First day with my XR and already had 2 crashes...

16 May 2018, 13:59 UTC

I'm just putting in my .02 cents that the small wheels are not a great thing to put on the front of the board. Even for a beginner. Get used to the board as it is, it was designed to work well without those wheels on the nose. They're only really relevant if you're cruising at speeds that a beginner really should not. They might make it harder for you to learn to stop and they might also cause you to runaway down a hill if the board loses power, rather than skidding and going a bit slower.

16 May 2018, 19:45 UTC

@readysetawesome They aren't meant for high speeds. Nothing can really save you if you nosedive at high speed. They are better suited to the overacceleration-from-dead-stop (in which the board's thrust/balance capacity gets temporarily overloaded) and the careless-uphill nosedives.

I rode 250+ miles with NO nosedives. Then I got careless and did the overacceleration-from-dead-stop one, once. 5 months later I am still trying to regain full use of my left (leading) shoulder/arm, which landed on pavement with my full 180# body weight on it. I think nosewheels might have allowed me to recover, or at least reduced the damage by elongating the board's immediate transition from "moving" to "dead stop, rider thrown", and gaining me precious reaction time.

You bring up losing power downhill; I think you're pretty screwed in any case if you lose power in that scenario - but really, the key here is that everyone should make their own decisions based on their skill/comfort level and common riding terrain.

Just my .02 cents.

17 May 2018, 18:54 UTC

I'm 45, sold my OW and bought a metal detector, it is safer an more age appropriate :-)

18 May 2018, 20:57 UTC

Hey @Jkenshiro - I'm 37 and had quite a bit of electric skateboard experience before picking up the Onewheel+ last year. It still took me a few weeks of cautious riding and a good handful of crashes/bails before I was able to get the hang of it. It just controls so much different from anything else. Keep at it and you will get the hang of it. As other recommended, try different modes, as the pushback/limits in some modes are definitely a bit unintuitive.

18 July 2018, 20:56 UTC

@glyph said in First day with my XR and already had 2 crashes...:

@readysetawesome They aren't meant for high speeds. Nothing can really save you if you nosedive at high speed. They are better suited to the overacceleration-from-dead-stop (in which the board's thrust/balance capacity gets temporarily overloaded) and the careless-uphill nosedives.

I rode 250+ miles with NO nosedives. Then I got careless and did the overacceleration-from-dead-stop one, once. 5 months later I am still trying to regain full use of my left (leading) shoulder/arm, which landed on pavement with my full 180# body weight on it. I think nosewheels might have allowed me to recover, or at least reduced the damage by elongating the board's immediate transition from "moving" to "dead stop, rider thrown", and gaining me precious reaction time.

You bring up losing power downhill; I think you're pretty screwed in any case if you lose power in that scenario - but really, the key here is that everyone should make their own decisions based on their skill/comfort level and common riding terrain.

Just my .02 cents.

The overacceleration-from-dead-stop nosedive save by the fangs was proven to me recently. I have over 1100 miles on my +. When I first started, around 90 miles, I had a nosedive from a dead stop when I leaned heavily forward to accelerate. Quite a bit of road rash, some newbie embarrassment, and made me rethink how I ride.

Fast forward to the present. I now ride with my back foot on the back edge and my front foot heel almost against the fender, which really helps lower my acceleration rate. Anyway, I was balancing at a crosswalk waiting for a car to go by and saw another car a bit more than half a block away and my brain said "go, you can beat that car!". Of course, my body reacted with "quick, get across!", so I leaned in more than I should have. Well, the board nosedived, but luckily for me, I have the fangs installed! The front end rolled a few inches and I leaned back a bit and headed across.

Shout out to @hoovdini (land-surf_dot_com) for saving my skin, literally!

18 July 2018, 21:31 UTC

CarvePower's OneTail+ makes life a bit better by letting you set your trailing foot a little farther back :)

Been riding with it for a few days now and it's pretty great. 0_1531949502791_IMG_3077 (1).jpg

18 July 2018, 21:31 UTC

@jkenshiro
I had a very similar experience on my first day of riding about a month ago, also in Sequoia mode. I was tilting the board in an attempt to slow down and the board did not slow. I don't know at what speed pushback occurs in Sequoia mode, but the feel is not at all intuitive to me. I have never had this issue in mission or delirium mode. I recommend mission mode for new riders. And except for a little bit of experimenting and comparison, I have not used Sequoia or Cruz modes since day 2 of owning my XR.

19 July 2018, 15:09 UTC

@onedan - this is what I like to hear, in my mind this is exactly the sort of scenario they are meant for. I haven't had to use mine yet and hope I never do, but I think they are nearly a necessity for a city/pavement rider. They are cheap and unobtrusive and hopefully you'll never need them, but if you use them once they will pay for themselves.

19 July 2018, 16:11 UTC

@glyph everyone is different, for me they are not only unnecessary on pavement but they make the board less safe and harder for me to ride because they are obtrusive when cornering on steep hills and stopping on hills. They also block a non-trivial portion of the headlights which is not OK because I ride at night often.

Experience has demonstrated to me that I can avoid nosedives just as well by simply riding within the board's limits.

19 July 2018, 20:03 UTC

@readysetawesome No real hills where I live. I use LumeCubes for headlights (I also ride at night), in addition to a bright headlamp, because the onboard headlights are insufficient even in toto. LumeCubes are expensive, but bright and tough as hell.

But your central point, that everyone should determine what works best for them, is sound.

I just don't like people talking Fangs down like they can't ever help - I think they can in certain situations (and in others, not help at all or even hurt, as you say), and this has been borne out by reports such as OneDan's here (his accident he describes, was real similar to mine), and the Fangs beta testers.

I've only ever had one nosedive, but I am now seven months out from it and still not 100% healed (and who knows, maybe I never will be).

You have to count not just the likelihood of a nosedive, but the potential severity of injury from one when evaluating overall risk. If I ride correctly 99% of the time that's great, but if that 1% where I make a riding error has the potential for severe (maybe lifelong!) injury, then that's STILL a high risk, and potentially worth taking additional steps to mitigate.

19 July 2018, 21:30 UTC

@readysetawesome So you actually tried them? You are the first fang detractor I have come across who had actual experience with them. Gives you some credibility. I ordered a pair, but I am not going to let them make me overconfident and if I ever get to the point where I can do steep hills, I will rethink it. Thanks for the feedback.

20 July 2018, 03:39 UTC

@readysetawesome: I totally agree with you on the Onetail+ from C&R. I'm 6 feet tall, 260 lbs and installed a Onetail+ on my XR and I love it. It also allows me to place my back foot further back and my front foot pretty close to the fender. I don't ride faster than 12mph too often, but I feel that moving my weight back on the OW, riding Delirium, and not riding like a madman decreases the chance of a nosedive. Ever since I got the Onetail+, I've been riding with a back foot stance like that of Slydog Stroh and I have way more control. Ride safe!

20 July 2018, 05:40 UTC

@mustugio11 that's good to hear. I am waiting for my order now. I noticed today that I was pushing my foot further back while riding. Guess I can use the extra room.

20 July 2018, 15:34 UTC

@glyph Hear, hear. I thought I was well within limits when my nosedive occurred with no pushback; carving about 15 mph in Mission, flat smooth asphalt, weigh 180lbs, 75% charge. Once that nose hit the deck the board slowed way too quick and my momentum caused me to fly. Fangs would have given me a chance to recover. Seems like a good insurance policy. The cost of my torn clothes alone was more than the price of the Fangs.

20 July 2018, 15:46 UTC

@reddog I guess I just see a lot of people pooh-poohing them and saying "just ride correctly and you will never nosedive". That's not realistic. That's like saying "just drive your car correctly and you will never crash", as an argument against seatbelts or airbags or something (or, I guess in our case, arguing against helmets).

It's a non-response to Fangs to say "just be careful and ride correctly" - of course we should be careful and ride correctly. Fangs are for those times when you screw up, and sooner or later, you will (hell, as good a product as I think the OW is, it's not realistic to think the board will never ever have a software or hardware failure causing a nosedive).

24 July 2018, 21:17 UTC

@wheelrich I have actually tried the fangs, I was stoked to give them a try. Used them for 3 rides, about 20 miles. I mostly didn't like the change in clearance. Cornering tight/slow can take my nose down close to the pavement and sometimes it even scrapes lightly (expected) - the fangs changed how and where it would make contact in a few different situations and I just don't prefer it.