New electric unicycle rider!

[The Moo]

Hello all!

I have never ridden an electric unicycle before and am wanting too start riding! I live in a steep mountainous town (some hills are 25%) and wanting an easy transportation type to get me to work. Here are some things I would want in the electric unicycle. At least 20% hill climb, be able to ride at least 2km on steep hills, be able to go around 20km/h, be able to ride in slick conditions (is this possible?) and not easily broken (since I will definitely crash a lot) and be able to carry me (150lbs). I am also 16.

I have been looking at buying the Inmotion V8 but I have heard some controversial posts about it. Also money is not a big problem since I have a part time job (but please keep it below $2000 CAD).

Can anybody help me?

[The Moo]

EDIT: I have heard people saying that you should buy a cheap EUC to learn on and then get a nice one later. I have also heard you should buy a nice EUC from the beginning and then not have to buy another one later on.

What does the majority of you guys think?

[mezzanine]

I was in your shoes a month ago and ended up with the V8.  It's not possible to get the V8 through official channels anymore within North America.  Mine is from a place out in Vancouver.  I would definitely spring for a good EUC. 

You could get a King Song 16S.  That's the best overall wheel, IMO. 

[The Moo]

16 minutes ago, mezzanine said:

You could get a King Song 16S.  That's the best overall wheel, IMO

Do you know the grade the King Song 16S can climb/descent though?

[mezzanine]

It really depends on how much you want to spend.  Most of the top end wheels will probably climb/descend similarly.  Decide what size of wheel you want...14", 16", 18".  Buy King Song or Inmotion if you want reliability. 

Best suggestion would be to just keep reading and watch youtube videos. 

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Seems like the San Francisco riders do well with Msupers and ACM's so don't rule out Gotways entirely.  @SuperSport has posted some photos of really steep hills there which they have tackled.  @meepmeepmayer also has put on some altitude on his ACM, but I think he ended with some wire damage even with his new wheel recently.

[Marty Backe]

I learned on an ACM, at the time the most powerful wheel being sold. I recommend that approach - get the best wheel that you can from the start. Pad it up real good to protect it for the first month or so of riding.

For your ride conditions I think the ACM would be great, particularly if you want more than a 35 mile range. The KS14S and KS16S are also great choices for an environment with lots of hills.

[who_the]

Hi @The Moo! V8 is a fantastic wheel. Can handle any hill in San Francisco, up or down. So can the KS16S and any of the modern Gotways. Cheaper or off-brand wheels are for learning only. Get one if you're not sure or doubtful you have the persistence to learn. Once you start tackling any kind of serious hill, distance or speed, get a serious wheel. Have fun and keep us posted!

[mezzanine]

I disagree with the recommendations for Gotway wheels in this case because this is a 16 year old kid we're talking about here.  Maybe he'll be a fairly responsible rider, but those are some powerful wheels capable of high speeds.  Personally, I don't think anyone under 18 should be allowed to buy a wheel that goes faster than 30km/h. 

[Chriull]

1 hour ago, mezzanine said:

I disagree with the recommendations for Gotway wheels in this case because this is a 16 year old kid we're talking about here.  Maybe he'll be a fairly responsible rider, but those are some powerful wheels capable of high speeds.  Personally, I don't think anyone under 18 should be allowed to buy a wheel that goes faster than 30km/h. 

The ks16s also has a max speed of 35 km/h, too (1)- and every 16 year old kid can and will go with a bycicle faster than 30 km/h, especially in hilly regions...

With gotways maybe some tinkering skills and/or a reseller with excellent aftersales service is recommendable - but on the other side there are enough members here who have gotways without any probs. And also a ks or inmotion can brake down or have probs from the beginning.

Instead of prohibition i'd recommend eduction about overleans, overvoltage cutout,etc to prevent accidents.

What's maybe also worth to mention for beginners about gotways is, that they don't shut off as quickly as other wheels once they lay on the side - so they could "jump/swirl" around. Don't know how much of a nuisance/danger this is (if at all) - just have ridden one gw 2 years ago for 2 minutes...

Edit: (1) ... And i would definitely recommend a ks16s

Edit 2: since in canada euc riding season should be quite over maybe waiting for next spring would be a good idea. Euc's are "outdated" quite fast and maybe the new ninebots are available till next spring? And maybe some other new ones...

[CaptainKBLS]

Personally, I don't recommend the V8, wobbles, weak, expensive.  I've had three major falls with it and zero with the ACM. 

Doesn't Canada get snow more frequently?  I'm thinking bigger wheels to handle snowy terrain as well as the hills?

This is an expense device so I wouldn't buy a cheap one first to learn (with $300-400 not being so cheap).  It may not be harder to learn on a heavier wheel and if so will just take longer.

I don't live in Canada and don' t plan to ride much in the winter but 18 inch seems at least more suitable, IMO.

[WARPed1701D]

Would the V8 only having a 2 parallel battery pack be a concern for all year riding in Canada? Power delivery demands per cell bank can be quite big for a wheel with only 2 packs in parallel and cold weather diminishes the ability of cells to deliver large amounts of power. I love my V8 but thinking about this I wonder if it is not the best wheel for regular use in sub 5 degree C conditions. A KS16S with 4 packs in parallel would halve the load per bank vs. a V8. Never really considered this aspect before. But then living in FL it isn't much of a concern. Am I on to something?

[meepmeepmayer]

Hi, new future addict!  (And thanks @Hunka Hunka Burning Love for shining the "meep mountain signal" at the clouds over Forum City)

While the current Gotways are fantastic wheels and virtually the only ones with really big batteries, the ONE and ONLY thing I would not recommend them for is steep, long, continuous hills. The reason for that is that their motor cables are too thin. The high currents from climbing steep hills for a long time, with no pauses to cool, will (sadly) more or less predictably melt the cables. Then you crash suddenly and have an expensive repair (new board and motor) in addition. Happened to me, happened to @Marty Backe, happens regularly to a group of Chinese mountain riders.

DISCLAIMER: this is, in the end, just my personal thoughts, and may be exaggerated or wrong.  Not wanting to shit on Gotway unjustifiedly.
The problem only shows on very steep hills if you really push your wheel for a long time, uninterrupted. Think gravely, hard, steep mountain paths, not just any little incline. A lot of people are doing quite the moutain rides with Gotways without problems, especially the Monster (the cabling problem showed itself on the ACM and msuper V3 only, afaik). You just don't really know how far you are from a problem, that's what irks me about it.
Also, this probably won't apply to the new Gotway Tesla, nobody tested this yet.

That being said, what wheel to choose:

It's always good if a prospective rider already has an idea in the mind of how the wheel is going to be used. And if I read your description, it just screams "the new Kingsongs!" to me.

• Kingsong 14D or 14S (only difference is battery size and some tiny firmware differences)
• Kingsong 16S
• Kingsong 18S

These new models basically have new electronics, thick cables, the most robust available (I know of).

There also apparently have been good mountain experiences with the Kingsong 16B/C (non-S) if you want a cheaper alternative. The Inmotion V8 (if it's even still available) may be robust and not bad at all, but I'd recommend against it. Too slow, too little power, I'm not sure it's still competitive with other offerings. If you really like its looks or price or whatever, nothing wrong with getting one, though.

Your other questions:

Think of an electric unicycle as a device with a certain reserve of "power" (not literally the motor power, just "what it can do" - motor, batteries, electronics, cables, everything). This "power" can be used for different purposes: going fast, going up steep hills, carrying a heavy rider, going a big distance, as a safety reserve, any combination of these.
And, important: if you ever, just for a second, go over that power, you necessarily crash. Self-balancing means just that, it self balances, and if you demand 100.00001% from it, for a moment, it can't do that, which means it no longer balances, which means you fall.

So the answer to "How steep hills can X do?" (and "How far can it go?" and "How fast can it go?" and ...) is "depends" - mostly on your weight (especially for hills). At 16 and 70kg, you're in the normal weight range (80kg rider, you'll probably not get lighter in the future).

These Kingsongs will do any incline any other wheel will do. And if ever a Gotway does an incline these Kingsongs can't do, I would not dare to do it, won't end too well, I guess.

These lots of words just mean "I don't know, 15% will be no problem, 20% should be doable, anything more, you'll see" (Are you sure with the numbers? 25% is a crazy incline already.)

In general, it is important for a wheel to "work or warn" - aka either it does what you ask from it, or it beeps at you to stop (Always react to warning beeps, immediately!). Because, as explained, the alternative is a crash. I believe this can be more reliably expected from the Kingsongs than the Gotways (for the motor cable issue, they definitely didn't beep before frying). To be fair, Gotways are historically more powerful and offroad and extreme wheels, so they just have been challenged much more in high demand situations. So this is less a fact and more hopeful conjecture on my part, but it's a pretty good conjecture the Kingsongs will do better (aka work or warn) if extreme hills are concerned.

But don't worry too much, even with Gotways, you can do a lot of hill crap before anything goes wrong. This problem is not nearly as big as it may seem from what I wrote (I'm just once bitten, twice why with this), but from your descriptions, I just feel Kingsong is the better choice for you.

Also:

• Training wheel or not?  - Most people here will just recommend starting with the wheel you'll actually ride. Just pad it up well, including the underside of the pedals and pedal brackets. Anything works, from cardboard+duct tape to that baby foam stuff or even better options.
  The very first day outside will be the worst, so have it padded up then. After two weeks, you'll no longer need any padding anyways.
  Absolute, theoretical worst case, you can get replacement shell parts. But they are much more robust than you'd think.
• Slick conditions? - This is tricky, as only one wheel is by principle not the most stable configuration. If you'd be worried with a bicycle, you should be worried with a unicycle. Ice will be ice, can't get around it, it's slippery. Snow, gravel, offroad is no problem though. Grip (and the tire not suddenly slipping to the side, like on a muddy incline to the side) matters.

TLDR:

16S is the no-brainer most-popular-size recommendation, 14D/S if you value price/smallness/lightness and go on smooth paths, 18S if you're courageous and can see yourself on this unusual (and maybe harder for a beginner) form factor with the most oomph and biggest commuting comfort and stability. There's also an 18L (18 incher with the lower 14/16 form factor) coming, but that's half a year away and we don't know the prices, so not suitable for you now. Just for planning.

Maybe 16S now and, if you feel like it, 18L later? Or even V8 now and 18L later is a good option. Even a Gotway is not out of the question. Just don't wait, get one now

Consider buying from ewheels.com, very reputable seller, if anything should go wrong you'll have great support, and good shipping options (prices) to Canada as of late.

[meepmeepmayer]

5 hours ago, mezzanine said:

Personally, I don't think anyone under 18 should be allowed to buy a wheel that goes faster than 30km/h. 

This is just... morally wrong Whyyyyyy?

Sorry, I usually never downvote, but for a moment here, I thought @Mono had stolen your account password

[LanghamP]

3 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

This is just... morally wrong Whyyyyyy?

Sorry, I usually never downvote, but for a moment here, I thought @Mono had stolen your account password

I see his point; most if not all teenagers I've known are not very good at accessing risks and benefits. While most of us kinda sorta can assess if the benefit is worth the risk, teenagers and young adults are not very good at doing that.

Note that this is different from a guy in his 40's correctly assessing the risk of an action, but going ahead and doing it anyway. He'll take risks but won't be stupid about it; for example he'll buy a sportbike, go fast, but won't do wheelies in the middle of the city. He tries to mitigate the risks.

In contrast, a young male will do wheelies in the middle of the city because he's in the city. So instead of attempting to mitigate the risk, instead mitigate the damage that comes from the risk.

The point is an older guy will seek to reduce the risk by doing <something> in a safe(r) environment whereas the young guy should seek to reduce the damage.

[mezzanine]

3 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

This is just... morally wrong Whyyyyyy?

Sorry, I usually never downvote, but for a moment here, I thought @Mono had stolen your account password

 

Don't get me wrong- I'd have been perfectly okay with a MSuper as a 16 year old.  I owned a motorcycle as my primary transportation when I was 17.  Probably most kids would be okay.  But there's a substantial percentage that would not be. 

 

[meepmeepmayer]

Yep, I get your point. But it's just so... cruel There must be a better way than blanket bans.

[Steven D Wheeler]

I started out with a used $200 Chinese knockoff this May.

It took me two months to get it down without training wheels.

I then bought my ACM in Aug.

Spent two months on that.

Then I bought my Monster in late Sept.

* I suggest go cheap first, strengthen your legs, then go with a powerful machine.

Leg strength first!

[Marty Backe]

58 minutes ago, Steven D Wheeler said:

I started out with a used $200 Chinese knockoff this May.

It took me two months to get it down without training wheels.

I then bought my ACM in Aug.

Spent two months on that.

Then I bought my Monster in late Sept.

* I suggest go cheap first, strengthen your legs, then go with a powerful machine.

Leg strength first!

Nice progression in wheels 

[ubertoad]

I think kingsongs also have some stronger cases, I recently watched mine doing some double somersault in the air after 'OK, let's see if I can go over this curb'. I think it has yet another scratch after that, but nothing more. But I have no experience with GotWay.

[eddiemoy]

On 10/25/2017 at 7:23 PM, The Moo said:

Hello all!

I have never ridden an electric unicycle before and am wanting too start riding! I live in a steep mountainous town (some hills are 25%) and wanting an easy transportation type to get me to work. Here are some things I would want in the electric unicycle. At least 20% hill climb, be able to ride at least 2km on steep hills, be able to go around 20km/h, be able to ride in slick conditions (is this possible?) and not easily broken (since I will definitely crash a lot) and be able to carry me (150lbs). I am also 16.

I have been looking at buying the Inmotion V8 but I have heard some controversial posts about it. Also money is not a big problem since I have a part time job (but please keep it below $2000 CAD).

Can anybody help me?

I'm selling my barely used msuper v3s+.  I don't like it, but who knows, maybe you would.  I really have no idea why some of the people on this forum love this wheel.  I thought I would too, but is is too weird for me.  But if you are a beginner and learning from scratch, you may like it.  LOL

 

[Keith]

On 30/10/2017 at 7:03 PM, Steven D Wheeler said:

It took me two months to get it down without training wheels.

Wow, that has to be the clearest indication I’ve seen of what a bad idea training wheels are!

I never had or used training wheels, I spent two days practicing in my hall using the walls for support (it was too wet to go outside), by the third day I was practicing in the park riding from lamppost to lamppost. That is age 60 and, although I did ski and windsurf when younger (including a very fast speed needle sinker board) I hadn’t done any sort of balancing sport for more than 25 years so I cannot believe I had any sort of exceptional skills for my age but boy am I glad my EUC wasn’t supplied with training wheels.

 

[ir_fuel]

53 minutes ago, Keith said:

Wow, that has to be the clearest indication I’ve seen of what a bad idea training wheels are!

You betcha. Try learning how to ride a bike with training wheels. Once you can do that, remove the wheels and try again. It's like starting all over again. Conclusion: training wheels are shit.

[ir_fuel]

On 26/10/2017 at 5:21 PM, LanghamP said:

I see his point; most if not all teenagers I've known are not very good at accessing risks and benefits. While most of us kinda sorta can assess if the benefit is worth the risk, teenagers and young adults are not very good at doing that.

Note that this is different from a guy in his 40's correctly assessing the risk of an action, but going ahead and doing it anyway. He'll take risks but won't be stupid about it; for example he'll buy a sportbike, go fast, but won't do wheelies in the middle of the city. He tries to mitigate the risks.

In contrast, a young male will do wheelies in the middle of the city because he's in the city. So instead of attempting to mitigate the risk, instead mitigate the damage that comes from the risk.

The point is an older guy will seek to reduce the risk by doing <something> in a safe(r) environment whereas the young guy should seek to reduce the damage.

Funny that you should not be allowed to ride a device that goes over 30, but that you are allowed to use a skateboard on a 4 meter high vert ramp as a 12 year old. Wonder what's more dangerous.

I guess nobody here knows a 16 year old with a moped that was tuned to go >70 km/h, whilst originally designed to only go 25