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CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

cpsc.gov

291–300 of 415 posts

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#291

I own and ride a Onewheel Pint (17mph max) and found it limiting, so moved up to an EUC (electric unicycle) that goes 30mph. I always wear a helmet and come from an extensive background riding BMX on ramps and jumps, skateboarding, snowboarding, and mountain biking. I agree with some other comments here that there is a learning curve and these are relatively dangerous for new riders, just like a skateboard is dangero…

Been wanting to go over to an EUC. How have you found the transition. I have like 1.5k miles on a onewheel xr but switched to scooters after people I knew kept getting injured. Hate to say the scooter is... too safe but it's sorta just standing there and hitting a button.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#292
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 .

It does come to a stop. You get thrown on your ass because of the laws of motion. Your last statement - are you talking about using a fan with a parasail, which is a stable glider without power? If you want to use that analogy, this is more akin to taking too sharp a turn in a parasail, where the sail can't sustain and collapses in, causing you to fall like a rock because of the law of gravity. In a nosedive on a One…

> After the rider has been warned by the board that it's approaching that edge, physically and audibly.

After a thousand miles and some injuries, I've learned to detect the onewheel XR's subtle pushback. However, none of the new riders who have tried my board have ever been able to feel it. And it certainly has no audible alarm either, I'm not sure where you got that.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#293
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about this experience is specific to electric bikes?

Smaller tires and rotating assemblies with less mass are more susceptible to uneven pavement. For example, a vehicle like a motorcycle or even a motor scooter will be able to handle imperfections on city streets more easily. If you got a bigger gyroscope under your butt, you're harder to knock over. Bicycles tend to go with smaller and less massive wheels, because it decreases rider effort required to spin them up, a…

A lot of ebikes go with pretty chunky tires (for a bicycle). Mine are like 3.3 inches wide. (Rad Power Bikes)

I'm mostly just a pedal assist guy though, I only go for the throttle on big hills or coming off a light with a car behind me.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#294

My children's grandfather is very good at sports and balancing and has been riding onewheels for as long as they've been around. My kids learned from him quite a while ago. Couple of years ago they each got a Pint from grandmother as a gift. They always wear helmets but we had a hard time getting them to wear wrist guards, that is, until one of my kids pushed it to the limit downhill in a park, rode over the pebble,…

Glad you got them on wrist guards. I found that as long as the wrist guard was relatively easy to wear and didn't look hyper dorky people would wear it. I was using fingerless Hillbilly wrist guards, and they just look like fingerless gloves to most people. Made people more likely to wear them when I lent it out.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#295
post #23

One issue I've noticed with these new forms of electric wheeled transport (longboard, transverse and longitudinal one-wheelers) is that the people riding them often don't come from a sports background. They aren't "safe" devices exactly - it takes skill to pilot them, and when things inevitably go awry, it takes good reflexes to avoid damage. Novices to action sports often throw their arms out to catch themselves whe…

As a teen, I broke three of my limbs in separate longboard incidents. Eventually I learned the lesson and stopped doing it hahaha

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. If this is a problem inherent in the form factor, it should be advertised as such and we continue on, like we do with motorcycles, skateboards and so on.

There are warnings on the box, in the manual, on a piece of cardboard you have to remove to ride the board, and laser marked on the board itself.

Disagree. All the warnings suggest rider error. I suspect that if they published, "We've determined that, on average, approximately once every N miles, a onewheel is likely to briefly fail to deliver power to its motor, throwing its rider at whatever speed it's moving," they would sell far fewer of these items.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#297

I don't know why the CPSC has singled out Onewheel. If they're going to try and regulate this new class of mobility they need to do better than phoning it in. This feels just as random and absurd as the clampdowns on Juul. Don't buy Juul, but do feel free to buy flavored nicotine from these thousands of other less scrupulous vendors. There are absurdly under braked e-bikes with 30+ mph motors, electric scooters with…

I've been on a bunch of these.

They should regulate them all, in a consistent way across all states.

One Wheels are unique in that they're a USA company that is pretty well known and has a very obvious failure mode. EUCs still suffer that dorky rep for whatever reason. Ebikes motor dying won't cause a crash. Same with most escooters.

Anything that goes above 20 with a motor has no place in a bike lane. Yes I know bike riders can go over that. Over 20 is when you start needing to look into moped safety gear instead of bike and knowing what you're doing.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#299
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/50-million-miles-on... and https://www.imarcgroup.com/one-wheel-electric-scooter-market might be able to get a rough number.

It looks like most death rates for transportation products are measured in deaths per 100 million passenger miles. So 8 deaths seems like a reasonable estimate. By comparison, cars are about 1.5 deaths, and motorcycles are 25-30. For the car number, I'm willing to bet that OneWheel riders skew younger and male-er than the general driving population. I'd bet the risk difference mostly disappears if you're comparing si…

The riders skew older then you think. I'd say the average rider I've met is about 35. Male dominated of courses.

This is a toy. Very few people not working can afford a 1.5k-2k electric vehicle, especially when you can grab an escooter/ebike for about half the price.

The issue I think they're going for here is the sudden lack of power which happens sometimes. Anecdotally it happened to maybe 3 people who publicly stated as such in a 60 person rider group. A ton of people have broken collar bones on these things, and it's an almost expected injury if you use it long enough.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#300
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does come to a stop. You get thrown on your ass because of the laws of motion. Your last statement - are you talking about using a fan with a parasail, which is a stable glider without power? If you want to use that analogy, this is more akin to taking too sharp a turn in a parasail, where the sail can't sustain and collapses in, causing you to fall like a rock because of the law of gravity. In a nosedive on a One…

> After the rider has been warned by the board that it's approaching that edge, physically and audibly. After a thousand miles and some injuries, I've learned to detect the onewheel XR's subtle pushback. However, none of the new riders who have tried my board have ever been able to feel it. And it certainly has no audible alarm either, I'm not sure where you got that.

This is a good call out. I didn't know what push back was at first. It's not as intuitive as you'd think, especially if you're towards the upper edge of the boards weight capacity. Keeping most of the weight on the back leg and pushing with the front is just a weird feeling. I've had similar issues but it's why I always set it to that 12mph mode before handing it off unless the person had ridden at least a few times.
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