Dive Safe front wheels.

[Ryusui]

@eckit I wanna call them "Hyuck Pucks". 😂

[eckit]

So, remember when I mentioned how the bearings wouldn’t deform, but the housing would? That happened to me today. From a standstill in NYC, I mounted the board and leaned forward to go. Not sure why, but the board never balanced out and I just teatered over to the nose. There was a lump in the asphalt as there often are in NYC and the housing hit the lump before the bearing hit the ground. This deformed the housing to the point that the bearing isn’t free-spinning.
I consider my first version of the “hyucks” a failure because of this same type of nose dive happened at speed, I would’ve been thrown.
But that just means I have to go back to the drawing board.
I’ll post when I come up with a fix.

[tomfoolery]

@eckit what are the housings made of? Metal or some sort of polymer?

[Glyph]

@eckit - found a reddit post where a guy did something very similar to yours - he mounted to the outside, which doesn't block his lights. But his bearings look smaller too, so they might be even more susceptible to damage/deformation causing the bearing not to roll than yours are:

https://www.reddit.com/r/onewheel/comments/9kwr7m/the_guy_had_a_pretty_good_idea_wondering_how_it/

I have the Fangs - even though I haven't actually needed them yet, in my one bad nosedive (before Fangs existed) I believe they would have helped me either recover, or bought me precious fractions of a second to react and either run it out or tuck and roll, instead of slamming down to pavement on my shoulder and busting it.

Your idea, that the wheel should roll omnidirectionally, seems like a good one - if there was a way to incorporate it into a Fangs-like build (which are v. easy to install and fairly unobtrusive, aesthetically), that could be good.

[eckit]

@Glyph that is awesome!
I am currently thinking up a quick way to mount them.
Some other things that I am taking into consideration:
Position (out of the way of the lights)
Lowering the profile of the housing or changing the angle of the housing (so it doesn’t catch before the bearing does)

[Glyph]

@eckit - this appears to be the bearing he used - with the way he mounted them, the housing is mostly inside the OW bumper AND angled, so the housing getting hit looks fairly unlikely to me.

The two main questions are how easy would this install be for the average bear (I don't own a drill press), and will that tiny little bearing actually keep rolling, once it's gotten scuffed on concrete and gotten grit and gravel up inside the housing? We don't use these on tennis courts, we use them on streets and sidewalks and driveways, and those are rarely 100% smooth and clean.

https://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/221000714119/?HissuCode=C-5S

[tomfoolery]

@Glyph @eckit hey guys. I don’t think you’d need a drill press to drill the holes into the bumper but what about these bad boys.the “flying saucer” style roller bearing looks like its a lower profile so shouldn’t interfere with anything under the bumper.

[eckit]

@tomfoolery the bearings seem small and the housing is BIG. Also, I couldn’t find any info on the load rating. You need to make sure that the bearings and housing can take the load involved in an impact.

[tomfoolery]

@eckit if you go to the link that @Glyph posted and scroll down to the section where “customers who viewed this item also viewed “ you’ll see a little box with the saucer style rollers where they do give specs. Or you can just click here

[hilby]

If you wheel on a perfectly smooth flat surface all the time, those little training wheels may save you....but you're doing it wrong.

[readysetawesome]

@hilby speaks the truth! I had my first fall ever last night after 3500 miles of onewheel experience and nose wheels or casters could not have done a damn thing to help me. On the other hand, the motorcycle jacket I wear did a lot to protect me (only injury was a minor rug burn from the inside of the jacket). I focus my time and money on protecting myself rather than trying to correct the board’s perceived flaws and it paid off huge last night. I just got up, dusted off and kept on riding...

[Glyph]

I am now 11 months out from a broken-shoulder injury that may never fully heal, due to a nosedive on my + for the first and only time, 250 miles in. It was my fault - I was tired at the end of a long ride and not paying attention and I overaccelerated from a dead stop.

It was a dumb error.

It was an error many people have made or will make.

This did not stop me from OneWheeling - I now also have an XR, and convinced my friend to get one, and we are working on another friend.

Dive wheels, are not "training wheels". They do not (or should not) affect the quality of the ride, or learning to ride. That you should learn how to ride, and respect the board and its limits, is so basic and obvious an idea as to be useless.

Dive wheels are strictly an optional piece of safety equipment that may, in some circumstances, minimize the damage that you do when you inevitably make an error (you will!), or in those rare circumstances the board experiences a software or hardware failure, something that is statistically going to happen to some number of boards (in fact my friend is going to have to send his nearly-new board in for service - luckily it failed on him at startup, and not in motion).

Calling dive wheels "training wheels" is like calling the airbag in your car "training wheels". That's not what they are, or do.
They are strictly there to help save your ass (or minimize the damage to your ass) in unexpected events.

For those of us who ride primarily on pavement (and if you live in a city, that may be pretty much your only option), they are a "hope I never need them, but if I do I'll be glad of them" thing, and if they work even once, they will justify their inexpensive presence.

I sure wish I'd had them, instead of a shoulder that may give me trouble the rest of my life.

I'm not trying to talk anyone into getting them - if your off-road terrain or riding style means they'd do you more harm than good, don't get them!

But trying to talk people who ride different terrain or styles than you do out of getting them - or talking down to them, by calling them "training wheels" or saying they are "doing it wrong" - is not helpful either. Everyone should make the choices that make the most sense for them.

[OneDan+]

@Glyph said in Dive Safe front wheels.:

It was my fault - I was tired at the end of a long ride and not paying attention and I overaccelerated from a dead stop.

Exactly this ... I had over 1100 miles on my board and was at an intersection, on the sidewalk, where the road slants up towards the center. Saw a car coming maybe 1/2 a block away and in an instant decided to "go for it, plenty of time". Well, I over-accelerated from that dead stop, nose went down, but the fangs caught and I rolled a couple of inches, then popped back up and crossed the intersection like nothing happened (except the scare that I was going down!). Considering my first nose dive at 90 miles was very similar, this one I came out of unscathed, unlike the serious knee and elbow rashes from the first one, even when wearing all the pads.

Say what you want, but I'll put fangs on my boards, thank you! :)

[hilby]

My apologies, I didn't intend to demean those who might desire wheels up front. Different strokes for different folks..... but, from my experience, they would only provide more of a purchase to the fulcrum of the catapult, giving me a bit more height and hang time before the inevitable meeting with the earth again.... I can't think of a nosedive ( intentional or unintentional) where they would have saved me. I can think of several instances where they would have grabbed the earth and sent me flying. I guess it's all about riding style. I tap the corners of my nose all the time in low speed turns. I can't afford to lose any more ground clearance. You can purchase some very nice protective gear for the price of front wheels. Thats where I'd invest my insurance money.

Anyhow, it's all about personal preference and riding style. Mine does not allow for more wheels.

Cheers! And pad up like Evil Kenevl!

[tomfoolery]

@OneDan this is exactly the reason I want fangs, for that instance where you’re going straight and maybe not even that fast. If it gives me a split second to try to regain my balance before the board re-engages then I’ll gladly take them.

[Glyph]

@hilby No worries - I agree that for someone who's primarily off-pavement, dive wheels would be worse than useless: they could be an actual danger-increaser, by reducing clearance and catching on things.

On my nosedive - flat concrete, not particularly fast - I believe they would have allowed me to possibly recover, or at least elongated my transition from "in motion" to "stopped" by a few feet (from "instantly stopped and flung to ground") - and THAT would have bought me some reaction time to run out or tuck and roll, as well as reduced the impact force if/when I hit ground.

Also, if anyone's interested, I made a custom shoulder pad, since your leading shoulder is a likely point of contact, and there are no pads on the market for that. A motorcycle jacket is a good solution (and in fact mine uses a motorcycle jacket armor pad), but if you live somewhere hot, a jacket is not an option.

Basically, get these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GUFZ5G8/ref=dp_prsubs_3

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073CV1NKG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Put the shoulder armor in the shoulder brace pocket where the icepack would go. If you can sew, sew it up. If you can't, use industrial velcro like I did. You could probably also use adhesive. It would probably stay in place anyway even if you didn't do any of these things, but the velcro option is cheap and easy and makes me feel secure that the armor won't have shifted out of position just when I need it most.

It looks like this when you are done - it's comfortable and easy to get on/off, and you can wear it under your shirt if you want.

[tomfoolery]

@Glyph it’s almost like mad max status right there. 👍🏻

[Glyph]

@tomfoolery Heh. I think so too.

GOTTA GET THE GASSSSS

[readysetawesome]

You can wear well designed motorcycle jackets in hot weather, I’ve used mine up to 90F, it has vents front and back that provide excellent cooling, just have to keep moving to stay cool.

Don’t stop at shoulder protection- elbows tend to hit really super hard if you fall onto your back (speaking from very recent experience).

I may disagree a lot here but really appreciate that this thread is about riding safe and injury free.

[Glyph]

@readysetawesome After I jacked my shoulder, I went and checked out motorcycle jackets - even the lightest "summer" models with the mesh venting are just too heavy for where I live (at least, any of the jackets in my price range; it's possible something high-end would have been better). They might be OK while moving, but the minute you stopped at a light you'd want to die. That's going to push you to take risks so you can keep moving and never stop; run stop signs or stoplights without checking to REALLY make sure the coast is clear.

And if you don't want to wear your safety gear, you either won't wear it and then get hurt, or you just won't ride.

So what I made for myself feels like a reasonable compromise - light enough that I don't look at it and go "oh jeez I'm gonna sweat to death", easy to put on, and cheap. I pop it on with the rest of my kit and go.

Yeah, I already had elbow pads, knee pads, wristguards, and even padded snowboarding shorts that I wear under my shorts, to protect the tailbone (and of course a helmet). The shoulder is the one thing that doesn't seem to have readily-available lightweight protection options.

If I lived somewhere cooler, I'd def. go with a moto jacket because that's a nice quick one-step thing, but there's just no way here. I'd get heatstroke, or I wouldn't wear it, or I wouldn't ride, or I'd ride and take risks to never ever stop for anything.

[Enterusername]

I don't pearl very often . Seems like that happens to me riding offroad which I don't do much of anyway because I have a concrete wonderland of curvy tree covered trails all around me. Plus I'm not a young chicken any more so I ride fairly conservative. However several times I tried to get going again after carrying my board across a busy street just to find that it was a little too steep or something to get me moving and I pearled the board. Luckily each time was probably a bad starting choice. I also had large audiences each time as well (embarrassing}. I keep learning and making good use of my helmet and wrist guards. I was wondering if a high density rubber roller (no bearing) on front and maybe back could help stop the sudden stops and hold up better than a piece of plastic. Kinda like the rollers on on my boat trailer.
No matter what , ya'll please understand that I really love this toy as it is and I'm just daydreaming.
Btw if anyone is looking for a great led light kit, I use the one from BUDDY RC. It'S easy to install and what I use on Night flying quads and RC planes. I put a switch on my fender. Your sideways visibility at night will be blinding . Multicolor led color controller is awesome .

[tomfoolery]

@Enterusername do you have any pics of the light kit or a link to the site?

[Enterusername]

Buddy RC has a really great video of their led kit. Took some pics of my son riding it last night. He loved it. So bright it saturates my camera. I bought 2 kits for the board so I may add the 2 nd one today. I will post some pics asap. Have too sort through the pics first to find something decent. It was cold and wet and I was chasing him barefooted .

[Enterusername]

Here's a pic with the leds in blue/strobe. About 30 different choices on controller.

link url))

[tomfoolery]

@Enterusername looks bright as hell. Is it battery operated or do you have it tied into the board? How big is the battery pack and how long does it last?

[Enterusername]

Using a lipo 2c pack velcroed in the handle hole. lots of room for 700mah pack that I used on Quadcopter. Wiring harness contoller board inside cover under board controller side where cables are also tons of room . adding another 4 strips and another controller now tied into voltage regulator / and battery. not sure yet how long one set will run on this pack. Probably enough for 4-5 rides or more . have to run some tests using a battery low level warning alarm onboard. everything is separate and isolated from board electronics.