Sometimes it does feel like dog crap can magnetized to your Onewheel tire while trail riding. While I am a fan of treaded tires, dog poop is more challenging to get off a treaded tire. Riding without a fender obviously makes this no better. This is the crappy treatment you get for riding fender-less. Not only do you get dog poop piled up on the back bumper, but it also flings up sprinkling and splattering the inside of your pant legs and shoes.
Even if you use a fender, you still have crap stuck inside of the fender making for a board that will stink. Here are some tips and solutions for dealing with dog crap on rides.
Spotting Dog Poop When Riding
When riding, safety is paramount, but equally important is knowing your surroundings. Some areas, especially those frequented by dog walkers, tend to have more dog feces on the trails (assuming it’s dog feces). The debate arises: should you leave it as part of nature or pick it up? It’s a divisive issue and I can see both sides to the argument.
Instead of being upset about the crap, keep a vigilant eye out for fresh dog steamers. In the morning time, you may even be able to spot these land mines by seeing visible steam emanating from the turd. This isn’t fool-proof so you need to continually look out for poop piles along the path. The next thing you want to do is maneuver your one wheel around the landmine and continue on the mission. Your objective is to complete the mission without hitting any land mines! Make a game out of it. Dog shit slalom perhaps. If you wipe out and lose traction because you hit a landmine then you lose the game. You’ll have to ride the way back in a ride of smelly shame.
Fender or Fenderless for Dog Poop
This is specifically speaking towards fixed fenders and Onewheels with no fenders. Both have their disadvantages when it comes to dog poop. Without a fender, you risk having dog poop spray up your entire leg. With a fix fender, you don’t get the spray but the crap can be trapped between the fender and the tire and when you go to stow your board, the area will smell like crap.
Consistency of the feces matters. Most of the time it will pile on the back bumper and get smushed into the treading of your tire. If it has a soft consistency, dog poop will stick to the underside of the fender. To thoroughly clean a fender, you really need to unscrew the whole fender assembly to get in there and keep it clean. You can also try to shimmy a thin rag in between the tire and fender and attempt to ‘floss it out’.
Poop on the rear bumper is easy to clean however its always a good idea to throw some sand on it or ride through some loose sand so that it clumps (similar to kitty litter) and then brush it off with a nylon brush.
On a trail ride, you wont always be near a water hose so keeping a brush in your bag is a good idea.
Twigs, sticks and leaves are going to be your best tools for cleaning shit off your board on a trail. You’ll want to use these if you cant get to a hose.
Spraying Off Your Onewheel
If you are conveniently near a water hose, go ahead and lightly spray off your tire, rear bumper and inner wheel well. If you have a Pint, Pint X or GT, the water resistance is good on these boards. Both the controller and battery housings have gaskets that should protect it from a light spraying. (XR Riders especially pre-4209 or prior models [V1/Plus] I would not recommend spraying off your board as these are not as water resistant. Use a wet rag instead.
If you have a waterproofed (Badgered) board then go ahead and spray her down. I am always mindful of my bearings however. Surface rust isn’t terrible however if you do not have bearing covers, they will rust in time and I just try to avoid spraying that area.
Cleaning Dog Shit off a Treaded Onewheel Tire
I really try to avoid dealing with the poop. If I ran over a landmine, I will try to find some sandy parts of the trail and try to clump it up and then go ride for a few more miles so that it just breaks apart and comes off. If that doesn’t work try these.
- Use leaves from trees to get in there and wipe that board.
- Use twigs and sticks to get into the inner wheel well and tire treads.
- Ride through tall grass. The grass is nature’s bristles and can help clean that board up.
- Ride through more sand. The sand is nature’s kitty litter. Let that poop clump up.
Best Onewheel Fenders For Dog Crap
The best Onewheel Fender for when you run over dog poop is a fender that can be removed without any tools and be cleaned easy. The ranking below is based on ease of cleanup. The Flight Fins Shield is a relatively inexpensive fender but it is very easy to wipe off followed by the Droptop and the FM Hybrid fender.
- FlightFins Flight Shield (requires Flight Fins setup)
- TFL Drop Top
- Future Motion Hybrid Fender
Flight Fins – Flight Shields
Why I am a fan of these is mainly because I think Flight Fins are completely ideal for trail riders in general and secondly, the Flight shield is a very thin fender that can be stored in a backpack when its not used.
They also come off so easily making them easy to clean off. Taking it on and off is a cinch!
TFL – Droptop Fender
The Drop top fender by the Float Life was not sold within the US for a long time. Exclusively it was only sold to Canadian residents. Now that this is a fender available anywhere, being able to pull off the fender on the fly is ideal for cleaning.
The added benefit of Droptops is that there remains a small fender (shorties) that still give some protection to your shoes if you decide to ride without the top. Cleaning and clearing it out is easy and requires no tools.
Future Motion – Hybrid Fender
Future Motion is a very premium fender that has a latching system which allows for easy access to the underside of the fender.
While it has a higher quality feel than the other convertible fenders. It does cost more money and it doesn’t provide for a shorty fender or offer some barrier like Flight Fins between your shoe and the wheel. Without some barrier, you can run the risk of getting sneaker rash by having your shoes rub up against the rubber of your tire.
Don’t Hate the Dog, Don’t Hate the Game
Outdoor riding is inevitably going to lead you into some crap every now and then. You won’t be able to avoid it all the time but its not the end of the world if you get it on your board. Just take time to get it off your board so that you don’t stink up your car or house later on.
