FOCUS GROUP: Lower weight, Longer range, Faster speed?

[eish]

couldn't speed be a software update - couldn't we get an off road/private land mode where street speed restrictions are lifted - maybe an "Insane" mode - only allowed to unlock after the app thinks we can ride the board safely in Insane mode

[utsu]

1 - Range. Range really seem key in breaking this one out of the novelty "last mile" market and into hardcore recreation sport and medium distance travel. If you consider other areas of rapid tech growth like the iphone, battery life was always on top of the charts. "Range" for electric cars, for laptops, for all technology lives and dies on its functionality when you need it the most. And when the onewheel battery dies, you're carrying around a 25lb awkwardly shaped weight plate the "last mile" home. Range is also one of the most easily marketable aspects to the consumer... easily quantifiable, "200% longer range"

2 - weight / portability. a nice pelican style hardcase for airlines or the car? or maybe hardfoam included with the original packing that could be easily fitted into a hard shell case which suits the OW. Lower weight hopefully wont affect durability and that sense of luxury that picking up a heavy object gives you.

3 - speed. Top speed simply does not not affect 100% of users. Enthusiasts need higher speed but they don't represent the majority of buyers and certainly not new business. Many electric skateboarders have said that you'd have to be out of your mind to want to go any faster than 15 mph on a board in traffic. you're just asking for trouble.. I know some people wants higher top speeds, but that shouldn't bee on the top of any R&Ds mission list, just my opinion!

[eish]

@utsu said:

3 - speed. Top speed simply does not not affect 100% of users. Enthusiasts need higher speed but they don't represent the majority of buyers and certainly not new business. Many electric skateboarders have said that you'd have to be out of your mind to want to go any faster than 15 mph on a board in traffic. you're just asking for trouble.. I know some people wants higher top speeds, but that shouldn't bee on the top of any R&Ds mission list, just my opinion!

surely speed could simply be insane mode, just copy extreme but remove the speed limiter!

[jim]

@utsu While you ask for and think you need the push back removed from extreme mode, I can tell you first hand it's no fun going over the top at full speed and having the front of the board nose dive and throw you to the ground breaking your arm in HALF!. I was one of the first to receive my board and ran ver 1.0 firmware. I am very grateful for the pushback at the top end of extreme mode now. Just my .02 cents....... FYI, I am almost fully recovered from the broken arm and now the happy owner of three OW's.

[utsu]

@jim (I think you meant to speak to the guy below me)

[jim]

@utsu @eish See my comments above :smirk: Sorry @utsu was for @eish.

[Franky]

@jim totally agree that pushback is needed as much as we can dislike it here or there. I'm sure it has saved me a couple times which makes it all worth it even though it does sacrifice top speed without nose elevated.

[dicorci]

Weight
Weight
Weight

it's not a vehicle until it weighs less and is convenient to carry, easy to take on and off of public transit, easy to take in to work or shops, ect. the weight is the issue

[Franky]

i thought about this tonight on my normal ride and I think weight would be the hardest to improve on. Where is the weight coming from? The aluminum frame must weigh less than steel. Carbon fiber would probably shatter so can they do lighter other than slimming the frame down? Then you have the wheel which I don't expect much could be done to lower the weight. Other than that you hVe batteries, controller and footpads which I would not expect a technology to help weigh less anytime soon. I guess tech improvements will probably come from battery performance first and motor performance second.

[Andrew]

@Franky said:

so can they do lighter other than slimming the frame down?

There's a lot of slimming down that can be done with careful design. Here's a 982 gram bridge over a 1m gap which took a 443.58 kg load.

The hub motor will weigh several kgs. The wheels are designed for a 160km/h go-kart so will be over engineered for a 25kmh device.

Weight is one of the key things that can be addressed with custom designed hardware. OneWheel does not do enough volume to justify custom so they used the best fitting commodity gear available. If it takes off and they are able to look at 10,000+ units then there would might be space for custom hub and custom wheels.

Koenigsegg make carbon fiber wheels for their cars rated for 280 mph, each weigh 5.9kgs and can hold up one corner of a 1300kg car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGGiuaQwcd8

Carbon fiber is not easily shattered.

[Franky]

@andrew holding weight is one thing. Absorbing a blow is another. I'm sure technology will help with this problem. I've just seen too many carbon fiber golf clubs shatter to want onewheel to use the material.

[Newheel]

@Andrew I know from talking to FM before that with the exception of the tire, every single one of the parts is custom made. All the electronics and mechanical parts were designed and are being made by them. Even the motor was custom designed for the Onewheel

I agree with @Franky, holding weight is very different to what a Onewheel needs to go through when used aggressively. With the amount of power on those batteries, a carbon frame shattering could end up in a catastrophic fire or very serious accident (not to mention the rider getting seriously hurt from carbon shattering and falling)

[eish]

@jim fair enough - I still think I have that kid like ability not to break bones . . . despite fracturing my clavical last summer on my mtb - but I do like speed - I have hit 65mph on my park board on a good black (double black diamond in the states I think) and that was fun, even the time after where I wiped out a the bottom, and the time after that were someone cut me up at 60mph and I went flying into a lake . . . - pushback is fine, but I am wondering if they are limiting the speed somehow - think car engine chip to keep engine under emissions target

why did the front nose dive? and ouch that sounds painful

[Andrew]

@Newheel said:

@Andrew I know from talking to FM before that with the exception of the tire, every single one of the parts is custom made. All the electronics and mechanical parts were designed and are being made by them. Even the motor was custom designed for the Onewheel

All the electronics? It has an STM32F103V8T6 microprocessor made by STMicroelectronics.
http://www.arm.com/innovation/products/onewheel.php
This is a chip that was available in 2010 thus making it an off the shelf component. So not every part, and particularly not the electronics, is custom made.

@FM during Kickstarter said:

I can assure you that we are doing all we can to shave off lbs. Unfortunately most of our weight comes from the motor, and we are unwilling to sacrifice performance. We're hoping to get it closer to 20lbs when its all said and done.

@FM during Kickstarter said:

Building our supply chain (which is almost done) locking in our custom motor's, and developing the app among other things.

Elsewhere they noted that the 500W motor is 500W continuous but peak power is 2000W. So it is a relatively high (to my mind) performance and already custom motor.

So the motor is a significant weight component, high power and already custom. So shaving weight will require a better custom motor?!

[jim]

@eish I believe the simple fact that I was pushing the board beyond the max speed of the motor, thus it could not accelerate any more to keep me balanced. This is why the sudden nose dive. In the current firmware versions you get a bit of push back in extreme mode so you know your near the limit of the board being able to auto-balance. Yes it was very painful, but I managed to recover ;-)

[eish]

@jim Ah I see - its a shame the balancing and the wheel are not separate - have a main motor for the wheel and then an auxiliary one to control the balance - what happens if you are going down a big hill? (wales is rather hilly . . . )

[Franky]

@eish on hills you are leaning back and braking which is nice because it charges the batteries with regenerative braking. If you don't brake you will hit pushback and have to break or you will nose dive forward.

[lardnicus]

1. Range (could easily keep on cruising)
2. Speed (a couple of extra kph would be ace, not to mention a bit more acceleration if I really lean in)
3. Weight (the weight is really fine for me, maybe a bit less would be good but, as is, it gives the board a really stable feeling)

I reckon if we had more speed and power we would have less lock-ups but I heard the acceleration was reduced (I personally never experienced the first version of extreme so hard to say) I don't know if that was for safety or to reduce wear but yeah...

...following on, if we had less lock-ups maybe we could have bindings and if we had bindings we could have more carving potential and more jumping and tricks. Would probably need a dead-man trigger for bindings though... Pro model?

[natalie]

1 Range
2 Weight
3 Speed

[T-CAT]

Yep, my top three are also in the order of:

1. Range
2. Weight
3. Speed

[ThatGuy]

None of the above.
This isn't really a focus group.