this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2025
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micromobility - Bikes, scooters, boards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility

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Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles, heelies, or an office chair: 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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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

this will be the end of you at 45mph

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

I have had enough serious much lower speed skateboard accidents to be terrified of this.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Skateboarder here.

The smaller your wheels, the smaller pebble it takes to stop the board and pitch you off. And the smaller pebbles are, the harder they are to see. And the faster you go, the harder it is to see small pebbles.

So, yeah, dangerous. I was thrown off a skateboard hitting a pebble I didn’t see at <15 mph and cut my face open. I’d hate to same rock at 45 mph.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah, even 28 is pretty fast (class III top speed). I refuse to get on anything with sub 20 inch wheels if I'm doing something above 20mph. Crashing on tarmac sucks so bad, at least there's dirt if you are mountain biking, or snow if you are skiing. Tarmac is like falling on a belt sander.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

The wheels in the pic look like they would choke on an acorn, or even something smaller. Not interested in finding out. I think this board is for the track. :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Nothing like a good ol' faceplant. Every scar is a badge of honour.

I skated and skied from I was 8 to 25 (never got really good as a skater). I am 45 now, and found my last board a few years back. Showed it to my wife and she nearly ripped it out of my hands telling me NO!

A skateboard going over 70 km/h is a monumentally bad idea.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Even with mountain board wheels 45mph is insane

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, that’s about my top speed on a bike, where I survived some rough road I didn’t have time to avoid. The same rough road on a skateboard would have turned me into street pizza.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I wrecked at maybe half that or less and broke my arm, tore up muscle/tendon, and enjoyed some fairly deep road rash on a couple spots after a front fender failed on an ebike, twice that speed on a board wheels that are maybe 100-120mm is absolutely nuts.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

How did the front fender fail? Did it get sucked into the wheel /shock stanchions?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Yep.

Whatever crashes new skaters imagine they'll have on this thing aren't even close to imaginative enough.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

For the same reason, I’d like to see shared electric scooters regulated to have a minimum wheel size.

People don’t realize that the smaller wheel sizes are stopped by even smaller things, leading to more crashes as people get pitched off.

I think the small wheel sizes are there for the convenience of the operators, not the safety and comfort of the riders.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You already have downhill longboarders going 80kmh+. They wear full body armour, and I would hazard the same would be recommended here. It's not for everyone, but some people like speed and danger.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Man, that's cool! I don't think this if being marketed to them, though, and definitely doesn't sound like something a new skater should be doing.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago

That sounds safe

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 days ago

oh it's a meat crayon drawing maker.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

That's a cool noise it makes. Not sure I'd be able hear it over the screaming pedestrians.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Electric skateboards seem cool but terrifying. A friend of mine broke both their legs on an electric skateboard like 3 or 4 years ago and is only just now starting to be able to do real physical activity again. They weren't new to electric skateboards either, it'd been one of their main modes of transit for like a decade at that point.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Yeah, unpowered boards are dangerous enough for me. The idea of dowhnhill braking/regen is appealing, but the lack of redundancy is too concerning at my age: I'll stick to bikes that offer a broader number of ways to stop and can handle debris better.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

And the only thing keeping the person on the board is their balance and the grip between their footwear and the board.

It seems physically impossible for there to be a safe way of breaking from ~65km/h just by leaning and having a decent grip on your shoes.

Even with a scoot model with wide tires, you needed to basically endo to brake properly and fast.

I had a scoot which did 65km/h several years ago. And crashed it once as well, when a car suddenly turned in front of me (and it was his fault I got a bit of compensation even).

I love micromobility but I've also outgrown my most terrible recklessness. And people will hurt themselves with this, I'm pretty sure.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah it does seem kinda terrifying.

People "hurt themselves" with regular skateboards, but this is another level - easily able to produce permanent injury and disfigurement.

There's some element of "use responsibly" of course - appropriate safety gear, environment, and skills - but the consequences of a mistake in this case seem higher than most other sports.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

You can most certainly get an unpowered board going that fast, but usually they're downhill skaters that took a good amount of time to learn to deal with those speeds and they scout the route ahead before they go.

I don't think I've ever gone faster than 30mph on a board but even that speed was absolutely terrifying and it's a miracle young me didn't end up in the hospital: One pebble could've killed me and I wasn't even riding a downhill board (just a street board I cranked the trucks down on, super stupid).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I think it's safe to say this board isn't intended for the average user and i don't think that's a problem.

I would say that things like this arent really micro-mobility because of that. They're high-performance, enthusiast-grade products whereas, IMO, micro-mobility is more about mass-adoption.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Bougie micromobility is still micromobility. I would totally ride one of these (at 10-15 mph lol)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You're right, i just distinguish between bougie and high-performance. They're very different goals.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

It's a Venn diagram situation IMO

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

What I could see this being used for is some sort of closest to actual quidditch we could get, some really complex skate-park but which is sort of like a track, at least symmetrical like a playing field.

Like rollerderby-skateboard-lacrosse-rollercoaster-quidditch

Although I think if emulating quidditch, just powerful e-scooters with saddles, lol.

I've had the idea for years but I'm not youtube millionaire who could tell people to give me money for such a thing and actually expect to get it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I feel like I've heard of people doing that on OneWheels. I'm not sure.
Sounds fun though!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Pets get drunk and discord brainstorm.

I'm only half joking but I'm prolly gonna start getting drunk like 12 hours from now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Electric skateboards are like the most compact form factor you can get, but 25kmh / 15mph max would be enough. Unfortunately they are not legal at all in my country.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

I always wanted an electronic skateboard, but I always find them expensive. Looks cool tho.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago

Why do we continue building stupid things like this?

This is another one of those "cool" toys that will end up hurting a lot of people, mostly those that aren't even owning it, until governments will have to ban it due to the dangers.

Seriously, 45mph is nice for a stuntman trying to prove something is possible, don't sell it to the general population