Hey All,
I often get asked "What is the best thing I can buy for my OneWheel?"
For me, for the most part, just by riding a OneWheel you have already purchased the best thing you possibly can for riding a OneWheel and there are a few items in the cost of ownership I would say are non negotiables.
1. You will need a repair at some point... I would save at least 1/3 the value of the board to address repairs as they arise. Whether you choose a local shop or you send it back to Future Motion, the 1/3 rule is good to make sure you have money set aside for breakdowns. Just like in a car... you will experience wear and tear. Add more if you enjoy off road riding, tricks, or drops. Anything but flat, relatively smooth roads can create extra issues and headaches down the road.
2. Footpads and Tires and Batteries... your sensors were not meant to last. Your tire wasn't meant to last. Your batteries will die eventually as well. All of these items are consumables in your board and will need to be replaced. The tire and sensors are about the same price ($100-$150) but the battery will be a large spend. A good rule of thumb for figuring out how much your battery is worth is to take the purchase price of the unit and multiply by 40%. Usually a battery is 40-60% of a boards value. If you want to go further you can take the original price of the unit and do the same mulitplication before factoring the battery. The unit itself is probably 40-60% of the final price to produce wholesale. So the battery is 40% of 40% of the unit price. It will give you a decent idea of the cost of components and mark ups associated with the company.
3. Your own riding gear... Shoes, Helmet, gloves/wrist guards, and whatever else tickles your safety. This stuff can be really expensive (so can missing time at work, ER bills, and other injury costs) and is often over looked. In terms of a helmet I will always recommend an NTC-8776 rated helmet. MiPS is awesome and I am definitely not knocking it if thats what you have. If you're not settled on a helmet then I might recommend "Xnito" (and yes we sell them so there is a conflict of interest) and I think they're the best. I have 3 little kids at home so dad coming home every trip is important. On the same tip, I also now carry "Beyond Riders" armored clothing. Not only is it transferrable to the electric dirt bikes I also like to ride, it is pretty great armored gear at an affordable price. Saving your skin is invaluable.
So thats it! After you have some money tucked aside for these things, really any item for your OneWheel makes it "better". The last thing you want is a board with $1200 worth of accessories you cannot fix because it broke and you are broke from spending money on accessories that don't preserve the life of the board.