SUMMER2016
MOUNTAINLIFE
23
TESTROLLINGTHEONEWHEEL
UP
FRONT
I’ll admit I was skeptical at first.What is this
motorized skateboard?What’swrongwith a real
skateboard? It goes on dirt trails? So does a bike.
What’s new about this? It sounded like a gimmick.
Then I saw it: One bigwheel,well that’s new at
least. Like amini F1 race car tirewith a battery,
motor and everything contained inside. Skepticism
turned into vague interest.
Then I talked to the guywho invented it, Kyle
Doerksen, a Stanford-trained engineer originally
fromCalgarywho grew up snowboarding in
the Rockies.Whileworking in SanDiego, Kyle
developed the concept for Onewheel as an
alternative towalking amile towork each day.
“Itwas inspiredby the feelingof ridingpowder,”
Kyle says.“Floating inpowder is so awesome and
forgiving
—
you can’t catch an edge or do anything
wrong.And that is the key aspect of theOnewheel
ride, it has that floating feeling, likeanendlesswave.”
Kyle beganworking on his pavement powder
board in his garage back in 2007.“It was a long
process,”he says.“At first I wanted to see if you
could build a boardwith a singlewheel that had
nomotor or balance control, the answer is no.
Then I thought,with a computer and gyro in there,
I couldmake it balance forme.What would that
ride feel like?”
Motivated by that curiosity, Kyle began to tinker
with the newest technology of the day.“Back
then, theNintendoWii came out and that was the
first consumer product withmotion sensing built
into it,”he says.“Then smartphones came out and
that drove the cost ofmotion sensorsway down.
Now every smart phone has a tiny chipwith 3
gyros and two accelerometers in it that cost about
two bucks.The sensor’s the key to the balance of
theOnewheel.”
INSEARCHOFTHEOFF-ROADCARVE
TODD LAWSON
