Esash Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 I shall call her ... "Tesla 680Wh" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 Congratulations! Now enjoy the wait and refreshing the shipping tracking all the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esash Posted January 22, 2018 Author Share Posted January 22, 2018 Question: When riding on roads, would a truck passing at 30-40 mph put me in danger considering the inferior stability of a 14" wheel? I suppose I could ride on the other side of the road, against traffic, and just slow down every time a large or fast vehicle approaches. That way I won't have my stability and direction suddenly changed into the middle of the road or off the shoulder of the road entirely. Most of you guys prefer 16 or 18 inch wheels for the stability, so I'd imagine getting blown around by bigger vehicles is a real issue while riding in the bike lane on a 14" wheel. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esash Posted January 22, 2018 Author Share Posted January 22, 2018 12 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said: Congratulations! Now enjoy the wait and refreshing the shipping tracking all the time Thank you very much, meep. It might as well be a Tesla or Monster (Or Marty's favorite, the improved ACM) I'm so thrilled about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 I think 14 vs 16/18 inch stability difference is in regards to bumpy roads, potholes etc. On perfectly smooth concrete, any such wheel is stable enough. Wind imbalances you more or less the same on any wheel (except maybe the Monster due to its high weight). Considering wind, that's a good point. You have to be careful. Trucks (as in semi or big trucks, not the jeep kind) passing you (when you're driving with traffic) and especially ones driving in the opposite direction (other side of the road) can produce quite sudden wind shocks (and there always seem to be 2 shocks from one vehicle) which can throw off your balance (and you don't want to fall right into the traffic next to you, or Splat!) if you don't expect them and maybe slow down. You have to be prepared for this every time. Though for me they had like 90-100km/h speed = 60+ mph so maybe slower speeds are ok. 30-40 mph I don't know, you'll have to test it. But every time a big (as in windage) vehicle passes or meets you fast enough , you have to expect the sudden wind bursts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esash Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 Thanks meepmeepmayer. I'll take it nice and easy, and gear up with the wrist-guard mounted mirror like Marty illustrated in his latest video (With the idea coming from a poster here on the forum). That way no big truck will catch me by surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayRay Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 53 minutes ago, Scouts Honor said: When riding on roads, would a truck passing at 30-40 mph put me in danger considering the inferior stability of a 14" wheel? In danger of... soiling your pants? Yes. Now, if you're able to keep your cool then you might just wobble a bit. (...but when a truck comes so close that you really feel the wind, be thankful you are still alive.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 Actually, from my (very limited) roadside experience (going with traffic), the ones going in the opposite direction (other side of the road) are the dangerous ones. Because the two blasts come more from the side and from the front vs. more or less straight in your back which is less worse for your balance. At least while you go on the "right" side of the road, if you go against traffic, not sure. But the mirror certainly can't hurt, and you just hear them coming. No point in writing too much about this, just try it, expect the wind blasts the first time, and then you know how it is for your wheel, your windage, your weight etc -- I assume you already watched all the learning videos etc. you could find? Then all there's to do is wait for delivery in joyous impatience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esash Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 37 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said: Actually, from my (very limited) roadside experience (going with traffic), the ones going in the opposite direction (other side of the road) are the dangerous ones. Because the two blasts come more from the side and from the front vs. more or less straight in your back which is less worse for your balance. At least while you go on the "right" side of the road, if you go against traffic, not sure. But the mirror certainly can't hurt, and you just hear them coming. No point in writing too much about this, just try it, expect the wind blasts the first time, and then you know how it is for your wheel, your windage, your weight etc -- I assume you already watched all the learning videos etc. you could find? Then all there's to do is wait for delivery in joyous impatience Where do you usually ride? 3,506 reputation points but very limited roadside riding, are you mostly on bike paths and trails? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 Yep, bike paths, offroad/dirt trails, etc. I've done extremely little riding where I was on a main road (= fast vehicles) and the bike path didn't exist or was just the side of the road (instead of separate bike paths or riding somewhere else altogether). And these few times, the fast trucks' wind blasts struck me as dangerous. Also, lots of posting does not mean lots of riding, more to the contrary. It's one of these hobbies where you need to remind yourself to ride more and write/post/argue less about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esash Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 Ha, good point. I was already posting a lot and giving wheel advice before I even rode an EUC or ordered my first wheel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
who_the Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 2 hours ago, Scouts Honor said: Question: When riding on roads, would a truck passing at 30-40 mph put me in danger considering the inferior stability of a 14" wheel? After about 6,000 miles of riding wheels from 10 to 18 inches in urban traffic on streets, roads, and highways, I have never experienced any sort of instability from parallel traffic. And I'd discourage head-on, wrong-way wheeling in almost every circumstance. Most important about wheeling in traffic is to have complete confidence in your skills to go, stop, and change direction. It might sound overly simple, but if you're not in complete control, inevitably something will happen that will challenge the one thing that you're not good at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esash Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 16 minutes ago, who_the said: After about 6,000 miles of riding wheels from 10 to 18 inches in urban traffic on streets, roads, and highways, I have never experienced any sort of instability from parallel traffic. And I'd discourage head-on, wrong-way wheeling in almost every circumstance. Most important about wheeling in traffic is to have complete confidence in your skills to go, stop, and change direction. It might sound overly simple, but if you're not in complete control, inevitably something will happen that will challenge the one thing that you're not good at. Thank you very much for the advice, Who. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rehab1 Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 10 hours ago, Scouts Honor said: 3,506 reputation points but very limited roadside riding, are you mostly on bike paths and trails? 10 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said: Also, lots of posting does not mean lots of riding, more to the contrary. It's one of these hobbies where you need to remind yourself to ride more and write/post/argue less about it In addition many postings from members relate to ‘mad scientist’ experiments and EUC advice on a plethora of topics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 Wrong-way riding is the number one killer of bicyclists every year. Interestingly, my neighborhood has lots of wrong-way riders. I had to think about why for a minute, and realized the moderate hills combined with almost all streets being one-way encourages one-way riding unless you want to puff up a bunch of hills. Instead, by sticking to the "valley" which means you're going the wrong way a lot, you can save lots of time and energy. The difference between a vehicle passing you at 25 mph versus 40 mph+ is enormous, so much so that I don't ride on roads that have a 35+ speed limit as I wouldn't hope to survive such a collision. Most cars go 10 mph above the speed limit (and if you're in a car on these wider roads, that still feels slow) and you cannot hope to survive a 45 mph collision. That's why I'm on the sidewalk a lot; a collision with a pedestrian is survivable but not one with a car. Basically, any road where the cars are going fast enough to unbalance you due to wind is not a road you want to be on, especially if there's no concrete barrier separating bicycle and vehicle traffic. Most of the time cars won't hit you but it takes just one time to critically injure you. This a great argument for AI cars, which most seem highly contemptous of, but I see AI working better than a lot of distracted drivers these days (100% of drivers consult their cell phones at lights). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Backe Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 46 minutes ago, LanghamP said: Wrong-way riding is the number one killer of bicyclists every year. Interestingly, my neighborhood has lots of wrong-way riders. I had to think about why for a minute, and realized the moderate hills combined with almost all streets being one-way encourages one-way riding unless you want to puff up a bunch of hills. Instead, by sticking to the "valley" which means you're going the wrong way a lot, you can save lots of time and energy. The difference between a vehicle passing you at 25 mph versus 40 mph+ is enormous, so much so that I don't ride on roads that have a 35+ speed limit as I wouldn't hope to survive such a collision. Most cars go 10 mph above the speed limit (and if you're in a car on these wider roads, that still feels slow) and you cannot hope to survive a 45 mph collision. That's why I'm on the sidewalk a lot; a collision with a pedestrian is survivable but not one with a car. Basically, any road where the cars are going fast enough to unbalance you due to wind is not a road you want to be on, especially if there's no concrete barrier separating bicycle and vehicle traffic. Most of the time cars won't hit you but it takes just one time to critically injure you. This a great argument for AI cars, which most seem highly contemptous of, but I see AI working better than a lot of distracted drivers these days (100% of drivers consult their cell phones at lights). Fully agree, and ... From what I've seen, many of these self-driving cars have difficulty recognizing things that they don't know about. I hope someone on their team has seen EUCs, otherwise we look like pedestrians moving at 15-mph. The algorithm will probably reject the 'signal' (us) as spurious and drive through us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 1 minute ago, Marty Backe said: Fully agree, and ... From what I've seen, many of these self-driving cars have difficulty recognizing things that they don't know about. I hope someone on their team has seen EUCs, otherwise we look like pedestrians moving at 15-mph. The algorithm will problem reject the 'signal' (us) as spurious and drive through us There's an article on AI driving that talked exactly about that. Sorry but I don't have the article (gizmodo? Jalopenik?), but my understanding is that cars will constantly ping in front of them for hard returns, and not drive through them. What I found amusing about the article was it called the pedestrians "bullying" AI cars because the writers thought the pedestrians would constantly slow down the cars by stepping carelessly in front of them. I think AI cars will be so incredibly fast compared to humans for the simple reason that they don't have to bother stopping or perhaps even slowing down when they get to intersections. At least 40% of your city driving is simply waiting at lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electricpen Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 15 hours ago, who_the said: After about 6,000 miles of riding wheels from 10 to 18 inches in urban traffic on streets, roads, and highways, I have never experienced any sort of instability from parallel traffic. And I'd discourage head-on, wrong-way wheeling in almost every circumstance. Most important about wheeling in traffic is to have complete confidence in your skills to go, stop, and change direction. It might sound overly simple, but if you're not in complete control, inevitably something will happen that will challenge the one thing that you're not good at. I would add in addition to being able to go, stop, and change direction (and quickly transition between the three), another really important skill that I didn't take into account when I was learning is the ability to handle uneven terrain and bumps, especially at whatever your normal cruising speed is. All my wipeouts outside of learning have come from unexpected dips, bumps, cracks, or very rough road while going at full speed. Learning to be able to stay in control when you hit a bump you were not expecting is actually critically important. It doesn't happen often but when it does it can be a nasty fall, especially if you are near moving cars. I've found the best way to practice this skill is to ride offroad where the terrain is basically continuously bumpy and hard to read, forcing you to constantly adjust your balance. My ability and confidence to handle bumpy terrain went up dramatically after I started riding offroad trails. The other really important skill is situational awareness. You need to be a defensive driver x10 on a wheel because a collision with even a slowly moving car can mean serious injury/death. Even just getting surprised by something that doesn't hit you that causes you to fall could end up in you being hit by someone who is following too close to stop. I'd be very patient and stay off the road with cars until you are very confident in these skills. Even after you have enough confidence you are probably wrong but who am I kidding, nobody actually waits until they are really ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esash Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 Thanks a lot for the advice guys! Trails sound the most fun anyways, so I look forward to that practice. I'm also worried about people gawking at the unicycle while they're driving, which is one more reason to stay off high speed, curvy roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
who_the Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 2 hours ago, Marty Backe said: From what I've seen, many of these self-driving cars have difficulty recognizing things that they don't know about. I hope someone on their team has seen EUCs, otherwise we look like pedestrians moving at 15-mph. The algorithm will probably reject the 'signal' (us) as spurious and drive through us We have a ton of self-driving cars (mostly Cruise-branded Bolts) in testing around San Francisco. We've ridden alongside, in front, behind, with no issues or apparent confusion. And trust me, we have tried . Although, once, as two of us slowed to a stop approaching a T-intersection, a self-driving car (without a stop sign or red light) slowed to a stop, basically blocking our way. I couldn't tell if the driver did something to get the car back going, or if the e-brain figured things out, but the car slowly rolled out and we were able to pass. From everything I have observed these cars are programmed to err way on the side of caution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Backe Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 19 minutes ago, who_the said: We have a ton of self-driving cars (mostly Cruise-branded Bolts) in testing around San Francisco. We've ridden alongside, in front, behind, with no issues or apparent confusion. And trust me, we have tried . Although, once, as two of us slowed to a stop approaching a T-intersection, a self-driving car (without a stop sign or red light) slowed to a stop, basically blocking our way. I couldn't tell if the driver did something to get the car back going, or if the e-brain figured things out, but the car slowly rolled out and we were able to pass. From everything I have observed these cars are programmed to err way on the side of caution. Very cool report Thanks for letting us know what's happening in the field. It's great that we have some test dummies, I mean riders, that can blaze the path for the rest of us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
who_the Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 3 minutes ago, Marty Backe said: It's great that we have some test dummies, I mean riders, that can blaze the path for the rest of us You were definitely right the first time! Better a test dummy than a crash dummy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shad0z Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 20 hours ago, Scouts Honor said: Question: When riding on roads, would a truck passing at 30-40 mph put me in danger considering the inferior stability of a 14" wheel? I suppose I could ride on the other side of the road, against traffic, and just slow down every time a large or fast vehicle approaches. That way I won't have my stability and direction suddenly changed into the middle of the road or off the shoulder of the road entirely. Most of you guys prefer 16 or 18 inch wheels for the stability, so I'd imagine getting blown around by bigger vehicles is a real issue while riding in the bike lane on a 14" wheel. Thanks! nahh it wouldnt maybe if it was going 80 yes but no it wont you can feel safe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shad0z Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 i got my first euc about 10 days ago you are gonna love it. dont think "am i going to regret this?, what if i cant ride it? and what if its not fun?" it will be fun, good luck getting though the waiting time but as i say: the longer you wait the more exited you get when it arrives! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esash Posted January 23, 2018 Author Share Posted January 23, 2018 2 hours ago, Shad0z said: i got my first euc about 10 days ago you are gonna love it. dont think "am i going to regret this?, what if i cant ride it? and what if its not fun?" it will be fun, good luck getting though the waiting time but as i say: the longer you wait the more exited you get when it arrives! Thanks ShadOz. Your Tesla is a real beauty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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