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Causes of your accidents


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1 hour ago, yegwheel said:

Winter, 6am, dark, cold. City commute. Ride carefully to the bike lane, cleared by the city, salted, dry as a bone. Time for some fun, a respite from the hard work of navigating the snowy roads where bike paths don't go. Up ahead, a main break has flooded one of the intersections and frozen over.  Now you can ride even the worst, blackest ice if you always follow three golden rules: stay totally upright when turning; stay to the center of crowned roads; and stay on the wheel until you get to safe ground. I was about to break rule 2. That slow motion thing they talk about in accidents is real. Ever so gently the wheel slid out from underneath me. Really it was about the most gentle unplanned dismount you'll ever have while riding an electric unicycle at 40kmh. Then I was on the icy road sliding along with the wheel. I have always wished there had been someone there to see it. I and the wheel slid in tandem to the intersection, through the intersection, and 20 yards further to boot, maybe fifty meters in all. Thankfully, being so early, there was no traffic to run me over (why I go to work so early actually). I got up, checked the wheel, and proceeded on to the rest of my day none the worse for wear. 

Lol that is a good story! I have only had small ice'd over puddles last christmas and I remember clenching my arse, closing my eyes and praying and luckily I never came off on one of them, but I did have the same kind of thing happen but when mud instead of ice and that slip out from under you feeling is the worst!

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1 hour ago, yegwheel said:

Winter, 6am, dark, cold. City commute. Ride carefully to the bike lane, cleared by the city, salted, dry as a bone. Time for some fun, a respite from the hard work of navigating the snowy roads where bike paths don't go. Up ahead, a main break has flooded one of the intersections and frozen over.  Now you can ride even the worst, blackest ice if you always follow three golden rules: stay totally upright when turning; stay to the center of crowned roads; and stay on the wheel until you get to safe ground. I was about to break rule 2. That slow motion thing they talk about in accidents is real. Ever so gently the wheel slid out from underneath me. Really it was about the most gentle unplanned dismount you'll ever have while riding an electric unicycle at 40kmh. Then I was on the icy road sliding along with the wheel. I have always wished there had been someone there to see it. I and the wheel slid in tandem to the intersection, through the intersection, and 20 yards further to boot, maybe fifty meters in all. Thankfully, being so early, there was no traffic to run me over (why I go to work so early actually). I got up, checked the wheel, and proceeded on to the rest of my day none the worse for wear. 

Everyone seems to want to avoid and sweep under the rug the True Factual Reality cause of most all euc accidents. The real White Elephant in the Room.

I have even been scolded and critized for bring it up. Told to shut up about it.

Some people just plain refuse to believe in mass, momentum, inertia if it has to do with them going fast on an euc.

It's Science. I'm just the messenger. Go argue with Nature, not me.

You may have violated several rules but the number one rule was:

SPEED.

And, of course, you did not use the number one, required, not optional, safety device...

YOUR BRAIN.

40km, on Black Ice, on a public street, nearing an intersection.

OH MY GOD.

 

 

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Here is my accident experience after >10000km:

1st EUC:  unbranded unicycle 14" wheel 300W nominal:

- motor cut-off at 15km/h, not even fallen, I continued running => advice: don't buy unicycles with  low speed limits, with low power!

- smaller wheels makes you slow down  at every discontinuity on the road (pavement, pits) and they can make you loose your balance (=our main fear) and fall more frequently at non-flat roads => advice: buy bigger wheels for riding stability. I think even 16" is not big enough.

The rest is with Gotway Msuper v2 18" 1000W nominal, speed limit 45km/h: 

- balance lost but not fallen,  tilt forward at 45km/h without helmet, motor did not cut off (if it did: I was nearly dead) (what is tilt forward? => when reaching max. power the motherboard keeps on delivering max. power instead of cutting the current: so you lean forward but without acceleration of the wheel but without cutting off of the motor too, this makes you loose your balance in forward direction, if you react quickly by leaning backwards you save your live which was the case here) I was not fallen but I lost during a second my balance to forward direction but this was the most dangerous incident I ever had => advice: buy a EUC with backward tilt before EUC limits (was not the case for GotWay!) , buy EUC which continues delivering max. power at his limits (Gotway is very good at this point, he knows that motor cutoff is the worse thing that a EUC can do, it avoids at all prices)

- fallen at 5km/h: at day I rode in a large tunnel where it was a little dark (since I rode at day I did not had my light on), I saw a pit of 15cm, I leant heavily backwards to brake, the EUC gave his full power to brake again without cutoff, I leant so heavy backwards that I fell backwards at +-5km/h, no injury => advice: buy a EUC that keeps on max. braking power without cutting off (Gotway is good at this point) , buy a EUC with very powerful lights (even new EUCs have tiny lights which are insufficient to see dips on the road), buy bigger wheels since I would fall forward instead of backwards in this case if I had a 14" wheel because a 14" wheel can fit more in large dips. 

- insufficient braking power: I braked too heavy so that EUC reached max. power and held continuously this power on. but since I asked more power than max. power of the EUC, I lost my balance during a second to rearwards direction,  I reacted quickly by leaning forward to decrease my deceleration. => advice: by a EUC with high power so that your motor can brake with high deceleration in case of need. again no motor cutoff after reaching max. power (very important parameter for a EUC)

- fallen at 5km/h: from standstill I accelerated so much that motor reached max. power and kept this max. power continuously.  With my heavy backpack, this time I was not flexible enough to make a reflex and to decrease my forward leaning.  I had a full cover motorhelmet on, if I had a bike helmet on, my nose and teeth would be broken=>advice: 3kW max. motorpower did not give enough acceleration power => advice: buy EUC with highest power.

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2 hours ago, The Wizard said:

I am re-reading and studying ur very useful post.

I was surprised to learn from you a very subtle but important distinction between a CutOut (instantaneous limpness) and the lack of more power to answer increasing Forward Lean demand.

The latter resulting in too much Forward Lean to the point of falling but at least falling FORWARD as opposed to falling in any old direction and also posture. Although certainly very regrettable due to maxing out that particular eucs top speed. :(

Still... clearly 2 different but horrible TYPEs of falls.

The point? I don't know. Yet. But education and facts are always useful sooner or later.

Perhaps one lesson being that especially with Lean Back a rider has his Fate in his hands and can stop (or try to) leaning forward. You might have some choice, some control, some reaction time.

CutOut is just... well you know.

 

A crash when the pedals sag but can still be pushed off isn't too bad at all. You can take a few steps and maybe roll. I've had a few of these on purpose when playing with a weaker wheel from a stop, and one at a much faster speed where I was skinned but not bruised.

However, one time I was showing off to these kids by doing pendalums when one of the three year olds darts forward with her evil chubby hands and hits the power off button at just the right moment.

I'm telling you right now, the cutout is evil, you will fall forward, hit the ground, and die right there on the spot surrounded by your orphaned teeth.

I had her do that again a few more times, and, yeah, not a chance.

My operational experience with a zero-speed cutout is you might as well write your will right now.

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  • 5 months later...

Just recently got a ninebot one C+.  Took me about an hour to learn how to ride and actually be confident about riding around in public places.  I've heard about accidents in the past and ways to avoid them, but learned about respecting the "beep" the hard way.  With a couple of push backs on the wheel after hitting 15 or 12mph a couple of times.  I remembered my last push back that slowed my wheel down to at 6mph.  Being to comfortable with the wheel and pushing limits, the wheel shut down at around 8mph.  Luckily I wore wrist guards and knee pads that broke my fall, and only suffered minor scrapes on my elbows.  Lesson learned but wish the beep was a little louder, but I should have known from the push back of the wheel.   

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