I decided to purchase an electric unicycle after learning they existed about two weeks ago. I’ve since learned a lot about them and I’ve come to the conclusion that they are probably a really great way to get around for someone like me.
I’m really excited about it and I want to explain why I think it’s a smart choice of electric vehicle. I’ve never seen one in real life, so I think there might be more people out there like me who have no idea what an electric unicycle is, or why it might be a good thing to have.
The one I’m buying can go over 20mph (32 km/h) and has a range of a little over 20 miles. It weighs about 50 pounds, (23 kilograms) is the size of a suitcase, and can be rolled around with the use of an attached “trolley handle.”
What this means to me is that I can easily keep this thing in my bedroom and I can hop on it and get anywhere in the town I live in within like 40 minutes. I could toss it in the trunk of a car, I could take it on a bus or a train.
Obviously, it being a one wheeled vehicle, and being called a unicycle probably makes it seem as if it’s not really something for an average person to use. But I don’t think that’s true. It’s a self balancing vehicle, like a segway, so you don’t have to be a circus performer to ride one. Will it be easy to learn? No it won’t. I expect to feel frustrated for a while trying to learn, but I am confident I will be able to ride it around eventually.
I rode roller blades and skateboards in the past, I ride an ebike now, and I’m going to be riding this thing in the near future. I can’t wait to get this big ebike out of my apartment.
I commute by ebike and there’s a guy with an electric unicycle who passes me when I’m going about 25-30 km/h, so those things can really move. Seems pretty neat to me. The guy had a bell in his hand. Maybe that was also the mechanism for speed and brakes? I’m not quite sure how it was driven. Couldn’t be just balance, right? And I’m interested in how hard they are to slow down when going fast.
I’m also curious about how hard they are on the knees/quads. Seems similar to paddleboarding where you’re standing and balancing for long periods of time.
They ARE controlled by just balance, like a segway. There are no brakes, the motors functions as the brakes using regenerative braking.
I’m also curious how physically demanding it will be. I’m sure I will be toning muscles I don’t normally use much. I think it will be less exercise than I get on my ebike though which is actually a downside in my opinion.