Do electric unicycles cut out?
Cut outs - a bit of a misnomer across the board really (5 years ago this was more common), almost all cut outs are due to user error - pushing motors passed their maximum and not heeding the warning beeps. This can be anything from stupidity, to being drunk to wearing a full face helmet and not hearing the beeps (full face helmets are a good idea..but its something to be aware of) or simply to much wind noise. (We have had all these over the years lol!). We have found through 5 years of trading (at time of writing) we were seeing a 10% board fail rate, of those only 1% we component failure for no other reason that an issue with an actual component from manufacture (it happens, just the way it is with mass produced electronics).
Additional reasons a board can blow (all pretty much relate to to much power being asked of the machine - not just speed), please note; since motor power and board components have been beefed up to match the bigger motor/power requirement over the last year or so, board failures have dropped to 1-2%;
1. Riding in sand
2. Riding down steps
3. Pushing against a wall to see how much power the unit can output
4. Hills steeping that the machine can handle
5. Loading up with to much weight
6. Crashes (causing the machine to flip out as the wheel smashes into the ground)
Cut outs are a lot less now as motor power has increased from the early 250w all the way up to 2000w in some machines!).
Now there can be cut offs NOT from user error, but that is a tiny fraction; that is through no fault of the user at all - i.e component failure.
Any make is susceptible to this; in all the models I have ridden over 5 years I have only had 1 that did this to me.
For me personally, I ride just with the knowledge it could cut off, its a healthy thing to do, as it keeps you grounded.
There are some aids though to keep you safe which I try to follow:
1. Ride at a speed you can run at; this way you can run or at worst roll out of a cut off...or more likely a rider mess up, (for example hitting a tump with your footplate or something along those lines).
2. Kit up, as long as you have protection on then you will almost alway be ok from tumble. Take a look at this helpful blog post we did today actually in response to a similar question: https://www.speedyfeet.co.uk/blogs/help-and-advice/which-protective-gear-should-you-use
Those are 2 golden rules that will give years of happy riding!
Hope this helps!
