First day , couple crashes, sensor question

[brentlien]

I'm riding with sensor in the front...i do fine at lower speeds carving, turning , speeding up/slowing down.

I've gotten out of control and had two bad falls and a few close calls when intending to speed up just a little the board accelerates very quickly and I can't slow it down. I then tried to slow down quickly by shifting weight to back foot and lowering tail/ raising nose but this must have put more pressure on the front sensor because the board sped up. Twice I kind of teeter tottered the board back and forth while the board sped up. I realize and expect a learning curve but does this sound like a sensor issue? The instructions say to simply lean forward to speed up and lean back to slow down. Is it more about where your weight is or the angle of the board?

[utsu]

Riding classic or extreme?

Are you riding on completely level ground?

Are you leaning "with your hips" ? When you lean with your whole body you'll find it easier to lose control and tumble forward, so getting used to very stable leaning was key for me.

[brentlien]

Classic on flat ground. Just went out for another sesh and had better results no carnage. I think I was using my feet /ankles too much and getting out of control with too much upper body movement. I'm 6'3 so that prob doesn't help . I found it better to pretend like I was snowboarding, really planting my feet and using more of my leg /butt muscles while bending my front knee more than back and making sure to press down hard on back to slow down. I swear before I was pressing down on back and it was speeding up. Anyway, kid of hard to describe the feeling ... Stoked though and looking forward to improving.

[Brutha Man]

@brentlien when you hop off the board. Make sure your foot on the sensor comes off first.

[sidebox]

It sounds like you might have a little bit of confusion going on with the sensor placement and purpose. The sensors don't have anything to do with speed. The sensors literally just keep the motor engaged when you maintain contact with them. Speed is entirely related to how much weight you lean forward or back. You appear to be describing a situation where you are leaning forward to defeat pushback and the board suddenly noses forward, giving a big speed boost that is very hard to control for a newer rider. You need to quickly lean back to recover from this without leaning so far back that you scrape the ground with your back plate. Switching to extreme mode will go a long way towards helping delay speed pushback and the urge to push through it at lower speeds. I recommend keeping your sensors in the front, as you'll find that it is easier to maintain contact and positioning when you can easily glance down and view your foot placement.

[fabuz]

@brentlien Don't push with your feet,keep them at the same level and try to go forward with your shoulder....the same to stop and go back...start to ride very slowly and understand how your board works and reacted with your movements.ride first with your head and in a few days you'll ride very naturally and just enjoy your new #floatlife :heart_eyes:
Hope it will help you...

[brentlien]

Thanks for the replies... One more question , is it possible to be leaning forward (the ow accelerates) while the tail is much closer to the ground than the nose? That's my confusion, I thought I was leaning back but the board accelerated like crazy then the nose would dive then the seesaw effect kicked in. Also wish i had a hip pad on ... But thankful I had a helmet and wrist guards ... Sore morning today

[germx]

That sounds a bit weird, but in a sense yes. I mean if you couldn't lean forward when the board is tilted backwards, you couldn't ride the board :p

Anyway. How it works is: The board is trying to stay level. And when you lean forward, the boars tries to compensate but accelerating. That is the only way for the board to save you from a nosedive.
This means that if you push it more than the motor can compensate, it won't work out very well.
Now there's a software-set safety feature called pushback, I'm sure you're aware. This basically just "moves" what the board think is "level" to a more tilted back position.
If you keep leaning forward, while the board is tilted back in this way, it will accelerate even though you are still tilted backwards. This to try and keep the new level.
It might sound odd that accelerating is the only way for the board to stop you from going too fast, but it really is the only way for the board to tilt you back.

I haven't ridden classic since the board first came out, so I'm not sure how much they've changed it. But I remember it being rather aggressive with the pushback. So much in fact that it made it harder to ride.
The first extreme mode had no pushback at all. A pretty dangerous move. Still it was better than classic.
Extreme today does have a subtle, natural pushback that I very much like and agree with. Most people would recommend switching mode as quick as possible really.

It's hard to say exactly what you are doing "wrong" and what you should do, or if there is indeed something wrong with the board.
But try doing everything really slowly and carefully. Getting a feel for the board may take a while.
Standing steady on it also may take a while.

Having it accelerate and cause a "nosedive" isn't really physically possible in that sense, as accelerating tilts the board back, and should have quite the opposite effect. Good luck with training!

[brentlien]

Just found this other thread on the forum which perfectly describes what was happening to me... http://community.rideonewheel.com/topic/129/is-this-pushback

sounds like i was fighting the push back while in classic mode. it was freaky because i could not slow down and the board sped up. a car was approaching and i had to bail. now i know to lean back more instead of trying to balance the board to level... i was in control before the push back, but it made me out of control and i took two hard spills because of this... i think i'll try extreme mode today.

here's the comments from that forum thread that helped me understand whats happening:

Got my Onewheel a few days ago and I'm LOVING it!

I quickly got the hang of it and really got to know the feel of accelerating/decelerating, but yesterday I experienced something that freaked me out while in Classic mode...

When accelerating to a moderate speed, sometimes the back end would slowly drop but I wouldn't lose speed. Thinking this is odd and inconsistent, I try to straighten the board forward but find I would pick up speed. When leaning back again, the board wouldn't decelerate.

That's where I get freaked out because the rear of the board is close to skidding the ground and I'm going pretty fast with no way to slow down. Thankfully after a few attempts of leaning back, it feels like something kicks in, and I'm able to decelerate.

Anyone experience this? Is this "pushback"?

After the 3rd time this occurred, I tried to be super conscious of what was happening... Here's a more detailed description:

As the back end starts dropping on its own, without me slowing, I find myself putting weight on the back foot to balance myself... so my front leg is starting to bend and my rear leg is straight. No deceleration. By this point I realize I'm in a bad stance... I need to straighten my front leg and truly lean back so my center of gravity is behind the wheel, but by this time I'm going pretty fast and the back end is close to skidding the ground. When I try to straighten my front leg the board goes even faster.

I'm wondering if this is "pushback" and if switching to Extreme mode solves this.
Does this sound normal?
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Julian posted 3 months ago
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You are experiencing what's call ‘pushback’. Pushback is a speed modulation feature mostly noticeable in Classic Shaping that lifts the nose of the board in order to slow the rider down. Pushback kicks in at 8-10 mph (depending on what shaping you’re riding) and prevents the rider from leaning forward more and thus accelerating. If you'd like to ride without such strong pushback you can switch your board over to Extreme Shaping which will allow you to ride without experiencing pushback until you reach higher speeds. This though, is only recommended once you are feeling good enough about reaching higher speeds.

Some riders have the tendency to 'fight' the pushback and counter it by leaning forward to try to stay at level as you seem to be describing. Because you are actually leaning forward to counter the sensation of the board pushing you back, the board will no decelerate. That is why it seems like you can't slow down. If you lean back with the pushback you will slow down. The board is not controlled by the angle it's riding at with respect to ground but by where the center of mass of the rider is at with respect to the board itself.

Give it a try not fighting the board when it's pushing you back and lean your body backwards and you will notice the board will break on your command. Hope this helps you out @Wayne

[brentlien]

Switched to extreme mode and so far so good. I've kept it around 10-12 mph so far and haven't felt push back yet while in extreme. In my opinion the push back on classic mode is a hazard!! Instead of leaning back to slow down I leaned forward by intuition attempting to level the board and it sped up causing me to go out of control / eat shit... No Bueno. I wish I'd never heard of classic mode or tried it. I understand a learning curve , but classic mode push back seems all jacked up, more hazardous than safe. This being said , I'm loving the board and luckily didn't break any bones. Just a slight concussion and raw hip / elbow.

[Code-ster]

@brentlien That sounds very much like my own experience with my OW accelerating beyond my ability to slow down or control the board, and ultimately crashing. Thankfully, the forum is full of knowledgeable OW owners offering tons of insight. Now that I have a good understanding of what Pushback is I'm pretty confident I'll handle it better the next time around.

[kelp]

@fabuz thats fantastic thanks for this! (ordered mine last night but trying to glean as much wisdom from on here as i can in the mean time :)

[jeff8v7]

Until recently, I would often find myself riding with the front leg bent for long periods. It's actually kind of fun if a bit awkward. It finally occurred to me that this was pushback - and riding it out probably wasn't the advisable strategy :) I switched to extreme.

[T-CAT]

I finally got a chance to ride my OneWheel. Very very very cool stuff. Its pretty crazy to feel the board engage once your foot is placed on the sensor. I really had to get used to not being able to treat it like a skateboard where I reposition my feet all the time for different tricks. I also had to keep extra attention that I cannot push like a skateboard as your feet stay on the board the whole time. With a snowboard I realize all of that easier because your feet are binded to the board, but with the OneWheel they are free, so extra care had to be taken. I'm sure that will come as second nature with time. I'm looking forward to riding more!

[T-CAT]

Rose my OneWheel again today on my lunch break. Still getting used to its limitations and turning pressure needed at various speeds especially very slow speed handling. I only have about 30 minutes total time on it, but learning has come relatively quickly due to previous experience in other board sports. The ease of OneWheeling likely increases drastically if a person has previous experience on a snowboard, wakeboard, skateboard, and/or surfboard. That's my observation at least. I can most definitely imagine the OneWheel having a much larger learning curve for a person who has never done any of the above sports. I am really focusing on trying to get better at turning heel side as toe side for me on this thing is much easier, when on a snowboard, skateboard, etc. both turns feel completely at ease. I'm not sure why this is any different but it is. The turning is also much looser than say a skateboard or snowboard, almost as if a skateboards trucks have been loosened. So, I have to keep more aware of the level of depth I allow my heel or toes to dig into the turn unlike my skateboarding and snowboarding to that degree. I haven't taken it on the road yet for some commuting to work or anything of the sort, but just learning it's reactions with my inputs. I have had a few moments where I turned too hard and had to do a couple jump offs, but that's alright. Hopefully this weekend I'll get some more time on it, so I can master the OneWheel and take it almost everywhere.

[shaunabe]

@T-CAT beyond shaping settings in the app, tire pressure makes a big diff as do various riding surfaces (beach vs street, for example). Lots of stuff to experiment with to figure out what you like.

[T-CAT]

@shaunabe Thanks! That makes perfect sense and I was thinking about that this afternoon while riding. I thought about what my tire pressure is and would love to change it just to see and feel the difference. The tire pressure seems pretty high right now, and I've only ridden on concrete, so I can imagine the softer feeling on grass, dirt, sand, etc. This board is pretty darn unique. It's cool to experience riding this board.