High car prices have pushed people towards to the micromobility sector, where much smaller vehicles offer greater flexibility for a fraction of the cost.
High car prices have pushed people towards to the micromobility sector, where much smaller vehicles offer greater flexibility for a fraction of the cost.
It’s a different type of vehicle. I don’t really know why, but the EUC style of wheels lets you go basically as fast as safety concerns will allow. The good ones can go up to 40-50 mph mechanically. You’re never going to do that unless you have a death wish, but the point is that if you don’t need to get on the interstate or carry large things with you, it’s a good distance to being a full replacement for a car, with a lot of advantages over a car.
It’s not just one company that makes them. The Veteran models are supposed to be good. I know there are some providers that make ones that are awful and unsafe. It’s a little bit of a wild west, but there’s also a whole community of people who 3d print parts for them, make modifications, that kind of thing. It’s a very dweeby community in general, so maybe that is a deal-breaker. But the reason I say they are the future is that they are fast enough to be largely a replacement for a car, and smaller and handier than a bike or scooter.
I have many friends that use one wheel skateboards. I’ve tried them once or twice, but I’ve always been curious why there’s seemingly so little overlap between the euc and one wheel communities. both camps seem to almost not acknowledge the other.
I’m slightly more in the one wheel camp, but I’m not sold on either of them. hanging with one wheel people started to get me really annoyed by them carrying the one wheel in with them EVERYWHERE they’re not that small in the context of an elevator when 4 people have them. and they always bump them into things and it causes a lot of damage. I’ve got marks on my walls because of them. obviously, is easier to deal with than a car in theory, but there’s already so much infrastructure to help you deal with your car.
that said, the one wheel crew beat the rest of us to every event in the city every time. they are genuinely convenient for getting around, and they can easily and confidently go off road. that’s huge to me. you don’t need a decent road or bike path for them.
it sounds like perhaps the key differences are speed (euc is faster it seems), off road capability, and how you stand on the thing. the stance is actually very important to me. i try not to, but damnit i care if i look good. you don’t look cool on an euc. ever. one wheels on the other hand just look like cyber punk skateboards.
the speed isn’t a huge concern. those one wheels are already pretty damn fast. i can’t imagine it would often be safe to go faster than they can.
all that said, I’m not sold on either, and haven’t done much research into electric unicycles. please, sell me if it’s something you’re passionate about. why should i prefer an euc? also, i do want to try understand why there’s such a strong separation in these groups if i can.
I am not an enthusiast. I just know some people who are.
I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head. EUCs are faster and more powerful, to the point that you’ll need a lot of safety gear or else you might get really badly hurt. People get passionate about them and carry them everywhere and get carried away with tinkering with them, and it becomes part of their personality. But they are useful to the point of becoming a part of your transportation method. You have to carry it with you, which is less convenient than nothing but more convenient than having to find a place to put a whole car or bicycle.
The two are similar in the sense of being one-wheel vehicles you stand on, but their niches are different enough that it makes sense to me that the groups are pretty disjoint. I don’t know of any “group” for one-wheels analogous to the one for EUCs.
interesting, yeah having to lug it around inside is a big turnoff for me. is there a good way to lock them up and leave them somewhere? that’s sort of an open question.
there are definitely large communities for one wheel enthusiasts. i think they’re often less about tinkering and more about meeting up and riding together. from what I’ve seen they are largely organized through message groups and discord.
from what I’ve seen, my friend doing the open source one wheel isn’t alone in his efforts, but the group around it isn’t nearly as big as the cousin euc guys. i think he’s like 90% to “completion”, though I’m sure he’ll never stop tinkering.
another big appeal for me is their use as filmmaking tools. I’m a videographer, these go great with a gimbal. i wonder if an euc would be similarly useful.