Electric unicycles look like a fun way to ride for those who have enough courage and good balance to use them in a safe manner.
The trouble with electric unicycles is that the slightest problem encountered by the vehicle’s only wheel usually results in a fall. If that problem is an oscillation and it happens at a significant speed, ugly things can happen to the rider.
That’s exactly what an overly enthusiastic user experienced while riding his modified GotWay Monster v3 unicycle in New York City’s 1st Avenue Tunnel alongside other like-minded friends.
Read Also: Ford Patents Strange Detachable Rear Wheel And Hub That Converts Into Unicycle
In the footage taken by another rider’s helmet cam, we can see how the unicycle accelerates away from the camera only to disintegrate moments later, leaving the rider with nothing to stand on other than the fast-moving asphalt.
Luckily for the rider, he was wearing appropriate safety gear so the spectacular fall only resulted in abrasions on his left hip and bottom. In the comments to the video he uploaded on Youtube, Kamikaze Joe (we kid you not, that’s the rider’s nickname) accepts that modifying the unicycle is the reason for the wheel’s oscillation at high speeds. He also admits he was aware of the problem but chose to go fast anyway.
How fast, you ask? He says his mates told him he was probably going 40 mph (64 km/h) when his unicycle got torn into pieces. Choosing to ride that fast on a public road on a unicycle, even during lockdown, could be seen by some people as a disregard to his own and other people’s safety, especially in a tunnel used by cars, trucks and other means of transportation.