Best posts made by OneDan+

Guess my "old knees" are older than yours, I'll be 60 this year! I'm a 20+ year snowboarder as well and can confirm that you will likely fall as I've had 2 nosedives. One was near the beginning when I accelerated too quickly from an almost dead stop. Before I knew what happened, I was on the ground. After that one, I was much more careful about acceleration. Second one was around 600 miles on the board. Didn't notice I was topping 20 mph when my top speed alarm went off. Hit the ground at over 21 mph before I could slow down. Most of my injuries were road rash with some sore shoulder and hip pain.

The problem is, it's way too fun and you think you can just push it a "little more". Since that last crash, I've kept my speed around 14 mph. Actually, it may be psychological, but I can't seem to get myself up over 15 mph, LOL. I've also always worn knee and elbow pads, wrist guards and gloves, and a helmet.

Anyway, I still snowboard and still ride this board as both are just way too fun to stop. Be careful and enjoy!

I've been riding for 2 years, first in a suburban area where I could switch between road and sidewalk as neither was ever crowded. I am now in a city area where sometimes the sidewalks are crowded and most of the roads have bike lanes. I prefer the sidewalk as I really don't want to become a hood ornament. However, if the sidewalk is crowded, I will go into the bike lane for 1/2 a block or a block to go around them. If the sidewalk has 1 or a few people, I will slow WAY down, almost to their speed as I approach, announce myself so they have time to react, then say thank you or good morning or hello as I pass them slowly and 99% of the time, I get a kind response back.

It seems pretty easy to be nicer than the inexperienced people speeding down the sidewalks on Jump bikes or Lime scooters. Hoping other OW riders do the same as I do so we get a reputation as the kind, aware, and safe riders.

OK, so I've read most of the "wipe out" posts on this forum, some with pretty disastrous outcomes. I've had my + since August and have over 625 miles on it.

At around 108 miles, I had my first nosedive. I was barely moving, maybe 5 mph, when I decided to accelerate quickly for "one last lap" around the park. Found myself flat on the ground with a very deep scraped elbow and bruised rib. That's when I seriously started reading this forum and chalked it up to over-acceleration and over-confidence.

Since then (some 500 more miles), I've learned to accelerate at a slower pace and keep my top speed in the 15-17 mph range. I normally reset the high speed warning when it gets above 17 and if it goes off, I instinctively slow down.

Until today. A beautiful day, sunny, calm, almost 60 degrees, decided to take several rides, charging in between. First ride was uneventful, normal pavement to some off road trails and back, the usual fun time. Second ride, found a challenging patch of off road that was beyond my abilities. I survived the hard part, hopped off and carried the board over a path made of 3-4" rough stones, and was on my way. On the way home however, I breached my top speed near the end and when I arrived I noticed I had hit 19.9 mph, well beyond my normal safe speed.

Then came my third ride. As I was riding out, I realized I didn't reset my top speed and thought to myself, maybe I should stop to do that, but decided not to. I went on a path I've done dozens of times before. A fun ride on some biking/jogging paths and all was going well. I was on a road that gets almost no traffic that connects me back to a sidewalk to my neighborhood, cruising along a bit too fast, when the "new top speed" alarm goes off. I immediately realize "oh $%@#", I'm doing at least 20 mph! My brain goes into slow down mode, but the board has already decided it can't keep me going. Down I go, sliding on pavement at 22 mph (indicated by the new top speed reading, once I recovered). Had my usual protection: helmet (small scratches), wrist guards (left one trashed), and elbow pads (left one slid off a bit, same as my 108 mile slow crash). New left elbow scrape, not quite as bad as my first fall. Four left knuckles scraped up, 1 finger scraped on my right hand, and both knees lightly scraped without ripping my jeans. The left arm of my sweatshirt ripped open, pretty much destroyed. After a few hours, 1 left rib is hurting due to bruising or sprain I think. Overall, lucky for a nosedive at 22 mph. Will rethink adding back my knee pads and gloves with knuckle protection.

Now to the topic. One simple change to the app would have saved me. If I could set a speed warning trigger, with sound, to 15 or 16 mph, I would've never gotten myself into this situation. If FM is listening (or whoever writes/owns the app nowadays), this would be a HUGE help, at least for me, in stopping high speed crashes.

I've always known going too fast is playing with disaster, but not knowing your true speed (and we can't watch our phones easily while riding) makes it difficult to judge when we're close to the limit.

This is the best toy I've ever owned, but I do think FM needs to begin addressing some of the safety issues. I'll be back on my board once I recover and I'll be even MORE cautious than I have been. Everyone please be careful out there!

@510-1-whl I'm size 8 1/2 and had the same issue for probably the first 600-700 miles on my +. I'm pretty sure it is just new muscles being stressed, like you said. I did 2 things. First, I tried to carve more, as it seemed to help me get further before my feet would get numb. While I do like floating straight, doing so for long distances was a sure way to cause this problem for me. Second, I would roll my feet left and right, from the outside to the inside and back, while riding, especially as I felt them wearing out. I'm now at 1100 miles and rarely, if ever, feel that fatigue anymore. Hopefully, like me, your muscles will eventually acclimate to the board.

Good luck!

@glyph You know, in my recent quick acceleration nosedive event (where I was saved by the fangs), I was a few blocks from home after a long ride. The first time this happened (Aug of 2017), I had a total of 90 miles on my +. But now that I think about it, it was the end of a long ride and I was within site of my house.

While I'm sure you can make this happen on purpose (on any OW board) by slamming down the front end, perhaps the fact that the batteries are nearing depletion makes this scenario just that little bit more likely.

While I hope the fangs will save me again (never know, might be on grass/gravel or near a sidewalk bump), I'm trying to make sure I stay conscious of the fact that initial acceleration should never be rushed!

Everyone be careful out there!

@sdonewheel I think it's because they'd have to rename it to the ThreeWheel then! :D

@Franko I skateboarded as a kid and picked up snowboarding as an adult around the age of 40. I was 59 two years ago when I got my first OW+ (will turn 61 this year) and I hopped on it (fully padded), with no one holding my hands, and proceeded around the park on the paved path. Yeah, I had a couple nose dives earlier on, pushing it a bit too hard (that was before all of the great info on how to ride came out), but now after some 2200 miles, I know my limits and float around my area averaging maybe 12 miles/day on my XR. It's one of the most fun activities I can imagine!

Turning 60 this year, skateboarded as a kid, snowboarder for over 20 years. I ride pavement and smooth trails and have almost 1000 miles on my plus that I got last August!

@wheelrich this is really interesting because I never thought about it from this perspective, having ridden skateboards all of my life and snowboarding for 20 years. When I got my +, I just kinda took off and, while it was a little wobbly at first, I was up to speed quickly so I could experience my first nosedive at about 90 miles! :D

Have fun and welcome to the float life!

FYI, I now ride WAY more sanely, say 15 mph max, since around 600 miles I took a dive at 22 mph!

@polysix I'm a big fan of the fangs. After a bad nosedive at 22mph (which the fangs probably wouldn't have helped), along with lowering my max speed, I installed these. Sure enough, 500 miles later when being just a bit too aggressive accelerating, the nose went down. Instead of flying off the board, it rolled on the fangs a foot or so and I was able to come back up and continue my ride. In fact, I've already ordered a pair for my upcoming XR purchase. I've never had any problem with them interfering with my ride, but then I don't do any tricks or extreme trail riding.

@skyman88 said in One wheel storage:

I tread my OneWheel (electronic device) just like my phone.

Must be difficult holding it up to your ear! :-D

@Khayman Coming up on 2 years with my + in August and I have over 1650 miles on it. Put a new tire on (treaded FlightFins Hoosier 6.0) around the 1500 mile mark, but everything else, including the battery, is working like new (fingers crossed!). Of course, I'm a mostly paved and hard dirt pack rider, no tricks, jumps, or drops, so YMMV!

@poppavein You know, I've been riding all this time and really can't identify that pushback feeling, I'm not sure why. I certainly didn't feel anything this time and, if it did pushback, perhaps it was too late. Perhaps a sound from the phone when it is pushing back might add the emphasis needed, but I would really prefer a setting for an alarm that could be set well below the "about to fail" speed of pushback.

@TheONEinMN It has been my experience that they don't respond quickly (sometimes ever) to emails. Call them and don't give up until you speak to someone to present your case. Just my 2 cents. :)

@readysetawesome I'm at 1300+ miles on my OW+ . . . totally agree with EVERY point above as my last nosedive was at 22 mph around the 600 mile mark (wasn't pretty). I'm still pushing for a customizable speed warning limit (implemented in the OneWheelWear app for Wear OS watches, btw) in the OW app, which I would set at 15 mph, but FM doesn't seem to look at these requests.

I still ride with a helmet and wrist guards for casual rides and full gear for more aggressive riding . . . just in case!

@eckit said in Nearly Killed a Child:

This leash/key would also be able to prevent people from riding off with your board as it won’t run without the leash inserted (though I don’t see someone riding off as a primary form of theft—if someone wants your board, they’ll just pick it up and take it)

I love this idea. I can run after someone carrying my 25lb OneWheel, but I can't catch them if they're riding it! This takes the "key" idea from the other thread one step further. :)

@JonAmico77 hey man, slow down! LOL I mean, the board CAN go 20+ mph, but that doesn't mean you SHOULD. Also, spend some time reading posts about how to ride safely on this forum, it's invaluable.

I fell the first time at 90 miles on the board going maybe 2 mph. This one, the fangs would have saved me. The next time I fell at 600 miles on my board, I was doing 22 mph. I got pretty banged up, but luckily had full gear on. It was then that I realized I shouldn't push the board more than maybe 16 mph.

After that, I did get the fangs. They won't STOP or PREVENT nose dives, but they "might" give you a few precious seconds of rolling to get the nose back up. I "tested" them out trying to accelerate too quickly across a street and they saved me. However, if you're going too fast, they probably won't help you.

Take it from me after 1300 miles on my board, the idea here is to float, not bomb. I mean, you can do that, but I'd definitely wait until you have the basics down and can float around town at a reasonable speed.

Good luck, man . . . hope you heal well.

@Glyph said in Dive Safe front wheels.:

It was my fault - I was tired at the end of a long ride and not paying attention and I overaccelerated from a dead stop.

Exactly this ... I had over 1100 miles on my board and was at an intersection, on the sidewalk, where the road slants up towards the center. Saw a car coming maybe 1/2 a block away and in an instant decided to "go for it, plenty of time". Well, I over-accelerated from that dead stop, nose went down, but the fangs caught and I rolled a couple of inches, then popped back up and crossed the intersection like nothing happened (except the scare that I was going down!). Considering my first nose dive at 90 miles was very similar, this one I came out of unscathed, unlike the serious knee and elbow rashes from the first one, even when wearing all the pads.

Say what you want, but I'll put fangs on my boards, thank you! :)

@daweez This scares the %@$# (insert your own expletive here, LOL) out of me! I hope he's wearing full motorcycle gear when he does this!