Simplestop is a feature that is designed to make the board easier for beginners. This is an optional feature that eases dismount on Onewheel and affects how the board behaves when leaning backwards.
Yes, the Onewheel Pint can go backwards if you disable the Simplestop feature in the application. With Simplestop disabled the board behaves like the Onehweel XR and moves backwards when you are shifting your weight back, e.g. in the opposite direction.
Onewheel Pint Simplestop
Onewheel Pint comes with Simplestop and it’s activated by default when you get your board. The idea is to make it easier for a new rider to get control and start using the board. That’s why some riders refer to it as Simplesafe or simple stop.
”Slow to a stop and lean back and the Onehweel Pint sets you down gently”
Onewheel Pint Manual
Simplestop works by disengaging the motor when you come to a stop (less than 1mph) and slowly leaning backwards. This motion and weight shift will drop the tail to the ground, it’s normal that the board travels a few inches before lowering the tail. The lightbar indicator turns magenta when Simplestop is engaged.
If you want to be able to ride switch, in the opposite direction, when you lean back then you need to disable Simplestop in the Onewheel application. You’ll have to learn a different way to stop, like the heel-lift or Quickstop.
How to turn off simple stop on Onewheel Pint
You turn off Simplestop in the Onewheel application by pressing the ”call me icon”. You can see if Simplestop is enabled by the lightbar indicator blinking in magenta at power-up. If Simplestop is not working you most likely pressed the icon by mistake and turned the feature off. This has happened to riders, opening the application and checking is the first thing to do.
I highly encourage turning Simplestop off and learning either the heel lift or Quickstop technic to stop the board. This will help you become a more complete rider and increase what you can do with your board. Also, there are cases where Simplestop has been activated while riding and causes a nosedive.
The only reason to still use the feature is if you are feeling insecure or commute in the city. Don’t turn it off until you are fully comfortable stoping with the other methods. It’s actually recommended to use Simplestop when riding commuting in high dens areas or roads, it’s a more controlled stop than Quickstop that might risk launching the board forward into traffic or pedestrians. If you don’t want to run with Simplestop use the heel lif method.
Does the Onewheel XR have simple stop?
Onewheel XR doesn’t have simple stop like the newer boards from Future Motion Inc. On the XR you will need to stop by disengaging one of the footpad sensors on the board. This can be done by either a heel lift or a quick stop.
The XR is now discontinued and has an older design of the control software. The simple stop was first introduced with the Onewheel Pint to make the board easier for beginners to start riding. Many riders, myself included, did turn this feature off after a while to allow the board to run backwards.
Some users have been asking for a release of this feature for the XR. There has been no response from FM or update during the last year. We don’t know If it’s a hardware problem or something else that’s the reason why the feature is not included in the older board.
The simple stop feature is part of all new release boards. Both the Pint X, and the Onewheel GT have simple stop as an included feature.
Heel lift method
The default way of stopping the Onewheel XR is the heel lift and this is also something you can do on the Onehweel Pint.
If your board has the default grip tape there will be white vertical dots on your front grip tape. These dots indicate where the two meet. When lifting your heel it’s important that the toes are not touching and not accidentally activating both sensors.
In the beginning, learning the heel lift can be a bit wobbly. When you lift the heel of your front foot, shift your weight on the heel of your back foot to keep the board stable from side-to-side movement.
Stay balanced and keep the board horizontal, so it doesn’t just go into reverse, and wait until the motor disengages. The first time doing this your body might want instinctively to move the weight to the rear foot when you lift your heel. You need to fight this to keep the board level.
When the motor is disengaged, you will feel the motor click off, shift your weight slowly back and the board drops down on the tail.
Quickstop method
Many riders feel that after learning Quickstop it’s easier than the heel lift method. It’s the quickest way to stop and dismount the board.
The technique is to just step off the front of the board while kind of stomping down on the rear pad. The wheel does about a half-turn skid and stops. A rider known to use this technique is the pro rider Slydogstroh and I recommend you to study his riding style if you are interested to learn more.
If you are commuting or riding in high population areas I recommend you to use the heel lift. A missed Quickstop might launch the board forward into cars. can’t just let the bo, bikes and pedestrians. The Quickstop is good as an emergency brake so it’s a good trick to know and can save you from a collision.
If you want to know more about beginners Tips and Trix check out my Beginners guide for Onewheel.
