Float History

Around 8:00pm EST (local), a long standing Thursday night group ride of over 60 riders on a variety of electric vehicles in St. Petersburg, Florida was targeted by the City of St. Petersburg Police Department in an organized sting at Beach Dr NE between 8th Ave NE and 7th Ave NE. Over 17 officers responded and systematically handed out 24 citations – 20 citations for one wheels and electric unicycles, 2 citations for electric bicycles, and 2 citations for electric scooters that violated state statues. All citations that Float History has been provided cite Section 316.2065(11) of Florida State Law.

Section 316.2065(11) reads “No person upon roller skates, or riding in or by means of any coaster, toy vehicle, or similar device, may go upon any roadway except while crossing a street on a crosswalk […]“.

The St. Petersburg Police Department cites St. Petersburg, Florida Municode Article VI Section 26-284 as establishing “motorized skateboards, motorized roller skates, hoverboards, hoverskates, hovershoes, one-wheeled electric boards, or other similar devices” as “motorized toy vehicles”.

However, this citation appears to be in conflict with Section 316.2128(1) of Florida State Law, which reads “The operator of a motorized scooter or micromobility device has all of the rights and duties applicable to the rider of a bicycle under s. 316.2065 […]” or, for riders whose devices qualify as their electric personal assistive mobility devices, Section 316.2068(1)(a), which reads “(1) An electric personal assistive mobility device, as defined in s. 316.003, may be operated: (a) On a road or street where the posted speed limit is 25 miles per hour or less.”

State preemption should preclude the City of St. Petersburg from exercising authority in a way that is inconsistent with the state constitution or statutes, so it is unclear if these tickets would hold if challenged in court.

When asked for comment, the St. Petersburg Police Department provided the following statement:

“The Police Department has received complaints about [the] ride group blocking traffic, riding in lanes of opposite traffic, and ignoring traffic signals. Our officers met with [the] group this summer to explain the state laws and local ordinances. Electric uni-wheels/unicycles are not permitted on roadways or sidewalks. Motorized scooters and e-bicycles that can travel above 28 m.p.h. are considered motor vehicles and must be registered with the DMV, insured, and the rider must have a driver’s license.”

Contrary to the provided comment and comments from officers present on the night of the sting, recordings of the previous meeting 2 months ago between the ride group and the St. Petersburg Police Department show officers placing an emphasis on illegal dirt bikes being the issue with the group ride previously. Multiple one wheel electric skateboards and electric unicycles were present during this prior meeting and were not emphasized as an issue nor issued a citation.

The targeted enforcement follows a string of 3 e-bike related deaths in the previous weeks which the St. Petersburg Police Department stated “[involved] e-bike riders who were not obeying traffic signals or the rules of the road.”

(source 1, source 2, source 3, source 4)

This is not legal advice. Please consult your lawyer for questions regarding Florida state law or St. Petersburg city ordinances and how they might apply or be litigated. A freedom of information act request from the community is pending for additional details.

If you received a citation related to this event and plan on fighting the ticket in court, I’d love to hear from you.

FloatLife Fest hosts the annual “Rider of the Year” awards recognizing standout individuals in the sport. These awards feature nominations and voting from the community.

• Male Rider: Hayden Bolling
• Female Rider: Zayne Carter
• Rookie: Hazel Bueno
• For the Sport: Austen and Mercedes Silva
• Wipe Out: Nico Aleman (video)
• Trick: Chris Richardson’s Mystic Flip (video)
• Photo: Alex Mononen
• Film: OLD TIMES by The Float Life (video)
• Clip: Hayden Bolling (video)

Over the course of the Onewheel Racing League 2025 season, riders competed at up to 8 ORL Season Events to earn cumulative points via a new dynamic event scoring model. Concluding with the Season Finale at Race for the Rail, the finalized season results are as follows:

Pro Men (full results)

1. Hayden Bolling (213.3 points)
2. Jahfari Silsley (185 points)
3. Josh Ledford (154.7 points)

Pro Women (full results)

1. Zayne Carter (239.4 points)
2. Ashley Gnann (205.1 points)
3. Emma Stewart (163.5 points)

Clydesdale (full results)

1. Sebastian Cusick (208.1 points)
2. Dee Montes (164 points)
3. Andrew Coleman (135.5 points)

Legends (full results)

1. Richard Stovall (197 points)
2. Timothy Vandehey (190.7 points)
3. Charles Leib (151.2 points)

Expert (full results)

1. Nicholas Meeker (183.5 points)
2. Max Leib (180 points)
3. Joshua Rivera (151.7 points)

Future Motion, Inc. hosts Race for the Rail (recap video), the finale race of the 2025 Onewheel Racing League season at Hollister Hills State Vehicular Recreation Area in Hollister, California from August 14-17.

Race for the Rail 2025 saw significant changes from past year’s formats where only top-ranked Pro class riders were invited to compete on a downhill-focused course.

This year’s race featured an open qualifier and separate competitions for each rider class. Instead of a downhill course, participants competed on a motocross course with varied elevation and an abundance of kickers. Also new to this year, a separate mass start race and freestyle trick competition.

Controversially, Race for the Rail 2025 was also the first Race for the Rail that featured board footholds, however only Future Motion, Inc.’s “FST” footholds were permitted.

Race Winners:

• Pro Men: Jahfari Silsley (results)
• Pro Women: Zayne Carter (results)
• Expert: Max Post-Leib (results)
• Legend: Ryan Walker (results)
• Clydesdale: Dee Montes (results)
• Grom: Cody Thornton (results)

Freestyle Competition Winner: Bodhi Harrison (results)

Mass-Start Race Winner: Cody Thornton (results)

Future Motion, Inc. announces Onewheel Rally XL, also referred to as the “Onewheel GT S-Series Rally XL”, via a YouTube video.

The Onewheel Rally XL, features a larger 12.0″x7.0″-6 tire, the same superior 6 inch rim size of the Onewheel GT S-Series, longer and lower Recurve Rails, and stronger Molicell P50B battery cells for increased power and range compared to the GT S-Series (while remaining at 113 V.)

Future Motion advertises The Onewheel Rally XL as having “50% higher low end torque”, “23% more tire volume”, and “11% more range” than the Onewheel GT S-Series.

The Onewheel Rally XL launched at $3,500. With its launch the Onewheel GT S-Series Rally Edition price was reduced to $3,250.

The Onewheel Rally XL began shipping immediately after its announcement.

Though there has been no official communication from the company (and so this is ultimately speculation), Craft & Ride, a once prominent 3rd party accessory vendor and frequent sponsor of many community events over the years, seemingly dissolved on or around June 10, 2025.

On this date, the craftandride.com website began redirecting to onewheel.com. Despite this, Onewheel Factory Team Rider Austen Silva confirmed Future Motion, Inc has no involvement with Craft & Ride.

Several community members reported their final purchases from Craft & Ride were never fulfilled. Their business address and warehouse was available for lease as of June 26, 2025.

Additionally, the Onewheel Owners Group on Facebook, the largest Onewheel Community of over 38,000 members on the platform and administrated by Craft & Ride, removed all other admins and moderators and paused the group indefinitely the next day. It remains paused today.

On September 3, 2025, the craftandride.com website returned, but only as a generic plug for their social media accounts and an Instagram story feed, despite their last social media post (as of Sept 3, 2025) being in April 2025.

(If you have any additional verifiable evidence of what happened to Craft & Ride, or if you’re a vendor who has verifiable unpaid invoices with Craft & Ride, please send me a message!)

Get Stoked Media, LLC launches the Get Stoked! Magazine, a new publication “about adventure, articles, PEV lifestyles, Artwork, and culture.”

While initially advertised as a quarterly publication, the company has not yet followed up their initial release with any subsequent releases or official communication about the future of the magazine.

Float Hub, a “solution to an easy and streamlined setup process for your VESC-based board.” is released by The Float Life for iOS and Android.

Float Hub significantly reduces the barrier to entry for users to get started with VESC-based platforms.

Future Motion, Inc. announces Onewheel GT S-Series Rally Edition via a YouTube video.

The Onewheel GT S-Series Rally Edition edition is a Onewheel GT S-Series equipped with new “Recurve Rails”, and a return to the superior 6 inch hub motor rim diameter.

Recurve Rails feature a lowered front footpad, angled to preserve similar nose clearance as standard straight rails, and a raised back footpad to improve tail clearance.

With the announcement of the GT S-Series Rally Edition, the base model Onewheel GT received a $300 price drop to from $3,200 to $2,900. The Onewheel GT S-Series with Recurve Rails and the standard 6.5 inch motor is priced at $3,200, and the Onewheel GT S-Series Rally Edition, with Recurve Rails and the new 6 inch motor is priced at at $3,500.

Existing Onewheel GT or Onewheel GT S-Series owners can have their board serviced by Future Motion to install Recurve Rails for $450, including shipping. Future Motion does not offer Recurve Rails for sale directly or support users who install their own Recurve Rails themselves, as there is no method for users to tune the balance point of their board in order to support the adjusted controller angle.

The Onewheel GT S-Series Rally Edition started shipping in early July 2024.

Future Motion, Inc, announce Onewheel GT S-Series via their “Onewheel Unleashed: Live Event” on YouTube.

The Onewheel GT S-Series is a direct upgrade from the Onewheel GT. Initially priced at $3,200 and featuring a significantly higher voltage battery (113 V compared to the Onewheel GT’s 75 V) with Molicell P45B cells, an upgraded motor with more powerful magnets, and premium NSK bearings. The Onewheel GT S-Series advertises a top speed of 25 mph, and an expected range of 16-25 miles.

The Onewheel GT S-Series began shipping immediately, with first customers receiving their boards as early as October 31.

In conjunction with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Future Motion, Inc. voluntarily recalls 300,000 Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards, involving all Onewheel models. At the same time, Future Motion, Inc. released the Haptic Buzz alert functionality (release video), which addresses the safety concerns in the recall via a firmware update that was available by September 29, 2023 to Onewheel GT, and available via a much later update on Onewheel+ XR, Onewheel Pint, and Onewheel Pint X.

According to Future Motion, Inc., the original Onewheel and Onewheel+ models are not eligible for the firmware update, so they should not be used. Onewheel and Onewheel+ owners can confirm eligibility and possession to receive a $100 credit toward the purchase of a new Onewheel.

Although Future Motion, Inc. originally stated there would be a way for Onewheel Racing League members who met a mileage minimum to disable Haptic Buzz, this feature never actually launched. It is commonly speculated that the feature was scraped in order satisfy the CPSC.

(If you know the exact date the Haptic Buzz firmware was available for Onewheel+ XR, Onewheel Pint, or Onewheel Pint X, please send me a message!)

Utilizing the new “packages” feature in the upcoming VESC Tool v6.0 release, which allow easily installable extensions to the VESC Firmware, Nico Aleman releases Float Package on pev.dev.

Float Package replaces Mitch Lustig’s Balance App and is heavily based on surfdado’s ATR firmware. Key features greatly improved usability through organized configuration menus, safe default values, min/max ranges for all parameters, and descriptive help texts.

Float Package also introduced the “Remote Tilt” feature, which allows a handheld controller to be used to adjust the “level” angle of the board in real time. This enables riders to traverse much steeper inclines and declines while maintaining precise acceleration and deceleration control.

After its release, Float Package became the foundation for the continued development on the ride feel of VESC-based single wheel electric skateboards.

On this date, The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) posted a warning about the risk of death and serious injury with all models of Future Motion Inc.’s Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards. Siting at least four reported deaths between 2019 and 2021 and multiple reports of serious injuries after the product failed to balance the rider or suddenly stopped while in motion.

CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka stated “Immediately stop using all Onewheel electric skateboards—they are not worth dying for.”

According to the CPSC, Future Motion, Inc. refused to agree to an acceptable recall of the product. Future Motion, Inc. issued a press release and public message regarding the CPSC statement on social media, calling CPSC’s warning “unjustified and alarmist”.

On this date, surfdado integrated a new IMU filter developed by Mitch Lustig into the VESC firmware which eliminated the nose hunting issue introduced earlier in the year when the VESC rider community broadly swapped to using Hannes Schatzmann’s high Mahony KP tuning methodology.

This update marks a major turning point where VESC boards became more broadly recognized as being just as, if not more, capable than Future Motion, Inc.’s proprietary Onewheel boards.

A key issue affecting the early production models of the Onewheel GT was “ghosting”, where the footpad sensor remains active after a rider leaves the board, causing the board to stay engaged and drive away as if a “ghost” is riding it. This unintended behavior poses a serious risk to persons and property as the board will accelerate to its top capable speed (roughly 30 mph) and continue traveling until the board topples over or the sensor recognizes the error.

This issue became so widespread that on August 11, 2022, Future Motion, Inc. and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled thousands of GT footpads. Consumers can determine if their footpad is affected by visiting recall.onewheel.com, and if affected, receive a replacement footpad free of charge.

The recall revealed that by August 11, 2022, Future Motion, Inc. had received 813 reports of “ghosting”, with 11 of those reports including injuries.

To mitigate the ghosting issue, Future Motion, Inc. started manufacturing GT footpads with an additional layer of plastic between the grip tape and the sensor, rendering the sensor less sensitive to pressure and thus less likely to receive false-positive readings. There are numerous community tutorials available instructing users how to remove this extra layer of plastic if desired, as some riders prefer the previous, more sensitive pressure sensors (accepting the higher risk of “ghosting” and of damaging their sensor during the modification.)

As early as November 2021, Hannes Schatzmann, aka @vesc.mann on Instagram, discovered through independent trial and error that utilizing high Mahony KP (a tuning setting that distorts pitch angle readings when under heavy acceleration/deceleration) and ditching many typical tuning conventions produced much more intuitive, smooth, and predictable ride feel more similar to Future Motion, Inc.’s proprietary Onewheel motor controller software.

When surfdado learned of this in March 2022 from Schatzmann in private group chats and made this information public through his “VESC Balance Firmware – Magic Settings in v5.2” video, these tuning adjustments were widely adopted and became the basis for further iteration by a growing community of rider-developers.

The largest issue introduced with this new tuning methodology was “nose hunting,” where high frequency bumps or rough terrain could cause the nose of the board to slowly rise or lower as these conditions can cause the motor controller to “lose sense” of what is level.

Future Motion, Inc., announces Onewheel GT and Onewheel Pint X during their “Onewheel Uncharted” live event.

The Onewheel Pint X, initially priced at $1,400, is a direct successor of the original Onewheel Pint. Its advertised range (12–18 miles), battery voltage (63 V nominal), and top speed (18 mph) match those of the Onewheel+ XR, while keeping the same form factor of the original Pint.

The Onewheel GT replaces the Onewheel+ XR as Future Motion’s flagship product, featuring a complete design overhaul and improved performance. Priced at $2,200, the GT features an advertised top speed of 20 mph, expected range of 20–32 miles, and a 75 V battery.

Controversially, the GT uses a larger hub motor rim diameter—6.5 inches versus the XR’s 6 inches. Compared to the XR tire, the GT tire holds less air and provides less clearance between the tire and hub; these factors negatively affect the ride experience and increase the risk of hub motor rim damage.

Additionally, the new tire dimensions render all previous Onewheel tires incompatible with the GT. With 11.5×6.5-6.5 tires being a non-standard size, non-Future Motion Onewheel GT compatible tires would not exist for months following the launch of the board.

Both new boards were available for purchase immediately. Onewheel Pint X started shipping same-day, with the first customers receiving their boards the next day. The first production Onewheel GT shipped on March 7, 2022.

Mitch Lustig lays the foundation for self-balancing devices controlled by VESC through his contributions to VESC Tool. Lustig later releases several video tutorials on his YouTube channel, outlining configuration, usage, and key concepts around the application.

VESC Tool is an open source brushless direct current motor controller tool with an intuitive user graphical interace, which enables users to configure their VESC-based boards.

Future Motion, Inc. announces Onewheel Pint. Onewheel Pint is a more compact and affordable addition to Future Motion, Inc.’s product lineup, featuring a slower top speed of 16mph and shorter range of 6-8 miles when compared to the Onewheel+ XR. The Onewheel Pint was initially priced at $950 and started shipping in May 2019.

(If you know the exact date the Onewheel Pint arrived to the first customer, please send me a message!)