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Why You Should Buy a Onewheel
In the fall of 2019, my wife and I moved to the Chicago suburbs, over 800 miles away from anyone we knew. A few months later, after we were finally starting to feel settled in, the pandemic hit. We found ourselves in the same situation as most people: isolated, lonely, and bored. I was aware of onewheels at the time, but I had written them off as entirely too expensive. But one day in the spring of 2020, while we were walking around our neighborhood for the thousandth time…
XR to VESC: A Onewheel Conversion Guide
Open-source is quickly moving from the future of onewheeling and into the present. Pro riders are beginning to adopt the VESC platform, which continues to evolve at a rapid pace. This year, we will see multiple open class races that will have no restrictions placed on the manufacturer of the boards that are ridden. The configurabilty, customization, and raw power are huge draw towards VESC, but because of it’s open-source and DIY nature, it remains inaccessible to many. There is currently a need for more clear documentation, so I’ve written this as a start-to-finish guide on how to get up and running on your own VESC based onewheel.
Floatwheel adv Shipping Delays
The floatwheel adv and adv pro were supposed to ship in February, but March has arrived and the devices are not in customers’ hands. Today, floatwheel released a production update on YouTube which explained the delays. Tony Lai, one of floatwheel’s founders, elaborated on issues with plastic part deformities and finishing. The company is also working to tighten up manufacturing tolerances on the adv’s hub motor.
Wheel Fun Stuff is Now Part of FlightFins (also, GOATs)
On Wednesday, FlightFins took to social media to announce that Wheel Fun Stuff and FlightFins are joining forces. In the video post, Wheel Fun Stuff’s Kyle Hanson explained that they will be bringing more “epic content” and “brand new products”. In the comments of each post, people were asking on the ETA of the new GOAT off-road tire for Onewheel GT. FlightFins has confirmed that the tires are in production and should be shipping next month.
GT Kush Wide Review: Pros and Concaves
First impression of the Kush Wide for Onewheel GT was that it was really nice to have so much space for your back foot and the concavity felt really good. That extra space really helped for body varials, shuvits, or any trick really. The soft urethane really helped with foot fatigue on longer cruises and the heel pains on big drops versus the stock pad’s sharp edges.
Float Control Brings Custom Shaping to VESC
One realm that the VESC platform is seriously lacking in is user experience. Fortunately, we’ve got a bunch of passionate people constantly working to improve the open-source project. Recently, surfdado updated his Float Control app to version 1.5. The update brings with it the ability to set custom shaping profiles and easily switch in between them, something that I’ve sorely missed after switching to VESC from Future Motion’s Onewheel.
New to VESC onewheels? Start Here
I love my VESC boards and because the open-source project is constantly evolving, there is a lot to report on. If you are new to VESC and the DIY scene, you probably have a lot of questions.
New High Kick Footpad for Pint and Pint X
On Wednesday, Future Motion released the new High Kick Footpad for Pint and Pint X. This rear footpad is 5 mm wider than the stock option and has double the kick height. The footpad looks to be made of the same hard plastic as the stock footpads. It will set you back $90+shipping and is available on onewheel.com.
BadgerWheel is Now Part of TFL (also, WTFs)
On Thursday, The Float Life released a YouTube video announcing that TFL and BadgerWheel have “joined forces.” At this time, we’re not sure if this is an acquisition or a merger, but Allen is now employed by The Float Life and you can now find BadgerWheel products on thefloatlife.com.
New Location and Dates for FloatLife Fest 6
For the past few years, FloatLife Fest has been hosted in Bentonville, Arkansas. This year, the “largest Onewheel gathering on the planet” is moving back to east coast and will be held at Camp Grier in Old Fort, North Carolina. Mark your calendar; the dates are September 13-17, 2023.
It Looks Like WTFs Are Coming for GT
Late last night, The Float Life dropped a picture of what look to be WTF rails for Onewheel GT with the caption “Whelp, we finally got around to fixing it. Paired with a digital tilt she rides like a dream”
A Close-up Look at Tech-Rails’ Tiny XR
What do you buy the onewheeler who has everything? Another onewheel, of course. Today, we’re taking a look at the Tech Rails’ “Toy Skateboard”. It’s a seven-inch model version of the Onewheel+ XR, which comes out to roughly 1:4 scale. This desktop XR has working lights, CNC rails, a rubber tire, and is able to be fully disassembled.
VESC Update 6.0 Brings Big Changes for Usability
When I built my first VESC onewheel over the summer, the interface was a jumbled mess of confusing parameters. The best way to learn everything was to reference a myriad of Google Sheets, YouTube videos, and Discord threads. But in the end, I’m really glad I slogged through it all, because the final result is amazing. With the latest update to the VESC firmware and the corresponding VESC Tool, newcomers hopefully won’t have to work quite as hard.
Everything We Know About the floatwheel adv Boards
On December 5th, Tony Lai - co-founder of floatwheel - took to YouTube to announce two new boards: adv and adv pro. The new floatwheels look to be a promising option from Future Motion’s Onewheel. Here, we’ve gathered everything we know so far about the new products.
Land-Surf Announces New Onewheel GT BASH Bumpers
Land-Surf has been busy lately. Adding to the pile of their other aftermarket Onewheel GT parts (Fangs, VRH, Chillers, and Platypus), today Matt Hoover announced the details of their new BASH bumpers. Set to ship in mid-January, these are slated to be the first third-party bumpers for GT. They will be manufactured from the same material - UHMW plastic - that is used for Fangs GT.
VESC Controllers are Back In Stock at MakersPEV.com
The DIY onewheel scene has kind of exploded recently. In October, there were some major refinements made to the VESC firmware that allows for a much more reliable and consistent ride. Later in October, multiple popular content creators released YouTube videos featuring VESC (Madd Max, The Float Life, Corridor). Then, following the Corridor Cast video, MakersPEV.com promptly sold out of the Little FOCer.
Some of the Best Black Friday Deals for Onewheel
The Black Friday sales are here and there are some really great deals this year. I’ve highlighted a few of my favorites from each vendor in the following list. Check out their websites for a full catalog and additional sale items.
TFL Drops Limited Run of Bodhi Pro Varials
The Float Life has released a limited edition center steez for the Varials Rail System - their line of modular XR rails. The new Bodhi Pro center steez was designed by TFL pro rider Bodhi Harrison with the goal of dialing in the experience for freestyling and trail riding. The center piece will provide a slight drop in the back, 1.66° tilt on the tail, and 1.42° tilt on the nose.
Pre-orders Are Open for FlightFins’ New GT Tire
Pre-orders for the new GT tire - The GOAT - from FlightFins have opened. The offroad tire sports a tread pattern that contains a modified version of the company’s signature “FF” logo. If the reception of FlightFins’ other two tires for XR, the Whisper and the T2, are any indication, this tire will prove to be a hit.
We Need to Stand With Future Motion or We May See Onewheel Fail
In 2007, Ben Smither released the details of his “one-wheeled balancing scooter / skateboard” on his website http://www.robosys.co.uk/. By 2014, Kyle Doerksen and Future Motion had apparently iterated on Smither’s original design. The Onewheel (with a capital “O”) was introduced and was successfully funded through Kickstarter. Until this point, relatively few people had seen a device like the Onewheel, but it would explode in popularity over the next few years.