Gotway tesla 1020wh finally arrived (first euc)

[Shad0z]

so i got my gotway tesla (i actually got it a few days back) 

DAY 1

first impression is it is big and beautiful my minipro looks like a little toy in comparison 

and the motor sound you can really hear all of that raw power in there 

but then on to the riding....

getting on it first time is about as hard as trying to hit a trashcan with a peice of paper from 10meters away (you dont have to lie we all missed those easy throws) 

but i used 2 hours of hard throwing myself on it and falling off and then i reached a point of where i could step on ride down the street but i still wasnt stable

but then i later that evening midnight went out to try again and i ended up nailing the technique i ended up standing straight going foward without wiggling around 

and my tesla also dropped its pillow costume

 

DAY 2

first thing i went out to ride it again and after some more riding i stopped having these weird loss of balance but it still hurts innerside of my knees especially when going over bumps 

the same day i rode out to get myself a cross helmet (can never be too early) it made me a little more comfortable i didnt measure what speed i was going but it was around 25 kph 

and im starting to edge on the 30s i havent had a fall yet so im still very cautious

and now trying to practice hard turn and 180 wich i have to step off i end up slowing down until i can balance

 

DAY 3

still very very happy with my purchase while typing this

time on the wheel to learn it: aprox 70 min  time on wheel now 5 hours

from now on i will just ride it often to get better and better

and see what the future brings 

 

[The Fat Unicyclist]

You will keep learning for hundreds of kilometres yet... And then (when you stop learning) you will still regularly realise something else has just clicked! 

Enjoy! 

[Shad0z]

1 hour ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

You will keep learning for hundreds of kilometres yet... And then (when you stop learning) you will still regularly realise something else has just clicked! 

Enjoy! 

one question i have hard thing with is how to get over bumps smoothly how i should position legs to get over bump

and how high curbs the tesla can go over (approx)

[Tomek]

6 minutes ago, Shad0z said:

one question i have hard thing with is how to get over bumps smoothly how i should position legs to get over bump

and how high curbs the tesla can go over (approx)

To go over curbs, the best strategy is to bend your knees (anyways, always try to ride on bent knees), and make a jump-like move just before hitting the curb to relieve the wheel of (part of) your own weight. Your feet shouldn't lift from the pedals so that you keep balancing the wheel, and jumping with the wheel is not necessary (it's difficult and perhaps impossible considering Tesla's weight). There was a how-to video of this technique somewhere on this forum...

In my experience on GT16 (comparable in power/weight to Tesla), 5cm curbs are no problem to just ride through, higher curbs require some technique, and higher than 10cm I don't try, but can be mastered too. You should see videos of @Sidestreet Reny, but he's been using much lighter wheels for his tricks.

[Shad0z]

2 hours ago, Tomek said:

To go over curbs, the best strategy is to bend your knees (anyways, always try to ride on bent knees), and make a jump-like move just before hitting the curb to relieve the wheel of (part of) your own weight. Your feet shouldn't lift from the pedals so that you keep balancing the wheel, and jumping with the wheel is not necessary (it's difficult and perhaps impossible considering Tesla's weight). There was a how-to video of this technique somewhere on this forum...

In my experience on GT16 (comparable in power/weight to Tesla), 5cm curbs are no problem to just ride through, higher curbs require some technique, and higher than 10cm I don't try, but can be mastered too. You should see videos of @Sidestreet Reny, but he's been using much lighter wheels for his tricks.

ahh good i always have half bent knees then when going up curb i make like little jump 

and so far with bumps i have just bent legs and let them take shock 

i was just wondering about the curb thingy or if there was anything i missed while learning but everything seems to be how i needs to

but practising curbs i need

but other thing i was riding yesterday with other euc riders from facebook group they told me that i should try to lean with only feet instead of whole body because it can cut out if i accelerate too fast with body weight but then i tried leaning and i find that it doesnt do anything

how to do it?  just lean like normally and pull back the upper body to the center of gravity?

 

[Chriull]

12 minutes ago, Shad0z said:

but other thing i was riding yesterday with other euc riders from facebook group they told me that i should try to lean with only feet instead of whole body because it can cut out if i accelerate too fast with body weight but then i tried leaning and i find that it doesnt do anything

Just putting the weight on the toe tips could give one better control than just leaning the whole body forward. As long as one does not lean forward as strong as possible the tesla should not have any problems.

Cut outs/overleans by accelerations are a problem at "higher" speeds as one could then (more) easily hit the max torque over speed limit.

Quote

how to do it?  just lean like normally and pull back the upper body to the center of gravity?

Here are nice tutorials posted by @Hirsute: 

(The topic also includes an explanation on how to get english subtitles)

[Mono]

29 minutes ago, Shad0z said:

but other thing i was riding yesterday with other euc riders from facebook group they told me that i should try to lean with only feet instead of whole body because it can cut out if i accelerate too fast with body weight but then i tried leaning and i find that it doesnt do anything

how to do it?  just lean like normally and pull back the upper body to the center of gravity?

It is generally a very useful technique to be able redistribute the body weight at the same time to the heel of one foot and to the toes of the other. This can be done without changing the driving situation or the acceleration at all. It may give a little more stability in some situations, it helps to reposition the feet, and in case of an outleaning it probably helps to run it off.

Otherwise, IMHO one should lean rather by bending the knees instead of "leaning the body":

[Tomek]

2 hours ago, Shad0z said:

but other thing i was riding yesterday with other euc riders from facebook group they told me that i should try to lean with only feet instead of whole body because it can cut out if i accelerate too fast with body weight but then i tried leaning and i find that it doesnt do anything

how to do it?  just lean like normally and pull back the upper body to the center of gravity?

well, technically, to accelerate you have to move your body's center of gravity forward. by standing on your toes you do it instinctively, but i wouldn't recommend it, as you may loose grip on your pedals by (even only accidentally) lifting your heels. the best technique IMO is to consciously try to move your upright torso forward from slightly bent knees, such that the torso remains vertical, as opposed to bending forward. it kinda feels like you're pushing the wheel forward or backward from under you, while from waist up keeping straight. It's similar to skiing, most rookies lean forward and stick their bums backward resulting in very poor control of skis, and pro-skiers always keep their torsos in steady orientation and let their legs do all the balancing work. ...well, but I guess I'm also just rephrasing what @Mono wrote.

[Shad0z]

1 hour ago, Tomek said:

well, technically, to accelerate you have to move your body's center of gravity forward. by standing on your toes you do it instinctively, but i wouldn't recommend it, as you may loose grip on your pedals by (even only accidentally) lifting your heels. the best technique IMO is to consciously try to move your upright torso forward from slightly bent knees, such that the torso remains vertical, as opposed to bending forward. it kinda feels like you're pushing the wheel forward or backward from under you, while from waist up keeping straight. It's similar to skiing, most rookies lean forward and stick their bums backward resulting in very poor control of skis, and pro-skiers always keep their torsos in steady orientation and let their legs do all the balancing work. ...well, but I guess I'm also just rephrasing what @Mono wrote.

yes that was exactly what i thought i accelarete by leaning foward and he said i should do it with feet so i dont use my weight... but the fact is no matter what i do i have to apply same weight to go foward same speed

i thought for a second you were retiring a tesla and enjoying a gt16 i was confused but i see its mcm so youre not crazy as i thought at first  

[Tomek]

4 hours ago, Shad0z said:

i thought for a second you were retiring a tesla and enjoying a gt16 i was confused but i see its mcm so youre not crazy as i thought at first  

it was a difficult, but fully deliberate choice of GT over Tesla, and so far I’m very happy I chose it.

but hey, who doesnt love their own wheel most?

[LanghamP]

9 hours ago, Tomek said:

well, technically, to accelerate you have to move your body's center of gravity forward. by standing on your toes you do it instinctively, but i wouldn't recommend it, as you may loose grip on your pedals by (even only accidentally) lifting your heels. the best technique IMO is to consciously try to move your upright torso forward from slightly bent knees, such that the torso remains vertical, as opposed to bending forward. it kinda feels like you're pushing the wheel forward or backward from under you, while from waist up keeping straight. It's similar to skiing, most rookies lean forward and stick their bums backward resulting in very poor control of skis, and pro-skiers always keep their torsos in steady orientation and let their legs do all the balancing work. ...well, but I guess I'm also just rephrasing what @Mono wrote.

There are mogul skiers with straight up and down posture and some with their asses sticking far out.

There are super g skiers who are more upright than others.

They are all fast.

They also have a seriously high incident of back injuries and knee injuries. Pro level skiers seem washed put by their late twenties but I am jealous of such a lifestyle.

I think a good argument against upright posture is that a bump get transmitted through the spine with little flex but a bent posture has some give. I do personally agree bending forward induces some wobbling and other loss of control, but I've made a conscious effort to ride quite bent over, with bent knees, and that has really seemed to help going over bumps.

Riding this way, in a crouch, sure doesn't feel natural but the benefit is you can float over all sorts of bumps at high speed. Wheel wobbles a lot, though, pretty much 100% of the time, it is like pushing a shopping cart with the front steering wheels set the wrong way.

[Shad0z]

4 hours ago, LanghamP said:

There are mogul skiers with straight up and down posture and some with their asses sticking far out.

There are super g skiers who are more upright than others.

They are all fast.

They also have a seriously high incident of back injuries and knee injuries. Pro level skiers seem washed put by their late twenties but I am jealous of such a lifestyle.

I think a good argument against upright posture is that a bump get transmitted through the spine with little flex but a bent posture has some give. I do personally agree bending forward induces some wobbling and other loss of control, but I've made a conscious effort to ride quite bent over, with bent knees, and that has really seemed to help going over bumps.

Riding this way, in a crouch, sure doesn't feel natural but the benefit is you can float over all sorts of bumps at high speed. Wheel wobbles a lot, though, pretty much 100% of the time, it is like pushing a shopping cart with the front steering wheels set the wrong way.

i just rided wuth bent knees from start it feels natural because if i dont i will be flying off the pedals with smallest bump

[Mono]

On 1/16/2018 at 3:51 AM, LanghamP said:

I think a good argument against upright posture is that a bump get transmitted through the spine with little flex

If this is the case, IMHO the knees and/or hip joints aren't doing their job properly. No bumps should be transmitted from the legs beyond the hips ever.

In general a bent body posture is not ideal for the spine, but I can see two advantages from it. It reduces the drag which is relevant for competition skiers. It gives leverage to counter a backwards momentum and prevent falling backwards by straightening up the body. On a coasting unicycle (BC wheel) it's probably unavoidable for this reason. EDIT: to keep the heels on the ground when bending the knees it seems also unavoidable to stick the bud out and then compensate the backwards shift of the center of mass by leaning the upper body forward.

[Shad0z]

26 minutes ago, Mono said:

If this is the case, IMHO the knees and/or hip joints aren't doing their job properly. No bumps should be transmitted from the legs beyond the hips ever.

In general a bent body posture is not ideal for the spine, but I can see two advantages from it. It reduces the drag which is relevant for competition skiers. It gives leverage to counter a backwards momentum and prevent falling backwards by straightening up the body. On a coasting unicycle (BC wheel) it's probably unavoidable for this reason.

i think bent legs while riding euc is essential if I dont have my legs bent and drive over a bump I get thrown off I it's over 20 kph

[meepmeepmayer]

He's sometimes a bit of an absolutist

Ride as you naturally would! Don't think too much, just do.

Of course bending the knee a little ( = the knees not maximally extended) is better for bumps. So do it.

[LanghamP]

1 hour ago, Mono said:

If this is the case, IMHO the knees and/or hip joints aren't doing their job properly. No bumps should be transmitted from the legs beyond the hips ever.

You can demonstrate that knees and hips cannot always save you from bumps on an EUC/skis/etc because the knees are easily damaged when the knees are bent forward far enough over the front of the feet. So-called "sissy squats" or forward lunges damage knees because of this.

 

I mean, if you wanted to, you could have a perfectly upright posture with bent knees that has no bumps at all transmitted beyond the knees. I'd actually be interested in a bunch of people riding EUC do that, and see if they actually get knee problems a few years from now.

[Mono]

41 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

You can demonstrate that knees and hips cannot always save you from bumps on an EUC/skis/etc because the knees are easily damaged when the knees are bent forward far enough over the front of the feet. So-called "sissy squats" or forward lunges damage knees because of this.

Are you aware of any scientific literature on this subject? 

41 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

I mean, if you wanted to, you could have a perfectly upright posture with bent knees that has no bumps at all transmitted beyond the knees. I'd actually be interested in a bunch of people riding EUC do that, and see if they actually get knee problems a few years from now.

We have the huge database of hobby skiers to play with. AFAICS skiing is significantly more demanding on the knees than EUCing.

[LanghamP]

5 minutes ago, Mono said:

Are you aware of any scientific literature on this subject? 

 

None. The best I can offer is first person whereby since I've been mindful of keeping my bent knees from going forward my knee pain has gradually gone away.

That's why I suggest some riders ride perfectly upright with bent knees, to see if any injuries are incurred.