Do you ever feel guilty of not exercising a lot but at the same time you’re just too lazy to actually make an effort? Well, the AirWheel is here to solve that issue. You won’t be sitting in a car but you won’t exactly be walking either – what a perfect combination for lazy people!
However, it is not as easy as it looks. The act of balancing on the AirWheel is itself an art. Let me narrate a user’s experience so you know what to expect.
Once upon a time, a group of women were sitting outside Costa cafe, enjoying their evening coffee and snacks until they heard someone literally screaming for her life! As time progressed, the screams only grew louder and finally the terrified women could see woman standing on a unicycle-kind-of-a-thing moving forward. It seemed as if the woman didn’t know how to control the device she had mounted on. Narrating this incident in third person, the user finally confessed that she wasn’t experienced enough to be moving around the city. She said that even though she was only traveling at 10 miles per hour, but it felt like she was on a jet (probably because she was super scared?).
Image: AirWheel
The reason she bought the AirWheel was because of the hype and the fact that it was sold out almost everywhere including Harrods – so inevitably she jumped on the bandwagon. According to her, the ride seems pretty ‘dangerous’ because there’re no brakes, no steering column, and no safety belt: you’re basically on just wheels!
Kudos to the marketing team because she got all pumped up after watching the promotional videos in which people are literally whizzing through their offices and city streets while holding onto their coffees. No wonder 300,000 of these Chinese-made machines have been sold so far.
Image: AirWheel
But just because one user felt a little scared and uncomfortable doesn’t mean the AirWheel is impossible to master! All you need to do is tilt forward in order to move straight ahead, the more you press, the faster it goes. Pretty simple, no? And in order to stop you just have to lean backwards – no don’t lean back way too much because you’ll just lose your balance and fall (you need to slow down enough to basically just step off and grab the wheel). Similarly, in order to turn left or right, you just lean in the respective direction! It’s all about letting go of your fears and maintaining balance. As the AirWheel slows down, you may get all ‘wobbly’ but don’t let that petrify you.
Image: AirWheel
As far as the speed is concerned, the AirWheel can travel up to 24 miles on a single charge. It is sort of heavy i.e. 13 kilograms so it seems like you’re carrying a very heavy brick. However, that hasn’t stopped people from purchasing one. You will see people of all sizes and ages chilling through places on the AirWheel be it a 7-year-old kid or a 70-year-old man!
References: AirWheel, Daily Mail