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Comment by jgrahamc | Hacker News Reader

According to the documentation it balances front-to-back and not side-to-side and the rider is responsible for maintaining that balance. I wonder how easy that is (especially with any load like a backpack).

I think I'd rather spend the $1,800 on a really good bike. But I bet this is fun to mess around on.

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> I think I'd rather spend the $1,800 on a really good bike.

For city transportation purposes, a solid, but crappy bike is much better: it's far less likely to be stolen, and a lot less stressful.

This seems like I can lug around inside buildings and whatnot, unlike a bike. I don't trust biking to a lot of places, because cretins will take whatever they can: the wheels, the steering wheel, anything that isn't bolted on, really.

You could get a decent folding bike (a Dahon or Brompton) for way less money than that, and folded, they're not much bigger than this thing. Plus they're street-legal in most places, likely unlike this thing, and you get the exercise benefits of riding.

I agree that a Brompton is a better choice. It folds up to about the same size as this uni-wheel thing. However, they are pretty expensive. Mine was pretty close to $1800. I think the cheapest one (1 speed, no lighting system) is $1000.

That's a very neat concept, cheers. I can imagine that that would have been very convenient for the commute I had this last spring - bicycle to the train station, take the train to campus, and then bicycle through the campus.

Maybe he meant e-bike? Because my city bike was under $100, can't imagine paying more. It's not especially crappy, it's just featureless and old. $1,800 would get you mid-range road bike. (or fancy singlespeed)

Not even. Get proper locks and it will be fine.

A proper bike >>>> something shitty. No comparison.

Even with proper locks, an expensive enough bike could have parts taken from it, given a bit of time. Or some asshole could give it a kick just out of spite. No way I'd leave mine around town, even with a huge lock.

Also, a high end road bike, frankly, isn't the most comfortable thing to cruise around on.

I love bikes, in any case, and there's no reason you can't have both! I have a very nice, custom made bike for actual rides, and a dumpy, rusty bike with one speed for cruising around town.

Since the wheel doesn't roll side to side, I imagine it's much the same as balancing a bicycle.

Also, since the wheel doesn't roll in that axis, it would also (I think) be impossible to auto-stabilise, since there is no steering capability. Perhaps it could have weights slide around to try to balance it, but I can't see that being particularly effective.

> Since the wheel doesn't roll side to side, I imagine it's much the same as balancing a bicycle.

A bicycle moves. A stationary bicycle is impossible to balance (for most people anyway). I don't see how this would be any different. As soon as you stop you fall off?

If it were me I'd add two small wheels (training wheels? :) on springs + shocks on either side. (Make them fold in to maintain portability.) You'd have to make the spring force tunable for different people, but that should be possible by adjusting a screw to change the effective length of the spring.

When a bike stops, the rider puts their foot down to balance side to side. I don't see how that's different here. Training wheels on bikes are meant to help kids learn the proper speed and when to put their foot down, an adult who already knows how to ride a bike shouldn't have that issue.

You can put your foot down with a bike because you are holding the handlebars, and your weight is on the seat.

How would you do that here? You are standing on it - if you took one foot off you'd fall. You'd have to hop off every time you stop.

If you are athletic with good balance you could probably stand on one foot, but I doubt most people could.

Most people couldn't stand on one foot? Really? Am I that out of touch with reality?

Not even being snarky.

It's not that people can't stand on one foot, it's that if you stand on this wheel with only one foot, then you'll fall sideways before your other foot has a chance to hit the ground. Well, that's my assumption, anyway. Get on a (normal) bike, ride along, then stand up on it so your weight is on the pedals through your feet. Come to a stop, then try and get off it, from standing, without supporting yourself with handlebars or seat.

man they got this girl riding around in circles on one foot, you can't do that?

I've had an opportunity to try this contraption (or something remarkably similar) and this problem is academic: it's very much unlike a bike, but you'll learn how to stop and dismount without falling off, very quickly (haven't really tried whether I could stop w/o dismount, as I've played with it for a few minutes at most). It's similar to unicycles in this respect (note how in the videos, users ride back and forth a little bit, instead of coming to a complete stop).

OK fair enough, I've never tried anything like it - was just explaining why it wouldn't be quite as simple as "can you stand on one leg".

They show a woman being able to accelerate forwards, then slow down enough to drive backwards, all the while without having to put one of her feet down.

There are people who can do that with bicycles, and other feats of balance too.

That doesn't mean most people can do that.

BTW, for short-length city transportation (5-10km) folding kick scooter is better, than bike. You can always fold it and bring it inside. And you are still 2-3 times faster, than pedestrian.

I think kick scooter was my best purchase this year :)

5km is quite a long time to be on a kick scooter.

It's feasible, with some training. The first time I have done this, I thought my legs were going to fall off the next day - kick scooter riding is more tiring than riding a bike. After about a week, I was able to do a 6 km commute on a scooter without a problem.

That is around 30 minutes of leisure pace kicking, 20 minutes if you are in a hurry. The key is to change kicking leg every 5-10 kicks.

I drive 200mm wheel scooter, so one kick sends you a long way, if you are on a good and plain pavement.

Longboards are also a nice, compact option for short distances around town.

A backpack is possible, but a messenger bag swings around too much.

I prefer this electric unicycle, with a seat: http://focusdesigns.com/

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