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I used to use an electric skateboard in the 2010s - very early on in the e mobility movement. Though I knew (and still know) how to skateboard I found it to be

I used to use an electric skateboard in the 2010s - very early on in the e mobility movement. Though I knew (and still know) how to skateboard I found it to be pretty dangerous due to the speeds you’re now capable of. Unlike long boarding where you’re forced to learn to slide in order to stop anyone can go 20mph+ and get themselves killed. The one wheel in a sense is worse because inherently there’s no way to use it without electricity and people overestimate their ability to travel on high speeds on it. That’s why I ended up going with e-bikes and escooters. I think the nature of the motion lends itself to be inherently safer.

sleepybrett 3y ago
I looked at the skateboards, the onewheel, scooters. I discounted the skateboards and the scooters because i know that small diameter wheels suck. A little gravel and you could be fucked. The onewheel was still interesting, I hit up the subreddit, tons of people talking about how they got hurt mixed with people telling them how dumb they were.. That was enough for me, I bought an ebike instead.
- marssaxman 3y ago
  I just bought an electric longboard with large, all-terrain wheels - not for off-roading, but so I don't have to worry so much about the gravel and potholes on poorly-maintained Seattle streets. Seems to work well, so far - I can ride right down the unpaved gravel alleyway behind my house, even. You can still feel the bumps and ruts, but you just roll right along, there's none of the lurching you get with smaller wheels. Ebikes are both fun and practical, but I don't know where I'd store one during the work day; the skateboard can just come up the elevator with me.
  - sleepybrett 3y ago
    I am also in seattle, I wouldn't want to ride the streets in ballard with a skateboard, even with 'all-terrain wheels'. See a couple of onewheels doing it though. I store my bike in the bike cage at work, when I go into the office, most offices have them. At home I store it in my apt, we've had a couple of garage breakins that got a few bikes in the last couple of years. My bike is a folding model so I can store it in the big laundry closet I have to get it out of the way.
    - Reubachi 3y ago
      I'm sure you've both seen and by now gotten tired of this discussion, but storing your high capacity/discharge lithium batteries literally in your home (or apartment, doubly so!!) is unsafe. In NYC alone this year there where 13 deaths directly attributed to li-ion bike batteries exploding from thermal overrun.. Unlike say, justifying using candles or incense because you may have a fire extinguisher......a battery fire will not yield to common extinguisher chemicals. All year round FDs are stuck taking a whole day to monitor/extinguish a battery fire, usually after it's gutted a multi famaly apartment. Or, maybe HN can tell me I'm wrong finally and that the e-bike battery fire pandemic is over? I am afterall a lazy stay at home who hasn't been on a bike in ages :p
      - sleepybrett 3y ago
        Most of the ebike fires I've looked into are caused by shoddily 'repaired' or damaged batteries while being charged. I charge my battery in a BBQ on the little 'porch' I have outside my apt or just this reason. These batteries are the same as the batteries in most of your electronics the only difference being they are probably quite a bit larger. Obviously we don't worry about charging our phones on the nightstand or our roombas in a pantry but they pose very similar danger.
- Izkata 3y ago
  Were you looking at razor-style scooters? Before that brand came up with their tiny scooters, pretty much all scooters had wheels around the diameter of these Onewheels. It's why back then we distinguished them as "scooters" vs "razors", while nowadays people seem to mean razor-style when they say "scooters"...
- asdff 3y ago
  60mm 79a skateboard wheels here. I go over gravel all the time. Sometimes even loose dirt paths. Patchy asphalt. Cobblestones and brick. Momentum is your friend here as well, faster you go more likely the board chucks out the obstruction. It takes quite a stone to stop these wheels, probably one that would pinch flat my bike inner tube and certainly one that would be very hard to miss unless I was not paying attention. I'm comfortable enough with the small rock situation to even eat breakfast or lunch on occasion while on the board.
fiiisssh 3y ago
I've been electric longboarding for 3-4 years, and longboarding for longer, and I find rental electric scooters way more dangerous than electric longboards. It feels like there's just no way to bail, since there's a big stick in front of you and you're much higher off the ground. To be honest, I feel similarly about bikes but I can buy that that's a skill issue. This sentence doesn't make sense to me: > Unlike long boarding where you’re forced to learn to slide in order to stop anyone can go 20mph+ and get themselves killed. I agree that electric longboarding is dangerous for beginners who never learned to longboard, but I don't see why that argument doesn't apply to scooters or bikes. Anyone can go 20mph+ on an escooter or ebike too, and it's harder to bail. Moreover, beginner longboarders often go faster than is safe down hills, since they're not practiced at controlling speed and stopping. For the disciplined rider, regardless of skill, electric longboards are safer since it's so much easier to control speed down hill. Nitpick: sliding is a pretty rare way to stop on a longboard.
- blamazon 3y ago
  > Nitpick: sliding is a pretty rare way to stop on a longboard. To explain for anyone unaware, I primarily footbrake to stop on my longboard - you put one foot out and hold it against the ground and the friction slows you down.
- Toutouxc 3y ago
  > It feels like there's just no way to bail, since there's a big stick in front of you Ironically, the most ridiculous and most common way to hurt yourself on a scooter is to bail instead of continuing to ride the perfectly good scooter. You can find hundreds of videos on YouTube of people who upon seeing an obstacle just confidently step off the scooter (still going 15 mph) and eat dirt 0.5 seconds later instead of using the brake and safely stopping almost immediately (these usually brake just fine).
- endisneigh 3y ago
  I dunno, scooters and bikes have mechanical brakes so there is no need to bail to begin with. Sliding is rare, true. But at high speeds is the only way to stop. At low speeds I do agree, but the issue is that footbraking requires balance, and even people decent at long boarding can lose control while footbraking. My main argument against longboard is that there’s no way to stop at high speeds and that steering inherently requires shifting your weight in a way that makes you vulnerable. This is not to say that no one should longboard, but personally I only do so on flat terrain now.
clolege 3y ago
> That’s why I ended up going with e-bikes and escooters. I think the nature of the motion lends itself to be inherently safer. Mechanical brakes are nice.

sleepybrett 3y ago

I looked at the skateboards, the onewheel, scooters. I discounted the skateboards and the scooters because i know that small diameter wheels suck. A little gravel and you could be fucked. The onewheel was still interesting, I hit up the subreddit, tons of people talking about how they got hurt mixed with people telling them how dumb they were.. That was enough for me, I bought an ebike instead.

marssaxman 3y ago
I just bought an electric longboard with large, all-terrain wheels - not for off-roading, but so I don't have to worry so much about the gravel and potholes on poorly-maintained Seattle streets. Seems to work well, so far - I can ride right down the unpaved gravel alleyway behind my house, even. You can still feel the bumps and ruts, but you just roll right along, there's none of the lurching you get with smaller wheels. Ebikes are both fun and practical, but I don't know where I'd store one during the work day; the skateboard can just come up the elevator with me.
- sleepybrett 3y ago
  I am also in seattle, I wouldn't want to ride the streets in ballard with a skateboard, even with 'all-terrain wheels'. See a couple of onewheels doing it though. I store my bike in the bike cage at work, when I go into the office, most offices have them. At home I store it in my apt, we've had a couple of garage breakins that got a few bikes in the last couple of years. My bike is a folding model so I can store it in the big laundry closet I have to get it out of the way.
  - Reubachi 3y ago
    I'm sure you've both seen and by now gotten tired of this discussion, but storing your high capacity/discharge lithium batteries literally in your home (or apartment, doubly so!!) is unsafe. In NYC alone this year there where 13 deaths directly attributed to li-ion bike batteries exploding from thermal overrun.. Unlike say, justifying using candles or incense because you may have a fire extinguisher......a battery fire will not yield to common extinguisher chemicals. All year round FDs are stuck taking a whole day to monitor/extinguish a battery fire, usually after it's gutted a multi famaly apartment. Or, maybe HN can tell me I'm wrong finally and that the e-bike battery fire pandemic is over? I am afterall a lazy stay at home who hasn't been on a bike in ages :p
    - sleepybrett 3y ago
      Most of the ebike fires I've looked into are caused by shoddily 'repaired' or damaged batteries while being charged. I charge my battery in a BBQ on the little 'porch' I have outside my apt or just this reason. These batteries are the same as the batteries in most of your electronics the only difference being they are probably quite a bit larger. Obviously we don't worry about charging our phones on the nightstand or our roombas in a pantry but they pose very similar danger.
Izkata 3y ago
Were you looking at razor-style scooters? Before that brand came up with their tiny scooters, pretty much all scooters had wheels around the diameter of these Onewheels. It's why back then we distinguished them as "scooters" vs "razors", while nowadays people seem to mean razor-style when they say "scooters"...
asdff 3y ago
60mm 79a skateboard wheels here. I go over gravel all the time. Sometimes even loose dirt paths. Patchy asphalt. Cobblestones and brick. Momentum is your friend here as well, faster you go more likely the board chucks out the obstruction. It takes quite a stone to stop these wheels, probably one that would pinch flat my bike inner tube and certainly one that would be very hard to miss unless I was not paying attention. I'm comfortable enough with the small rock situation to even eat breakfast or lunch on occasion while on the board.

fiiisssh 3y ago

I've been electric longboarding for 3-4 years, and longboarding for longer, and I find rental electric scooters way more dangerous than electric longboards. It feels like there's just no way to bail, since there's a big stick in front of you and you're much higher off the ground. To be honest, I feel similarly about bikes but I can buy that that's a skill issue. This sentence doesn't make sense to me: > Unlike long boarding where you’re forced to learn to slide in order to stop anyone can go 20mph+ and get themselves killed. I agree that electric longboarding is dangerous for beginners who never learned to longboard, but I don't see why that argument doesn't apply to scooters or bikes. Anyone can go 20mph+ on an escooter or ebike too, and it's harder to bail. Moreover, beginner longboarders often go faster than is safe down hills, since they're not practiced at controlling speed and stopping. For the disciplined rider, regardless of skill, electric longboards are safer since it's so much easier to control speed down hill. Nitpick: sliding is a pretty rare way to stop on a longboard.

blamazon 3y ago
> Nitpick: sliding is a pretty rare way to stop on a longboard. To explain for anyone unaware, I primarily footbrake to stop on my longboard - you put one foot out and hold it against the ground and the friction slows you down.
Toutouxc 3y ago
> It feels like there's just no way to bail, since there's a big stick in front of you Ironically, the most ridiculous and most common way to hurt yourself on a scooter is to bail instead of continuing to ride the perfectly good scooter. You can find hundreds of videos on YouTube of people who upon seeing an obstacle just confidently step off the scooter (still going 15 mph) and eat dirt 0.5 seconds later instead of using the brake and safely stopping almost immediately (these usually brake just fine).
endisneigh 3y ago
I dunno, scooters and bikes have mechanical brakes so there is no need to bail to begin with. Sliding is rare, true. But at high speeds is the only way to stop. At low speeds I do agree, but the issue is that footbraking requires balance, and even people decent at long boarding can lose control while footbraking. My main argument against longboard is that there’s no way to stop at high speeds and that steering inherently requires shifting your weight in a way that makes you vulnerable. This is not to say that no one should longboard, but personally I only do so on flat terrain now.

clolege 3y ago

> That’s why I ended up going with e-bikes and escooters. I think the nature of the motion lends itself to be inherently safer. Mechanical brakes are nice.