4 ms·

Personally I just don't get the appeal of electric unicycles. Bicycles are far more stable and harder to fall off on. Even then I usually wear long sleeves and

• floren 3y ago
  Living in the SF area, I'm still considering one because you can bring it inside a lot easier than a bicycle and theft is a huge concern here. It would be a good compliment to BART, I think.
  • dheera 3y ago
    We really need more products like this https://www.skunklock.com/ https://www.skunklock.com/
    • kmoser 3y ago
      Looks like an interesting idea but wouldn't an attempted theft render your bike horribly noxious smelling? Assuming the thief wasn't high enough to not care, or wore a respirator.
      • epiccoleman 3y ago
        > wouldn't an attempted theft render your bike horribly noxious smelling? I imagine it would, although it's probably easier to wash whatever stink sauce is inside off your bike than off your clothing (if you're the thief). It seems like the idea is that the thief gets halfway through cutting the lock and then gets the hell out of dodge - although i guess maybe if they're thinking straight, they might realize the cost of stank is already sunk, and just finish the job. > respirator I would think that any thief who knows enough about these locks to come prepared would rather not walk around smelling like skunk. But I guess just like any lock, it's easily defeated if the thief is sufficiently prepared. The idea is to make the theft such a pain in the ass that they choose a different target.
      • xsmasher 3y ago
        Hopefully the thief sees the warnings and picks a different bike lock to cut instead. The lock doesn't have to deploy the skunk to be effective. BRB going to print up some warning stickers for my lock.
      • dheera 3y ago
        Just spray it down with a hose, or wait till the next time it rains? I'd rather wash down the stink than have to spend $800 for a new bike.
    • murderfs 3y ago
      MagnaVolt: the final word in auto security: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMtqRir7dco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMtqRir7dco
  • sedro 3y ago
    Maybe a foldable e-bike would be a good compromise?
• alistairSH 3y ago
  Electric scooters (Razor, not Vespa) could be a happy middle. More stable than the unicycle, more portable than the bicycle.
  • dheera 3y ago
    Oof, no. I had a Vespa-style electric scooter for a few years and I felt much safer riding it than any Razor scooter. The Razor scooters have tiny wheels that will flip over even on the tiniest pothole and you'll end up scraping your skin off flying into the road, and possibly smash your face into the ground as well. They also occupy a weird middle ground of being dangerously fast for the sidewalk and dangerously slow for the road.
    • alistairSH 3y ago
      Yeah, the tiny wheels on the old kids Razors are terrible. But the electric kick scooters are a bit better. I wouldn’t want to go 20mph on any of them, but that speed is unsafe on sidewalks regardless. I’d love an electric motor scooter. But that’s not really comparable to e-bikes, e-scooters, or e-unicycles.
• arachnid92 3y ago
  A couple of years ago I used to mountainbike quite seriously and commute 14km round-trip to university. I have since then switched first to commuting on a scooter, then to a OneWheel, and most recently to an electric longboard. I would never go back to a bike for commuting for a number of reasons: 1. I cannot bring the bike in to many places such as the office or the gym, it must be parked outside exposed to the elements. On the other hand, scooter, wheel, and longboard can all easily be picked up and carried indoors basically everywhere, including public transit, shops, gym, and office. 2. The bike requires physical effort, which is great if you're biking for fitness, but when I'm commuting somewhere I don't like to have to shower as soon as I get there. 3. Onewheels and skateboards in particular are so much more fun to ride than bikes on regular roads. (Bikes are still way superior on trails and mountains though).
  • bsder 3y ago
    While I understand "board" vs "bike", I don't actually understand the "onewheel" vs "skateboard" thing. An electric skateboard or scooter just seems completely superior on almost all axes.
    • weavermarquez 3y ago
      I'm part of an electric riding group in my city. We've had several members switch from electric skateboards and scooters to EUC without looking back. Two critical differences that make electric skateboards much worse than onewheels or electric unicycles: control mechanism and wheel diameter. Electric skateboards and scooters have tiny wheel diameters. Especially with esk8, it's very difficult to go on any rough terrain: pebbled asphalt, cobblestone, grassy park, gravel, sand, dirt road, up or downhill. Scooter wheel diameters are also a safety issue due to that combination of easy brainless riding and small wheel diameter. Electric skateboards and scooters interface with your hand, but EUC and OneWheels interface with your balance - your whole body. There's an intuitive sense of where you're going, and you have many degrees of freedom along your entire body that you can leverage to maneuver for incredibly fine tuned and synchronized control of your acceleration to the point where it feels like flying. The fact that acceleration and balance are intimately tied together without your hands interfacing eliminates a huge category of problems from accelerating or braking too hard vs. your centre of gravity. When you're riding in any situation where hand dexterity is compromised (i.e. wrist guards, considering none of these vehicles are any safer for your wrists should you fall), this is an amazing preventative safety element.