Commuting on ow experience?

[alex]

So, I am in the waiting game but have concerns about the wand using it for commuting. I have a friend who commutes on his boosted board and does well, being it accelerates quickly. I know people have stated the board's weight is a deterrent to commuting but I am not concerned about that. Mine is in the brief moments of maybe having to lane share in traffic if there is no available bike lane or sidewalk, does the ow accelerate quickly enough to not be a problem to vehicles. I have read that accelerating too quickly can cause the ow to buck you out of the saddle. What are some of your thoughts on the matter? Thanks in advance.

[lynnpreston]

I would say acceleration is good. I've never had it throw me off when accelerating unless I'm on a surface with very low traction (wet road paint is the worst). Top speed may be an issue if you're trying to share a lane, but acceleration to the top speed shouldn't be.

[germx]

Having commuted with it cross town to work for a few months now, I have to say it's great.
Haven't had anything bad happen yet.
I'm riding mostly on bike-lanes, but I haven't had any problems riding it on the road.
The acceleration is quite good, and you get used to it fast exactly how much you can push it. But it does reach top speed quickly.

[shaunabe]

2 instances in which OW shines

• when there is construction and uneven road surface. You get to watch long boarders pick up and walk while you can navigate pretty much anything folks are doing on bikes.
• when there is gridlock - very easy to weave and make tight turns, even when bikes are really struggling

[forzabucks]

Love commuting with it. It really is faster than driving in many cases.

[Nat]

I was lane sharing with crazy traffic in Bangkok a month ago and coped fine (enough). My car dodging skill improved immensely, so lane sharing is a good way to improve your skill lol! But please be sure to get to know the board well (it's limitation and yours). Otherwise, there's a good chance that disaster awaits. I'm sure everyone on this forum has their own stories to tell when it come to mistakes/injuries that could have been avoided...

I'd highly recommend reading the post by MichaelW
http://community.rideonewheel.com/topic/256/newbie-real-world-beginners-manual

Enjoy your OW!

[lardnicus]

I bought it 50% to commute with. It's actually shaved off 10mins of my commute. Where I live, though, there are brand new snaking bicycle lanes and trails woven throughout the whole city. No traffic lights, mostly uninterrupted underpasses and flyovers. It's a dream.

I would like just a little bit of extra top speed, though. I think this is where the boosted board excels. That said, the boosted board doesn't handle cobblestones and grass very well, and there is some of that on my commute and I love just being able to cruise right on over it all.

• If you have smooth roads, like riding long boards and want a bit more zip: boosted.

• If you want to fly over cracks, bumps, grass and gravel, prefer snowboarding to skateboarding and want to take it to the beach at some point: onewheel.

Both are great commuters.

[utsu]

@lardnicus If the OW goes any faster, we are going to start hearing about OW related fatalities..

it's so freaking dangerous to go 20mph on a single wheel, there's so little application for it I can't imagine them adding a faster speed anytime soon, dont you think?

[intra]

Commuting on the OW board is great fun, the only things for me that would make things even better are

1. Range.
2. Weight of the board.

Since my work is 25km away from home, i commute to the nearest train station and then have to carry the board (since were not allowed to ride in the train station, yes i copped a fine) to my destination and finally use the OW to commute to work's doorstep.

I'd say just do it, you wont regret it :)

[eish]

@intra said:

Commuting on the OW board is great fun, the only things for me that would make things even better are

1. Range.
2. Weight of the board.

Since my work is 25km away from home, i commute to the nearest train station and then have to carry the board (since were not allowed to ride in the train station, yes i copped a fine) to my destination and finally use the OW to commute to work's doorstep.

I'd say just do it, you wont regret it :)

you shouldn't have paid the fine - claim its your mobility device and its discrimination to ask whats wrong :p someone in my snowboarding society has gammy knees - forgotten the proper name but comes on every snowboarding trip he can :) I mean he doesn't bomb it through the park, or flat line it down a black, but still ...

[lardnicus]

@utsu I think the lateral instability is mostly a mind thing and also the skill level of each rider. I was annoyed by the "instability" early on simply because of how I expected a board to behave, that was until I read someone say that the lateral stability was all in the body. That one sentence made so much sense, and changed everything. Seriously from simply reading that, that same day I was carving more and riding faster and more confidently. It's not a skateboard, think more about a snowboard. When you are standing flat it will swivel and slide all over the place. Unlike a OW, it will even slide sideways! But that doesn't mean you loose control at higher speeds, does it?

Also, so far I've been able to safely run out a nose dive at max speed and I never ride above my confidence level. There are also some streets I am simply unwilling to ride down, for example, an underpass near a freeway with no safety barrier or fence. If I came off there, the onewheel would fall directly into freeway traffic. I blame the city planners and architects, but this kind of "not willing to die" stuff is just common sense in my mind.

Common sense is not that common, but when have we ever been able to protect people from themselves?

SO, fatalities? I don't think so... "Unlocking" a higher speed simply requires confidence and control. Beginners very rarely go fast, and if they do, they always back off instinctively...

The scenario I see in my head is something like a bike path or a very smooth road, you are cruising down the road, the board recognises that you are cruising and let's you go a bit faster, it unlocks the "high gear" based on how fast you are going, just so you can cruise a little faster, but not so that you can accelerate flat-out and smash into something, if you know what I mean...

The other thing I'd like to see is a bit more acceleration/responsiveness. This would mean less time gingerly crawling up hills in extreme mode (because I'm too lazy to put it into Elevated) and I believe it would also actually make the board safer as you would have more control and there would be less chance of nose diving when accelerating hard. There would be more control in the acceleration, instead of slowing everything down for everyone.

In extreme mode, I think the current acceleration curve is too gentle, and that's probably to help with uneasy legs and to save people jumping on the board for the first time and immediately putting it into Extreme. Sure, it's good when you're starting out, or standing still, but when you're legs get stronger and you get more familiar with the board, it actually reduces your confidence in the power of the board... in my mind anyway (I know the board is much more powerful because of riding in Elevated).

These are 100% just my own half thought out thoughts, I'm still learning how to ride and get the most out of the board myself!

[kbern]

I commute with my OW in San Francisco and it works great and is a lot of fun and gets a lot of stares. I try to use bike lanes, but also lane-split, get on and off sidewalks, etc.