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Opinions on the safest wheel?


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Just curious; what are folks' opinions on who makes the safest wheel?  I see lots of positive information about many of the wheels out there, but many of you own multiple EUCs, and I'm more interested in reading about your personal experiences. 

Who does it better, and who does it worse?

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55 minutes ago, Belgian said:

Just curious; what are folks' opinions on who makes the safest wheel?

This is all very relative.

In the first instance the greater number of wheels sold the higher the number of failures you are likely to see. In the second instance speed is a very big factor. Airwheel, for example, emphasise the safety of their wheels on the basis that they do not go fast enough to hurt you, I.e. If they fail you can run off without faceplanting. This is VERY true, but few people wants a wheel that is slower than they can run. Beyond that, absolutely no wheel currently on the market has any form of redundancy so, regardless or not of any faults there may be in design or firmware, any wheel may fail on you at any time. The faster you are going the less safe that failure is going to be unless you are wearing the right safety gear.

ignoring outright mechanical or electric failures and speed, then the wheels with the least set of design/firmware issues currently are probably KingSong, Inmotion and Solowheel. Gotway are not inherently unsafe but do allow high speeds by turning warnings off and have had both hardware and firmware issues recently. However people who understand the safety requirements of high speed and are looking for the greatest excitement will pick a Gotway without hesitation.  Ninebot have also had some firmware issues. Nearly all cheap generic wheels have a BMS that looks after the battery only - so any of those can suddenly, and without warning, shut down power. Fortunately most are slow enough to minimise harm.

No manufacturer has a wheel with absolutely zero problems, KingSong for example have been known to handle downhill or sudden braking with a full battery badly.

Bottom line is any wheel can fail, wearing the appropriate safety gear for the speed you are doing is the only real protection you have got. Indeed one could argue that the safer the design of a fast EUC is the more dangerous it becomes as the rider will get careless about protection.

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59 minutes ago, Belgian said:

Just curious; what are folks' opinions on who makes the safest wheel?  I see lots of positive information about many of the wheels out there, but many of you own multiple EUCs, and I'm more interested in reading about your personal experiences. 

Who does it better, and who does it worse?

My TGT3 first wheel was so weak, it could barely carry my weight (200lbs)  It failed on me twice.  My second wheel (Osdrich 16 inch tire with the smallest battery was a lot better, I put about 30 miles on it according to Endomodo app, really it was the wheel I learned on.  (It didn't have it's own app)   The TGT3 was not a good idea, I cheaped out and got the cheapest wheel I could find.  The Ninebot One E+ has over 570 miles on it, and with it's 320wh battery, has made me feel sort of safe, it has never cutout because of overspeeding because I don't feel comfortable riding more than 10mph for more than a few seconds.

I haven't had the pleasure of riding a Kingsong or Gotway, but I think Ninebot has got their firmware really good now, in the past they would change the firmware about once a month, now they haven't changed the firmware in over a year, and probably never will change it again.  The Ninebot one E+ feels stable, fairly fast and powerful, and durable.  Some people on the forum have thousands of miles on theirs.  They do change the app about once a month however:huh:

The Xima Lhotz from IPS gets a lot of good reviews, and it is faster than Ninebot.  I get the impression that IPS is a good company, especially if you get one of the top level wheels.  And they are innovating new wheels.

Safest?   That really got me thinking...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ips has moved forward with design.   Circuitry.  I'm guessing they're all fundimentally the same, meaning;

emotor

control board

battary management system (BMs)

battary (18650 3.7v cells stacked)

 

hardware:

Shell / tire / etc...

 

so with that overview,  check the brand section in this forum before making your purchase.  6 months ago I got the ninebot e+, with safety/durability/ and entry-mid use case with a 15-20mile range. I wouldn't make that same choice now, as a lot of the newer models have  like KS and ips & inmotion also include over temp, over lean, speed limit...  etc. (which is why I say they have a common circuitry. I'm guessing they're using the same reference design).

 

KS & recently Ninebot for the Z series made mention of a redundant battery circuit.  This is the key single point of failure I see with the wheels.

in closing... being they all have the same inherent fault of failing due to battary failure, gearing up with helmet and gloves is the safest approach. It's a case of "when"   Instead of if... because battaries have a mtbf which is why they have limited warranties.

 

if you're new to riding... get an entry level..  or if you know a friend borrow theirs to learn. (I have loaned out. :)  )

 

then em when you have the practicality down.  Buy one based on your purpose.

 

KS, ninebot have been around,  gotway has pinned themselves as the HyperCar of the ewheel's imo. 

 

If if you don't want to rebuy.  I'd snag an inmotion v8, and if flight/travel is important.  Solowheel has a new wheel that is faa storage approved (small battary caution).

 

closing note:

faster than 20mph. Is problematic in the USA legally because epamd devices are defined "up to" 20mph.  Above those speeds you need to be in the bike lane.

2nd. -  84v motor & board +battary to sustain the amperage needed for 30mph cruising safely is key...  I expect another voltage bump, as ninebot is about to launch the z10 that has a 37+ tag on it...

so I expect gotway to step it up, and KIngSong has a new model about to come out with a vented chassis it looks like, to also get some market share of the 30+mph crowd

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