Onewheel - self balancing electric skateboard

Ever thought of yourself as a skater boy / skater girl / skater ... erm ... person ?  Flying downhill, wind in your hair, doing tricks and being all cool ... just before you fall out your 2 front teeth ? You haven't ? Well why not ?

Well here is something that can change that - introducing the OneWheel:

It might take a second or two to realise that this is no ordinary skateboard. At first you notice the shape is a bit off from what you might be used to. Wait - what happened to the wheels ?

Onewheel, as you may have guessed by now, only has one wheel. But to make up for it, it is a really big and chunky wheel. But wait, thats not all - Onewheel also is an electric, self-balancing skateboard - watch the quick Youtube video below -

So you might even get to keep your front teeth.

The Onewheel has a direct drive motor, seated in the hub of the wheel.  It comes with a lithium battery and sensors that control speed and balance (watch the video above). It can reach speeds of 12 mph (20km/h) and has a range of about 4-6 miles (6-9 km).

The Onewheel project is the brainchild of Kyle Doerksen, who set up Future Motion - the company based in Mountain View, California which is developing Onewheel. This product has been literally shooting the lights out on kickstarter, read about them here, and on their own website

Very cool, I think