Newb here trying to gauge my risk tolerance and ability to ride without needing to go to the hospital. The multitudes of fractures reported here have me appropriately freaked out. It seems that there are 4 main categories of causes:
Speed. Faster is obviously more dangerous. Is there a general speed over which the risk elevates dramatically if one comes off of the board? 15mph? 20mph? What does everyone think? At what speed can one bail off of a board without breaking an ankle?
Protective gear. More seems to be better though I guess that the gear is much better at preventing road rash than fractures.
Mechanical Failure.
Cars.
If you have been hurt and would be willing to share the factors that contributed to your fall/injury it would be greatly appreciated by those of us trying to learn how to avoid such injuries.
First big fall: remote failure, 40kph broken wrist I was wearing shorts and a T-shirt
Second big fall: rear baseplate failure. 82kph bruised tailbone and destroyed great. I was wearing an armored jacket and leatt kneepads.
Just work your way up to speed, I haven’t had any falls as a result of wobbles or falling without a failure even though basically every ride there is some example where if I didn’t have as much experience I would have fallen. Treat cars like they cant see you, never expect the driver to be competent or aware since they usually arent.
Idiocy. One was from full throttling on a maytech dual trigger. Another was blasting through an intersection @ night that was being repaired and ran into the cut of the road. And the last was due to riding in the dark with no lights thinking I knew the path well enough.
I’d categorize most damaging accidents as cockiness:
Skating fast. Going fast (above 25mph) requires a level of cockiness. You only have gravity and friction keeping you on your board at any speed. You depend on your skill to ensure there are no outside forces pushing you off, when we misjudge our skill and fall, that is because we were cocky.
Failure to listen to advice. Even our own. Most mechanical failures give a warning sign. You can find the saying “it’ll be fine” all over the board. Most electrical failures are from either poor setup or pushing the limits. This behavior is pure cockiness.
Lack of safety equipment. The “I’ve never fallen” or “I won’t ever fall” mentality which leads to a lack of safety equipment.
That said, most people here are continually pushing the boundaries of what these things can do. Which leads to learning what is safe and what isn’t. It leads to better settings and improved equipment.
Think of the cocky skaters who have fallen as test pilots. That’s how airplanes are developed and made better. But it requires extreme cockiness to do.
So if your risk level isn’t at a “this will probably kill me and I’m ok with it” level, just skate safe. Follow the specs the dare devils have laid out, using the known good equipment, and stay sub-25mph. And always wear a helmet, wrist pads/slide gloves, and knee pads at a minimum. Your risk will be about on par with riding a bike. But more fun.
My introduction to spills came courtesy of an evolve cut out
The first big one (20kmh) Dog jumping out from bushes
Second big one (55kmh) Guy swung a bike into me, fractured ribs and a lot of skin off ribs
Third big one (25kmh) My stupid fault, broken shoulder.
Treat everything that can move as an assasin, expect them to do the most inconvenient and harmful shit possible, they will.
I dont do much road riding apart from 2am , i like to minimise risk as much as possible and i see the road as the most chance of sudden cockups.
Gear: full face moto x helmet
Wide knee pads with all round padding
Full fingered gloves and wrist protection on one hand
Alpine stars battle jacket (cold weather)
Full torso and arms armor (hot weather)
Dri rider kevlar jeans with side hip impact pads
If im going for a carpark session, add snowboarding hip pads under the jeans. Im on some meds that make the need for all the protection very real, the swelling and bruising I get from spills is horrendous…
Ive had incidents with dogs, cats, possums, kangaroos, people, branches, snakes that i thought were branches, standing water… man, the list is endless.
I try to ride well below my ability level for most of the time, ive trended slower over the last 12 months in general, if you ride on the edge for most of the time, its a question of when, not if.
If you are a casual rider under 20mph, you could have a long esk8 career without falling.
If you ride fast, you are going to crash hard eventually. Esk8 is like motorcycling except you are falling from an arguably more dangerous riding position. If you wanna go fast, prepare for the fall.
Bones are strong in compression but weak to rotation. See this extremely useful and easy to understand youtube channel for more details on that:
I’ve bailed off at 20+ mph and was fine aside from my dignity. Went by a construction site that hadn’t seen work in months, thought the sounds were coming from my board, bailed without making any attempt to slow down first to prevent any further damage to my board if something had broken. I managed a good two or three steps at 21mph before my center of gravity was too far forward and I slide in the tiny strip of grass next to the road.
Bailing off shouldn’t pose any risk of broken ankles so long as you have practiced it before hand, and even without practice you’d need to really fuck up your footing to risk any breaks.
Most of my falls were from riding in wet conditions, but I have had two bad falls as a result of things out of my control. First was a newly “finished” bridge with a giant fucking gap without pavement that I couldn’t see before hand and I had a car on my ass so once I did see it a second before I hit it I couldn’t slow down without risking getting hit. Stopped my board the second the wheel hit it and launched it several feet away from me while I kept going straight and hit pavement hard.
Fucked up my PCL with a minor tear (so no surgery needed) and the cushion in my left knee was destroyed. Still hasn’t fully healed and that was back at the beginning of June, but the PCL tear does have a healing time of 9 months I could and can still use my knee without issues thanks to the , but I can still feel that it is a bit off. Also unlike the ACL, when you damage the PCL you still have your complete range of motion. Only thing I had to avoid was putting too much weight on just the left leg while standing still since my knee would hyper extend which puts unneeded strain on the PCL while it is trying to heal.
The second one that was 0% my fault is already detailed out here: Catastrophic Surf Adapter Failure
I think the only thing not mentioned there is the internal injury I received from the fall from coming to such an abrupt stop with little to no sliding at all. The symptoms weren’t bad enough to need a hospital visit and if I went they’d just tell me to watch my torso and rest anyway.
I will not comment on protective gear since I do not use anything other than a helmet. Don’t do what I do if you like having skin stay on your body. I am an idiot I take known risks by not wearing gear. knee pads and elbow pads would likely get in my way more often than they’d help me which is why I don’t use them. The only real time I wish I had them was the part failure since they might have let me slide more after the fall and I wouldn’t have been stuck in bed for a week straight in extreme pain. All my other falls they would have just saved me from having to treat and bandage burns.
My highest capable speed right now is only 25-26 mph and that is if I want to drain my battery. Normally it tops out at 21mph. If I was going to push it up to 30mph then I’d likely buy some gear and use it anytime I planned to go that fast.
Before riding, look up your local orthopedic doctors and do some research to see if they offer same day emergency visits. If you do break something, then you do not need the ER and even if you went to the ER they’d call in an orthopedic doctor anyway and charge you 2-10x as much.
I may have written too much so TLDR:
DON’T RIDE IN WET/ SLIPPERY CONDITIONS IF YOU LIKE YOUR SKIN
KNOW HOW YOUR PARTS ARE SUPPOSED TO WORK SO YOU DON’T USE A DEFECTIVE PART FOR OVER 2000 MILES
INTERNAL INJURIES FUCKING SUCK
BONES ARE STRONG IN COMPRESSION BUT WEAK IN ROTATION
I’m riding a Meepo Hurricane Ultra. I’ve had it for a month and see that the quality is both decent and poor. For example the bamboo deck is great. The battery and ESC seem great.
On the other hand I’ve had to replace bearings and have a bent axle despite doing only basic riding without hitting anything. Sorting our repairs are what brought me to this community. My savage trucks are on order.
What is the consensus about their 5S remote? Apparently it is new and for me it has worked beautifully.
First fall @ about 20 kph was due to inexperience and a bad bushing setup. I was fully geared up and basically walked off the board but poor footwear caused a really badly bruised heal that had me limping around for the better part of 3 months. Lesson- when considering safety gear don’t neglect your feet.
Fall #2- at bout 20 kph was on a brand new build with more power and hubris. I’d ridden the board all day and went home to make an adjustment to a gear that was grinding. Took it around to block for a quick test run and only had my helmet on. Wiped out 10 meters from my house and fractured my orbital head socket. 6 wks in a sling. Lesson- always wear all of your grear or don’t skate.
Other general lessons I’ve learned-
Full face helmets are an absolute MUST if you’re going for anything other than a cruise on a bike path.
Situational awareness is uber important too. I’ve saved myself from a number of wrecks being hyper aware.
Cars and MCs have no idea how to treat Esk8s. Are we bikes? Are we other roadworthy vehicles? Are we figments of Elon’s over-active imagination? They just don’t fucking know. That means they regularly do stupid shit like don’t abide by right-of-way, don’t pass us on the left, feel as if they’re free to whip around us and slam on the brakes etc… etc…
Always hand signal when turning and stopping if you’re in traffic.
Generally, I haven’t found Esk8s to be a great commuting option for the reasons above. I think of them more as a leisure vehicle. There are many who will disagree with me but imho, if u wanna commute on some kind of EV, a bike is a much better option.
Most of my falls are due to road bumps/cracks. Don’t carve hard when you’re on bumpy roads, the board can slide out and throw you off. Respect cars, cause they won’t respect you. Ride like everyone is out there to kill you. Hand signals is mighty important, make it as visible as possible. Ride only as fast as you’re willing to fall. If you’re in good shape, around 20mph is the upper limit that you can run off your board. Helmet, elbow and knee guard are a must when riding. Full face is always highly recommended.
I was zooming around and jumping speed bumps. I hit the last one on my way home and felt my trucks turn loosey goosey. That helmet would be my skull right now.
I’ve also come off badly when my TB 110s delaminated under heavy braking.
So agree with others that good safety gear is a must if riding fast! Helmet an always!!
Oh and been hit by a car pulling out of a petrol station too haha. My board suffered more damage as it got run over. I mostly pushed myself clear off the bonnet.
Multiple times I’ve noticed something felt wrong so stopped. Have discovered melted tyres, other delam issues, seizing motors, loose axle nuts, loose motor mounts, and damaged belts (all different occasions). Theses issues could have resulted in injuries if I didn’t stop. Moral of the story, if something feels weird, stop and check!
With respect I don’t think this is very good advice for two reasons. First is that at anything above one’s normal running speed there’s a high chance of a sketchy landing. Even if all goes well (for example if you’ve practiced as cautiously says) and you make it a few steps and slide out on softer surface, it’s almost always because your weight is too far forward and your legs can’t keep up, like they said. This tends to be a face first landing, and straight on - torso relatively flat, chin first, both shoulders impact at the same time. The only thing that can save your face here is your wrists, or if you’re very well practiced at that part specifically you can ball your fists and brace on your forearms instead of wrists. I emphasize saving your face because this is what your body will naturally try, not necessarily what you should aim for
But second, is that practicing this in the first place drills it in to muscle memory and you’ll instinctively attempt to do it at speeds and on terrains that really aren’t suitable. If you do it at very high speeds it’s not reasonable to assume your ankles and shins will survive even a single step. This is anecdotal but I’ve seen either 1 or 2 (can’t tell if it’s the same guy because I can’t find the old one) incidents where the first two feet hitting the ground Went Very Badly [more gruesome parts below]. Incidentally these are the only crash videos I’ve seen of someone running off and they’re rough.
IMO the preferred way to fall, and to practice falling, is roll. On a board you’re already sideways, use this to your advantage and roll along the arm, shoulder, and upper shoulder blades. It doesn’t break your momentum in one slap, and I think (though I’m very open to correction) it’s the least destructive way of getting to ground
Yeah I also came to say that, I’ve only had one nasty fall but thankfully I had a full set of gear on. My light duty bike jacket had shoulder and crucially elbow pads installed, as well as helmet obv. I had practiced rolling, but my elbow still took a bit more of the impact than is ideal because I think it hit a curb or my technique isn’t perfect under pressure. The elbow pad spread the impact that I am completely convinced would have evaporated some bones, and left me with a very wide bruise instead. I was wearing the jacket open so my hip/abdomen lost some skin, but the jacket is supposed to slide and did that pretty well. I had pain and very reduced mobility of my shoulder for a month or two afterwards from the force transferred up by the elbow impact
I was going ~35-40km/h and fell because I wasn’t really ready for that speed and a car jerked in the lane next to me, I twitched in response and I think the board hit the curb.
this can NOT be overstated ,on a steephill loss of pair on my metroboardX really blew. i should have rode it out. I opted to try to powerslide my penumatic wheels in some leaves at the side of the roadas the hill was 35% and i was gaining speed headed for a turn i didnt thik i could make, several hundred feet of air on the other side.
contributing factors to my crashes have been riding too fast on double kingpin trucks,it just dumps you! also notbeing smooth on the throttle,i dont know how so many of you are so good with thumb wheel throttle. i love my Zmote trigger remote.
Also,im in the minority here,i am not a fan of esk8 helmets,ive sworn them off,motorcycle helmets only for my swiss cheese brain. good luck
also music has gotten me in trouble,in my misspent youth i loved Bad Brains,any time house of suffering cam on,id ride faster than my guardian angel could fly
I could and can still use my knee without issues thanks to the , but I can still feel that it is a bit off. Also unlike the ACL, when you damage the PCL you still have your complete range of motion. Only thing I had to avoid was putting too much weight on just the left leg while standing still since my knee would hyper extend which puts unneeded strain on the PCL while it is trying to heal.
