6 months and 2000km on an msuper-v2

[tudordewolf]

I've been riding my msuper daily for 6 months, putting 2000km on the odometer. The only issue I ran into was the pedals coming loose after about 1000km - it took a few hard falls which probably caused/worsened the issue, as well as breaking some screw mounts and cracking a side panel. I confess I rode it with the telltale wobble for several hundred km before deciding to open it up and see if I could do something about it, creating much more of a mess for myself than if I'd done something sooner. The nuts and shims were loose and rusted, and the axle was slightly rounded where the shims grip it; I cleaned everything off and put it back together encased in JB weld. - no problems since. I used 2 part 5-minute epoxy for the cracked side panel, and sugru to fill in some chipped-away bodywork. Zip ties account for the fact that a couple of the screw mounts and half the handle were damaged in crashes, and help to take strain off those that remain. Patched up as it is, it still runs like new. I added grip tape to the pedals which made a dramatic improvement in handling. I designed and 3D printed a clip-on fender for it to address the exposed wheel, and now I feel like Mary Poppins when I glide along with an umbrella. 

I started with the generic airwheel knockoff that everyone here is familliar with, and immediately fell in love with EUC's in general. It took me a few days to learn, and I had bruised shins for a solid month while I learned to ride smoothly. I upgraded to an msuperv2 with 850wh within 2 weeks, and started using it as my daily commuter - about 5km miles each way. Depending on my route, I'll go up capitol hill, which is about 300 meters of 6% grade which the msuper effortlessly devours, along with the 8% grade hill my house sits on. I get 3 days of commuting plus short errand runs before the charge drops to 30%, which is where it starts to feel "mushy" and gives me warning beeps as it stumbles over bumps that it normally pops over. This gives me about a 35km useful range with another 10km in reserve riding conservatively. I'm 190cm tall/80kg and ride pretty aggressively, with hills, lots of slowing down and speeding up to pass people without scaring them, and lots of taking off hard from red lights to try and beat the next one; so I'm very impressed with only having to charge it for ~4 hours every 3 days. Given the amount of space in the electronics "bulkhead," I'd like to try and build in a USB port or even a 12V cigarette lighter socket that I could run an inverter off of.

Six months in, I still get comments every time I take it out. I work in downtown DC, and see plenty of tourists. My favorite is gliding by a convoy of segways on a tour of DC, momentarily hijacking everyone's attention from their tour guide. I saw someone roll by on a ninebot while I was at work one day, and just yesterday had my first mutual encounter when I passed an ACM going the other direction in the bike lanes. By its rider's face, he was as excited as I was! I've gotten only 2 negative comments, "It's a sidewalk " , which confused me because there were cyclists going by in both directions and the guy only took issue with me, and "you're gonna kill someone," which kinda bugs me because that someone would most likely be me. Otherwise, just curiosity and fascination, especially from kids and tour groups. Cops have never had any issue with it, just curiosity and the occasional nod.

Sugru, not the battery liner showing:

With the fender:

The milestone!

[MaxLinux]

2 hours ago, tudordewolf said:

I've been riding my msuper daily for 6 months, putting 2000km on the odometer.

Thank you for this report. I've had my MSuper V2 for just under 2 months. Your experiences cause me to expect a good future with this wheel!

Regarding the shell, I've only had one bad crash so far. I still shudder in horror as I remember the wheel BOUNCING AGAIN AND AGAIN on the pavement! I was amazed and impressed by the rugged construction of the shell. After sustaining horrifying impacts, the damage was just a few small scratches.

[tudordewolf]

6 minutes ago, MaxLinux said:

Regarding the shell, I've only had one bad crash so far. I still shudder in horror as I remember the wheel BOUNCING AGAIN AND AGAIN on the pavement! I was amazed and impressed by the rugged construction of the shell. After sustaining horrifying impacts, the damage was just a few small scratches.

Yeah it behaves like it's possessed when you step off of it funny; I've seen mine lift itself into the air and make a full rotation such that the body slams into the ground on its way down. Fortunately it's been some time since such an incident...