I just got my new flat footpads for my Onewheel GT and these are my first impressions.
Concave vs Flat
To start, I’ll explain the difference between the concave footpad and the flat footpad.
And it’s no spoiler to say its pretty self explanatory.
The concave footpad has a slight concave around the edges whereas the flat footpad doesn’t have the concave.
Though, the flat footpad does have a much higher kick, as you can see in the pictures.
The Ride
I really like that the Onewheel GT comes with concave footpads, they make for a really comfy ride, at least for my size 10 feet.
I know some people complained about a sharp edge that hurt their feet, and maybe its just because of my foot size, but that wasn’t really an issue for me.
I’ve always thought the concave was really comfortable and nice.
I will say that especially in the cold months it seems like my concave pads have a harder time engaging, so I find myself doing more than a few mount of shames.
I think this might be because of the cold and the way I place my feet.
When I ride I put my feet like this:
You can see that my front foot is kind of angled and I think that causes some kind of problem with the engaging sensor when it’s cold.
I think the better way, or at least what seems to engage better in the cold, is putting your feet like this:
Future Motion always compares it to a snowboard, so I imagine they build it to have your feet more straight like they would be on a snowboard.
So coming back to the flat footpads, I did find that these sensors engaged, but they dumped me multiple times.
I would be mounting the board, it would engage for a second, and then dump me on the ground.
This happened 2-3 times every time I tried to get on the board, regardless of foot position.
I want to believe this is just something that happens because its cold outside (around 37 degrees F) but I can’t be sure.
Once the board finally engaged and I was able to ride, it was fun!
I went from Onewheel Pint straight to a Onewheel GT so I don’t have any experience on the XR.
I say that because going from the Pint flat footpads to these is pretty different.
The Pint flat footpads are REALLY flat. These for the GT have a nice tall kick.
I did feel that the grip on these was insane, much better than my concave pads, that could be new grip tape though.
I did find that the aching in the arch of my foot was a new feeling, a familiar one from the Pint and something that I think the concave alleviated a lot.
My Verdict
So far I think it depends on you and your preference.
I think I like the concave better, but I’m only about 6 miles into the flat footpads, so before I decide that they aren’t for me I want to put at least 100 miles on them.
At the end of the day too I think it just depends on you and what you prefer.
I’m planning to write a post to help others decide what type of footpads are best for them and their preference, but I’m actually not sure how different the two are or what makes a person like flat vs concave yet. I’m gonna do some homework.
Until next time!
