Roflcopter - #
Unicycles?
Can anybody ride one of these contraptions? I'm thinking about getting one. What knowledge can you grace me with?
Owen Greenaway - - Parent #
My personal advice:
- For some reason with unicycles it seems that buying a really cheap one is often a false economy. Get one that's worth at least £45.
- I practised for literally 1 hour per day, every day, for a month and got to a stage where I could say "I can ride a unicycle".
- Learning (and riding) uses muscles you have never used before and you will ache.
- Free mounting (starting riding unaided) is far harder than just riding along and far harder than you'd expect.
- I don't think there is much supply to the second hand market (at least in the UK) (P.S I didn't look very hard).
- You probably want a 20 inch wheel. The seat post length also decides how tall the unicycle is, not just the wheel.
- I recommend unicycle.com (at least the UK section) for their customer care and generally being very helpful.
- You will have the same handful of jokes shouted at you whenever you ride in public.
- I regularly carry/push my unicycle around high street shops and supermarkets and no-one has ever complained. (in the UK)
It's really fun but is far more physically demanding than juggling so make sure to do a bit of a warm up & down. Unicycle hockey is awesome :)
Roflcopter - - Parent #
That helps a lot.
what muscles are you refereing to exactally? I run cross country so I like to think I'm pretty set for some stress on quads,calfs,lower back,and shoulders. (and lungs for that matter)
would that give me an advantage?
Even if it did I don't thinkit would be a big one.
Owen Greenaway - - Parent #
I remember aching down my sides. Sort of ribs and lower. Mainly from twisting while learning to turn. Unicycling downhill uses odd muscles too (you are effectively braking the whole way down a steep slope so it feels like the opposite muscles to the normal unicycling leg muscles).
Being fit helps a bit as you can practise for a bit longer but it's probably a negligible advantage. Having a large area to practise, nice weather and free time are the biggest factors in learning.
There is a "unicycle levels" document on the internet. It's useful for suggestions for things to try at different difficulties. Just make sure you don't get too obsessed with the levels as unicycling is for fun, not to gain levels.
Little Paul - - Parent #
Unicycling uses far more core muscles than you might expect. Which is good.
As for buying advice, it's been about 10 years since I last bought a unicycle. I'm sure at some point Mïark will pop up and give an answer, when he does so, listen to him he knows what he's talking about. Possibly more so than most people.
A few extra things:
-Gumtree can be a good place to find cheap beginner unicycles
-When learning, go along with a wall next to you to get the feel of it, but try to move away from this as soon as possible so you don't become too dependant on it. Move onto using a lamp post instead, or going away from the wall.
-Yes, free mounting is harder than holding onto something to mount, but as soon as you start being able to ride just a little bit, put a bit of time into learning it. It can be very frustrating to learn it when you can already ride well.
As an aside, UniHockey is a way to improve your riding because when you fall off you focus on getting back on and back in the game.
When I fall off during unihockey I focus on adopting the fetal position, then only get back into the game when the coast is clear.
Maybe it is different with more players. I have only had the chance to play twice. Great fun both times.
Richard Loxley - - Parent #
Very true.
It also makes you forget that you can't do things. Or at least silences the internal monologue that says 'I can't do that' when in fact you can. You're so focussed on getting to the ball that you try stuff you didn't know you could do.
Hmmmm.... I had fantastic in asterisks there. Does the Edge strip 'em out for some reason?
Some stuff is stripped out (various tags, script etc.) but I don't remember writing anything to strip out asterisks or any other Gauls. Can you remember exactly what you posted?
Little Paul - - Parent #
Is this some side effect of the markdown parser?
*test*
Little Paul - - Parent #
*"FANSTASTIC" inside asterisks*
Little Paul - - Parent #
(markdown)
Little Paul - - Parent #
Yup, it's the markdown parser stripping out asterisks.
Can anybody ride one of these contraptions?
Yes, lots of people.
Buying
Make sure your first unicycle is a freestyle uni with a 20 inch wheel. With one of these you can do loads of different types of unicycling. But if you buy a specialist muni, trials, coker etc. you pretty much limit yourself to that type of unicycling. There's no point forking out a lot more money until you know what sort of unicycling you enjoy.
Owen is absolutely correct about cheap unicycles. A little bit of extra money seems to buy you a considerably better unicycle. But I'd still go with a cheap beginner's model at first. If you learn the basics (forwards, turning, idling, backwards & freemounting) you may find you have no desire to go any further. Unicycling is much harder than juggling, a *LOT* of people get unicycles but don't go beyond the basics. If you start learning freestyle tricks or start playing hockey then it's time to invest in something of higher quality.
If possible learn to ride on someone else's before you buy your own. Make sure they are fine with it, learning involves a lot of falls & can take quite a toll on a unicycle! The more proficient you are at unicycling the more you will get out of a test ride.
Learning to ride
Put all your weight in the saddle, not on the pedals. Lean forward from the hips not your chest (beginners often lean forward with their chest but stick their backside out which cancels out the lean).
Other than that just get on & do it. You will already know instinctively what to do, it is just a case of putting the hours in until your body can do it.
If you can join up with some friends to play unicycle hockey do so. It's hilarious. As are gladiators & Ceilidh dancing.
Cedric Lackpot - - Parent #
> Put all your weight in the saddle, not on the pedals.
No, don't do this. Put some of your upper body weight on the saddle, but ensure that you always have some downforce on both pedals. As you improve you will learn to put more of your body weight on the saddle, making it easier, but as a beginner you need plenty of weight on the pedals.
> Lean forward from the hips not your chest (beginners often lean forward with their chest but stick their backside out which cancels out the lean).
No, don't do this either. You don't lean, you lose your balance, but remain tall in the saddle as much as possible. Lean forward from the point of contact of the wheel with the ground, not from hips, tummy, shoulders, or anywhere else.
Not trying to diss Orin. He's just wrong. Twice :-P
We'll just disagree on the first point but your description of leaning is actually a better way of saying what I was trying to say. Beginners often put their chest in front of the wheel, but their arse behind the wheel. Owing to the way most unicycles are constructed if you put your hips in front of the wheel the rest of you is in the right place too (this is assuming you are riding forwards of course).
So yes, lean forward from the wheel!
Marvin, put a watch on UserID 5 please.
Learning to ride...
You have three points of contact and it takes all three to determine the position of the uni. Use them all.
At "rest" you would need to have your center of gravity in line with the seat post and the axel and that line would be vertical. Going forward means falling forward from the rest position and catching up to keep from falling by pedaling forward. Of course you can't actually rest while riding. When you are holding onto the wall or fence, rest with your pedals at 3 and 9 o'clock.
I was taught the word "fall" was a 4 letter f-word one should never say. The approved expression is "involuntary rapid dismount". You should practice to be able to dismount and catch the uni before the seat hits the ground.
Danny Colyer - - Parent #
I always teach people to practice falling off (and always, always to fall off forwards) before trying to ride.
The usual expression is UPD, which stands for unplanned dismount, although I prefer someone's guess that I recently read about at what it stands for: Unicycle-Pedestrian Downgrade :-D
Little Paul - - Parent #
I've heard the phrase "never fall off, always step off" which I quite like as a description of the dismount process.
Unicycling is a lot harder than juggling? I'd say that both activities are of infinite potential difficulty, as you can never learn either completely. Also, the time learning to unicycle vs 3 ball juggle (which is I assume what you meant) seems to vary wildly and some people do find unicycling easier, especially if they have a very confident approach to learning the unicycling!
Danny Colyer - - Parent #
Browse the forums at https://unicyclist.com/ for advice. You'll also find tutorials there.
Typing "unicycle FAQ" into your search engine of choice is likely to yield dividends.
I'll second Orin's advice to start with a 20" freestyle yike, unless you already know that you're interested in a particular style of unicycling (in which case you might prefer to start with a trials unicycle, or a 26" or 29" for off-roading, or a 29" for commuting). Generally, bigger wheels give a faster, more comfortable ride while smaller wheels are more manoeuvrable and easier to control. That is, until you start getting smaller than about 20", when the crank length and pedal width relative to the wheel size start causing stability problems.
If buying second hand, beware that a lot of cheap unicycles really aren't suitable for adult use. Often the seat won't go high enough or the saddle will be too small. A lot of cheap yikes are sold new with a warning that they're not suitable for riders weighing over 11 stone - you won't get that warning when you buy second hand. Your country's unicycle.com franchise will be a good place to buy new and to get buying advice. FWIW, the last two unicycles I've bought (for my wife and daughter) have been 20" Club Freestyles. They're good beginners' unicycles that should last a good few years beyond learning to ride as well.
Looking for a club near you is a good idea, as is getting into hockey at the earliest opportunity. Once you can ride a bit, hockey (apart from being great fun) really is the best way to develop your riding skills. You'll be focussing so much on the game that you'll find yourself forgetting the things that you can't do and doing them anyway.
Subscribe to this forum via RSS
1 article per branch
1 article per post