24
MOUNTAINLIFE
SUMMER2016
Gyros and accelerometers?As Kyle explains it, theOnewheel begins to sound
less gimmicky andmore
Back to the Future
awesome.“The other building
blockwas themotor,”he says.“Themotor inside the hub of thewheel was a
challenge – onemoving part, no chain,with a centre of gravity in themiddle.
Then the battery,wewent with the best available.We took the point of view
that if people are gonna thrash these things around a lot, they don’t want
towait for hours to recharge.We designed a system that takes about 20
minutes, it’s similar towhat they are using in electric cars.”
TheOnewheel hadmy full attention, then finally, I rode it. Funwheel!The
learning curve is short:within fiveminutes I was rolling aroundon the
pavement, and after 15 I was carvingup thewalking trails in the forests of
Brackendale. Lean forward and theOnewheel accelerates (up to24 km/hor 15
mph), leanback and it slows down. I didn’t evenmess aroundwith the app,
which allows riders to customize the settings for their skill level.
“Thebrains are the software,”Kyleexplains.“At first, I didall that, but after I
brought onabusiness partnerwitha softwarebackground, oneof themost
interesting things happened. Ifweget a riderwhowants it to carvedeeper ina
low speed turn,we try to translate that intomathandprogram it.The sameway
a snowboardor surf shaper listens to the rider andknows how toplaneabit off
theedge todeliver a specific ride,wedo that throughadjusting the software.We
really tried to connect theboard sportsworldwith the techworld.”
And that is the differencewithOnewheel, a rider-owned company created by
a real snowboarder/surfer who actually gives a crap about how the product
performs.“We care about the ride,”Kyle says.“We built it for us andwewant
it to ride awesome. If wewere just a bunch of computer nerdswho didn’t
care about the ride, thiswouldn’t work.We are computer nerdswho do care
about riding.”
And it shows. Onewheel is the real deal. Carve the forest!
AOnewheel canmotor for up to 10 km on a single charge.
onewheel.com
TODD LAWSON
AsKyleexplains it, theOnewheel begins tosound less
gimmickyandmore
Back to theFuture
awesome.
