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THE FACE PLANT WALL OF INFAMY


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Just had my first real faceplant. Somehow my V8 decided it wasn't going to manage the small ramp down in the road that it's done a few times before. I looked back for a pothole but couldn't see one. Embarrassingly, there were quite a few people around. I was mostly saved by my wristguards - a worthwhile investment if there ever was one. However, I probably should now get elbow guards as my right elbow and hip took the brunt of the damage. Much more annoyingly, I now have holes in an expensive snow coat, trousers and a fleeced hoody. 

I wonder if wearing too many layers of clothing is bad for riding - I had three layers of socks on. I did feel a little disconnected from the road I suppose.

Can supply proof with pictures of my 'war' wounds. My wheel seems okay, it's wearing a cover so no real damage. It does seem to be tilting back a bit, maybe it needs a re-calibration?

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55 minutes ago, Kael said:

Just had my first real faceplant. Somehow my V8 decided it wasn't going to manage the small ramp down in the road that it's done a few times before. I looked back for a pothole but couldn't see one. Embarrassingly, there were quite a few people around. I was mostly saved by my wristguards - a worthwhile investment if there ever was one. However, I probably should now get elbow guards as my right elbow and hip took the brunt of the damage. Much more annoyingly, I now have holes in an expensive snow coat, trousers and a fleeced hoody. 

I wonder if wearing too many layers of clothing is bad for riding - I had three layers of socks on. I did feel a little disconnected from the road I suppose.

Can supply proof with pictures of my 'war' wounds. My wheel seems okay, it's wearing a cover so no real damage. It does seem to be tilting back a bit, maybe it needs a re-calibration?

 what did the wheel? Cut-off? or what happend

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45 minutes ago, KingSong69 said:

 what did the wheel? Cut-off? or what happend

@Kael...Glad you had wrist guards but yes absolutely  consider investing in additional protection.

Yes, please expand on the circumstances. Did the wheel go dead entirely or when you fell was it accompanied by the warning beeps as it fell over? Was it sudden stop or did you get a sense of the wheel trying to climb the obstacle but not being able to do so at a rate that maintained balance? Possible loss of traction? Wet? Ice? What was the ramp made of? Slippery material? What was the charge level? How cold was it outside? How cold was the wheel? Just started riding from being in a warm environment? Been out a while and the wheel had cooled down? Left in a car overnight/through the day?

Sorry for all the questions but it is important to try to understand why these falls happen.  

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Fairly sure it didn't beep, it happened so fast I'm struggling to remember, but it felt like maybe I lost traction. It wasn't a climb, as I was going down; it was basically a brickwork speedbump in the road, maybe 30-40cm elevation and not that much of an incline. That said, the bumps around here are particularly rough on cars; quite high/deep and almost as if the asphalt raises back up after the bump. The bricks might've been slightly gapped between them but not by much. I'll go around there tomorrow perhaps and take a picture. Now that I think about it, it seemed as though it was either halfway down the bump or at the point where it met the asphalt that I fell.

It's damp outside, but no ice, 6-7deg C (42F). It had been a sunny day with light wind. The wheel might've cooled down a bit by then but not by much, as it was near the start of my ride and I had 80-90% battery. I'd been riding for maybe 15 minutes. I didn't check the wheel's temperature, however. It had been inside, but where it's kept isn't that warm, 15-16C or so.

 

No worries about the questions, hope this helps.

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42 minutes ago, Kael said:

Fairly sure it didn't beep, it happened so fast I'm struggling to remember, but it felt like maybe I lost traction. It wasn't a climb, as I was going down; it was basically a brickwork speedbump in the road, maybe 30-40cm elevation and not that much of an incline. That said, the bumps around here are particularly rough on cars; quite high/deep and almost as if the asphalt raises back up after the bump. The bricks might've been slightly gapped between them but not by much. I'll go around there tomorrow perhaps and take a picture. Now that I think about it, it seemed as though it was either halfway down the bump or at the point where it met the asphalt that I fell.

It's damp outside, but no ice, 6-7deg C (42F). It had been a sunny day with light wind. The wheel might've cooled down a bit by then but not by much, as it was near the start of my ride and I had 80-90% battery. I'd been riding for maybe 15 minutes. I didn't check the wheel's temperature, however. It had been inside, but where it's kept isn't that warm, 15-16C or so.

 

No worries about the questions, hope this helps.

It sounds like low temperature battery problems can be ruled out as can ice. Interesting it was on the downward side of the hump.

I'm going to suggest it was probably loss of traction though. Back when I lived in the UK I remember the amount of diesel I would find on the road, especially at or on these huge speed humps. That stuff is worse then ice. I wonder if it could be that. If it were loss of traction though the wheel would not have turned off after the fall. If you had to turn it back on then traction probably wasn't the cause and then you have to consider a loose connector shaken by the bump/surface transition or something else. 

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Yeah it was a little weird, I guess, as I’ve been in more precarious situations and come out fine. This is my second fall that I haven’t properly run out of and injured myself, and they’ve both been this winter in damp, cold conditions. Starting to think this is more of a summer/dry sport!

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10 hours ago, Kael said:

Much more annoyingly, I now have holes in an expensive snow coat, trousers and a fleeced hoody. 

I wonder if wearing too many layers of clothing is bad for riding - I had three layers of socks on. I did feel a little disconnected from the road I suppose.

The easy answer is to move to New Zealand - most places here don't get snow in winter and stay below 35°C in summer... 

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On 1/18/2018 at 12:27 AM, Smoother said:

I know that feeling, that's why I can't own a GotWay (yet) I need to be sure I can ride away from the shame crash site, not have to limp away, carrying my wheel.

So it looks like rolling at speed, is not necessarily a good option (if it is by choice)  A shoulder blade smacking down onto the road doesn't sound like fun at all.

Hehe yeah indeed, did not think about shoulder but I suppose no matter what could end up with damage, wish I could be a 50kg ninja. :)

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  • 9 months later...

Finally I can call myself a full member of this club... My GT16, rebuilt and rebuilt again, have had every single part changed except for the battery packs. Those are still version 1.

Or maybe I should say "were" version 1, because they developed a problem and shut off. And did so while I was going about 20mph...

That was an interesting experience, as in Chinese proverbs where wars are "interesting". Luckily I'm no worse for the wear, but I need a new helmet and have ordered a new EUC. I'm probably going to repair my GT16, eventually, or sell the parts that work, but new battery packs are $400-$500 so it will have to wait for a bit.

I've tested and analysed the broken GT16 as best as I can, and it turns off after maybe fifteen minutes of riding (slowly uphill), then it won't turn on again. After a few minutes enough current has leaked through the charging cables to the capacitors for it to try to turn on, but it stops as soon as the capacitors are empty. If you leave it be for a few hours it turns on again, like nothing's wrong - but of course riding it is out of the question, since that would be like the adage of "famous last words"...

My guess is one or a couple of bad cells, that drop faster i voltage than the rest and cause the BMC to shut off. The sudden voltage drop dominoes the problem to the other pack. I talked with @Yi Chen about it, and he communicated with Rockwheel. Their guess was battery problems too. It seems early battery packs of the V1 type, had a problem in the BMC, that makes it a bit more vulnerable to such problems.

ONE THING about this is that time and again, my obsession with protection gear pays off. The sum total of personal injury was sore muscles for at day or two. Guess what would have happened if the dent in the visor would have been a dent in my forehead... The helmet is "probably OK", but I'm not sure so I will replace it just to be certain. So no spectacular bruises to show off, no broken bones, not even a twisted foot or wrist, but nice scratches in my helmet, a totalled visor and key-marks on the pocket of my jeans. The last because I'm too stupid to move the keys to my bag while riding.

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2 hours ago, Scatcat said:

So no spectacular bruises to show off, no broken bones, not even a twisted foot or wrist, but nice scratches in my helmet, a totalled visor and key-marks on the pocket of my jeans. The last because I'm too stupid to move the keys to my bag while riding.

Glad you are ok afterall. I had my first semi faceplant as I wrote about in another thread though.

I were "forced" by an overtaking car into my lane with no room but to try to ride into a big pot hole with water and in the dark. So I kind of were prepared but didn't expect the hole to be that deep. It looked to be like 1" or so but was in face somewhere like 2-3", too steam for my Inmotion V8 to climb and too wide for wheel to roll over and yet too short for me to catch the balance in the pot hole.

Fully geared up I too escaped unscaved...mostly. now a few days after I have some sore muscles in my arms. But Flexmeter did their job ...again. 👌👍as for the driving skills of the Volvo V90 I am not impressed at all.

@Scatcat I suggest you look at Black Friday giveaway lotto at www.ruroc.com 

They hold drawing at the 22nd Nov. and have sale at 23rd with up to 40% off. Just a tip.

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1 hour ago, Unventor said:

Glad you are ok afterall. I had my first semi faceplant as I wrote about in another thread though.

I were "forced" by an overtaking car into my lane with no room but to try to ride into a big pot hole with water and in the dark. So I kind of were prepared but didn't expect the hole to be that deep. It looked to be like 1" or so but was in face somewhere like 2-3", too steam for my Inmotion V8 to climb and too wide for wheel to roll over and yet too short for me to catch the balance in the pot hole.

Fully geared up I too escaped unscaved...mostly. now a few days after I have some sore muscles in my arms. But Flexmeter did their job ...again. 👌👍as for the driving skills of the Volvo V90 I am not impressed at all.

@Scatcat I suggest you look at Black Friday giveaway lotto at www.ruroc.com 

They hold drawing at the 22nd Nov. and have sale at 23rd with up to 40% off. Just a tip.

Oh, I already used the "singles day" to order an MSX from a trusted source for ~$1600. It will get here by UPS, which means two to three weeks from now. Which means more than a month on My Own Two Feet™. I will feel like a total noob when it finally gets here. 16" => 19" another 15 lbs, and atrophied EUC-muscles... :facepalm:

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18 hours ago, Marvin Ong said:

I superman-ed twice at Burning Man this year, does that count?

Mine was less superman, and more a jackknife slap into the ground with zero warning. Or well... I guess the jackknife slapped into the ground a few meters from where the problem started. The whole thing must have been over in half to three quarters of a second or so.

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On 11/15/2018 at 8:36 PM, meepmeepmayer said:

@Scatcat You may not have spectacular injury pictures, but you have spectacular broken helmet pictures:efee8319ab:

The key-in-pocket thing, easy to see how that can indeed be nasty.

Nah, the helmet looks good - apart from the broken off visor. But there is an area right above the brow that has clearly taken a hit.

2018-11-16-22_38_57.thumb.jpg.268982756ae10328c289ff99f24be63b.jpg

Enough not to inspire real trust...

OTOH, I'm VERY happy that ain't my forehead. :blink:

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13 hours ago, Scatcat said:

Nah, the helmet looks good - apart from the broken off visor. But there is an area right above the brow that has clearly taken a hit.

2018-11-16-22_38_57.thumb.jpg.268982756ae10328c289ff99f24be63b.jpg

Enough not to inspire real trust...

OTOH, I'm VERY happy that ain't my forehead. :blink:

Ohh my I am glad too, that "thud" like a big potato bag into the ground jack knife style is what I fear the most, at least in daily riding, ok perhaps outside extreme speed lunatic riding with hard threes very, very close by and slippery surface but that's a whole different discussion, me too actually had a similar thing recently but my left peddle got stuck in a 3" three stump hiding in the grass at work where I slip through between 2 parking places, but really should not haha. It was def still i in good condition so immediately ran for my Hiliti WSR22 A to it in anger right after haha. Typical jack knife, dead halt of the EUC and down hard even though speed was not actually high, just sudden halt of the EUC though and my body twistedat least 1/4 of a rev on the way down so hit side or even further back om my head, fine the helmet took it all, hence helmet is swapped out now which I strongly believe in even with those specific helmets claiming to take more than just a single impact before spent, even if not visible some capacity to absorb energy is most def spent so I would ride with helmet at what capacity? If at 99% maybe it's good, what if at 85% though, or 75%, what about 63%, I have no way of looking at it and determine and it's my head after all so..

Glad you are ok though, all that matters in the big picture.

EDIT, ohh saw you went for the MSX?

Good for you, hope you like it I know I do. I came from 16" too and less weight, much more reactive wheel but all things considered to me I think the one single biggest thigh to get used to was by far the peddles. Will def feel a bit sluggish compared to your other wheel at first, yes was weird to get up on but once getting used to it now the ACM and for that matter most other wheels I have tried to this date feels weird, ohh well except the V10/V10F that is one mighty comfy wheel imho. 

Seen some say it's impossible to get used to, some say peddles must be grind down to a flatter angle, that it must be flat out unhealthy to stand like that with your feet or something to that effect anyway, others incl myself say I got used to it and not cannot see myself rising differently atm, heck that peddle angle have single handedly saved me from certain pain and injury but so again I use a lot of input, pressure point manipulation in general and think a lot about gravity, forces to get the most out of it and the fastest possible around a bend, cut apex early/late, fast in slow out or the opposite, etc.. and to stay upright even after pushing your luck and hitting that obstacle sending balance off.

Enough, it's a mighty wheel whether long cruising or really fast action and hope you come to love it like I did.

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On 11/17/2018 at 11:51 AM, Electroman said:

Ohh my I am glad too, that "thud" like a big potato bag into the ground jack knife style is what I fear the most, at least in daily riding, ok perhaps outside extreme speed lunatic riding with hard threes very, very close by and slippery surface but that's a whole different discussion, me too actually had a similar thing recently but my left peddle got stuck in a 3" three stump hiding in the grass at work where I slip through between 2 parking places, but really should not haha. It was def still i in good condition so immediately ran for my Hiliti WSR22 A to it in anger right after haha. Typical jack knife, dead halt of the EUC and down hard even though speed was not actually high, just sudden halt of the EUC though and my body twistedat least 1/4 of a rev on the way down so hit side or even further back om my head, fine the helmet took it all, hence helmet is swapped out now which I strongly believe in even with those specific helmets claiming to take more than just a single impact before spent, even if not visible some capacity to absorb energy is most def spent so I would ride with helmet at what capacity? If at 99% maybe it's good, what if at 85% though, or 75%, what about 63%, I have no way of looking at it and determine and it's my head after all so..

Glad you are ok though, all that matters in the big picture.

EDIT, ohh saw you went for the MSX?

Good for you, hope you like it I know I do. I came from 16" too and less weight, much more reactive wheel but all things considered to me I think the one single biggest thigh to get used to was by far the peddles. Will def feel a bit sluggish compared to your other wheel at first, yes was weird to get up on but once getting used to it now the ACM and for that matter most other wheels I have tried to this date feels weird, ohh well extcept the V10/V10F that is one mighty comfy wheel imho. 

Seen some say it's impossible to get used to, some say peddles must be grind down to a flatter angle, that it must be flat out unhealthy to stand like that with your feet or something to that effect anyway, others incl myself say I got used to it and not cannot see myself rising differently atm, heck that peddle angle have single handedly saved me from certain pain and injury but so again I use a lot of input, pressure point manipulation in general and think a lot about gravity, forces to get the most out of it and the fastest possible around a bend, cut apex early/late, fast in slow out or the opposite, etc.. and to stay upright even after pushing your luck and hitting that obstacle sending balance off.

Enough, it's a mighty wheel whether long cruising or really fast action and hope you come to love it like I did.

Yeah, all crashes you can walk away from shows protection is the way to go.

I'm expecting a slightly rough transition from the GT16 to the MSX. The GT16 is widely believed to be among the most responsive of the 16"-ers, and going to a 19" with higher pedals and other firmware will be "interesting"... I expect to use an afternoon or so getting used to hard accel and braking, since I know for a fact that being able to brake hard can save your hide. If I hadn't learned to do that on the GT16, I would have ended up as a roadkill on the front of a beamer a year ago.

Until I feel comfortable, I will probably drive slow enough to satisfy even the most rabid of cops. :D 

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4 hours ago, Scatcat said:

Yeah, all crashes you can walk away from shows protection is the way to go.

I'm expecting a slightly rough transition from the GT16 to the MSX. The GT16 is widely believed to be among the most responsive of the 16"-ers, and going to a 19" with higher pedals and other firmware will be "interesting"... I expect to use an afternoon or so getting used to hard accel and braking, since I know for a fact that being able to brake hard can save your hide. If I hadn't learned to do that on the GT16, I would have ended up as a roadkill on the front of a beamer a year ago.

Until I feel comfortable, I will probably drive slow enough to satisfy even the most rabid of cops. :D 

Yeah you will stick it in no time I am sure, perhaps a more input is needed to halt the MSX, just use more force, aggressive angle hehe..

Like everything else, advantages and cons, while agile and responsive the peddles angle help at least me quite a lot, while can work around it on stock the EUCGUY tilted pads a very comfy add on with the forward pressure at least, higher side walls also give more space for pressure point manipulation of the wheel.

I suspect you will like it, it's very, very comfy and can go over most things with little effort. I once crossed a line in the road at high speed, or so I thought turned out to be a curb not a painted line (visibility was not the best), on 45 degree cut angle on the curb and a bit lower then the highest of them sure helped but I am still amazed at the ease of which the wheel just crossed it and keeping me upright in the process.

I am certain it will be a step up in ride comfort if you can get by the peddle angle and as soon as getting used to it but like I said, should be no problem especially not for you who got earlier experience and quite a lot of it.

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Add me to the club, please;) 
I’m a noob, riding for three weeks tops. Took my v10f for a ride around neighborhood. All was good , made a trip around, even went to shopping plaza couple of miles away and back. But then in the neighborhood I saw that one of the cars was getting out of the driveway, when I passed it, so I was trying to see if it catches up on me or not. Surprisingly enough too fast of head turn caused a momentary loss of control and the wheel I believe did this famous low/high side thing. I was thrown away and tried to run it off, but eventually met the snow on one of the lawns and planted right there;) The wheel continued it’s wobbly trip until it turned a bit too much to the right and fell down on the next lawn. 

I believe I was riding about 15MPH. Full face helmet, full gear, bike jacket, knee pads, wrist guards and moto-gloves. Walked away like nothing happened. 
THe wheel seems to be fine as well - I made another circle around after that - all good (fingers crossed;) )
So for all noobs I cannot stress enough, that it is not only riding that we need to learn, but also to be able to look around, turn your head safely, move your arms safely to indicate turns and so on. MUst practice those things in safe areas. I was really surprised in the beginning that even a slightest move of the arms can help you balance, but can also affect your balance in a bad way.

 

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On 11/18/2018 at 3:52 PM, Eugene Sazhin said:

I was really surprised in the beginning that even a slightest move of the arms can help you balance, but can also affect your balance in a bad way.

 

I recommend not twisting your head while counter twisting your arms and body. Instead, make a very fast S-turn (to look left, twist the wheel to your right then almost immediately twist your wheel left while turning your head left). This allows you to look behind you while moving virtually no other part of your body, and so you don't do weird things like highsides.

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So, this was my second crash and here's an overview before I get into specifics:

  • Wheel: Inmotion V8/Solowheel 3
  • Speed: ~20 mph
  • Reason: cut off
  • Protection: none, other than a thick jacket and pants
  • Injury: scraped knee and elbow, minor bruising in the same areas, and a ripped jacket
  • Wheel damage: cracked inner and outer shells (both sides), cracked center panels, and a broken speaker

I'm not going to go into too much detail, but at the end of the day I believe this was my fault and I'm really lucky I only sustained the injuries listed. I will definitely be wearing protection more regularly, especially when doing anything new.

Now, the crash. I was going to get lunch last week going to my downtown area for the first time and was transferring from the end of a bike lane onto the main road. I was attempting to go as fast as I could to get out of the main road and back into the next bike lane. I had been riding the tilt back for a couple of minutes and then felt the wheel cut off and it threw me forward. I believe the cut off was due to two things: ignoring the tilt back warnings and overriding the top speed of my wheel via DarknessBot (30 km/h -> 35 km/h). 

I landed on my hands and pushed my momentum to my right side to try and get off the road as fast as possible. Once I fully landed, I hit the right side of my body and slid for a bit. This is how I ripped my jacket and got my scrapes and bruises on my right knee and elbow. My knee was far more scraped than my elbow. I hit my right side pretty solid and partially knocked the wind out of myself. 

Once I gathered myself, I looked up to see my wheel tumbling down hill about 50-60 yards and end over end. Once it slowed down, it veered right and hit somebody's car. I was a bit shaken and felt like I needed to sit down before going after my wheel. A couple of people stopped to make sure I was ok and luckily the man in the car my wheel hit, was not concerned with any damage to his car. I didn't get a chance to see if I caused any damage or not. Once I saw the damage to my wheel, I didn't think it was wise to try and ride it again, so I got a ride from my fiancé to the food truck I was headed to and they ended up being out of almost everything. So, I went home hurt and hungry, haha!

I was pretty sore the next day, but a few days later, I was good with my wounds healing.

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1 hour ago, Julian Alvarez said:

Now, the crash. I was going to get lunch last week going to my downtown area for the first time and was transferring from the end of a bike lane onto the main road. I was attempting to go as fast as I could to get out of the main road and back into the next bike lane. I had been riding the tilt back for a couple of minutes and then felt the wheel cut off and it threw me forward. I believe the cut off was due to two things: ignoring the tilt back warnings and overriding the top speed of my wheel via DarknessBot (30 km/h -> 35 km/h).

Sounds like a "normal" overean: 

 

1 hour ago, Julian Alvarez said:

I was pretty sore the next day, but a few days later, I was good with my wounds healing.

Glad you are ok again!

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On 11/18/2018 at 4:52 PM, Electroman said:

I am certain it will be a step up in ride comfort if you can get by the peddle angle and as soon as getting used to it but like I said, should be no problem especially not for you who got earlier experience and quite a lot of it.

Pedal angle will not be a problem. The GT16 has angled pedals that looks like they are at least at the same angle as the MSX. It takes a bit of feet conditioning to get used to, but that part is already done in spades.

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