Thoughts on using electric unicycles?

[redpoint5]

Somehow I missed this thread the first go-'round. I made an impulse purchase to get a Ninebot (Segway) Mini for ~$300, and it's a ton of fun. The problem I have with it is that you very quickly get comfortable traveling at the max speed of 10 MPH and wish it would go faster.

An electric unicycle (EUC) is on my purchase list. There are ones that will do something like 45 MPH and have a 45 mile range. I probably wouldn't ride at those speeds without full leathers and a helmet, but it would be fun to have the oomf on tap. They are silly expensive though, so I'll have to keep an eye out for a sale or a good price on a used one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnYuzgJ3_aE

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Somehow I missed this thread the first go-'round. I made an impulse purchase to get a Ninebot (Segway) Mini for ~$300, and it's a ton of fun. The problem I have with it is that you very quickly get comfortable traveling at the max speed of 10 MPH and wish it would go faster.

An electric unicycle (EUC) is on my purchase list. There are ones that will do something like 45 MPH and have a 45 mile range. I probably wouldn't ride at those speeds without full leathers and a helmet, but it would be fun to have the oomf on tap. They are silly expensive though, so I'll have to keep an eye out for a sale or a good price on a used one.

And they say only kids have toys. Pshh....

[freebeard]

I'm as impressed by the image stabilization as the wheel. That's floating at the end of a 4ft lever and he's bouncing his end up and down.

The thing about the Kooter is it has wide tires and a low CG so it stands at rest without a kick-stand.

[Grant-53]

Zero crash protection and maximum air drag. I spent $300 on a good city bike 20 years ago and it can let me cruise comfortably at 12 mph and carry four bags of groceries. Just be careful where you ride.

[rmay635703]

https://funnyjunk.com/funny_gifs/1295723/Unicycle/

[niky]

Originally Posted by hayden55

https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Electr...gateway&sr=8-2

One of these would be the best bet. I noticed on an engineering document a while ago it said they were only using 1900 mAh 18650 cells for their battery pack. If you swapped to 3500 mAh cells you could really increase the range and speed on one of these with a new motor controller and a temp sensor. It would be a cool project to work on, but my city isn't urban enough for something like this. They aren't super light weight either. Maybe with the more energy dense batteries in series and parallel you could shrink the pack size and swiss cheese the frame a little lol.

I've had one up to 20 mph here down hill (bird scooter), but the electric scooter law is 28 mph and below. Would be a wild ride at 28 lol.

The higher end scooters here can do up to and beyond 80 km/h (about 50 mph).

Which is vastly more than you need for an in-city commute. 30-40 mph would be more than enough.

The problem is, to build up a kick scooter to withstand those speeds, you need to add bigger tires and an actual suspension (unless you like breaking the front arms off when you hit something at speed), and those things become much less portable.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by niky

The higher end scooters here can do up to and beyond 80 km/h (about 50 mph).

Which is vastly more than you need for an in-city commute. 30-40 mph would be more than enough.

The problem is, to build up a kick scooter to withstand those speeds, you need to add bigger tires and an actual suspension (unless you like breaking the front arms off when you hit something at speed), and those things become much less portable.

True. Thats why I said it would be something else to get one to go that fast would be something else. lol
They literally beat you to death. But in Midtown Memphis I can already beat traffic through the city by a large margin with the 15 mph top speed on the bird scooters for 1/7 of the cost.
I think where it would really help is these scooters have zero guts up hills. like no balls at all.

[redpoint5]

Hills are part of the reason I want a powerful EUC. My Segway mini slows down to 1 MPH or less on the steepest hills. If an EUC can do 45 MPH flat, it should be able to do 5 MPH up a very steep hill.

[Xist]

Boosted boards are supposed to be great up hills.

[niky]

Originally Posted by hayden55

I think where it would really help is these scooters have zero guts up hills. like no balls at all.

I think the high end ones should do fine. The Dualtrons that some people are using to deal with our potholed streets are built specifically for off-road use.

They're absolutely fantastic on-road because of the suspension, but I personally wouldn't have the guts to go off-roading on something like that!