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i5 Wobble?


LDW

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Posted

I have ridden my new i5 3 or 4 times and I am wondering if anyone else's unit "wobbles".  I learned on the Segway S1 and experienced a bit of wobble as I was learning, but quickly got it to ride smoothly and only wobble 5% of the time, when I am "limp-wristing" it.  I became a fairly adept rider on it.  When I got on the i5 I was shocked to find that it wants prefers to wobble as its default state, and you have to pay close attention to get it to ride smoothly without the wobble.  Especially when after having braked and then letting it speed up again it will really want to wobble.  The only theories I have right now: 1) the S1 is not as tall, so the "extra" height of the i5 is necessitating another learning curve (i.e, it's "me" that is the problem) or 2) there is a problem with the unit.    I've tried several different foot positions and different postures.  It seems the "best" posture is legs very stiff--no bend at the knees--and really LEANING forward and backward, rather than more-or-less bending the legs (and in that way, leaning the feet forward and rearward) as I tend to do on the S1.  (I like the legs bent and keeping the body more upright to mitigate the consequences of a catastrophic "flame-out" of the unit power). 

I've experimented with letting the calves "brace" the wheel on both legs and on one leg, and with no contact by either calf.  Doesn't seem to make a difference; any of those postures. 

I can ride the i5 quite well; able to speed up and slow down easily and turn on a dime.  It feels fine and natural---except for the wobble.  So it's hard to imagine that it's the #1 possibility, especially with all the different postures I've tested out.  

Posted

Hi @LDW.  My wife wanted to go for a walk to visit a friend today, so just to see what this was like I put my i5 in the backpack I bought for it and walked with her, then rode home --- my point here is that I rode it just this afternoon so my memory is pretty crisp.  As an aside, 17.3 pounds in a backpack walking up some hills is a nice extra bit of weight to add if you're looking for exercise in your local walks!  I might do this some more, i.e., just go walking somewhere for a good distance, and when I figure I've walked enough then just ride home.
But I digress ... :)

What exactly do you mean by "wobble" ?  The i5 is by far the thinnest EUC, so for a person who is used to having their inner ankles/calves bracing against the body of the EUC, of course the i5 won't work like that.  When I was first learning to ride on the i5, I found this to be a PITA and literally draped a folded blanket on top of the unit to have some cushioning and something to brace against a bit.  I think this might be unique to those learning to ride an EUC with the i5 (not an optimal choice for that).

At this point the thin body of the unit doesn't seem to be a problem; at any sort of speed the i5 doesn't touch my legs, just the soles of my feet, and I'm not aware of any wobble.  Certainly at slower speeds, turning, whatever, then it can occasionally be a minor 'thing', but ... I'm not sure that we're talking about the same thing.

To be really clear, are you talking about the overall unit being solid in-and-of itself but the whole thing wobbling back and forth as you ride it, or is the wheel wobbling within the i5 case, or ... ?

My recollection from watching a video or two of the i5 being ridden didn't show a wobble, but I'm not certain.

Posted

>To be really clear, are you talking about the overall unit being solid in-and-of itself but the whole thing wobbling back and forth as you ride it, or is the wheel wobbling within the i5 case, or ... ?

The entire unit is wobbling.  If you look down at it it's wobbling side-to-side at about...3 full cycles per second-ish.   Like a top that is started to come out of its spin and begins to wobble. It's odd.  As I said, varying whether my legs are touching the sides or not touching seems to neither reduce nor increase the wobbling.  I'm quite sure that if I got onto another brand of wheel I'd be riding it with no wobble.  (No significant wobble when I ride the S1.)  I will be testing this theory soon and will report back.  Basically, I'm trying to establish some baseline from other i5 owners to see if it's plausible that the unit is defective (and needing to be returned).

 

Posted
43 minutes ago, LDW said:

>To be really clear, are you talking about the overall unit being solid in-and-of itself but the whole thing wobbling back and forth as you ride it, or is the wheel wobbling within the i5 case, or ... ?

The entire unit is wobbling.  If you look down at it it's wobbling side-to-side at about...3 full cycles per second-ish.   Like a top that is started to come out of its spin and begins to wobble. It's odd.  As I said, varying whether my legs are touching the sides or not touching seems to neither reduce nor increase the wobbling.  I'm quite sure that if I got onto another brand of wheel I'd be riding it with no wobble.  (No significant wobble when I ride the S1.)  I will be testing this theory soon and will report back.  Basically, I'm trying to establish some baseline from other i5 owners to see if it's plausible that the unit is defective (and needing to be returned).

 

If the whole thing moves as a unit, then unless the pedals are loose somehow (?) --- I don't see how that can be down to the unit.  But I might VERY well be misunderstanding.

If you look at this video, just after 4-1/2 minutes in, and again just after 9-1/2 minutes in, perhaps you can compare what the reviewers riding experience is with the i5 to what you're experiencing?   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYnwen0mGM

Posted

It could be that the tire is underinflated. it does feel like moving sideways when it is so (I experience this when I had a flat tire). It is also possible to have a wobble if you turn it on before touching the ground, but since it's not normal it shouldn't be something that you experience all the time (unless again you have an underinflated tire and the wheel is not steady on turning on). The latter happens because of some sort of bad balance sync. after turning on the unit, always give that second or 2 until the unit is firmly up and still. Other wobles could be because of the thickness but it doesn't take much to adapt to that if you ride EUCs before. I am capable of standing still for a sec or 2 now and then move again (something I never was capable on other EUCs)

Posted

Thanks, but tire is inflated to 40 psi.  Not turning on before unit is on the ground.  Yes, I always wait to ride until the unit is upright.  I'll try to get some other experienced riders on it and report back.  As I said, it is easy to ride and I'm pretty adept at it.

Posted
8 hours ago, LDW said:

Thanks, but tire is inflated to 40 psi.  Not turning on before unit is on the ground.  Yes, I always wait to ride until the unit is upright.  I'll try to get some other experienced riders on it and report back.  As I said, it is easy to ride and I'm pretty adept at it.

Should be easy to find riders in Seattle.  Too bad the Solowheel store shut down there, but there seems to be a lot of EUCer's up there.

Posted
On 12/4/2017 at 11:45 PM, brianle said:

I think this might be unique to those learning to ride an EUC with the i5 (not an optimal choice for that).

I believe the opposite. One wouldn't rely on clamping against the wheel if they start learning on an i5, saving from unlearning it later on?

Posted
2 hours ago, EternalEnigma said:

I believe the opposite. One wouldn't rely on clamping against the wheel if they start learning on an i5, saving from unlearning it later on?

I guess we each just have our one, single experience at "learning how to ride", and it's easy to unconciously generalize that.  For me, the thin body of the i5 was so uncomfortable when I was just starting out that I draped a folded-up blanket over it to give me some padding.  It wasn't that I was clamping against the wheel, just that the i5 body was sort of hitting or pushing hard enough for long enough on the insides of my ankles that they were getting sore.

My feeling is that there's enough other stuff for beginners to process without also having the EUC body sort of flailing back and forth as they're learning to control it.

My only other experience with a EUC is with the dual-wheeled InMotion V3Pro.  It has a more normal width, and I don't find any tendency to "clamp" against it, FWIW.  But admittedly, I was already able to ride some when I started with it.

Who knows what's "normal"!  :)

Posted

I've heard that a lot of beginners had pain with their ankle and lower leg from clamping as they learned. I'm not too sure, I don't personally know anyone that has an EUC either:/

 

I've only ever experienced an IPS i5, so that's all I know.

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