One of the biggest questions people ask me is how the wheel fairs in the rain and in strong winds and whether it’s rideable at all. This is what I will aim to address here.
As I began my journey of EUC mastery, I found it tough riding in wind. With time however I grew more confident and it started to become easier and eventually it’s gotten to a point when I hardly notice it at all! If you can walk in the wind then you can probably ride in it. Not to say that it’s easy but it’s certainly doable. I even commuted with an umbrella. This is totally workable with no wind but not recommended if it’s windy as it’s much easier to just put your hood on instead.
Let’s talk snow. If you’ve ever driven in the snow on summer tyres you’ll know what it feels like and riding your EUC in the snow is similar but only with more than four times less the traction! That’s the first problem you’ll face. Because you’ve only got a single wheel, it’ll slip in snow and in frosty conditions. Riding on black ice or any other slippery surface is a bit like walking on ice! If you live in a country with a lot of snow then I would recommend adding a set of winter tyres to your arsenal, as well as studded / honeycomb pedals. This will vastly improve traction and snow on pedals won’t be such a problem thanks to the honeycomb design.
Finally the most likely condition you will encounter while owning your wheel is rain. Even if you it’s not raining as you come out to play there is no guarantee that it won’t downpour on your way back. You then face a choice of whether to wait it out, take a cab, public transport or ride it back. The wheel has decent traction in light rain while it can be slightly slippery when it’s heavier.
More importantly, the wheel itself is not designed to be ridden in the rain. None of them are at present. Most first generation wheels fail the water resistance test quite badly and some of the manufacturers do too. E.g. Inmotion V10F suffered massive issues up to explosions all around the world when a discovery was made that the two halves that make up the wheel weren’t put together well, resulting in water ingress into the batteries, leading to failures and overnight fires. Another example of relatively poor water resistance is wheels from Gotway, currently known as Begode or Dongguan Begode Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. The majority of owners agree that it’s a good idea to open every Gotway / Begode wheel you receive up and check it yourself prior to riding it. They perform waterproofing in Russia to a level where you can throw your wheel into a bathtub, pull it out a minute later and it will probably still work like it should.
Wheels that I’ve ridden in the rain and can personally vouch for are Inmotion V8 and Kingsong 18XL. I think that all Kingsong wheels are well protected against the rain to a high enough level to not having to worry about it.
So, to conclude, can we ride in the rain, wind and snow? Yes we can, only with great caution! Ride safe everybody.
