Моноколеса, Техноблог

Gotway Nikola. Part 2. Close look, first try. English version.


Sorry guys, first part was only in russian.
We asked Olga (great EUC-lady from Moscow community) to help us get the first impression of the Nikola. And we highly appreciate her assistance.
We’ll start from exterior and size.

The illumination pattern is changed by short taps of the power button. You can turn on the front light, the strobe mode, turn off the front light and change the illumination pattern. You would have to press the button many times.

A look at the back light:

A look at the front light:

The wheel is quite open. The fender edge is above the shaft. The wheel is likely to be throwing mud and you’ll have to think of an aftermarket mudguard. Nevertheless the EUC body has got a kind of mud protection:

Folding handle. There is a soft rubber cover on the edge.

You’ll have to pull out the pin with your finger to unfold the handle:

The unfolded handle is not very high. It’s perfect for Olga. People taller than 185 cm might find it inconvenient.

It’s also inconvenient to pick up the EUC. The handle is too wide. On the other hand it makes the EUC lean away from you keeping your pants clean:

We’ll take a KS-18L to compare the size. It has an 18’’ wheel while Nikola has got 17’’ onboard:

Nikola looks way bigger then the KS-18L:

If we move the KS-18L back a little you’ll hardly notice it behind Nikola:

And this way they seem to be the same size:

Nikola is on the ground while KS-18L is in the air:

Here you can clearly see the height difference as well as the pedals angle:

Yes, the Nicola pedals lean up as they are on the MSuperX. But after a ride I can say that you feel less uncomfortable than on the MSuperX. The shape of the Nikola body is much more friendly for your legs. Your don’t get any excessive pressure neither on your ankles nor on the top of your legs. It’s quite comfortable to ride. Compared to the KS-18L Nikola feels wider.
Look from the top:

Now lets compare it to the Ninebot Z10:

And to a cute 14’’ EUC:

Lets have a close look.
Getting back to the folding handle and a pin that locks it:

On one hand this kind of lock is necessary. If your EUC falls down it will not let the handle unfold and prevent it from damaging as it happens on Inmotion EUCs. But we have some issues about the construction of the pin. There is way too much of blue bearing lube on it:

The lube will quickly absorb dust from the road and it might block the pin. We asked all question about handle to Gotway. And they quickly answered that it’s not a final version. In nearest future Gotway will design new handle and will show it. 
And while we can not worry about the appearance:

And of course the exterior. This is only presale version:

You can see scratches and fingerprints on the top of this handle:

A closer look at the headlight. You can see one bright LED:

Right above the front light you can see a USB port that can be used for charging your devices:

An 84V charging port:

Power button:

Here we can see a repeating mistake of the Gotway team. They place the power button too far from the handle which makes on/off operations inconvenient. It’s much better when the button is located near the carry handle.
There are rubber caps on the side covers:

Carefully extracting it:

There is a screw underneath:

The cap has tongues that save i from falling out:

In the center there ion the side cover there is a large sticker with a logo:

You can see that it bulges. The surface of the side cover is not very accurate. Gotway told me they will change it into a new luminous logo.
One more look at the back light. There is a LED stripe around the logo:

You can see a wire going to the lamp via a semi-transparent cover:

A semi-transparent cover under the handle hides the inner parts of the body:

As far as I know this is the first Gotway EUC that has a classic construction of an inner body. On the top there are decorative covers that held to prevent the main body from damage and make the device stronger and more reliable due to multiple layers.
There is a motor kill switch under the handle. It prevents the motor from rotating when you pick up the EUC:

The button wiring is not covered:

It looks strange.
There is a voltage meter display above the power button. It helps you get a more precise information about the battery condition:

Pedals:

This type of pedals is installed on ACM and Monster. They are not really good. In a final version Nikola will have a larger pedals.

The pedals are not in line with the body:


You can see that the gap on one side is wider then on the other:

It’s not a problem. Gotway told me that is a feature because magnets installed lefter from motor axle. 

The most unpleasant think is that there is a part of the body under the pedal arms. You can take out the motor only after removing pedals, side panels and LED-rings:

The tyre:

A huge and wide tyre:

The label says it’s 16×3’’:

We can see that it’s exactly one inch bigger then the 16×2.5’’ and much bigger then the standard 16×2.125’’. That’s why the Nikola is called a 17’’ EUC.
Tyre manufacturer:

CST by e-bike pro.
Tyre pressure:

You can put up to 3.1 atmospheres in it. We don’t recommend going under 2.4. You can damage the inner cord of the tube.
Nikola on the go. We did a little test ride around our show room. Remembering all previous Gotway EUCs we had a very positive impression from Nikola. Its the first EUC that doesn’t give any excessive pressure on your legs. On the other hand it feels very heavy and massive. It’s huge. It the rider weighs over 90 kg the EUC body doesn’t keep up with the weight and starts producing some cracking sounds. Unfortunately it’s too cold and wet outside, so we can’t really test the 3’’ tyre. Meanwhile you can have a look at the part 3 of the Gotwat Nikola review where we do a full tear down of the EUC including the motor.

Это личное мнение автора статьи. Оно может не соответствовать действительности. Самую актуальную информацию вы всегда можете получить у менеджеров или у завода-изготовителя.

Чтобы подобрать моноколесо под рос, вес, условия и опыт катания напишите нам в ->Телеграм<-

Добавить комментарий

Ваш адрес email не будет опубликован. Обязательные поля помечены *