4 ms·

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.

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 very fast thing which requires an impeccable sense of balance and intense respect for it being something that can only keep you moving if it has power. Fangs (little wheels on the board edges) are an option for people that want more flexibility with it bottoming out, but they also lower your clearance so it’s a trade off and you’re still best off never letting the battery die.

mikestew 4y ago
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 CPSC would like OneWheel to issue a recall. I'm hard-pressed to think of any other device that doesn't just coast to a halt when it runs out of fuel. Even an airplane doesn't just immediately plow nose-first into the ground when it runs out of juice.
- rhinoceraptor 4y ago
  The only thing I can think of is quadcopters. Helicopters can also land safely in the event of engine failure.
- strix_varius 4y ago
  Exactly, this is the core issue. It also doesn't only happen when the onewheel runs out of juice. There are endless reports of it just having some sort of control fault and blipping for an instant (I've experienced this myself, thankfully at low speed). A tenth of a second blip at 20mph = instant launch. Ironically, the other end of the energy spectrum also gives onewheels trouble. If you charge your board too much (leave it plugged in without discharging it), the battery cells become unbalanced, leading to similar blips. This is a known issue - when I reported it (still under warranty), the support rep had a script for how I could fix the issue.
- easygenes 4y ago
  Having the wheel "lock up" is a mischaracterization of the failure mode under loss of power. The problem is that loss of power while you're on a reverse pendulum means that you're leaning forward, and the device is no longer able to stop you from extending the lean by giving more power and speed to bring you back into balance. Any device which operates as a powered reverse pendulum will have this property. Segway was the first, and there are plenty of other "hoverboard" or "unicycle" style designs which act similarly. The differences with the Onewheel are thus: 1) It's a skateboard orientation, so if you don't have the muscle memory from skateboarding you won't know what to do when it starts to bite the ground. Front to back orientation is more intuitive. 2) It's faster and higher powered than most alternatives, lending more risk of being beyond the threshold which you can reliably transition to running if it loses power. That's it really. It's a more sporting device with a higher learning curve and a bigger risk envelope. It is advertised as such though. This is a thing that's made to shred in all terrain for people who are daring enough to deal with the risk. They're making manned multi-rotor copters where one motor failing mid-flight means you fall right out of the sky, and that's a pretty likely death. Sporting devices with power failure modes that have no easy recovery are not unprecedented in other categories either. You have the same problem with classical helicopters if you're below the auto-rotation altitude or are not skilled in auto-rotation recovery.
rhinoceraptor 4y ago
People have a sense that motorcycles are dangerous. They're loud, heavy, and take a modicum of skill to ride. Also, in many places you need to take a safety course to ride one. 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.

mikestew 4y ago

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 CPSC would like OneWheel to issue a recall. I'm hard-pressed to think of any other device that doesn't just coast to a halt when it runs out of fuel. Even an airplane doesn't just immediately plow nose-first into the ground when it runs out of juice.

rhinoceraptor 4y ago
The only thing I can think of is quadcopters. Helicopters can also land safely in the event of engine failure.
strix_varius 4y ago
Exactly, this is the core issue. It also doesn't only happen when the onewheel runs out of juice. There are endless reports of it just having some sort of control fault and blipping for an instant (I've experienced this myself, thankfully at low speed). A tenth of a second blip at 20mph = instant launch. Ironically, the other end of the energy spectrum also gives onewheels trouble. If you charge your board too much (leave it plugged in without discharging it), the battery cells become unbalanced, leading to similar blips. This is a known issue - when I reported it (still under warranty), the support rep had a script for how I could fix the issue.
easygenes 4y ago
Having the wheel "lock up" is a mischaracterization of the failure mode under loss of power. The problem is that loss of power while you're on a reverse pendulum means that you're leaning forward, and the device is no longer able to stop you from extending the lean by giving more power and speed to bring you back into balance. Any device which operates as a powered reverse pendulum will have this property. Segway was the first, and there are plenty of other "hoverboard" or "unicycle" style designs which act similarly. The differences with the Onewheel are thus: 1) It's a skateboard orientation, so if you don't have the muscle memory from skateboarding you won't know what to do when it starts to bite the ground. Front to back orientation is more intuitive. 2) It's faster and higher powered than most alternatives, lending more risk of being beyond the threshold which you can reliably transition to running if it loses power. That's it really. It's a more sporting device with a higher learning curve and a bigger risk envelope. It is advertised as such though. This is a thing that's made to shred in all terrain for people who are daring enough to deal with the risk. They're making manned multi-rotor copters where one motor failing mid-flight means you fall right out of the sky, and that's a pretty likely death. Sporting devices with power failure modes that have no easy recovery are not unprecedented in other categories either. You have the same problem with classical helicopters if you're below the auto-rotation altitude or are not skilled in auto-rotation recovery.

rhinoceraptor 4y ago

People have a sense that motorcycles are dangerous. They're loud, heavy, and take a modicum of skill to ride. Also, in many places you need to take a safety course to ride one. 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.