So i got my onewheel, first impressions...

[Leperkonvict]

I made a thread 2 weeks ago titled "so i ordered my onewheel what to expect?" it got alot of replies and all of them basicaly said this thing is as dope as dope can get.
,
In a nutshell, it is pretty dope. What the dopest thing about it and what seperates it from every other electric device o ut there is the freedom to go anywhere you want. i know the big daddy longboard has offroad tires but bigdaddy can definatey not carve through trees like the onewheel can.so far the funnest thing is my motherinlaws back yard, ahuge backyard with tons of trees and i giggle everytime i jump on the onewheel at how interesting the sensation of the gentle movement underneath your feet on grass is. ive pretty much avoided people at all costs cuz im afraid of wiping out in front of them, and im also a shy guy in general and try to avoid "wtf" stares, although i will admit that when i came to a 4 way stop, a truck stopped to let me by and yes i did feel kinda cool gently leaning forward and rolling through the interection like a boss. lol.

the only drawbacks i can think of and maybe you guys can address is, pushback and led power button flashing.
So im riding along and suddenly i feel my rear end go down and by jerk reaction i straighten out and it happens again and i dont know what the hell happened but next thing i know im going top speed with my rear end down(i cant brake) holding on for dear life bracing myself for a whole lotta hurt. fortunetly i just jumped off and this didnt happen in a busy area, cuz that couldve been pretty dangerous for bystanders/traffic.

ive read what pushback is but dont really understand it, if pushback is telling you to lean back and slow down, why did i accelerate when i leaned back? anythingbto do with the sensors? (i stand with my back foot on blue griptape sensor, easier to dismount)
Led power and weird Girlfriend anomaly:
i push power on, blue led flashes a few times and nothing happens. i turn it off, repeat, nothing.rinse.reaet.nothing. i turn it off and finally a sold blue led and i can ride now. what gives?

Next, my girlfriend attempts mounting, she puts her back leg on sensor to push board down to get on, board zips away from underneath her, she does it three more times,i tell her to push down quicker, zips away, i do EXACTLY what she does and board lets me on, we do this all over again, same thing, andvthan we do it AGAIN, same thing, its like the board recognizes us as two different people. i dont know but it finally worked and the next day, did it again.

[Andrew]

@Leperkonvict said:

i tell her to push down quicker, zips away

I don't know about pushing it down quicker. I can take as long as I want to get the board to horizontal, I can even push it down to nearly horizontal and then let it drop over and over (to show people how it works). The motor should not engage until the board is horizontal.

When you first turn the board on make sure it is on a flat and level surface - maybe (guessing here) you are having calibration issues and your board is getting the wrong idea about what "horizontal" is.

[Bart]

And definitely start with the blue sensor pads at the front, not the rear!!

[DVO]

I'm also curious about push back and him not being able to slow down. Anyone?

[forzabucks]

Trying to touch on a few things:

As far as pushback goes, it's really to help you out in beginner mode. When you are comfortable enough for extreme, pushback is not an issue, and I personally think the board is more enjoyable to ride.

When mounting (I ride regular), I always step on the down side of the board (not blue sensor) with my right leg first, then when I'm ready to balance, I step on with my left lead leg, covering the blue sensor completely. After getting balanced, I'm good to go.

I think it's great that you enjoy riding at your mother-in-law's house, and I think that Onewheel's new tagline should be "You will love it so much, you'll look forward to visiting your mother-in-law."

But that's just my opinion...

[kbern]

@Bart said:

And definitely start with the blue sensor pads at the rear, not the front!!

I don't know about that. I keep my sensors up front, like @forzabucks and like most instructions/videos recommend. It really reduces that chances of having the board in the down position with your weight on it and the sensors engaged with wheels spinning.
So, I get on in the same way @forzabucks does, 'cept I'm goofy, so the sensors are high (which, btw, is the natural way the board sits in the "resting" position), and put my left foot on the non-sensored, ground-resting, side, then put my right (front) foot on the high, sensored, side, and stand up.

When I stop, I come to a stop (or an almost stop), lift my right heel off the sensor and wait for the board to return to the natural position of non-sensors down, just like in the video that @veryous has posted repeatedly, which was made by Jack Mudd who works for FM and appears in the promo video (though I'm not usually rolling quite so much when I do it)

[Bart]

oops - yes absolutely right @forzabucks - I meant sensor pads at the front indeed! Sorry for the confusion - that was a quick reply whilst onewheeling at the beach yesterday :smiley:

[Andrew]

@Bart said:

oops - yes absolutely right @forzabucks - I meant sensor pads at the front indeed! Sorry for the confusion - that was a quick reply whilst onewheeling at the beach yesterday :smiley:

How odd, I thought you were a sensor pad to the rear guy - like me. Appears I am alone in this preference.

[eish]

@Andrew I will be both I try to send 1/2 my time riding switch

I ride goofy - I'm thinking left foot (back) on the wood board and right foot on the electric one, but will see when I get my onewheel!
But to go in the other direction I prefer to get off the chair lift with back foot bound in and front foot sitting in the bindings so maybe back foot with the electronics.

[DocBlock]

I ride goofy as well. Do yourself a favor, keep the sensors up front.

[Leperkonvict]

@DocBlock
You should make a tutorial video of dismounting suddenly. Like going fast and coming to an obstacle. Like get a dummy baby carriage to come across your path.

I figured that since I'm focusing and braking with the back foot I can also move that back foot at the same time. I'll try out the other way though!

[DocBlock]

Wish I would have checked this before. I just spent the evening out riding and I would have video taped something. I will on our next ride --⚫️--😊

[Abe]

@DVO I'm also curious about push back and him not being able to slow down. Anyone?

Something similar keeps happening to me. Riding in classic mode, accelerating nicely, then pushback starts. And as @leperkonvict said, the read end goes down to the point where I am afraid it will start scraping the pavement, but the board does not slow down much. At this point my back knee is straight and my front knee is bent to accommodate the height differential b/w front and rear of the board. As I try to straighten my front leg to come to level, the board accelerates again and pushes back again, so I am stuck riding in an uncomfortable position and still going quickly. Eventually, as I am able to straighten both legs I regain control and can slow down.

I am guessing the board does not slow down because it still senses pressure from the front foot and the fact that the board is angled up is not really taken into account.

[jim]

@Abe It's not the angle of the board that slows you down, its your weight shifted behind the centerline of the wheel. You just need to shift your weight towards the rear of the centerline of the wheel and you will slow down.

[sidebox]

@Abe It sounds like it is time for you to get out of Classic mode. There is nothing you can do about your issue, short of switching to Extreme.

[Abe]

@jim It's not the angle of the board that slows you down, its your weight shifted behind the centerline of the wheel

Hmm... Interesting. How does the board know about my weight being shifted ? Can't think of any way that does not involve sensing the angle.
And as I am already standing on an angled board, I hesitate to shift more to the back, for fear of rear end catching on the pavement.
Ultimately, what is the point of pushback ? Wouldn't it be better for the board to just not accelerate past the limit ?

[Franky]

@Abe had the same thing happen to me on my first day where pushback had gotten my board so far back that I didn't feel I could lean back to slow down for fear of tail sliding. So I just kept riding in that position until finally I bailed... Thankfully ending up on my feet.

My theory is that they feel this is still better than letting an inexperienced rider keep speeding up and eventually nose diving and getting thrown. This only will happen when a rider keeps leaning forward when getting pushback instead of relenting and backing off sooner. If you think about it I'm not sure what else they could do to slow a rider down. They can speed you up to keep the tail up higher so you can slow down if needed but then you are going faster which isn't good for a beginner and pressumably could keep it up past top speed and get thrown with a nose dive. Or they can do what they are doing which is trying to get you to slow down first or bail if that doesn't work.

What is interesting is that in extreme this doesn't happen. And in fact in 3034 you have to ride pushback if you want to get max speed. But even though you are riding with nose elevated you never get to the point where you don't feel you can lean back to slow down. On the other hand if you keep leaning forward through extreme pushback eventually your nose will come down because you will be at max speed and literally balancing between top speed and taking a nose dive....which is a dangerous place to be. I was not a fan of the early extreme pushback at first and I still don't enjoy riding with nose elevated like that. However, I think it is extra safe because riding with the nose up seems more defensive against bumps and dips and it is a deterrent to riding at top speed where the board has least capacity top keep you upright. Maybe v2 will have a larger motor to allow pushback to kick in at higher speeds.

[Leperkonvict]

@Franky
The onewheel wants me to slowdown so it puts me in a position of going uncontrollably faster via pushback?
I know that experienced riders can adjust to pushback, but I also know that people on this Forum (including myself) have thought about renting these out and I just don't think that's a good idea.
I don't get why there's just not a top speed.

[Abe]

@Franky said:

If you think about it I'm not sure what else they could do to slow a rider down. They can speed you up to keep the tail up higher so you can slow down if needed but then you are going faster which isn't good ...

Hmm, wouldn't the tail go up when the wheel slows down, rather than when it speeds up ? How does the board balance ? I'm just guessing, but If the rider's weight is right on the centerline the board can go at constant speed. If the rider leans forward the board has to accelerate to push the rider back. Once balanced, the new rate of speed can be maintained. Or do you think there is an additional board angle control mechanism apart from wheel acceleration/deceleration ?

[Franky]

@Abe good questions. I don't fully understand how it works.

I'm guessing that the tail will go up or down based upon your center of gravity when slowing down.
If you are already leaning back riding pushback, slowing the wheel might make you tale slide.
But if you are more level I would imaging slowing the wheel would send you forward for a nose dive.

Yes, I have been assuming there is another angle control mechanism which plays a part.
I started thinking about this because the wheel is locked or stiff when it is on but you are not riding it.
All I can say is that there has to be a lot of math that goes into the algorithm.