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V8 covers / padding?


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My InMotion V8 just got delivered yesterday, and I've been able to get two practice sessions in so far! I'm slowly getting the hang of it and am trying to catch the wheel when I lose my balance, but I've managed to scratch up the bottom of the pedals and pedal hinge. What are you guys using to pad your wheels, and where are you placing them? Photos would be great!

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Use a strap around the handle so you can prevent it from falling over.

I did the same when learning and although I padded my learning wheel it never fell on the ground because of this.

I have the Inmotion cover for my V8, but now I only use it when going off-road, or when I need to park it a lot, as it is a lot easier to put it against a wall with the cover on. The plastic will scratch too easily.

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As already said a strap and the official cover will save many nasty scratches. I also put a t shirt over the wheel first so the handle area was protected in case it rolled. For the bottom of the pedal I ordered 4" wide 3M helicopter tape and double layered it over all painted pedal surfaces. This had to be repaired from time to time but it did a great job. I also ended up adding the baby foam you see regularly on here to the base of the pedals for further protection. The pedal hinge is a pain. Even with all this the hinge got scratched up. The helicopter tape gets destroyed by the clamping of the pedal against the hinge when you stand on them. I kept applying fresh tape but it didn't last long and usually peeled back of it touched the ground. Even with a strap it was hard to catch the wheel before it leant enough to catch the hinge.

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I personally just let my v8 rock as is. it will get scratched up, no point in worrying about how ugly it looks, it's not a car. I'm also not really looking to resell it. If the scratches really bothered me, you can buy spare shells and whatnot. I have some bad scratches and scuffs, but I feel like it adds character to the wheel. Also, I personally hate how padded up wheels look so frankensteiny.

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2 minutes ago, BUSTANUTELLA said:

I personally just let my v8 rock as is. it will get scratched up, no point in worrying about how ugly it looks, it's not a car. I'm also not really looking to resell it. If the scratches really bothered me, you can buy spare shells and whatnot. I have some bad scratches and scuffs, but I feel like it adds character to the wheel. Also, I personally hate how padded up wheels look so frankensteiny.

Once proficient on the wheel I agree. The V8 looks so good "naked". But while learning and dropping frequently I think it is good to pad up as much as possible. It is a $1000 piece of equipment after all.

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You were asking for pictures. Most of the padding is to protect my legs and ankles. A small pad is for marking the on/off and light button to protect it from erroneous pushes and to better find it without looking down. 

20170927_235352.thumb.jpg.d7d72cf75af12be19ebbdf2eca1fb062.jpgscratches-2.thumb.jpg.a48aa4984100a7ad4de8a12f14765d29.jpg

Some people say InMotion V8 pedals don't scratch the ground. I tend to disagree and added padding would rather worsen the problem.
scratches-1.thumb.jpg.3ae155a54bab75451cc2c2e75e630ec8.jpg

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@Mono, I thought my wheel was fugly, but next to yours, mine still looks pretty fresh.  ;)  I recently bought a complete set of external components so I can make my V8 look like new when I'm ready to give it a facelift.  But for now, I'm still running with the battle-scarred panels and pedals.  Works like it was brand new, just doesn't look that way.   

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Didn't realize photos were requested. Here is one of the only ones I can find right now showing the official cover with t-shirt under it to protect the handle. Ignore the bike. The pedals have the clear helicopter tape applied but you wouldn't know unless up close.

WP_20170721_07_50_10_Pro.jpg.2b274f8ab2e

I then added the baby padding on the pedal base when the tape struggled to provide adequate protection. You can see that here.

DSC_0031.JPG.118280b62b8d7562446a46930f8

 

I learnt on this wheel and thanks to a strap, all that padding, and me being a quick learner it is almost mint condition still. The pedal hinges did get some scrapes (using the baby padding from the start could have avoided them) but I'm confident that once I get the baby padding off the pedals bases they will look near new still.

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Thanks for all of the responses so far! I like the idea of padding the pedal hinge. I've actually been riding around in my office on carpet. There's plenty of cubical walls to hold onto when I get wobbly. Plus, all of my coworkers are getting a kick out of trying to ride it :D

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  • 11 months later...
On 9/1/2018 at 1:32 AM, Arvydas said:

WARPed1701D, interesting suit, nice and probably protective. I am curious how it called, if to search to buy something like this :)

It is by G-Form. ProX Shirt and Shorts. Elite Knee and Elbow pads. You can now get the Elite knee pads with shin extensions which I would likely have got had they been around when I brought it all, although I think the shin combo doesn't have the additional ring of protection around the upper/side knee . 

I just call it the Bat Suit.

It goes under my clothing so as not to draw attention to all the protection by either the public or the office staff when I arrive at work. 

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I actually didn't like the strap idea on the v8.  I wanted the machine to get away from me in a crash.  When I worried about the machine crashing, I was not paying attention to my own falling.  I'd rather replace a cover, than sprain a body part.  I did find some adhesive backed felt tape on Amazon to protect the wheel, but not cover the lights and logos. The top pads and edges seem to take the abuse.  There is a IMU and battery in these machines, and I wanted to provide for some cushioning in a crash.  I learned in the grass, making for softer wheel and body contacts with Terra Firma.  The torn grass and soil wipes off.  The lumpiness of soil also is a challenge, making the transition to pavement riding more confident.  Enjoy your wheel and the glide, regardless!

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1 hour ago, eekflyer said:

I actually didn't like the strap idea on the v8.  I wanted the machine to get away from me in a crash.  When I worried about the machine crashing, I was not paying attention to my own falling.

You are simply not understanding what the strap is for! 

If you are going fast enough to actually crash and potentially faceplant then you are way beyond using a strap and we just have to hope you are not doing it near other people or their  property like parked cars as the wheel “getting away from you” can do serious damage to anyone or anything it might hit. At the sort of speeds where you will come off mostly on your feet the wheel is every bit as likely to spin around and wack you really hard in the shins, in fact it can swing quite violently like a top without falling over or turning off. 

The strap is held loosely and used to lift the wheel off of the ground rendering harmless or to stop it getting away and doing damage. This actually becomes an automatic reaction and would suggest very poor coordination if you cannot handle dismounting and handling the strap at the same time?

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

I'm new to the forum, so first of all, hi to everyone!

I'm the very happy owner of an Inmotion V8 since one week ago! :D  Looks like my snowboarding, skiing and surfing experience have come in handy, and after two 1/2h sessions I could go in a straight line and start/stop with no fence, so after that I've been on a couple one-hour rides around my neighbourhood and feel confident dealing with hills (up&down), curves and can manage sharpish turns (albeit with some difficulty), so am very pleased with my progress. My point being (I wasn't trying to boast...you should have seen me trying to learn to snowboard... :roflmao:), that fast learning is often associated with a certain lack of fear of falling, which in turn, comes at an expense to the poor unicycle. Unfortunately, I hadn't discovered this forum and didn't know about the strap trick, so my poor V8 took quite a few tumbles. Luckily, nothing bad; just a few little scrapes here and there (it must be noted that I'm using the official V8 cover) and some considerably scraped up pedals.

The advantage the new battle scars my V8 now boasts is that I was able to see which parts aren't protected by the cover and where it tends to scrape the ground. So I bought some 5mm thick sheets of self-adhesive EVA foam (this stuff really sticks), cut them to the desired forms and stuck them around the V8 in strategic places. The great thing about this stuff is that if you cut it in small strips, it's actually very flexible and you can curve it. I actually took the cover off and placed a few thin rings around the body sides, as the cover does offer some protection, but more is better. I should have taken the pics before I put the cover on, but I managed to partially remove it so you can get an approximate idea. I reinforced certain areas with a layer of double weather strip on top of the EVA foam.

Here's what it looks like:

Front: (overkill?)

2mos3kj.jpg

(EVA foam on front and sides + rubber weather strip on top of the EVA. Man was it hard to get the cover back on! And yeah, I know, I've stretched the cover a bit and it doesn't look centered or great but...I want my wheel to last rather than to look good)

Top:

x1nd3k.jpg

 

Sides: (under the cover)

iz01w5.jpg

(Three thin rings of EVA foam, from the outside in, following the circumference of the V8)

 

Wheel arch: (not protected by the cover. I lined both the bottom and the sides)

377mw.jpg

25zhz7b.jpg

For the pedals, I first lined the edges in EVA foam, then secured the foam with a couple of layers of duct tape, and then added a few more strips of foam in the center for good measure:

116rj34.jpg

s3jbq0.jpg

(as you can see, there are also a couple of layers of duct tape on the hinges as well)

5a3q6u.jpg

Et voilà the final result. I know it doesn't look great, and I'm not sure how long it'll last and how much of a pain it'll be to remove once it starts tearing and I either decide to renew it or just remove it but...it was worth a try. Do you guys think it's worth protecting the pedals? After all, they're probably the strongest component of a unicycle.

And as for the rest, what d you think? I'm not particularly rich and the V8's price tag if hefty so I went for as much protection as possible. But still...do you reckon it's overkill?

Anyway, hope my contribution helped (whether it gave you ideas of what to do, or of what not to do hehe). Will be looking forward to your feedback!

 

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6 hours ago, travsformation said:

Do you guys think it's worth protecting the pedals?

Probably not. It reduces the ground clearance and will be gone if you start scratching the ground anyway.

I lately added a little more protection over the edges of the handle, because I was tired of getting bitten my shins once in a while (it is to protect me, not the V8). It may be worth noting that the most vulnerable part of the shell is close to where you already seem to have a hair crack: around the trolley handle.

broken-shell-1.thumb.jpg.00f620b412b9e7cd8803176371afd433.jpgbroken-shell-2.thumb.jpg.7d83b95307dfd7fff730f4fe32996cfe.jpg8

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9 hours ago, Mono said:

Probably not. It reduces the ground clearance and will be gone if you start scratching the ground anyway.

Yeah, I see your point. I'm not too worried about the ground clearance right now, I only lose about 6mm, but I can see how my invention isn't going to last long at all...

9 hours ago, Mono said:

I lately added a little more protection over the edges of the handle, because I was tired of getting bitten my shins once in a while (it is to protect me, not the V8).

Yeah, I learned that the hard way precisely yesterday....Got a nasty wound on my shin....will definitely be padding that area soon.

9 hours ago, Mono said:

It may be worth noting that the most vulnerable part of the shell is close to where you already seem to have a hair crack: around the trolley handle.

Thanks for the advice, will add more padding to the top of the shell, around the trolley handle, as well as the sides of the handle, which aren't currently padded.

I checked the crack next to the trolley  handle after reading your post, and luckily, it wasn't a hair crack, just dog hair :D

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