Onewheel Balance Board

Building a Onewheel Balance Board. With the growing popularity of aftermarket Onewheel rails and other 3rd party accessories. Many Onewheel enthusiasts probably have a box full of Onewheel parts and spares, enough to be ready for almost any situation.

A great way to use up those spares, as well as to challenge and train your skills is to build a… 

DIY Onewheel Balance Board

Training on a balance board strengthens and core muscles in a challenging and fun way. perfect for off days when the weather won’t cooperate.

Why Do You Need a Balance Board For Your Onewheel Training?

Using a balance board to train your board skills is not a new thing. Balance Board trainers like the Indo Board and the Bongo board have been used by athletes for decades. With benefits like improved core strength, better balance and coordination, and proprioceptive awareness. Even if you don’t ride a Onewheel, it makes sense to add some type of balance training into your exercise routine.

Regardless of whether you buy one or build one, a balance board should be part of your Onewheel progression.

Inspiration For This Onewheel Balance Board Build

The Float Life – TFL Balance Board

In recent times, Onewheel Pro teams and riders have pushed the sport to new levels. To help their athletes progress, The Float Life recently released their TFL Balance Board. The beauty of the TFL Balance Board is it comes loaded with their top-tier flagship products so you can swap out parts, to pimp your Onewheel with industry-leading accessories. Win-Win.

TFL knows their clientele, pricing the Balance Board at $420.69 has to be the best price ever. And an extremely good deal if you take into account the individual prices for each of the components.

OneTrickWheel – FeelWheel 

The FeelWheel from OneTrickWheel is another Onewheel focused Balance Board available for purchase. Less of a Balance Board and more of a Training Board. The FeelWheel allows you to get a “feel” for your Onewheel without the weight and potential injury. FeelWheel from OneTrickWheel. Check It Out!

Onewheel Balance Board – Design Challenges 

The seed has been planted, so to speak. Now I’ll go over some of my thought processes and how I made my Onewheel Balance Board come to life.

Filling the space where the Hub and Wheel goes.

Locking the rails. Without the hub bolted in place, the rails can easily twist and flex the other components holding the Onewheel Balance Board together. 

Internal frame/ structure material? Wood VS Metal

If you were going to manufacture and make available a product that is designed to hold Onewheel rails together for use in a Onewheel Balance Board then metal would be an obvious choice. But for the average DIYer, skills, tools, and sourcing materials may keep metal out of reach. Wood, on the other hand, is easy to source. And, most major cutting can be done for free by the supplier. Conveniently, the Onewheel XR rail height is 1.5 inches, which matches the actual size of 2” lumber.

It’s meant to be.

Getting The Wood Cut

Home Depot cannot rip the lumber with their panel saw and their chop saw is also limited to chop cuts. We had to go to our local Windsor Plywood location and they were happy to cut it for us. We got a Wood insert cut at 8 x 23 x 1-½. This is a tad narrow, and we used some plastic to shim it out. If you are doing this for yourself, you may want to cut it a bit thicker around 8-3/32 +/- 1/16th of an inch. 

The Balance Point

The Float Life uses a wobble cushion for the balance point on the TFL Balance Board. Coincidentally, I had just purchased a wobble cushion for my son and the manufacturer offered a free one for a positive review. I took them up on the offer. And honestly, after using the board for a bit, a wobble cushion is perfect for this.

Onewheel Rail Screws

Screw, screws, and more Onewheel screws, Leftover from the multitude of bolt-on accessories I’ve purchased from time to time. You probably have a similar collection. If you do then all you need to screw your Onewheel Balance Board Together are a handful of 10-32 Wing Nuts. If not, well no problem. Your local bolts and fasteners wholesaler can help you out. 

Let’s Quickly Touch On Onewheel Rail Screw Sizes. 

Depending on what accessories you run, your Onewheel rails will be held together with all or some of the following 10/32 Flat Socket Cap Screw sizes. As well as other assorted hardware. I will only list the 10/32nd sizes here as that is all that is needed for this project. 1”, ⅞”, ¾”, ⅝”, ½”, ⅜” 

Assembling Our Onewheel Balance Board

If you have even a little experience with Onewheel assembly, then taking on this type of project will be a breeze.

Step-1 The Parts List

The Parts We Have Accumulated To Build Our Onewheel Balance Board

• Onewheel Rails
• Front and Back Onewheel Bumpers
• 2 x Rear Onewheel Footpads
• V3 Float Plates
• 8 x 23 x 1-½ Wood Insert
• 4 x 3” Construction Screws
• Black Varathane One Step
• Rail Screws (Details Above)
• 10 x 10-32 Wing Nuts

Now I have all the parts and have settled on a design, it’s time to put this thing together.

Step-2 Assemble The Frame

We used the 10-32 wing nuts in place of the controller and battery housing screw holes. The V3 Float Plates fill the void left by the missing battery case as well as add a lot of rigidity to the frame structure.

Step-3 Stain and Seal The Wood Insert

Everything looks better with a fresh coat of paint. Two coats of Varathane One-Step has the centerpiece looking just that.

#ProTip: Wrap your brush with cling-wrap between coats. Just don’t wait too long.👍

Step-4 Screw The Wood In Place

To prevent the wood from splitting, drill a ⅛” pilot hole before screwing in the 3” Construction Screws

Step-5 Install The Footpads

The Footpads install as normal. Except we use two rear Footpads. Those who have spare concave

Step-6 Don’t Forget The Badge 😎

Here is a nugget for you: If you made it this far, thank you for reading, and thanks for your time. I will send a badge to the first five people to drop a legit comment using the comment box at the bottom. (Due to spam, All comments will be held for moderation before posting)

Will It Float?

Balancing on one of these balance boards seems like it would be easy but it is quite challenging. And having the ability to adjust the difficulty by adjusting the pressure in the cushion is a great feature. The cushion works so well with the Onewheel frame, locking in between the bumpers and Float Plates like it was meant for it.

Regardless of whether you buy one or build one, a balance board should be part of your Onewheel progression.

Have you used the TFL Balance Board or OneTrickWheel FeelWheel? Share your experience in the comments box below.

Check Out These Popular Onewheel DIY Posts

• Easy DIY Onewheel Stand
• Low-Cost DIY Traction Pad
• How To Remove Onewheel Grip Tape 

The Best Ways To Protect Your Onewheel

• Six Of The Best Products To Protect Your Onewheel
• Onewheel Baseplate Protection
• DIYE Onewheel Accessories

Where To Find Onewheel Accessories

• All The Best Onewheel Accessories 
• The Best Onewheel Products On Amazon
• Onewheel Pint Accessories, Where To Get Them

As always, thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check out our social media channels for more Onewheel related stoke.

Sideways 4 Life!

The Sideways Movement – Onewheel Blog – thesidewaysmovement.com