I don’t think I ever have. Anyway I was referring to the fact that you don’t have to switch a mechanical one on.
I’m sorry, I didn’t word that right. In this case you made the error.
But under normal conditions: Have you ran the battery dead or down far enough to be noticable.
Does it get progressively more unstable? Or just hits some preset limit and shuts off? Maybe there is an alarm warning to tell you to get off and recharge.
When it runs out, it gets a mushy feeling and slows to a stop. High end batteries, it maintains full control the. Mushes out, a safe gradual thing. It lands you. No instability detected other than the basic instability of riding on one wheel. It is truly a bit too good to be true
??? 
That sentence got a mushy feeling and slowed to a stop.
Hahahah!
I’m a little late to this thread, but I recently got an SBU electric Unicycle. I have been riding a normal Unicyle for years, so the SBU took about less than a minute to learn. I’ve been having lots of fun with it, and I think it will get more people interested in learning to unicycle. Here’s a video I made with the SBU recently.
Still working on riding backwards and idling, but starting to get there with going backwards…
Would really like to ride one.
Looks like a ton of fun! Definitely not a “pure” unicycle, but I guess an electric bike wouldn’t be considered a “pure” bike either.
Glidewheel
People I know call ‘electric self-balancing single-wheel vehicles’ glidehwheels - regardless of what brand they are. True unicycles in my opinion don’t have gyroscopes or motors. They’re two separate things: unicycles and glidewheels. Both are cool, but they’re not the same.
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I’ve been interested in what the actual learning time of these things was. Hearing that it took Goat 30 hours to learn makes me think that in the long run these things will struggle to get any marketshare. Unicycles struggle to get marketshare with bikes/skateboards/scooters and they are 10x cheaper than a SBU/Solowheel.
An online article I found says that SBU and Solowheels are roughly 2-3x more expensive than a decent electric bike and 6-7x more than an electric scooter.
Most people who are taking the easier option of having a machine move them usually aren’t into spending 15+ hours to learn to ride it. Especially when an electric scooter is cheaper and can be ridden immediately and probably holds more baggage.
I don’t think it will help get people into unicycling as I think most who are willing to spend ~$1000 on this would have been open to unicycling already (or didn’t realise how hard it would be to learn, give up and sell it to buy a scooter).
Goat just happened to be the exact fit that worked for this product. I.e. Despite long learning times he was willing to work hard to learn it as he knew it could be done, had the cash to spare and thought fuck it I don’t want an electric scooter. Sounds like a unicyclist to me. (Despite the spare cash)
I’d like to try one at some point to see how it feels.
That’s amazing! I didn’t know that kind of a self balancing unicycles even existed. That looks like a lot of fun :). Now I’m seriously thinking about getting one 
Be careful on “gyro” electric unicycles
These things basically depend on the electronics(gyro, software and “gain adjustment”). If all is tuned correctly(or self-tuned), there should be “no ramp up time”(in theory). Out of the box get on and go!!! A good machine should “sense” exactly what the rider is doing. Leaning forwards, backwards, sideways. Even if you are doing a quick jerk motion or slow gradual motion or a combination of both. The electronics should sense and correct within a micro second.
However, the rider may have some unusual combination of movement that the software may “overcorrect” or “respond too quickly”. That’s where the “ramp up” is required the rider must remove these tendencies and move more predictably. This is the unknown and depends on machine. Cheaper definitely less capable and more ramp up. Better to spend more for something that has more “control/brain” to respond to your body.
I doubt the machine/software/sensors are capable of compensating for extreme forward/backward/sideways lean that “true manual unicycle riders” may demand for maneuvers, idling and tricks. So a true unicyclist trying an electronic unicycle will have to “minimize/dumb down” their balancing control and sit straight up. However, you just sit and ride. No work.
I myself ride a manual unicycle for the challenge/exercise/transport/tricks. If I wanted to just “ride a machine” I’d pick something more stable like an electric skateboard/scooter. Riding in “unicycle position” at high speed is very sketchy unless road is absolutely clean/flat.
Sorry, while they do respond to the user, you are fairly seriously mis-analyzing the implications of that. My guess is you’ve never ridden one.
Yes, the control loop does what a unicyclist’s reflexes do, in trying to keep the wheel to at the level angle setpoint. You accelerate, decelerate, or go backwards by leaning such that it has to move the wheel in order to (try to) resume it’s setpoint tilt angle.
No. Sideways balance is entirely up to the rider. And as on any narrow cycle, more specifically to their willingness to keep the wheel moving and apply steering micro-corrections. The only actuator in the device is the hub motor, so all it can do is exert forward or reverse torque on the wheel.
They respond in the forward/backward vs wheel torque dimension at an appropriate rate of speed of course. but this does not mean that you can successfully ride one by moving in a randomly jerky way.
Rather, what typically happens is that a newbie pushes off from their wall or fence, thinks “yeah, I’m getting it!” and as a result instinctively slows down to think. Of course once they slow, the wheel tips sideways onto the ground, they jump clear, and their failure is announced to all in proximity with the loud piezo beep by which the control loop indicates it is no longer stabilizing the wheel.
As such, the first skill is just being willing to keep the thing moving smoothly forward at a suitable speed for stability. To help with that, many come with a pair of inline skate wheels that mount under the foot platforms, giving them a wide stance so that balance is not a concern, and you just get used to making the wheel go at a steady walk. But because those mean you can’t lean sideways, they severely limit turning, and so quickly have to come off.
I had a chance to spend a week learning to ride one, found it fun for a bit, but then essentially boring… at which point I decided to pursue an earlier interest in “real” unicycles by buying one and learning to ride it. Haven’t really looked back since.
In comparison to a pedal uni, there just doesn’t seem to be much point… they don’t belong with pedestrians, don’t really belong with bikes or traffic, and society won’t dedicate a third path for a form of powered transport with such narrow appeal.
Admittedly, there’s a certain sci-fi look to seeing people silently and passively roll along, and they did make nice stable videographer platforms for those who accompanied the Coney Island unicycle ride last fall.
I’m sure if you show up to a traditional unicycling event with one, there will be a line of people waiting to try it as a novetly - but even seriously experienced unicyclists often need some adjustment time.
Guilty as charged
Hi Goat Rider,
Nice name lol Don’t feel bad. I got an electric one too and I’m a newbie myself.
I think it’s the best way to learn if your wallet allows you to do so.
Love to see some pics in the future as well 
Happy riding!
I know it’s not a proper unicycle, but I just picked up this bad boy as a daily commuter.
Thing is a blast to ride
I rented a Segway for a day once. It was a blast and easy to learn. I felt my muscles being used in new ways.
This electric thing you are riding is one wheel, and I think there should be some room for them here. It seems that one of these takes skill and time to learn but I have not tried it myself. I have seen a few of them being ridden around.
I am a newbie, still learning the very basics. Going to concentrate on learning this for quite a while to get half decent before I expand to learning other balance and agility arts that interest me. One of the reasons that I am attracted to unicycling is that it takes up very little space to store it, no special gear or vehicle is needed to transport it, mine all fit hidden in the trunk of my car. For a fraction of the cost of cycling and motorcycle riding, I can have the very best equipment.
While a unicycle is slower (except for Kris Holm who came in 3rd in a bicycle race against 500 cyclists) than other two wheeled options, it is much faster than walking. It is a tremendous superior workout.
Once you are pretty comfortable with using your electric rig, for a fraction of the cost, I would suggest picking up a unicycle. Start to practice with it once in a while and expand your horizons and get the additional benefits unique to pedal unicycling.
Here is a KTM electric unicycle:
Grin’s electric boosted pedal unicycle:
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Well I am one who picked up unicycling due to electric unicycles. I had interest in unicycling after stumbling on muni videos, especially the north shore shred ones, but honestly seemed too far fetched to actually be attainable fore for mere mortals, so didn’t really pursue it.
Then I stumbled on electric unicycle videos, and a guy at work got one and was talking about how awesome it was, so I had to get one.
It was a challenge, but MUCH easier to learn than the pedal one.
They are very fun and addictive, and practical too. It’s like a little electric vehicle the size of a briefcase, you can stash it almost anywhere, under a seat, next to your desk, in the trunk etc, and can be charged for next to nothing almost anywhere.
It got me hooked on 1-wheel riding, and prompted me to want learn a real unicycle.
They are different types of enjoyment for sure, but I am enjoying both. Hopefully I will be able to muni some day too afterall.
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IMHO the main reason those vehicles are not considered real unicycles isn’t the part where it’s electric but the self balancing part.
If someone made a regular unicycle with a motor where you have to keep the balance yourself, either by pedaling or by exactly the correct amount of power using a throttle or the like it would be a totally different story and I guess this thing would be a lot harder to ride than a regular unicycle.
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If someone made a regular unicycle with a motor where you have to keep the balance yourself, either by pedaling or by exactly the correct amount of power using a throttle or the like it would be a totally different story and I guess this thing would be a lot harder to ride than a regular unicycle.
@Justin_LE motorized a couple of unicycles (one of them geared!) and inspired at least one other person to build one. Here are a couple of threads.
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