micromobility - Ebikes, scooters, longboards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility
Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!
"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.
micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"
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Ok, I have another question: What happens if you drop the controller, it dies, or otherwise malfunctions? Does the board just stop? Keep doing whatever it was doing?
When the controller dies or loses connection, most boards will slowly transition into full brakes, bring the board to a smooth stop. This is standard on Hobbywing, I think, but on VESC you need a remote with a receiver that supports connection loss being detected, which the VESC can then be programmed to react to.
As for dropping it, that's why you USE THE LANYARD.
The control wheel has to be held for the board to maintain speed or start braking, so when dropped, at first it will just stop doing whatever it was doing and begin coasting. Once you get out of range, same thing as any other disconnect, it starts braking on its own. The range can be kind of far, depending on the board, so this is really not something you want happening while going downhill. If you use the lanyard tho, it's not gonna happen.
I've had no malfunctions. And while I know this is how it works, I haven't had to rely on it even once.
Any experience with add-on braking systems? I was looking at putting one on my longboard as I learn the basics. Originally I thought my skateboarding skills would make longboarding a cinch but the differences are way more significant than I figured they'd be.
Like the cable diskbrakes you find on mountain boards? No.
I found it very easy to learn to skate on an electric board. I've never ridden anything non-electric.
I just slowly used the motors less and less to help in order to get the basics down. Just being able to hold down the brakes while stepping on made it a cinch to get started. And also being able to remotely halt the board rolling away when you bail.
There seem to be a variety of designs, some are just a lever with some rubber with a peg you step on and others are more elaborate. Footbraking seems to be a lot more punishing on my longboard compared to my skateboards so I was looking for an intermediary while I learn to slide.