Are Onewheels Hard To Ride

As a novice in the electric skateboard world, you probably wondered to yourself, ‘are Onewheels hard to ride?’ Perhaps you watched somebody zip by with so much ease or you watched a new rider struggle to stay balanced on a Onewheel and this has piqued your curiosity.

For many riders, Onewheels from Future Motion are hard to ride at first but that is part of the fun and its part of the learning process that just about everyone goes through. Once riders improve their skills, Oneheels are actually easy to ride and very fun. If the onewheel were hard to ride, you wouldn’t see people commuting to work, school, or to visit friends.



Having some sort of knowledge about Onewheels can help make the process easier for you when you eventually ride one.

Are Onewheels Hard To Ride: What It Takes To Make It Easy?

There are some skills that you will need to practice to improve your riding and to make riding a Onewheel easy and smooth. Let’s consider some processes that might seem difficult to most beginning riders but ones you will need to know.:

Balancing:

If you get the balancing of a Onewheel right, then you’ve learned more than 50% of the entire technique. A Onewheel is one piece of equipment that needs you to focus before you can succeed at riding it. Unlike the regular Hoverboard, you need to focus on balancing while navigating your way down the road. 

To assist your balancing process, Onewheels have sensors that are self-balancing. The sensors are designed to help you maintain your center of gravity of the single wheel to avoid falling. All you need to do is to mount yourself on the board and in a few seconds it will acknowledge your presence and activate the sensors to help you find your balance.

As a beginner, keeping your balance might be a bit difficult for you, however, after a while, it gets easier.

Steering the Onewheel:

So now, you get on the board and you have learned to be stable. The next thing is getting the board to move. This can be done by simply applying pressure on the front footpad of your onewheel board. 

Now, you certainly do not want to keep going in a straight line and at some point, you are going to need to turn the board in a direction. This brings the next question; how do you steer the board in the direction you want it to go? Now, this is very simple. All you have to do is apply pressure to the foot sensor of the Onewheel while leaning towards the direction you want to go.

Onewheels are quite intuitive and very sensitive to body movement. All the work you will need to do on the Onewheel will be done by moving your body. 

Bringing the board to a stop:

You do not want to get on a Onewheel without knowing how to bring it to a halt. As emphasized before, your body movement is all the control that you need on a Onewheel. If you want to get your onewheel to stop, you need to first slow it down. Lean back a bit on the rear footpad will get your onewheel to slow down and gradually come to a halt. Never try jumping off a onewheel especially when you are riding at full speed.

Pulling stunts:

Every adventurous rider will at some point be interested in pulling some cool stunts with the Onewheel. Riding tricks can be fun, but ensure that you are already a good rider before learning to pull stunts. The stunt process can be seen as the most difficult part of riding a onewheel.

Tips To Make The Onewheel Riding Process Easier

Here are some tips that you can try;

  • Start slow – While at first glance it can seem like slow speeds will be to easy, it’s important for you to have good balance on the board before trying higher speeds. It’s also important not to pressure yourself to try and do too much until you are ready. Find a place where you will be able to practice with a smooth ride instead of uneven terrain.
  • Take the safety part seriously. Riding a Onewheel boards comes with inherent risks. Such devices are serious equipment that needs to have precautions taken so you lower the risk of serious injuries. You ride these boards at your own risk. It is equally important that you follow the safety measures with the board including rider weight and the paying attention to the board’s limits. Ensure that you have appropriate protective gear for your ride with your helmets, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, and other important clothing.
  • Wear fitting shoes. Since your feet are what control the board with the foodpads, making sure you have fitted shoes is a good idea. You want to make sure your feet aren’t sliding around messing with the sensors and you are able to maintain proper balance.
  • Maintain your Onewheel and always listen for changes in it. As with anything, proper maintenance of your onewheel will allow it last longer and hopefully avoid issues. Make sure you store it in proper dry conditions, keep it away from water to avoid water damage, and check the battery level before each ride.
  • Note that seasons can affect your Onewheel riding experience. Always pay attention to the weather and riding conditions that may not be suitable for your onewheel.

Riding a Onewheel is not hard, it only takes good practice and lots of patience. It won’t be long until riding comes second nature.

Are Onewheels Hard To Ride Q&A

Learning to ride a Onewheel comes with a learning curve. You will need to figure out the best stance profile to balance your board and have better control. With a little instruction and time spent practicing, you will build up from lower speeds to higher speeds, ride longer distances and experience varied terrain. All experienced riders started the same way when starting to ride a Onewheel.

How long did it take you to learn how to ride a Onewheel and do you have tips for us and our readers? Did it seem difficult to you at first?

If you have any questions or comments, or advice, let us know in the comments section below.

Graham and The Board Sports Team

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