What a year 2020 has turned out to be. If you have slightly more awareness than a stalk of celery, you cant help but notice that this has been a pretty historic year. You have lived through an impeachment, a pandemic, so far at least, a fire that almost ate Portland, keeping it strange, a billionaire successfully funding a private enterprise to shuttle people and supplies to space and back, and an election where you dont really meet the candidates in person, no kissed babies! Whats more is a summer vacation that has practically lasted since March with more family time than most people get in a decade. Which leads me to the next big thing... a safer way to get away from loved ones... shocks on an electric unicycle. This is only the beginning, and you can say you were there, right here. Two companies have put their wares on the market, and the Kingsong KS S18 is a fantastic choice that Anyone would be very glad to have made. The design is amazing. Picture a motorcycle helmet put in a vise with an Ironman cage around the shock. This model has one shock, you may get one with two. I have seen both Kingsong models and can say they are very similarly menacing looking. The Helmet design faces backwards and that is because this EUC has your back with safety features beyond just a beefed up control board with the three phase wiring looking more like steel belts than actual wires. Thats a good thing considering this 2200watt motor can kick up some serious amperage getting you up a bouncy hill at your top speed. The shock means there is a little helper taking the strain off the motor to keep you at 90° to the horizon during a pothole encounter or a rouge branch in the trail as you careen across the planet surface with a confident grin from ear to ear. But how does it work, and does it work? You get a shock hand pump to dial in the pressure for the two shock chambers. Find out your weight, and then pump in the pressure listed for your weight into the shock air nipple. Once thats done there are two adjustments that can be done on the fly for more or less bounce, or return as it is called. This is for whether you are on a bouncy grass field where you want a lot of bounce, or for the fast long distance where you may not need so much return so quickly. Here, everyone will have a different theory on setup so find what works for you. Everyone will have as many suggestions for tuning as they have armpits, and I suggest you limit them to that number. Find your own way since we are all different riders with different skills. Once dialed in to your liking and patience it rides like a luxury Chrysler Imperial from the 70’s. The KS S18 is a cruiser mainly and seems to quicken in throttle response as the speed increases. From a start to about 15mph it is dependable but not lightning fast, and the shocks may be dulling some of the g force of hard acceleration because it is not slow or sluggish, just comfortable. As you get to 20 mph the response is much more reactive and lively in feel. Its a scream to ride this wheel because the shock takes most of the work from my knees and does the bending for them. My brain feels more at ease knowing that the shocks keep the road or trail within my human capabilities for balance. So I enjoy the rides that much more. At nearly 50 lbs the KS S18 is no heavier than my KS 16x, and the handle on top makes it easier to lift into my backseat for traveling. The pedals are so high, that my Airwheel lexan cube stand is too short. Almost 2” too short. The handle lift will need calibration to work properly, and the trolley handle in this perpendicular alignment makes it much easier to push around and carry. The headlight is Audi aftermarket bright and has three levels for illumination. The tail light is ingenious! Not only does it have an automatic brake light that lights when braking, but get this. It actually signals which way you are turning while you turn. Hey autonomous car makers with gps navigation! DO THIS FOR YOUR CARS! And the rest of you non signalers can learn this skill or eat dirt. By dirt, I mean something much worse. There are no speakers, not even for a horn which is actually a beep, and since I dont hear my music while I ride at full speed, I dont miss them at all. The newly redesigned app works well and is easy to use. Much easier than their last try. Riding the KS S18 across grass is like driving a motorboat across the water. Amazing! It is no Silver Bullet for all circumstances. If you were going to fail without shocks, you will probably find it an easier fail with shocks. However, you will be saved from potholes bucking you off or a branch scuttling the EUC from underneath you. Riding on the broken pavement of the rough streets of L.A. is a much easier task. Less likely to be thrown off course by cracks. Have I gone down stairs? Nopes, I can do that already without them. The main benefit of the KS S18 is that I feel more in control and safer on this than on any other; all 12 of the other EUCs I have owned and currently own. I may never buy another EUC without shocks. Its that good. Makes me feel like the reverse facing helmet design is an homage to all the models that came before this model to make this one possible. An electric unicycle tip of the hat as it were. In kind, I tip my hat to Kingsong on this model. The KS S18 shock configuration is a game changer, and you are alive to feel its presence as it bursts onto the scene. Get one now or get one later. This is a real deal thats here to stay.