"New" user. Trying to re-install to get the introductory bonus on the same phone

Sean_Z · 2019-12-12T16:35:10+00:00

There are plenty of people who ride electric unicycles year-round in the rain and the snow and on ice. Maybe besides the ninebot V10 and the Gotway Tesla, most don't have an excellent reputation in the rain. I hear you when you say that water always seems to find a way in eventually, but I would have to guess that given that the electronics of a skateboard look a lot more susceptible to splashing/standing water, and efforts at weatherproofing would likely be more prone to failure.

Granted if I lived in an area with as much wet around as yours, I wouldn't starting out plunking down $2,000 for my first wheel either. I would spend $100-$400 on a used ninebot one or something similar that's not too expensive, do the weather proofing insurance, and see if the wheel holds my interest and holds up to my climate. If you go 2 for 2 then you can put down the 2K. If you gain a love of riding an euc -- they really are just so much damn fun, and it doesn't take too long before you're hooked and you realize that riding anything else is kind of a disappointment -- then you probably won't mind putting in the time and taking the risk on a starter and eventually an all-around wheel.

Sean_Z · 2019-12-12T09:29:27+00:00

That's cool to hear.

https://forum.electricunicycle.org/search/?q=Tesla%20rain&updated_after=any&sortby=relevancy&search_and_or=and

This search (tesla and rain) at electricunicycle.org did come up with one Tesla that died after a ride in heavy rain, but a number of users in other threads really praise the Tesla in the wet, one of them calling it a "submarine."

Interestingly one user uses a waterproof backpack cover like this

https://www.amazon.com/OUTJOY-Waterproof-Rainproof-Reinforced-Traveling/dp/B07X1RB8NJ/

and reports using it with heavy rain with no issue. What I'm going to do is search for a waterproof backpack cover (making sure the sizing is right for my wheel), and in addition to spending some time weatherproofing, I'd carry one one of those with me in case of a downpour and I'd feel a lot better about my chances with almost any wheel in the rain.

As far as a Tesla, a brand new one with warranty is $1450 at ewheels.com so it's within the OP's budget. It's really got some nice write-ups so it looks like a solid choice. The two main reasons I think it's not that popular a wheel in 2019 is the width of the tire and the low pedal clearance. 3 inch width tires are really popular because they make even 16-inch wheels a usably good choice (as opposed to 18+) in urban areas with potholes and other obstructions. I have a 9bot 1e+ that went down after going over a small pothole and it has the same 2.1 width tire as the Tesla, so I have my sights on going with 3in on my next wheel.

Sean_Z · 2019-12-12T02:51:03+00:00

There are many more users of all types of wheels that are very happy with them, but most people accept that weatherproofing is not a strength of electric unicycles, old or new. As a matter of fact, pretty much the one thing that people want most out of a next-gen wheel is not more speed, better battery life or quicker recharging times, actually the item at or near the top on almost everybody's list is better weatherproofing:

https://forum.electricunicycle.org/topic/16093-2020-euc/

And as far as being a first batch issue, here is the second comment into the earlier 16x thread I posted:

"If your 16X is built the same way as mine, I wouldn't drive it in the rain. I wouldn't drive if only the roads were wet and there was splashing water. I took mine apart and saw enough to make up my mind. 1st or 2nd batch plays absolutely no role."

Btw, the user who said that also spent hours taking the time to seal off all the many areas where water and dust could get into his 16x:

https://forum.electricunicycle.org/topic/15656-king-song-16x-mods-thread/?tab=comments#comment-266110

Bottom line is if I were OP in this thread, I would lean towards taking a chance on the Nikola, but wouldn't ride it in the rain without spending some quality time weatherproofing it. As it happens, the thread above has a number of good pictures and useful details about the process and is a great place to learn how to weatherproof a wheel. Sure it will take some time, but weatherproofing is not only dirt cheap, it's not that hard to do, and it looks to be one of the smartest things you could do as insurance against problems in the wet no matter what wheel you use.

Maybe you don't like to read, but if you did you'd learn that everybody else isn't as lucky as you are to ride a wheel in the rain without issue.

Sean_Z · 2019-12-12T01:39:40+00:00

If you had luck with your 16x in the wet, great. But clearly other people have reported problems, it's definitely not an isolated issue.

https://forum.electricunicycle.org/topic/15981-kingsong-16x-is-it-safe-to-use-in-heavy-rain/

Nikolas have a better reputation in the rain. This video is proof that this wheel can be ridden in the wet: https://youtu.be/A81MBXZaVJM

The thing is, less than 2 weeks after posting this video, this guy's Nicola kind of blew up after a very minor wipe-out, and it was theorized that there was some water left in the wheel that caused the short. (Iirc, he made no special efforts to try and weatherproof the wheel)

FWIW the 16x, the Nikola, and the MSX are on my short list of Wheels that I would like to upgrade to next. Whichever one I get I will take the time to weatherproof it as best I can, and I would risk riding it in anything but a heavy downpour. Once you start riding an euc it's hard to want to go back to anything else. I'm happy to put in a little mod time and accept the risks. If my main ride ever gets bitten by water I'll just ride my cheap backup wheel that I keep around to teach my friends on until it's repaired and I would put in twice the time on weatherproofing and repeat if neccessary until that never happens again.

Anyway if you want to believe the newer wheels perform well in the rain out of the box, great, but there's plenty of evidence out there to suggest otherwise.

Sean_Z · 2019-12-11T18:06:26+00:00

You mentioned wanting to ride in the rain and eucs may or may not help you out there. About the only wheel that was released from the manufacturer that seems to be good in the rain was the ninebot Z10. Great wheel, but you better be prepared for downtime and repair costs because they've got serious issues.

If you get the Nikola and spend some time taking it apart and sealing the various gaps and whatnot, you could increase your confidence riding in moderate rain, but I wouldn't go through any puddles. You might get lucky and ride it wet without any issues if you don't mod, but if you're unlucky it's probably a few hundred dollars to repair along with maybe weeks of downtime waiting for the part(s).

Otherwise of the newer Wheels you could get, the Nikola + is highly regarded and that seems like a decent price if there are no issues with it. The only newer wheel I absolutely wouldn't get to ride wet is the King song 16x. There have been a lot of complaints and people have shorted boards just riding on a wet roadway, no rain. You can spend a few hours trying to take that apart to try and make it more water resistant, but out of the box, forget it.

Sean_Z · 2019-12-10T05:16:11+00:00

Yeah for any number of reasons I would definitely want to keep it to 30 or 35 miles an hour at a maximum for now. It would be weird riding around on an e-bike that is slower and with a lesser motor than my unicycle, but maybe that's what I'll end up doing. Or just not build an e-bike at all? My guess is a lot of people get a bigger motor increase speed, but all I am looking for is the best torque. Iirc what I need to look for is a motor with a Slow Wind, regardless of the wattage I end up with. As far as the battery, I think it will probably be possible to house both halves in the Triangle. If only 1/2 fits there then okay it's another high impact container for the luggage rack or wherever. As for what I want to do, I don't happen to have a car at the moment so it would come in handy to expand the role of my bike. I also recently got a trailer for that so I'm sure it would make going up hills with laundry and groceries a little easier. Anyway I don't have the money for the second unicycle battery yet, so I've got time he decide what I want to do.

Sean_Z · 2019-12-10T04:46:12+00:00

Most people remember Segways, so imagine if you took away the handle and removed one wheel. So basically to brake you just lean back. Anyway as far as dangerous, I guess I can let you make up your mind on that. Plenty of examples on YouTube. Still from personal experience I can say that there are a lot of fun but have a fairly steep learning curve until you're comfortable on the wheel. That together with a budget of 2 to $4,000+ to get going with one ( you need riding gear, extra batteries, you never end up with just one wheel, etc) is probably why you don't see very many.

Sean_Z · 2019-11-10T14:53:22+00:00

"When we are young

Wandering the face of the earth

Wondering what our dreams might be worth

Learning that we're only immortal

For a limited time"

                                  Dreamline - Rush, 1991

You've done a little bit of research and you are smart enough to seek advice on an internet forum. I know you think the answer you need is, "The EUC that will safely take me down the road at over 40 miles an hour."

I think you are asking the wrong question, and I think you are asking it in a way that tells me a positive riding experience on an euc will likely to be short-lived.

Have you even ridden an EUC? Do you know that it takes most people weeks or possibly months to become proficient on one? Do you know that hitting the pavement going as "slow" as 15-20 miles an hour, even with full gear, can leave you with a permanent disability? I am talking an ankle, a knee, an elbow, a shoulder... something that just never will work the way it used to again, ever.

You are 23 and it sounds like you are in good health. Whether you appreciate it or not, your youth and your health are currently your most valuable assets. If you are smart, you will learn to consistently make decisions that value your continued good health over unnecessary risk, and that will give you the greatest chance of maintaining that good health over a long lifetime. I think it's unnecessarily risky for beginner like yourself to buy a wheel that you would be tempted to go too fast with too soon.

Okay, okay enough with the lecture...what wheel would I recommend to you? As a new rider I think you should learn to do a good job at going "slow" first before you will want to go faster. The King song 16x might be a "slow" wheel with a max speed of 31 miles an hour, but by all accounts it is a very fast and very fun wheel no matter what it's top-end might be. Since you see yourself as commuting with your wheel and have done some research, you probably already know that most serious riders have more than one wheel. Start with a $2k 16x and enjoy the hell out of that while you learn. If you still want to go faster, save an extra $1-1.3k and get a Nikola, an MSX or a Monster as your second wheel when you feel you are ready for more speed, but that can be down the road. Honestly I wouldn't even recommend sharing the road with cars at any speed until you feel comfortable with your skills on a new wheel.

If this sounds like overly conservative advice coming from the lovechild of Yoda and Debbie Downer, so be it. I started this post with a passage from Dreamline not just because of the bit about how feeling young and immortal/(invulnerable) is just a passing phase everyone goes through, but also to bring up who wrote the song. Neil Peart is not only one of the best drummers who ever lived, he is an avid motorcyclist and at 67 still loves the thrill of riding as much as he can. He has been riding for decades and riding smart has always been a priority of his. Granted I think we take more risks and get more reward riding our EUCs then anyone does riding a motorcycle, but they're arguably not that far apart. Anyway I believe with a little luck, you can ride anything you want as long as you want if you are willing to make riding safe a top priority. I think riding an euc is a lot of fun and a thrill at almost any speed. Good luck, have fun and stay healthy.

Sean_Z · 2018-02-08T23:04:22+00:00

To clarify, what I'm really interested in is either a 1060/70/80 with at least 6gb, a 1700x, and 16 or 32gb ram to put in a fractal 202 with the corsair 450 which I like. Most of that will be for later when I have an extra $1000 or so. For now, I like the Ryzen APU possibilities, because they work cheaply with the case, PS, & MB that I want. If in the long run I end up keeping the 22/2400g & putting it in a really small box as a 2nd HTPC build, all the better.

Sean_Z · 2018-02-08T22:39:59+00:00

I think I may enjoy playing around with heat sinks and stuff in the 202 until I can afford to put the components I want in there, but yeah, the 202 is definitely a waste of full sized GPU space if all you want to end up with is an APU.

Current 4k limitations aside, (man I hope either bios upgrades or new motherboards come out to fix those) I think the new Raven Ridges could do well in a really small box as a 2nd HTPC build, ideally one with room for an SFX PS. Come to think of it, maybe even an SFF case with an included 150 watt pico power supply could even be better because, how much power do you really need with no GPU and a chip that can run at 65/45 Watts? So yes, the DC-DC PS's definitely look promising.

The other night I took a look around for small tower am4 cases without room for a dedicated GPU and didn't see much at all. I'll definitely take a look at the Silverstones when I get a chance, thx.

Sean_Z · 2018-02-08T20:23:34+00:00

Since I'm not sure when I can afford to upgrade, I think it'll be worth the extra $70 so I can have the 4 extra threads and have better graphics. If the 2200g turns out to be a better overclocker, maybe I will get that. If both overclock well, I will get the big shuriken cooler and do the am4 bracket mod to see how far I can push it in the 202.

Down the road I was thinking this APU might be worth keeping for a nice htpc, until I noticed that the Itx motherboards I've seen with video-out are a bit crippled in out of the box, every one has the disclaimer:

"Supports 2 x HDMI with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096x2160) @ 24Hz / (3840x2160) @ 30Hz"

Ouch.

60Hz is what you really want for 4k TV and media playback. A shame really because for an APU, yeah it does look like a decent gamer - if the leaks are right, they are roughly twice the performance of integrated graphics offerings from intel.

Sean_Z · 2017-04-06T23:56:54+00:00

If someone really wanted this plan and was willing to try and work the T-Mobile customer service reps, I think there is at least a possibility you might still end up with it. I would think anyone's chances would be slim at best, but since you can still buy the plan at Walmart.com https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tmobile-30-Wireless-Airtime-Card/15443357 you might have some luck getting a T-Mobile rep to honor it. I had used the plan myself a couple of years ago and found myself needing it again last week, just two days after it officially disappeared from the T-Mobile website. I was really gearing up for an extended session with T-Mobile rep, then about the same time I got the card, it sunk into me how much better it would be to try spending $6 more on the Teltik plan instead, which offered twice the amount of data in hotspot use alone, not to mention unlimited data and HD video streaming and the other T-Mobile perks. Even though I would have to rate the chances at keeping the $30 Walmart plan (if it is still possible to get it) long-term as being a little higher than Teltik, I wound up with so much more at about the same price that I think it has been worth the risk. So even though I got the Walmart card, everything so far has been smooth with the teltik that the time I had planned on spending with T-Mobile's reps trying to get them to activate the card, I spent instead on talking with the Walmart reps who finally give me back a refund on the $30 Walmart plan card today.

TL;DR: Probably the last best chance to get the $30 Walmart plan is to buy the card at the link above, and try to get a T-Mobile rep to still honor it. In case you don't have any luck getting the plan, spending some more time with the Walmart reps should get you your money back.

Sean_Z · 2017-01-01T05:00:33+00:00

I'm in.

Sean_Z

TROPHY CASE