I don't like hills for travel, not in a car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle etc etc. Pretty places to visit but I don't like hills. I don't know why people from Tampa, I like to call tampons, myself being one of them, think big. After all, Hooters started here and Outback, probably a bunch of other stuff. But I think Tampa might be the perfect catapult for this device. Bayshore is the longest continuous sidewalk in the US. View and drool you eucers.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayshore_Boulevard

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Florida contains a vast network of biking trails that are used 12 months out of the year by recreational and long-distance cyclists alike. Florida also has one of the largest populations of people who use bicycles as their primary mode of transportation, per capita. Many of the public transportation commuter buses in Florida are even equipped with bike racks to accommodate bicycle riders as they make their way around town, go out for fun, or cycle to work. Bicycle riding by adults is continuing to increase in the state as the population swells and the weather remains ideal for the activity.

But it’s not all good news. The national average for deaths and injuries from a bicycle accident remains high in the US. In 2014, 726 people died as a result of a fatal crash sustained on a bicycle while 50,000 people were seriously injured.

Is cycling around town more dangerous?

The overall answer is, no. Bicycle crashes account for just 2% of all traffic fatalities and bicycling, as a mode of transportation, only accounts for 1%. Obviously, with 700 fatalities a year, it can be dangerous, but it’s not any more or less dangerous than anything else. So there’s still a reason to get out there and ride [1].

But, how safe is riding a bicycle in Florida?

Bicyclists are twice as likely die on US roads than occupants of motor vehicles, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [2]. Florida ranks first in the top ten states for bicycle fatalities with .57 deaths per 100,000 people. [3] In the Sunshine State, 120 people were killed on a bicycle in 2015. That’s 16.5% of all the bike fatalities in the nation. So, Florida is definitely a more dangerous place to ride. What contributes to it?

I'll bet most if not all of those deaths involved a motor vehicle on a road. An euc on a multi use path if rideable and safe for the masses would be great, especially with uber if it rains etc. somebody could live in Tampa without a car, and that would be wonderful. So soon, I'll get one, maybe this week, and I'll answer my question "perfect device for Tampa, so why don't I see any. What's the catch?" We have infrastructure, not gonna sell a euc to somebody in bfe Texas.

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13 minutes ago, novazeus said:

why don't I see any. What's the catch?"

1

1) Pretty much nobody even knows what they are. You have to know it exists before you can want to own one.

2) They look dangerous/have a steep learning curve.

3) They are expensive to try without knowing if you will like it or even if you can learn to ride one. A bicycle can be expensive because nearly everyone has ridden one at some point and already knows if it is for them or not. 

4) They occupy a legal grey zone in a lot of places if not outright illegal.

5) They are relatively unreliable. There is no national distributor or repair network.

 

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@electricpen 1,2,3, & 4 that's what I think just from seeing one in the wild. I think those obstacles can be solved with marketing, education and pro shop training centers. Number 5, obviously have no idea yet, like I said, only have seen one in the wild at a distance of about fifty yards. Do you think with parts and labor availability, like our modern fancy bike stores now (when I was young you got a Schwinn from Sears and Roebuck, if you were lucky), and engineering changes for maintenance maybe, they could be more reliable? I was outside just thinking, I should have ny head examined getting three more air tires that could go flat. I'm not wasting my time counting them, but I bet between farm equipment, wagons, toys etc etc, I'm pushing a hundred plus tires that take air. Somebody needs to patent a design for airless tires, not just for these things, everything. pita.

ya, number 3 in rc helis in the year 2000, they'd spend $2k on a sixty size helis and I've seen those disintegrate in mid air, first flight, not even pilot error. And I'll bet there are still more heli pilots than eucers around me. That's why I was sought after to build them. Back then I built all the helis for my friend who is a very good pilot and manager of the US world team in Spain years ago. I know some techies around here I might get assistance from.

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@Bob Eisenman even if I don't need them, I might get the training wheel things or build something better, to try out on my bravest guinea pig gf. They'd all laugh me calling them guinea pigs, they probably think that's what I think of them. I still love them but I never had kids, don't wanna have kids, was never a kid growing up on the ranch and I prefer young pretty girls as friends as opposed to dudes. Gotta have some reference to youth and that's their purpose for me.

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2 hours ago, novazeus said:

 Bob and I will be able to go on vacation but finding somebody that is reliable that knows cows and isn't afraid of hard work, forgetaboutit. Obviously the wooden skate tent thing would be multipurpose. Different nights, days, hours, different wheels. Fun way to meet other wheeled inclined folks. Not lookin to build anything permanent here, this land is way to expensive. They just opened like the largest ice skating rink in the southeast next to me, coincidentally.

If the young 20 something females can help assist me in bikinis :dribble:, I think I could quit my job and move down to help you.  :w00t2:  Access to orgies on the yacht on weekends would be nice.  :whistling:  Being from Alberta, I know my cows.  Er... or rather my Ruth N Chris steaks that is, but I'm a quick learner!  They eat hay right?

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@Hunka Hunka Burning Love I noticed you kinda ignored the hard work part. Idk but I know people from up north can't survive the summer heat down here, outside, bloods not genetically thin enough. You could work the skate park with the girls. If I can get my girls on a euc in a bikini rolling down Bayshore, price point right, guys would probably buy from them even if they weren't gonna use it. I just got off the phone with my old rc heli buddy to ask him what airfield we were at that had the repurposed conveyor belt runways. He remembered the runways, but neither of us remember where. In our defense, it was about fifteen years ago and we went to heli events everywhere repping for robbe. Anyway, told him why I wanted to see the runways, asked if he'd ever seen a euc, and he said, oh yeah, last year at ircha, a bunch of those nerds(referring to the rc guys, cause we were/are nerds)were rolling around on them. Figures. RC, euc, drones, computers etc just different brain wiring. But look what dji did with drones. Saw a display, not yet set up in sam's for magic pros, just drones in general. An epidemic.

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I'm not afraid of hard work.  I just don't like doing it.  Kind of a fine line there.  :lol:  I've done some dirty jobs and still do a few.  Someone clogged up the toilet a few weeks ago, and oh yeah I'll tackle that.  :pooping:  Amazing what you can do with a toilet snake.  :whistling:  i guess one has to weigh out the perks versus the downsides of anything.  Cute bikini babes always help.  :dribble:  There must be some other ranch hands available to help down there?  Maybe advertise in the local Texas classifieds?  It's difficult to get away and enjoy life when you have a lot of hard work to do.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you that.  These EUCs are fun little devices that really move you around in a more elegant way than driving around in a car.  Just look at @meepmeepmayer's journeys and @Marty Backe's adventures.  It sounds like Tampa might be the perfect place with the nice weather and long pathways.  The heat maybe not so much... :shock2:.

Maybe you could pick up some two wheeled Ninebot Mini's for the lovely ladies to ride around on.  Apparently they are better than hoverboards and easier to learn if the EUCs don't work out.  @Duf's hot fiance started out on the Mini and eventually graduated to EUCs I believe.  I think he's around your neck of the woods.  Maybe try hitting him and @WARPed1701D up if they are close by for a group ride or some lessons if they are available?

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@Hunka Hunka Burning Love Like I was saying, with the portability of wheels as opposed to Segways mini pros or whatever or bicycles, even with the hot weather, zipping along at 15 to 20 maybe even slower, idk how fast I inline skated, I was more endurance( 20 miles ) than speed, but it was comfortable where walking would be unbearable, like being on a boat not moving as opposed to moving. I've seen @Duf videos and I think he might be near my old stomping grounds of ft Myers. @WARPed1701D is over in st Pete which is an awesome place for a wheel. St Pete has really changed a lot. I was keeping my boat at loggerhead marina over there. Funny, so my heli buddy who is like ten years younger, when I asked if he tried a wheel he said "noooo". I knew he'd say that. 

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With the wind while moving it definitely does help cool things down, but I've heard people complaining that it still isn't enough around some parts.  I think maybe carrying one of those misting spray bottles might help?  I've been down to Orlando in July, and yeah I know it's searing grill a steak on the sidewalk hot.  :efee96588e:  The added bonus of EUC riding is that you see so much more terrain than you would walking or biking without putting a huge amount of physical effort into it.

St. Petersburg has the most incredible beaches.  @Shabba might also be down in Florida if I recall correctly.  Sometimes it helps to have a friend offer some learning tips as it can be pretty frustrating learning on your own.  I almost gave up as it was very difficult.  Maybe having an experienced rider offer tips while you learn could be a tremendous help.  These wheels are also pretty infectious as people who see you riding (as you well know) are very curious about them.  Just look at @Catlord17.  He has a buddy named Cameron who poo poo'd the wheel at first, but now I think he's keen on learning it too?  Maybe your friend might be interested in giving it a try once you get the wheels.  Did you buy them from Jason (ewheels.org) who is down in Miami?

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@Hunka Hunka Burning Love Yeah, Orlando is in the center of the state and you don't get the gulf breeze like Tampa Bay. I'm inland at the 275 exit of I-75 I-275 apex. It's booming here. I lived in Orlando off Conway Rd. while doing a condo conversion around 1981. No I didn't order mine from Jason but I can definitely see why everybody loves him. Prompt and knowledgeable in his responses and whether I made these first purchases from him or not, some good karma might come to him for his professional demeanor, getting hard to find. My KS's are coming from china and the ninebot eBay. Suppose to be CA but can't figure out why if a label was created Sat. night, idk why it takes 8 business days for ups ground. UPS must be riding the ninebot here. Just for my initial never been on anything Segway oriented, I might go meet up with my buddy at a suitable quiet rc field with grass runways, and he can sit under the canopies on the benches with Bob and laugh at me trying. You know if they can land their little rc planes on their grass runways, they should be really nice for a wheel and a lot softer and less abrasive than my driveway. Probably where the heli nerds taught themselves.

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14 hours ago, novazeus said:

Florida ranks first in the top ten states for bicycle fatalities with .57 deaths per 100,000 people.

Deaths per 100,000 people is a rather poor way to ultimately measure safety of a transportation device, because it doesn't take into account how much the device is used. EUC fatalities, I am pretty sure, are below 0.01 per 100,000 people in Florida, but that doesn't tell us anything about their safety, only about their usage. Much better would be deaths per 100,000 miles, but these are often difficult to find out, because estimating traveled miles in different modes of transportation is much more difficult than counting people in the state.

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My point according to that blurb some law firm put up, is, I'll bet most of those deaths were bicyclists sharing the roads with cars and trucks, even when there's a perfectly good multiuse path they could use which I never understood not being a bicyclist. I don't even want to ride my motorcycles on the roads with cagers idk why bicyclists would. That's why I think euc's would be great on multiuse paths, I'd be afraid to take it on the road even if I was the best in the world on a euc. With people in the states playing with their phones while driving, it's inevitable somebody is gonna hit you. In 2013 I had a twenty year old girl t-bone my 2012 zo6 vette on the passenger side and had two girls shoehorn in the passenger seat. Fortunately I was almost through the intersection so most of the force was at the rear axle. I'm sure she was texting when she ran that red light. The next year one of my gfs was driving my 2013 vw passat diesel with me in it, when a guy rear ended us on the interstate, same thing I'm sure, traffic was stopped because of an accident ahead of us. She saw him coming. Thankfully nobody hurt but my wallet. Cars were repaired but I took a financial hit getting rid of them.

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i think i'll go here. i know this field. not too hard for falling, not too soft for rolling, flat and mowed tight, i would think for rc. much rather est grass than asphalt. not too far away. at least try with the ninebot. if it's too sticky, move on. go to a paved runway somewhere. i guarantee you with school starting back and the heat before  the snowbirds come down thanksgiving, they'll be deserted. probably even more now than before with drones taking off like they have. kinda funny thinking about it, how the rc plane guys hated helis guys and we were in the minority, probably because they couldn't do it, and now drones are everywhere. karma.

BCF is one of the largest RC flying Clubs in Florida and caters to all types of flying models, such as scale and aerobatic airplanes, helicopters, and multi-rotor aircraft, with the exception of turbine-powered jets (but Electric Ducted Fan jets are permitted). This restriction is the result of the Area 52 field being located within the Conner Nature Preserve, managed by the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD), the field landlord, and their concerns about potential fires resulting from crashed jets. This seems like a small price to pay for the advantage of being in the middle of a very peaceful nature setting, without any buildings in sight and with wide open spaces in all directions of flight. The only “locals” often seen around the runways are a family of sand-hill cranes, searching for tasty critters in the ground and mostly minding their own business.

Highlights of the Area 52 field are the two superbly maintained grass runways, each about 800’ long and 80’ wide, running almost perpendicularly to each other in the north-south and east-west directions, respectively, so that cross-winds are rarely a problem for the pilots. Two 100’ long shelters parallel the runways and protect pilots and equipment from the sun, and the passing summer rains, in between flights. In addition, a covered pavilion offers a place for meetings and relaxed lunches, while observing models flying nearby.

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14 minutes ago, novazeus said:

i think i'll go here. i know this field. not too hard for falling, not too soft for rolling, flat and mowed tight, i would think for rc. much rather est grass than asphalt. not too far away. at least try with the ninebot.

That sounds like a plan!  I learned on grass, much softer to fall on.  

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@steve454 yup, that would be good too. i'm not worried about me, i'm just thinking down the road about getting my little delicate flower prinesses on them, my little pretties aren't going near anything that might be too difficult ( has to have success early ) or might hurt them, i'd never hear the end of it, unless they were drunk. typical 20 something female. i was just talking to my older sister, who's still pretty active, outdoorsie, so she thinks, person, that would/might try it if the above conditions were met. they aren't gonna let me wrap them up in carpet padding like a new ninebot, which even then, they break something, somehow. so last night i had an idea and if it works, i'll share it, but this isn't my first forum rodeo, trust me sharing of knowledge of remote control helicopters made forums a necessity. we were experimental, and i know how forums and how some people are constructive and some destructive, all good because it's the catalyst of learning, and that's why i'm here. hopefully someday, this forum will get an honorable mention in reducing our demand of fossil fuels. if euc could go mainstream, less cars on our crumbling overtax infrastructure, less need for guys like me to build and spend millions of dollars, ultimately passed on to the public, roads for cars. i'd much rather build safe, clean, beautifully landscape multi use paths for actually going somewhere, commuting, shopping etc. if 1% of the population, used a euc or skateboard or walk whatever once a week instead of firing up their auto, i gotta think that would be huge. i'm still trying to get y'all to pick your minds, how would you teach/entice a twenty something pretty girl into trying this knowing you had to succeed. no van and candy comments, please.

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i didn't know this was gonna be so hard. I've been racking my brain all day and 9 phone calls to fedex which act like they could care less. i go to my service gate that leads right into the pasture  1/4 mile from my driveway and mailboxes, just now in the dark on my polaris and that is where this numbskull delivery person has left it. slid under the gate, no wrapper of any kind, and it's been raining daily. so i call fedex for the tenth time because i'm honest, i should have let them chase their tails like they did me. so i tell this woman i retrieved it, donkeys have probably esten some of the box but i don't want to open it because if a cow step on it, it would be cracked. KingSong doesn't exactly go overboard on boxing/marketing stuff anyway i guess. outside cardboard soaked, yes it did rain like it has been for a month, ks-16 in a lightweight bag wrapped in saran wrap. found charger and charger outlet cord, that's it. maybe that's all maybe the donkeys ate something. the wheel looks ok in my dim lights at the ranch. i'll look for cosmetic damage in the sunlight tmrw, and see if everything works. i guess the ks-16 manual is the one for the s model too because one didn't come with it. it shouldn't but sh*t like this drives me crazy, especially when one little 10 second phonecall to the idiot driver would have alleviated all this. i'm kinda venting here for advice. should i be worried about the electronics or anything else because it sat in my pasture with 150 herd animals and the rain all day. obviously when i figure out how to charge it and start it if it gives me problems it's going back. the dark side of me wants it to be  roken so fedex has to eat it. they are just rude and stupid.

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one wrong color ninebot, one soaked and maligned in the pasture ks-16s and the third one Ks-18s, ups has no clue where it is after CA. even if my ks-16s is fine, i'm gonna tell fedex they owe me s box. i use those to store the wheel in to keep it away from Bob. ks box isn't so good but better than nothing. ya, riding eucs is hard, even harder getting one.

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It'll be fine; it'd be just fine in worse weather. It's a fantastic wheel, a great beginner wheel, really the best wheel to do everything.

Still, practice a fair bit on your 9bot.

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