Charles McLean Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 Hey Everyone! I got my 1020 Wh Tesla today from @Jason McNeil at http://www.ewheels.com ... thanks Jason! Opened it up, charged it up and headed out the door for my first range test! As I expected, I got 29.1 miles before the wheel was no fun to ride anymore (constantly beeping around 8 mph). I weigh 205 lbs and was expecting to get about 30 miles based on an average cruising speed between 22 - 25 mph, so the Tesla lived up to my expectations. I came back home, charged the wheel back up in about 2.5 hours with the 5A fast charger (thanks again Jason) and took her out to see what she could really do. I experienced a motor cutout at 34.3 mph when I was about 11 miles into my ride. Admittedly it was completely my fault for pushing the wheel to it's limits, but I have to be honest, the Tesla rides so smooth and has so much power, I didn't even notice I was going that fast! I was wearing a full face helmet and didn't hear the beeps and because I disabled the pedal tilt back (again my fault) I didn't have any other indication from the wheel I should slow down. So, I'll probably re-enable the pedal tilt back when I'm wearing my full face helmet, since clearly I didn't respect the beep because I didn't hear it. With full protective gear the tumble I took at full speed didn't feel like much at all. I got back up, dusted myself off and aside from some superficial scratches on the shell of the Tesla, some scratches on my wrist guards, and a rip in the elbow of my lightweight motorcycle jacket, there was no other damage! Honestly, based on some of the horror stories I've read on various forums, I was expecting to find the Tesla shell cracked and laying in a dozen pieces on the side of the road ... but I was pleasantly surprised, and extremely relieved! The Tesla still rode great and I made it back home cruising around 25 mph with the wheel riding rock steady the whole way back. As far as first impressions go, the Tesla is amazing! I found myself typically crusing around 25 mph, which after a few short minutes once I got the wheel dialed in, didn't seem fast at all. The ride was so stable (no wobble) with so much available power even in the high end of the speed range, that 25 mph seemed like a leisurely, casual ride and I didn't even notice I was going 34.3 mph until I was sliding across asphalt. Soooo ... my lessons learned from today (1) The Tesla is amazing (2) You can't respect the beep if you can't hear it (3) full protective gear is your friend! https://photos.app.goo.gl/DGI8C9BDYPBSYpva2 https://photos.app.goo.gl/bKdjj9k1GxljxMlv2 https://photos.app.goo.gl/RgOqkJ6h5qIRlZ693 https://photos.app.goo.gl/ElJgTuESdaUCUvhG2 Happy Riding! Chuck McLean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duaner Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 So lucky!! Well, wearing protective gear was a decision, not just luck. But still any 30+mph crash not requiring medical attention is lucky. I expect heavier riders need wider safety margins. The (theoretical) 20% of extra at the 80% alarm is less effective for higher weight riders as more torque/power is needed for the heavier rider. (Technically for the inverted pendulum with the higher moment of inertia). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
US69 Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 @Charles McLean Puuuh, Come on, Charles, please keep it going slowly! You were very lucky that not more happed on this accident-cutoff! Even with protective gear we have several injuries here like broken rips, shoulders etc etc. Take a look at the thread of our long time member rehab1. He was fully protected! I would strictly advise not to go faster then 25....30maximum on the Tesla, and please try to respect the 80% beeps. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT set the tiltback to a to high speed! (33 for xample) On this speeds, the extra power needed for a tiltback can lead to a cutout, also! Thats why most of our experienced members dont use the tiltback on the the highspeed Gotways.... (some few might disagree about the extra power needed by tiltback, but there have been several reports of this tiltback related cutout scenario) If you have problems hearing the alarm i would go with an app like wheellog/gyrometrics/darkness Bot, where you can set a vibration on your phone to a certain speed. You just have to put the phone somewhere where you recongnized that vibration. That might be an alternative.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meng Yang Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 Finally, we got to know Tesla's top speed! Good job! Glad you're OK! The 5-beeps/s Final Alarm is indeed to be respected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esash Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 Too bad you didn't have a camera running. Congrats on surviving a major crash. Hopefully you don't have internal bleeding or something sneaky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rehab1 Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 2 hours ago, KingSong69 said: I would strictly advise not to go faster then 25....30maximum on the Tesla, and please try to respect the 80% beeps. I’m so glad you are OK. I totally agree wth @KingSong69. Respect the 80% beeps or limit yourself to max 30 on the Tesla. Full gear can only protect you so much. My helmet protected me big time but the elbow pads did not as the point of impact simply navigated through the pads and up to the humeral head. Be safe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meepmeepmayer Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 Yep, sounds like you were indeed lucky. Don't assume this is normal. Maybe the fact that it was an overpower/overlean, so the forward dip happened relatively slowly, also helped. So thje fall didn't come totally without warning to your reflexes. Can you tell you you fell? What hit the ground first, etc. What protective wear did you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houseofjob Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 @Charles McLean Glad your ok. I'm curious as to how you know you were going 34.3 mph when you had the high speed cutout? The 3rd beep and cutout would not necessarily be the indicator, as they are power-based and rider weight dependent, plus I've never heard of a 200+ lb rider being able to achieve max advertised speed on their wheels for Gotway. Were you looking at the app speed during cutout or using a logging app like wheellog or darknessbot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason McNeil Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 9 hours ago, Charles McLean said: Experienced a motor cutout at 34.3 mph when I was about 11 miles into my ridei That's terrifying, even with full protection! Sort of goes back to age-old debate of whether the audible alerts are sufficient to protect Riders from potentially life-altering catastrophe. I'm of the firm belief that GW would be doing themselves a great service by capping the max speed to 50kph with the graded tilt-back. Does it really matter that a couple MPH of theoretical top speed is lost to preserve life-and-limb? Glad you're okay, but please please be careful out there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stan Onymous Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 Glad you are okay and not injured! That is the Gotway performance experience I guess Marty was bragging about Kingsong needing to catch up to. Lol I'll keep the Cadillac feel of the KS18s at 32 mph thanks. Amazing description of the feel of the Tesla being so solid even after a critical failure, and good for you for getting back on the wheel and finishing the ride! What a test pilot! It is so difficult to take directions from a "Beep" when the world is revolving under your feet and the wind is buffeting your hair. Oddly enough when I had my critical failure I did not really regret the feeling I was enjoying while it happened after it happened. It should be noted that the Tesla is the 1980's Audi quatro of EUCs., except you are the stuck accelerator pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmethvin Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 @Charles McLean Doesn't nearly 35mph feel super fast though? Maybe the full face helmet takes away some of that feeling of speed. I've never gone faster than 20mph and I feel like I'm flying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yourtoys7 Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 @Charles McLean Good news is that there is no major injury, I fell at around 30mph on Msuper v3s and walked away with very minimal injuries. Safety gear and good wheel makes it easy to go fast and feel comfortable. After my accident I started to slow down, I hope you do same. Let us know if you remember what hit the pavement 1st, position of your arms (slightly bend or straight in front of you), wondering how the impact was distributed through out the body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rehab1 Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 2 minutes ago, yourtoys7 said: Let us know if you remember what hit the pavement 1st, position of your arms (slightly bend or straight in front of you), wondering how the impact was distributed through out the body. Great line of questions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
who_the Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 13 hours ago, Charles McLean said: The ride was so stable (no wobble) with so much available power even in the high end of the speed range, that 25 mph seemed like a leisurely, casual ride and I didn't even notice I was going 34.3 mph until I was sliding across asphalt. Wow, glad you had gear on and are OK. I've never reached 34/35 on my Tesla or any wheel, but touch 30 all the time. I agree that the Tesla is so smooth that high speed can be deceptive. I have always appreciated the feedback and "feel" of my other Gotway wheels at higher speeds, to the point where I know when to back off near the edge of the machine's capability. The Tesla kinda just keeps going. Until it doesn't, apparently. Gear up, stay safe, keep wheeling, everybody! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Backe Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 Great story. I'm just a wimp. ~25-mph is my limit and that's more of an exception. Agree that you can't hear any beeps at higher speeds, especially with a full helmet. I have configured my Pebble watch so it vibrates at 25-mph (continuously). The vibration I can always feel. Extremely helpful. Given your enjoyment of the higher speeds you might consider a Pebble watch. P.S. I enjoy hearing positive stories about Gotway wheels vs the many stories where people are crapping on them. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles McLean Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 11 hours ago, KingSong69 said: Do yourself a favor and DO NOT set the tiltback to a to high speed! (33 for xample) On this speeds, the extra power needed for a tiltback can lead to a cutout, also! Thats why most of our experienced members dont use the tiltback on the the highspeed Gotways.... (some few might disagree about the extra power needed by tiltback, but there have been several reports of this tiltback related cutout scenario) @KingSong69 Thanks for the advice about the tiltback. It makes sense to me and I remember reading other places in this forum of folks with similar experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles McLean Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 8 hours ago, Rehab1 said: I’m so glad you are OK. I totally agree wth @KingSong69. Respect the 80% beeps or limit yourself to max 30 on the Tesla. Full gear can only protect you so much. My helmet protected me big time but the elbow pads did not as the point of impact simply navigated through the pads and up to the humeral head. Be safe! My helmet didn't take a single scratch. Sorry to hear about your elbow! Ouch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles McLean Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 7 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said: Can you tell you you fell? What hit the ground first, etc. What protective wear did you have? Here is a pic of the protective gear I was wearing: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CU12SCnsC22FZmrC3 LS2 hybrid motorcycle helmet, Speed & Strength (SS) light weight motorcycle jacket with built in shoulder, elbow, chest and back pads, protec knee and elbow pads and wrist guards that came with the Tesla from EWheels.com. I was wearing the elbow pads underneath my jacket ( I didn't like how they fit over the jacket), and landed squarely (and primarily) on my right elbow first and a little bit of my right hip. My jacket has no other scuffs except for my right elbow. After landing on my elbow, I put my hands down and slid for a while on my right knee pad and wrist guards until I came to a stop. I think the fact that I was able to "slide" across the asphalt instead of tumbling or rolling helped prevent a lot of injury. Also the fact that I didn't impact into a curb or parked car was a blessing. Wrist guards took quite a beating and I'll probably get a new pair, but I'm grateful I was wearing them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles McLean Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 11 hours ago, KingSong69 said: If you have problems hearing the alarm i would go with an app like wheellog/gyrometrics/darkness Bot, where you can set a vibration on your phone to a certain speed. You just have to put the phone somewhere where you recongnized that vibration. That might be an alternative.... Thanks, I'm definitely going to take your advice about wheellog and keep the phone in my breast pocket where I can feel the vibrations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles McLean Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 6 hours ago, houseofjob said: I'm curious as to how you know you were going 34.3 mph when you had the high speed cutout? The 3rd beep and cutout would not necessarily be the indicator, as they are power-based and rider weight dependent, plus I've never heard of a 200+ lb rider being able to achieve max advertised speed on their wheels for Gotway. Were you looking at the app speed during cutout or using a logging app like wheellog or darknessbot? I was tracking my ride using my Garmin 520 cycling computer. I downloaded the ride data from my GPS unit and tracked the location of my fall. My overall ride stats showed top speed of 34.3, and you can see the point in the graph where my velocity drops off a cliff and I recover from my fall a bit, look over the wheel and do a quick check before continuing the ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles McLean Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 1 hour ago, yourtoys7 said: @Charles McLean Good news is that there is no major injury, I fell at around 30mph on Msuper v3s and walked away with very minimal injuries. Safety gear and good wheel makes it easy to go fast and feel comfortable. After my accident I started to slow down, I hope you do same. Let us know if you remember what hit the pavement 1st, position of your arms (slightly bend or straight in front of you), wondering how the impact was distributed through out the body. Glad you were able to walk away with minor injuries from your 30 mph MSuper spill! I do plan on slowing down a bit. I consider myself lucky. Right elbow and right hip hit the pavement first and took the full brunt of the fall. My protec elbow pad and motorcycle jacket absorbed the full shock with no adverse affects on my body. After my elbow hit the pavement, I was able to get up on my right knee pad and both wrists straight out with wrist guards and slide the rest of the way until I came to a stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles McLean Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 55 minutes ago, Marty Backe said: Given your enjoyment of the higher speeds you might consider a Pebble watch. P.S. I enjoy hearing positive stories about Gotway wheels vs the many stories where people are crapping on them. Thanks @Marty Backe do you have a link to a pebble watch you know works with the Wheel log app and Tesla? I'll definitely be investing. I looooove my Tesla! I took it for another ride today around 15-20 mph just to check it out again and make sure it's still running fine and it is ... performs like it just came out of the box ... rock solid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles McLean Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 5 hours ago, Jason McNeil said: That's terrifying, even with full protection! Sort of goes back to age-old debate of whether the audible alerts are sufficient to protect Riders from potentially life-altering catastrophe. I'm of the firm belief that GW would be doing themselves a great service by capping the max speed to 50kph with the graded tilt-back. Does it really matter that a couple MPH of theoretical top speed is lost to preserve life-and-limb? Glad you're okay, but please please be careful out there @Jason McNeil the free wrist guards you included with my KingSong 14D are what really saved me ... those things took quite a beating but worked beautifully! I must have slid about 20 feet on my wrists and knee pad before coming to a full stop. So thanks!! I owe you one ... probably two! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles McLean Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 3 hours ago, dmethvin said: @Charles McLean Doesn't nearly 35mph feel super fast though? Maybe the full face helmet takes away some of that feeling of speed. I've never gone faster than 20mph and I feel like I'm flying. The only other wheel I've ridden is my daughter's KingSong 14D that I got from @Jason McNeil at EWheels for her for Christmas. After learning to ride and my daughter letting me borrow it for a few days to put about 50 miles total on that wheel, I was so frustrated every time I'd hear "Please decelerate" at around 17-18 mph So, after some research I opted for the Tesla and BOY DID I MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION! Honestly, after about 10 miles on the Tesla and getting a feel for the wheel, cruising at 25 mph on the Tesla felt like 15 mph on the KingSong 14D. I think because the wheel is heavier, there is so much more available power and the 16-inch wheel vs the 14-inch wheel diameter just felt so natural and smooth. Like getting into a new sports car cruising down the road at 75 mph and thinking you were only going 55 mph because the car is so smooth and quiet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranium Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 Looking at the graph, your speed spikes up quite a bit from your average speed then down to zero. Were you doing something to increase speed quickly right before the fall? Is your Garmin set to 1 second recording interval or 'smart' recording interval? I think it is amazing you took a fall at speed and walked away with no injury to yourself! Good job on wearing all the protective gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.5f9a85b2613592dd03661b336d6b051d.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.