I have been on the OEM Vega for about a year and have noticed a distinct harsh squeaky quality to the rubber similar to new auto tires or cheap tennis shoes. Just noticed it today on a wood floor. Makes it a bit harder to pivot. When new, the tire felt velvety smooth. I have gone down in weight if anything. I have not exposed the wheel to any chemicals aside from flooding it to the undercarriage twice and hosing several times over the board's life. I take care to not apply detergents or conditioners to the board. The floor in question has not been waxed or treated any differently in the board's lifetime. I'm wondering if maybe that initial smoothness was just from whatever was used as a release in the mold?

Update: I've been riding my board with this setup three quarters of a year with no pressure sensor errors. I do test on dismount by lifting my heel in both regular and goofy stances and it seems to work as intended.

Hi, everyone. Just wanted to run this by anyone with perhaps more engineering insight than me. I did a brief search and couldn't find this topic elsewhere.

I really like the FlightFender/ FlightShield Pro alternative to the OW fender. However, upon installing the FlightFender a couple weeks ago, I began getting random blink errors and smart phone notifications alerting me to make sure the sensor pad was clear. Loosening up the two screws on the grip tape side seemed to clear the error. The only variance to the instructions I had committed was in covering the divider line with about 5 coats of glow-in-the-dark paint. This built up the thickness over this line by about 1mm-to-1/16", just enough to cause some pressure under the aftermarket fender. So, I scraped off the paint just under the fender and re-tightened the screws. No change in behavior. Then it occurred to me- The grip tape under the fender is probably not activating any sensor directly. It is probably applying enough pressure to flex the plexiglass substrate and just barely activate pressure sensors inches away.

So, I did the following:
-Preemptively ordered a new footpad before I even started,
-Soft powered down the board,
-Carefully disconnected the footpad from the motherboard per instructions,
-Traced out the outline of the FlightFender with dry-erase marker,
-Warmed the grip tape about the trace,
-Cut out the trace with a razor knife,
-Heated the grip tape further to peel the waste material without leaving residue,
-Reinstalled footpad, FlightFender and FlightShield.

No more errors regardless of screw pressures. I did not observe any conductive materials inlaid in the plastic in the area I cut out.
Note: I did not cut through the plexiglass.

What do you think?

I am a 35-year-old electrician with a history of recreational sports-- inline, parkour, biking, kayaking, some skateboarding and skiing. The only other owner I know IRL is a kayak enthusiast about my age. Of course, a history like mine isn't unique to millennials. I would imagine OneWheel would also be of interest to people as old as 80+, as it doesn't demand much physical exhaustion for propulsion, just for balance. I think the concept appeals to a lot of older engineering types-- whom also have the money to spend on it.

@speedracer I know the type. Parents my age (early 30s) just shelling out big bucks for a hip new toy. I had a long conversation yesterday with a OW rep where I STRONGLY recommend they revise their marketing. No wrist guards! Not one model in the videos is wearing wrist protection in those video backdrops on the homepage. I'm 35. I've done inline, parkour, skateboarding and skiing. I've broken my right scaphoid at least once, possibly twice according to x-ray and have taken falls hard enough to require precautionary casting many times- each time requiring light duty and fewer hours at work for 2-4 weeks per injury. Once you pass 30, injuries begin to turn into arthritis and impact your livelihood in hands-on professions. Please don't be afraid of looking dorky. If someone 20 years younger than you pokes fun, simply explain exactly what the dangers are. Wisdom is on your side.

Always wear a helmet and gloves with palm protection. I had a decent conversation with a OW rep, yesterday, about my nosedive experience. I was indeed being ignorant to the way the thing works and was pushing for speed after ignoring a gentle pushback cue. My fingertips got pretty badly torn up and I had small graze on my chin. It would have been far worse without any protection. If I had not been wearing my helmet, I would have had road rash on my head with chunks of hair possibly never growing again. If I had not been wearing palm slider gloves, I would have broken my left scaphoid or re-injured my already once-broken right scaphoid. Also keep in mind that when riding this, you are being entirely supported by high technology for the entire ride. Any random unpredictable failure can and statistically does occur.

Now. The range is great. The charger is great. Aftermarket accessories have been fully developed. After replacing my bumpers, I realize the internal space has been used up by the additional battery capacity. The only way to improve would be maybe 10% better batteries, road pitch sensing or an app upgrade as far as I can tell.

@MichaelW I rode the FlightFins without fins or shield for about a month thinking they would be better than nothing and more convenient than the OW brand fender. The slots let a lot of grit through. The original Shield apparently requires Fins to work and rides too high to remain stable. The Pro is definitely perfection IMHO. It stays in place, covers the slots fully, sits nice and low, stays in place and the side edges are contoured to be narrower at the peak, allowing tumbles without jarring the shield too bad. I've driven through some serious puddles with no splashback. Being removable, it makes it easy to hose down and dry the board after a muddy ride. Not sure about the Fins themselves. I weigh 220 lbs. and don't really want to be literally jumping the board up curbs. Nor do I want anything possibly grabbing my foot during a nosedive.

I would recommend purchasing a second set of bumpers with your order, They're not difficult or particularly expensive to replace and take quite a few bad hits to get roached badly. I've had thoughts about custom skid plates, but the most I plan on doing is adding Fangs. It gets beat up. That's just going to happen. I use satin spar varnish to touch up the plywood, basic blue Sharpie (rubbed in before it dries) to disguise scratches to the aluminum and (2) layers of 1" Gorilla duct tape about 6" long to protect the aluminum edges near the center (top and bottom).