How to stay safe and happy on an electric unicycle
wmay.github.io
wmay.github.io
The EUC works by tilting you forward to speed up, and tilting you backward to slowdown. So the control system has to always leave a margin in case you need to slow down or if max power is reduced. But if the battery dies faster than expected or you reach a steep downhill while already at top speed...too bad, nothing the system can do to keep you from faceplanting at max speed.
No thanks. Wheels are cheap, I'll take at least two.
I never had issues when playing with it even at top speed and hitting an obstacle, as the extremely low platform and modest top velocity meant I could always recover by scrambling forward and propelling with the front feet. The real problem happens when not expecting it, like when I was slowly climbing, and even at zero speed the fall can be nasty. I never lowered my attention even for a split second on the onewheel after this.
I never had a chance to try an EUC, but due to how the legs are used for support, I can't see the same as a recover possibility. If the EUC fails, faceplant seems inevitable.
As for the "pushback", the effect on the onewheel is extremely noticeable and didn't feel the need for an additional auditory sound. The problem, as stated by OP, is that you can have failure modes where the motor stops supporting you before "pushback" (or even sound) kicks you in.
riding at top speed EUC is very dangerous in itself, Inmotion I think can do 53 mph - thats fast even by car standards.
Riding top speed is surely recipe for certain death, any small pebble can faceplant you.
As long as you ride less than max speed (I never exceed 50% of max speed and never ride on <10% battery), there is enough of buffer for a wheel to behave just as you expect.
Pushing these limits is as dangerous as pushing speed limits on car.
you surely dont want to ride speed limit on your car, do you? (my car I think can do 190 mph, but I never reached even half of it)
Similarly to the unicycle stopping problem, panic stopping a Onewheel also doesn't seem possible without having room perpendicular to the direction of travel. I tried it in a demo arena but it didn't seem safe except for low speed travel on very large sidewalks* with space on all sides. Downtown streets seem too iffy to attempt, limiting its versatility. Unicycle-ish travel is great if you have the balance for and room to do it.
* Powered transportation generally shouldn't impede or compete with pedestrian traffic.
If you're coming from a scooter, you're not going to be used to how much balance you're going to use. I currently ride a scooter around (a much less substantial then your own), and if I just stand on it and press the button it'll pretty much go up to top speed and cruise. Turns can be tricky at speed but it's over all a much safer. I pretty much could ride one in the street (bike lane) on unboxing.
One Wheel took me maybe 4ish hours of practice before I attempted a street, and 2 weeks before I was comfortable unlocking it's full speed. It's not an easy thing to ride but it's really fun in a way that the scooter just isn't.
I think this is the root of your misunderstanding. To speed up and slow down, you tilt yourself forward and backwards. This is actually a strength of the EUC's physics, as it means you're always perfectly balanced for any acceleration or braking, unlike a scooter or bike that can 'throw you over the handlebars'.
I highly recommend trying one, it's my regular commuter and extremely fun.
Other than to show off, of course, not that there's anything wrong with that.
- It can be easily combined with public transit. Its much smaller footprint causes less trouble for you and those around you. You can place it behind your legs while sitting and keep between legs while staying.
- Absolutely no issues with stairs and escalators (at least with the models on the lighter side).
- You can get it with yourself into office. In many places you can not bring your bicycle or scooter into a desk space or it will be strongly frowned upon.
- It does not take much space when stored at home.
- Because of the smaller footprint and lack of protruding parts like handlebars, it's much safer and easier to move in a relatively dense pedestrian traffic.
- It easily fits into a car's trunk.
However, is it actually true that people would frown on an electric scooter but not an EUC? They seem to have a pretty similar footprint. I see people zipping around on models that don't have any handlebars.
>I see people zipping around on models that don't have any handlebars.
Do you mean hoverboards? In my understanding, your description does not fall under the definition of "scooter": https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scooter
To compare I was fine taking my one wheel in the store, carrying it. There's something awkward about taking an escooter, in the same way you wouldn't roll your bike around a grocery store.
Also in my experience escooters are much harder to lock then bikes. Being able to just take an EUC or one wheel inside and stick it under my desk at work is a good thing to me.
I think I am more persuaded by the EUC than by the electric scooter because of its speed and maneuverability? I'm not sure, but it seems to have similar problems as the bike.
This feeling may be different for other people, but for me it is the most fun mode of transport ever, and I have tried the majority of them.
The onewheel is genuinely fun to ride and control. It does require a lot more attention than a bike. And I also never felt comfortable riding it faster than my ability to outrun it, which meant that it's never exactly ideal for long commutes (see my other comment above about the safety if interested).
For long distance and commuting, a bike is unbeatable IMHO. Comfortable, safer at speed. Electric or not.
I never saw the point on e-scooters, and don't own any for this reason. I feel more in control and have better ability to manouver and recover with a onewheel than an e-scooter, but the e-scooter requires almost zero brain to use, so there's that. The e-scooters have much bigger range too, and are less tiring to use.
I wish I could try an EUC. I suspect it has similar characteristic to the "flow" mechanics of the onewheel which would make it appealing, but I wonder how fast I would actually push it comfortably before wearing a full-face helmet.
I used to have a one wheel I commuted on. It was fine. I was fine getting it up to full speed a lot and had a good commute for it (mostly flat, mostly bike lanes). At some point you realize they can break 20 in the right conditions. This is a stupid line of thought I suggest no one reading this follow if they get one. Didn't crash but I could have. Always wear safety gear (I have a replaced cracked helmet to show why).
Bikes are the best, locking is the worst part about them. If they had a bike I didn't have to lock you'd never get me on anything else.
Would also love to do more then a few demo rides on an EUC. From what I've been told by riders who've done both they're much harder than a one wheel. I've honestly kinda wondered about safety on them. On the one wheel if I crashed, I normally ended up falling backwards or forwards off it and rolling. On EUC it feels hard to fall anyway besides forwards or backwards without getting your feet tangled in it. Those things are heavy and fast, I'd hate to see what they can do to ankle bones.
How do you handle an escooter in that situation?
I've seen the "carry handle" in action on a EUC, and it's pretty convenient for that. Held vertical takes next to no space on the ground so it's not much different than having a trolley.
I don't. I just can't take the escooter to the store. I can really only commute on it as I can't really do anything with it when I get to a store/bar/whatever. My friends may or may not be able to fit it depending the apartment size. Now that I'm laid off I'm probably going to try to sell the scooter.
Those trolley handles look great. My next PEV is probably going to be an EUC of some stripe. I like that there's more than one brand after watching Future Motion get more restrictive and have more problems with their recent releases.
The only brand I had experience was InMotion/solowheel and did not try any other one out there so my experience is limited to his brand only.
After riding it for so long it's easier than walking and I could attest to riding it while drunk without any issues you're basically standing on a platform with a wheel in the middle.
I've seen a new generation of EUCs that go fast speeds. I will never go even close to that, feels extreme and is likely dangerous.
I could go on snow, ice, rain etc but I noticed EUCs don't like carpets and any kind of grooves the wheel can get stuck into.
I imagine it would, although it's probably easier to wash whatever stink sauce is inside off your bike than off your clothing (if you're the thief).
It seems like the idea is that the thief gets halfway through cutting the lock and then gets the hell out of dodge - although i guess maybe if they're thinking straight, they might realize the cost of stank is already sunk, and just finish the job.
> respirator
I would think that any thief who knows enough about these locks to come prepared would rather not walk around smelling like skunk. But I guess just like any lock, it's easily defeated if the thief is sufficiently prepared. The idea is to make the theft such a pain in the ass that they choose a different target.
BRB going to print up some warning stickers for my lock.
I'd rather wash down the stink than have to spend $800 for a new bike.
The Razor scooters have tiny wheels that will flip over even on the tiniest pothole and you'll end up scraping your skin off flying into the road, and possibly smash your face into the ground as well. They also occupy a weird middle ground of being dangerously fast for the sidewalk and dangerously slow for the road.
I’d love an electric motor scooter. But that’s not really comparable to e-bikes, e-scooters, or e-unicycles.
1. I cannot bring the bike in to many places such as the office or the gym, it must be parked outside exposed to the elements. On the other hand, scooter, wheel, and longboard can all easily be picked up and carried indoors basically everywhere, including public transit, shops, gym, and office.
2. The bike requires physical effort, which is great if you're biking for fitness, but when I'm commuting somewhere I don't like to have to shower as soon as I get there.
3. Onewheels and skateboards in particular are so much more fun to ride than bikes on regular roads. (Bikes are still way superior on trails and mountains though).
An electric skateboard or scooter just seems completely superior on almost all axes.
Electric skateboards and scooters have tiny wheel diameters. Especially with esk8, it's very difficult to go on any rough terrain: pebbled asphalt, cobblestone, grassy park, gravel, sand, dirt road, up or downhill. Scooter wheel diameters are also a safety issue due to that combination of easy brainless riding and small wheel diameter.
Electric skateboards and scooters interface with your hand, but EUC and OneWheels interface with your balance - your whole body. There's an intuitive sense of where you're going, and you have many degrees of freedom along your entire body that you can leverage to maneuver for incredibly fine tuned and synchronized control of your acceleration to the point where it feels like flying. The fact that acceleration and balance are intimately tied together without your hands interfacing eliminates a huge category of problems from accelerating or braking too hard vs. your centre of gravity. When you're riding in any situation where hand dexterity is compromised (i.e. wrist guards, considering none of these vehicles are any safer for your wrists should you fall), this is an amazing preventative safety element.
https://electrek.co/2022/08/14/inmotion-unveils-fastest-in-t...
Each person will have a different maximum safe speed.
> not go 87mph
When this baby gets up to 88mph, you're gonna see some serious shit.
"With that much power behind the 22″ wheel, the electric unicycle achieves a wheel lift speed of 140 km/h (87 mph). The wheel lift speed is the unloaded top speed of the unicycle’s wheel when the unit is lifted into the air. It is higher than the actual top speed when ridden on flat ground, but is a useful metric used in the industry for comparing electric unicycles. The actual operational top speed of the V13 is still likely to surpass 90-100 km/h (55-60 mph)."
a "sudden dismount" at 15 mph can annihilate your teeth, or cause severe TBI. Even tripping while walking in the wrong way and hitting your head can lead to death.
If you're going slow, you can maybe skimp on some of the abrasive protection, but you should still have something on your skull and joints.
Of course, knowing how fall comes with a strong intuition about when you're going too fast to manage a fall without serious injury. How fast is too fast is particular to the individual and their experience.