241–250 of 415 posts
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Knowing how to fall is such an incredibly important life skill, it's baffling to watch people who never learned it. As a ski instructor, you could instantly tell from their first fall the kids who would get it and stick with it from the ones who would be sitting in the lodge pouting after an hour.
Why can't life skills, especially ones that could be lead to injury, be explained instead of each person having to make the mistake before they learn it?
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> Is there a bug with onewheels that are causing this injury/death? Or is it just rider error doing a dangerous activity? The article describes the scooter suddenly stopping operation and throwing riders off. It's not just scooting being dangerous generally, but a specific product flaw.
I don't think this is what's happening, at all. Here's a deep dive into what's actually happening, which is people ignoring built in safety, overpowering the motors ability to keep them upright: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGn7iPN07XI The motor is at maximum power and speed when this happens.
Firstly, sure pushback seems like it is noticeable but is it really instinctual to push less when something starts pushing back? A counterforce is good at preventing someone from moving something, but I'm not too sure if it's good at preventing them from trying.
Secondly, I have my doubts about a system of transportation that cannot slow down without throwing off its rider. I mean the automatic balancing is a fun trick, but it's somewhat concerning when the only response it has in case of problems of insufficient power is to accelerate even more and when that doesn't work it does a nose dive resulting in what looks like a sudden stop.
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Knowing how to fall is such an incredibly important life skill, it's baffling to watch people who never learned it. As a ski instructor, you could instantly tell from their first fall the kids who would get it and stick with it from the ones who would be sitting in the lodge pouting after an hour.
I know how to fall (intellectually). How do I translate that into the real world? I took a nasty fall on my MTB this summer, broke my shoulder. Everything was instinctual and a blur. Can we somehow retrain our innate responses?
With thunderstorms, you count seconds 'twixt bolt and boom. With the current golden age of electrified last-mile transport, we're seeing the gap between innovation and regulation opening up wide -- now several years. Real-world impact: I routinely get up to speeds on my e-bike that are, quite simply, dangerous. It's not that I never hit 25 miles an hour on my old road bike, it's that I spend so much more time hanging…
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We do recall cars when design flaws endanger or kill users. This happens literally hundreds of times per year in the US.
Yes when there is a legit defect. People getting injured on onewheels are pushing the board to the max, ignoring the warnings and face planting when the board tops out.
I've read hundreds of crash reports, and never seen more than a handful that weren't a direct result of the user's actions. Actual system failures are vanishingly rare, and most nosedives are only as bad as they are because the rider is traveling at an unsafe speed and has not invested in the training or equipment to fall safely.
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Is there something more inherent that makes an electric unicycles more dangerous, other than they make them go ridiculous speeds? I would have thought the larger wheel on an EUC made it more stable and the higher power makes it not have to nosedive. I kind of prefer e-bikes because they are well… normal.
I think it really comes down to the fact that these single wheelers don't support the operator without power. You can stand on skateboard, slow down, and come to a complete halt and it's still working as intended. On a bike you will eventually topple from one side or the other, but the way a bikes works means the rider is supported in a natural position for a long time. When the one-wheeler loses power it just nosedi…
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The device tips its nose forward and dumps its rider on their head. There is no need to compare to anything if a device has this behavior. If the battery runs out, I expect the device to come to a stop, not throw me on my ass. I'm pretty sure even a paramotoring rig that runs out of fuel isn't going to immediately hurt me, and those things fly .
Ever tried to brake too hard on a motorcycle? You can get them to slip out in all sorts of bad ways or just plain flip pretty easily without finesse and skill. Certain sports just come with more risks. In some cases they’re niche enough with the right communities that they self police or fly under the radar and escape regulation. Others wind up with restrictions and licensing requirements. In one wheel’s case it’s a…
I imagine a lot of people see onewheels as fancy electric skateboards and don't give the failure case much thought, or even consider how much balancing assistance they're getting electronically.
Reading this warning, I don't understand why now? Is there a bug with onewheels that are causing this injury/death? Or is it just rider error doing a dangerous activity? Is the CPSC going to start warning against purchasing Rossignol skis or Santa Cruz mountain bikes because their respective activities are dangerous? Participation in action sports and high-speed transportation will result in a higher expected mortali…
> Is there a bug with onewheels that are causing this injury/death? Or is it just rider error doing a dangerous activity? The article describes the scooter suddenly stopping operation and throwing riders off. It's not just scooting being dangerous generally, but a specific product flaw.
But I've got decades of board riding experience that has taught me to keep my center of mass over the top of the board. This is an important skill to deal with unexpected bumps on snowboards and skateboards as well. Even when the board stops due to colliding with an object I've still got a decent chance of running it out.
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Ever tried to brake too hard on a motorcycle? You can get them to slip out in all sorts of bad ways or just plain flip pretty easily without finesse and skill. Certain sports just come with more risks. In some cases they’re niche enough with the right communities that they self police or fly under the radar and escape regulation. Others wind up with restrictions and licensing requirements. In one wheel’s case it’s a…
Ever tried to brake too hard on a motorcycle? Yes. If I turn off the ABS and traction control, I'm skilled enough to lift the back wheel. But you know what has never happened? Having the front brake lock all on its own because I dared run the bike to empty. ...and you’re still best off never letting the battery die. ...lest the board cast you to the ground in a dangerous manner. Which, from my reading, is why the CPS…
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I am absolutely no fan of Future Motion, and I ditched my OneWheel in protest. This isn't entirely a product flaw and comes down to physics: the board pushes you back (by lifting the front) to indicate that you are exceeding it's capacity to balance (all balancing products have a limit, with no exceptions). It will also push back when the battery is low. Either way, ignoring pushback is how people "suddenly have the…
What would you recommend as an alternative?
They are objectively safer so far as the forwards/backwards balance goes. The theory is that it's all around safer because of the psychological effect of the steep learning curve. You do still want a motorbike helmet and BMX/skating pads (the community is way more pro-safety, which is nice). You'll need to try soft-sole and hard-sole shoes, one of the two will be unusable for you due to foot/sole fatigue. Once you get to mid-tier, you generally see incrementally more biker gear.
You don't look as cool on it. It doesn't have the same emotional impact. It is way more fun.
You could also look at electric skateboards or scooters.