Gotway Tesla Impressions and Diary

[The Fat Unicyclist]

10 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

After the first 4 hours I don't love it, but I'm going to give it a couple hundred miles before I come to a final position.

Excellent... I'll look forward to your video review! 

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

3 hours ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

@Hunka Hunka Burning Love - stick with the loose pants! It will help when you set a speed wobble at 45+km/h and fill your undies! 

  Actually speaking of speed wobble, I did encounter some instability above 30 kph at one point, but I quickly realized I was the source of the wobble.  Immediately relaxing the feet and legs a bit made it disappear quickly without needing to slow down.  It's weird when you suddenly go hey it's my legs that are introducing this phenomenon into the wheel and not the wheel itself.  Luckily it never came back.

I think as you learn to subconsciously trust a new wheel you overcome the wobbles at higher speeds.  I can't imagine what it must have took to test the MSuper for Marty after falling off at high speed.  That takes a lot of will power to trust that a quick firmware fix makes everything better.

Edited December 10, 2017 by Hunka Hunka Burning Love

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Anyone notice an issue with the right side third from the back LED?  Mine started getting stuck in purple instead of changing colours with each pulse.  After about a minute it started working normally again.  Very weird.

[The Fat Unicyclist]

46 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

I can't imagine what it must have took to test the MSuper for Marty after falling off at high speed.  That takes a lot of will power to trust that a quick firmware fix makes everything better.

Ahh, but l was in the mighty USA... Which meant that l had a pack of ambulance chasing lawyers waiting just around the corner, ready to sue at the first sound of breaking bone! 

Mwahh ha ha!   <insert evil genius emoticon here>

But seriously, I knew Marty wouldn't have even considered offering the wheel if it wasn't good. And (being a new wheel for me) I was taking it easy anyway. It did feel "solid" from the start - but it was even better after he remembered to change it back from "soft" / beginner mode, which was (coincidentally) after l had to step off on the track to the water tower. 

[US69]

3 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

After the first 4 hours I don't love it, but I'm going to give it a couple hundred miles before I come to a final position.

That would be fair :-)

I have to say that even as i have about 1500km on my 18S and really loving it, after riding the ultra torque and agile Tesla sportscar, the 18S feels like a 1000 ton truck first :-) i need about 10 minutes to readjust again....

Cant imagine how that must feel when coming from a Mten, haha :-)

[meepmeepmayer]

I'd love to hear more about the 18S vs ACM/msuper V3/Tesla. How it feels to ride torque-wise, especially starting on inclines/offroad.

Half of me wants to run out and buy an 18S already, the other half just knows what I really want is an ACM (or more torque, and that comes with 16 inches, not 18) with 3000Wh battery and safe/no-doubts cabling and electronics

[Jason McNeil]

On 30/11/2017 at 9:58 PM, outcast00096 said:

I’ve talked to @Jason McNeil about fast chargers for an mten3. If memory serves correctly, he said a 3a charger is the right one.

The 5A charger has a variable 1-5A setting. Trouble is, if you own both the Tesla & MTen3, it's all too easy to accidentally leave at the 5A setting when charging your MTen3, which won't be very good for the health of the cells. 

[US69]

2 minutes ago, Jason McNeil said:

The 5A charger has a variable 1-5A setting. Trouble is, if you own both the Tesla & MTen3, it's all too easy to accidentally leave at the 5A setting when charging your MTen3, which won't be very good for the health of the cells. 

Even a 5Amp charge for a Mten 520wh is slightly  under 1C load. So it will not damage the cells, just not so good in the long run, for longevity!

But as said...optimum for a fast charge would be 3Amp for the Mten3. MY view.....

woould love to have such a 84Volt fast charger with available settings from 1 to 5 Amp, too!!! Unfortunatly i havent found one in europe.

So you North american buyers can be happy to have such an engaged seller like ewheels!!!

[Keith]

1 minute ago, KingSong69 said:

Even a 5Amp charge for a Mten 520wh is slightly  under 1C load. So it will not damage the cells, just not so good in the long run, for longevity!

That is assuming that the charge circuitry and BMS can handle 5 Amps OK. has that ever been confirmed? 

Whilst most cells will tolerate a 1C charge. 0.5C is MUCH better for their long term health.

[US69]

Just now, Keith said:

That is assuming that the charge circuitry and BMS can handle 5 Amps OK. has that ever been confirmed? 

Whilst most cells will tolerate a 1C charge. 0.5C is MUCH better for their long term health.

As all charge circuits/BMS  of GW/KS can achieve that 5Amps , i dont see why they would have changed it just for the Mten.

And yes, your are right , 0,5 C is much better! Therefore the recommedation of 3Amps for a fast charge, which would be 1,5 Amps per cell block, and so at about 0,4 C for the 3500mah cell.

i personally never go over that 0,5C when charging my wheels...

[eddiemoy]

10 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

After the first 4 hours I don't love it, but I'm going to give it a couple hundred miles before I come to a final position.

@Marty Backe, When did you get a KS18S?  LOL

[Marty Backe]

6 hours ago, KingSong69 said:

That would be fair :-)

I have to say that even as i have about 1500km on my 18S and really loving it, after riding the ultra torque and agile Tesla sportscar, the 18S feels like a 1000 ton truck first :-) i need about 10 minutes to readjust again....

Cant imagine how that must feel when coming from a Mten, haha :-)

Even the KS14S feels like a tank after riding the Mten3 

[Marty Backe]

8 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

  Actually speaking of speed wobble, I did encounter some instability above 30 kph at one point, but I quickly realized I was the source of the wobble.  Immediately relaxing the feet and legs a bit made it disappear quickly without needing to slow down.  It's weird when you suddenly go hey it's my legs that are introducing this phenomenon into the wheel and not the wheel itself.  Luckily it never came back.

I think as you learn to subconsciously trust a new wheel you overcome the wobbles at higher speeds.  I can't imagine what it must have took to test the MSuper for Marty after falling off at high speed.  That takes a lot of will power to trust that a quick firmware fix makes everything better.

I think we all get the wobbles at various times, I know that I still do when traveling very fast. Usually when I hit a rougher patch of pavement or something else that throws off my balance a little.

It did take me a few rides before I started fully trusting the MSuper. After 450-miles I've never had a problem with the wheel.

[Marty Backe]

37 minutes ago, eddiemoy said:

@Marty Backe, When did you get a KS18S?  LOL

Yesterday. You see Eddie, I'm not a hater of any wheel. They all have their pluses and minuses and I do prefer some over others, but every wheel can be great fun  

[eddiemoy]

9 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

Yesterday. You see Eddie, I'm not a hater of any wheel. They all have their pluses and minuses and I do prefer some over others, but every wheel can be great fun  

When you have different wheels, you just have to compare, it is just nature.  You will hate something because you compare it with the other wheels.  I think the airwheel x3 is absolute garbage.  I used it to learn to go forward and as soon as I clicked, got the 9bot1.  9bot1 compared to the airwheel was great, until i upgraded to the KS16...  Then the 9bot1 was a POS compared to the KS16.  the KS16 removes my desire to go on the 9bot1 and airwheel completely.  They just sit there and collect dust.  I think the 9bot1 is a great learner wheel.  I would never recommend the airwheel x3.  Then when I got the KS18S, I love the wheel, but I still used the KS16 when I needed more portability.  Then I got the Msuper, sorry, don't get me started.  You already know my feelings on this wheel, everything is worse than the KS18S, so why would I want to ride it, just like why would I ride the X3 and 9bot1 when I have the KS16?  

Have you tried to ride seated on the KS18S yet?  It is a little different than on the monster and the msuper.  Waiting for your video review

[Marty Backe]

12 minutes ago, eddiemoy said:

When you have different wheels, you just have to compare, it is just nature.  You will hate something because you compare it with the other wheels.  I think the airwheel x3 is absolute garbage.  I used it to learn to go forward and as soon as I clicked, got the 9bot1.  9bot1 compared to the airwheel was great, until i upgraded to the KS16...  Then the 9bot1 was a POS compared to the KS16.  the KS16 removes my desire to go on the 9bot1 and airwheel completely.  They just sit there and collect dust.  I think the 9bot1 is a great learner wheel.  I would never recommend the airwheel x3.  Then when I got the KS18S, I love the wheel, but I still used the KS16 when I needed more portability.  Then I got the Msuper, sorry, don't get me started.  You already know my feelings on this wheel, everything is worse than the KS18S, so why would I want to ride it, just like why would I ride the X3 and 9bot1 when I have the KS16?  

Have you tried to ride seated on the KS18S yet?  It is a little different than on the monster and the msuper.  Waiting for your video review

I understand what you write here, but I'm more even-tempered when it comes to evaluating wheels. I'll admit that I 'hate' the generic wheels, but all of the name brand wheels I've tried have been fun.

Haven't tried sitting on the wheel yet - I need to wait until I feel more comfortable riding it.

[LanghamP]

39 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

Yesterday. You see Eddie, I'm not a hater of any wheel. They all have their pluses and minuses and I do prefer some over others, but every wheel can be great fun  

You bought another wheel? What are you, nuts? I think an intervention is appropriate here. 

Unless it's a trade. It'd be OK if it's a trade. 

[Marty Backe]

Just now, LanghamP said:

You bought another wheel? What are you, nuts? I think an intervention is appropriate here. 

Unless it's a trade. It'd be OK if it's a trade. 

Is there a magic number at which point we become nuts 

No, I didn't actually buy it. I did a temporary swap with @Sketch - I get his KS18S and he takes my MSuper V3s+. We can both put some solid time on the wheels to form educated opinions on how they ride.

It's one thing to experiment with a wheel for a couple of hours but if you can 'own' one for a couple of months you can really get to know it.

After this swap I'm going to trade my ACM V2s for his KS16S and do the same thing.

This is a great advantage to living where there are multiple wheelers 

[US69]

18 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

sitting on the wheel yet - I need to wait until I feel more comfortable riding it.

Yip! Definitly riding seated is for experienced KS18 riders :-) Then, when you get comfortable on seated, its the most fun ever, in my opinion.

One of the main tricks on the KS18's is....to lean in more than you are used on smaller...not that high wheels. And that needs confidence and trust, which builds over time :-) While i h ave to say, i promise you will not be able to overlean the 18S :-) Its pretty much impossible.

Have fun enjoying all these wheels you have at home!!!

[LanghamP]

5 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

 

This is a great advantage to living where there are multiple wheelers 

I started to like your post, liked it, then got kinda irritated at your climate, trails, and wheel selection. So down voted.

Sorry. It's below freezing today where I live. 

However, thinking about the Canadian riders makes me feel better. 

[Marty Backe]

15 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

I started to like your post, liked it, then got kinda irritated at your climate, trails, and wheel selection. So down voted.

Sorry. It's below freezing today where I live. 

However, thinking about the Canadian riders makes me feel better. 

[eddiemoy]

3 hours ago, KingSong69 said:

Yip! Definitly riding seated is for experienced KS18 riders :-) Then, when you get comfortable on seated, its the most fun ever, in my opinion.

One of the main tricks on the KS18's is....to lean in more than you are used on smaller...not that high wheels. And that needs confidence and trust, which builds over time :-) While i h ave to say, i promise you will not be able to overlean the 18S :-) Its pretty much impossible.

Have fun enjoying all these wheels you have at home!!!

I once almost over leaned.  It was the most frightening experience ever!  Felt like I was going to fall, immediately knew it was a mistake.  Lucky I was able to back off just in time and the wheel caught up or it would have been a horrible face plant going at least 20mph!

[US69]

1 minute ago, eddiemoy said:

I once almost over leaned.  It was the most frightening experience ever!  Felt like I was going to fall, immediately knew it was a mistake.  Lucky I was able to back off just in time and the wheel caught up or it would have been a horrible face plant going at least 20mph!

Ok,Sorry, sometime its hard for me to describe what i mean, as this isnt my motherlanguage.

Sure i didnt mean while driving over 5kmh/mph...i meant the start, first push from standstill, where the 18S is the one of the most powerful wheels i have ever riden and hard to overlean in that situation.

When going over a certain speed the torque is going to get less on any wheel and it becomes easier to overlean.

(Sure you can overlean everywheel in every situation, my main point was to make clear that its hard or harder to overlean a 18S)

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Ow ow ow my calves are still so sore today.  Not as red, but geez I feel like I was a stuntman in one of the 50 Shades of Grey movies with someone beating my legs with a wicker stick.     This Tesla is a bit of an S&M ride.  I added some carpet underlay cushions, but they didn't help that much on my ride today.  They just made the top area even wider.  Jeans didn't help either.

I also wonder whether the telemetry from the wheel is accurate as apparently I hit a top speed of 794 kph at one point.   I'm breaking new one wheeled land speed records!

Gyrometrics has some neat hidden features.  If you allow it GPS access it will track your run, and if you long press on the mini-map overlay on the speed meter it shows you the trip trace in the maps app on my iPhone.

Also you can drag select on the speed graph a certain point in time and double tap which gives you some average data and allows you to stretch the graph out at that point to zoom in a bit.  Very neat stuff @Paco Gorina!

I think though that the Gotway lies a bit as I don't think I rolled 35 km.  More like 18 km.  Weird.  Also I think the wheel may have forgotten my settings as I heard a three beep warning at one point.  I thought I had turned off the first two alarms and set tiltback to 48 kph with the non-social app.  Might have to recheck that.

I'll have to see how my calves do in the future.  Today I had to ride on the outer half of the pedals to make things clear and point my feet out 45° to avoid contacting my sore calves.  I hope once they heal up things will get better.  Reviewing Tishawn's top speed video, I did notice that he has pretty slim legs so maybe it's just me.  I might have to get those shin guards Hirsute uses.  I wish they could have made the side panels slope inward at the top to help follow anatomical leg form.  The Ninebot fits so well it's hard to get adjusted to the square box shape.

After a while of riding and ignoring the calf pain, the Tesla is really fun to go zooming around and leaning into the corners.   I like to do body leans around sweeping turns a la motorcycle style.  There's a lot of loose gravel around though so I have to be careful.  The extra speed capability gives added confidence when riding around cars on the road.  I have a feeling now that they don't feel so inconvenienced to be near a slower moving wheel like the Ninebot as I can now zoom along at higher speeds.  I'm loving the Tesla so far!

Edited December 10, 2017 by Hunka Hunka Burning Love

[steve454]

1 hour ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

Ow ow ow my calves are still so sore today.  Not as red, but geez I feel like I was a stuntman in one of the 50 Shades of Grey movies with someone beating my legs with a wicker stick.     This Tesla is a bit of an S&M ride.  I added some carpet underlay cushions, but they didn't help that much on my ride today.  They just made the top area even wider.  Jeans didn't help either.

I also wonder whether the telemetry from the wheel is accurate as apparently I hit a top speed of 794 kph at one point.   I'm breaking new one wheeled land speed records!

Gyrometrics has some neat hidden features.  If you allow it GPS access it will track your run, and if you long press on the mini-map overlay on the speed meter it shows you the trip trace in the maps app on my iPhone.

Also you can drag select on the speed graph a certain point in time and double tap which gives you some average data and allows you to stretch the graph out at that point to zoom in a bit.  Very neat stuff @Paco Gorina!

I think though that the Gotway lies a bit as I don't think I rolled 35 km.  More like 18 km.  Weird.  Also I think the wheel may have forgotten my settings as I heard a three beep warning at one point.  I thought I had turned off the first two alarms and set tiltback to 48 kph with the non-social app.  Might have to recheck that.

I'll have to see how my calves do in the future.  Today I had to ride on the outer half of the pedals to make things clear and point my feet out 45° to avoid contacting my sore calves.  I hope once they heal up things will get better.  Reviewing Tishawn's top speed video, I did notice that he has pretty slim legs so maybe it's just me.  I might have to get those shin guards Hirsute uses.  I wish they could have made the side panels slope inward at the top to help follow anatomical leg form.  The Ninebot fits so well it's hard to get adjusted to the square box shape.

After a while of riding and ignoring the calf pain, the Tesla is really fun to go zooming around and leaning into the corners.   I like to do body leans around sweeping turns a la motorcycle style.  There's a lot of loose gravel around though so I have to be careful.  The extra speed capability gives added confidence when riding around cars on the road.  I have a feeling now that they don't feel so inconvenienced to be near a slower moving wheel like the Ninebot as I can now zoom along at higher speeds.  I'm loving the Tesla so far!

Maybe you should get just one more wheel, a very narrow one, like this one.  The Tesla looka wide.