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How to ride an electric unicycle - understanding the dynamics


John Eucist

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56 minutes ago, Slaughthammer said:

I just managed to nail my first 180 turn without changing traveling direction. Took me quite a while, and I'm not sure I'll be able to pull that one off again next time I try...

I've tried that a few times, but the most I can turn is 120 so far.  I need to practice a lot more:P

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Still working on reverse. Pretty strange that it's not something (in my case) that seems to "click" like forward did. Every time I go out (didn't go out much lately, weather being horrible ...) it's better than before, but it's more a "linear" progress curve than all of the sudden BAM and I ride around the parking lot in reverse, as I did when learning forward riding.

There is some kind of balance issue though. Maybe I should film myself to figure it out. I can't, whatever I try, turn left in reverse. Right is not a problem. If I try left I need to jump off because I lose balance.

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3 hours ago, steve454 said:

It will come to you eventually.  Just a couple of minutes each ride practicing and little by little the brain understands the hip twisting needed to stay staight, then to make turns.  Filming yourself is a good idea,  I did that the other day and saw how much my arms were waving around.

Laugh at the end when I try to go up the two inch drop off and the wheel drops me

Filming yourself is very helpful, and has worked for me. You see all kinds of weird things that you do, and therefore can work on avoiding. You look like you're rolling down a window :P, but you know that and eventually it'll go away.

I definitely have a favored side when turning backwards. Turning to the left is my favored side, and therefore I'm making a point of turning to the right.

And now I'm working on 180 reversals, where you are riding forward, do a 180, and continue riding  in the same direction but backwards. I can do it now when my 180 is accomplished by twisting to the left, not really when turning to the right. Ug.

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10 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

I'm working on 180 reversals, where you are riding forward, do a 180, and continue riding  in the same direction but backwards. I can do it now when my 180 is accomplished by twisting to the left, not really when turning to the right

That trick looks like so much fun in videos, I want to learn that also.  

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  • 2 months later...
12 hours ago, Fortaye said:

Just received my first EUC, Tesla, today. I didn't get home till 10:30PM and got on it right away.  It was dark so I stayed in my backyard.  Was secretly hoping I was gonna just First Try this and get going. Instead I hobbled back and forth and held to the fence just to get both feet on the pedals.  Went back and forth a few times, I can't even move a few feet forward without losing balance.  Planning on waking up early before my doc seminar and putting some practice time in.  

It took me ~2 hours before I could wobbly ride down the street (no turning). After about 10 hours it started clicking.

Patience

And this is something that can't be rushed. Once you get tired, stop and give it a break. If you continue practicing when the body is fatigued things will go down hill quickly and opportunities for injuries will go up. I speak from experience :cry2:

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After cumulative two hours of practice, I seem to be a little "behind" where some people I see in videos.  I started off using railings and walls, but for the last hour really just focused on getting on the damn thing without support.  The walls and railing are crutches. I'm able to get on and off confidently with both feet, but I only then start moving forward one out of ten times. I am looking forward to more practice time and I am starting to see that a realistic time period to feel comfortable commuting (given my work and study schedules) is about a month of practicing. I know some may get there sooner but I don't have long chunks of time to devote to this and I am just being realistic. Also it's not just about moving and turning to comnute, it's about being able to ride defensively with other commuters and not worrying about endangering myself or others. 

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26 minutes ago, Fortaye said:

I seem to be a little "behind" where some people I see in videos.

You're not behind, you're absolutely typical. I felt the same way after 2-3 practices, but once I started to leave the railings and walls behind something 'just clicked' and I improved rapidly with every ride afterwards...

Once you leave your 'crutch' behind, you'll find yourself revising your learning schedule and commuting in no time. B) (We all felt the same way.)

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10 hours ago, Fortaye said:

After cumulative two hours of practice, I seem to be a little "behind" where some people I see in videos.

I don't think you are behind.

Your brain literally needs time to learn. Training a lot on one day isn't going to produce a big result til the next day (at the earliest). That's all. You could take a break for a week and still be much better when you try again then. 5 mins a day would work. Etc. So learning simply requires down time, not just training. Don't try to force anything, that's how you get a wipeout.

Another tip, as soon as you're on the wheel (if necessary by holding on to something, but a free start is better of course), GO STRAIGHT and GO FAST. Find a nice open, wide, straight road with no obstacles or mean-looking curbs to the side or such insecurity-producing distractions, and simply go fast. Step on and ACCELERATE. Faster is more stable and easier. Slow riding is much harder. Ignore doing curves and whatnot, simply try to get on the wheel and GO, as fast as necessary to stabilize you.

For braking (which is good to know how to do once you're at 15+km/h and realize you have no idea how to stop), simply bend your knees/begin to squat, it shifts your weight back and brakes you. It's a beginner and emergency technique that works. The rest (regular braking by subtly leaning back withut necessarily bending the knees much) comes by itself.

So to start riding, GO FAST and now you know how you can always brake if that's unclear.

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Probably the fastest and easiest (both) way of learning to ride an EUC is to have someone on another EUC ride alongside you holding your hand. I've done this a few times now, and I'm convinced what takes two hours might take just 15-20 minutes, with little to no drama.

The new person spends a lot of time on the EUC instead of falling off and getting back on. It's astounding how quick people learn this way.

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On 11/22/2017 at 5:16 AM, outcast00096 said:

Hey @Fortaye. I'm in Beaverton. We could meet up sometime and I can try to help you out. Easier to see what's going on if I'm in person. I'm more than happy to help a new rider get on their feet.

Thanks man! I may have to take you up on that offer. For now, with about three hours cumulative practice I am able to get on and off consistently, move forward, go back and forth in a parking lot (can't turn very well), and go about 100 yards at a time. I've been practicing 15-20 minutes at a time when I take study breaks. 

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I had to learn to ride solely relying on YouTube as a tutor... And it wasn't easy. 

I have also taught others to ride - and they leant much quicker (due to coaching). 

If you have a training opportunity, make the most of it.  

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As someone who has benefited tremendously from this thread (and the accompanying videos) I wanted to offer some tips that have worked for me.  I have learned through this thread that while there is a general path of development for many, there are significant differences in how people progressed and different "ah-ha" tips that have helped people.  So this is not intended to be a recommendation for how all riders might learn, but I am just sharing what worked for me. None of it is novel, it is a collection of many ideas already mentioned in this thread.

Practicing over days versus long blocks of time

This was a matter of reality for me rather than a specific strategy.  I do not have long chunks of time to devote to learning to ride my EUC, but I made it a point to put in 15-20 minutes every day.  What I recognized is that each time I jumped on there was always a new milestone I hit the next day.  This makes sense in that the learning is all about micro adjustments. Foot placement, leg relaxation, posture, etc.  

Getting away from the wall 

This is a common theme in other people's comments.  I started off on the wall because there wasn't any real way I was going to get on the thing without something to hold on to.  The wall was helpful in the very beginning, just to understand how shifting weight moves the EUC back and forth within a tight 3-5 foot area.  But that's it.  After that, I spent a cumulative hour or so just doing the triangle mounting technique.  This was by far the most frustrating time.  It's really disheartening to not even be able to stand on the thing. But one "ah-ha" moment for me was going into a big open space (for me, it was a parking lot) rather than being cramped by my backyard or even the street was not wide enough for me.  This gave me more space to fumble around.

Foot placement forward on the pedal

This was an "ah-ha" tip for me.  When I placed my feet far forward, I was able to mount and then move forward.  After a while I could hop on and off (not gracefully) but the wheel wouldn't move forward. Once I placed my foot further forward, I hopped on and was startled when the thing would move quickly ahead.  But the next day, my body was used to the forward movement.  I started staying on longer and longer and now can stay on moving forward forever if there aren't any obstacles.  Something about leaving it and coming back to it allowed me to get used to going further and further.

Squat backward to stop

While I'm learning just to tilt my pelvis back to stop, at first a simple way to learn how to stop was to just bend my knees and start to sit down.  This feels natural at first as a way to slow down if I felt I was going too fast.

Turning with my eyes and my hips

While generally I progressed to stop looking down on the ground, an "ah-ha" moment for me to learn how to turn is to stare at a spot on the ground ahead of me where I want the wheel to turn and then point my hips in that direction.  This allowed me to actually start controlling my turns rather than to feel like I can only go wherever the wheel takes me.  

I am now able to ride around the parking lot staying on for minutes at a time and able to turn the majority of the time, but being consistent in turning is my immediate goal right now.

And that's where I'm at now after a week and a half.  I still am looking forward to better controlling my turns and going for longer and longer rides.  I have to say, once I learned how to mount and then move the thing forward, that's when it started to become fun.  Before that, it was exhausting and disheartening.  Now I  feel that my twenty minute sessions are far more efficient.  The minor adjustments to turning and stopping and going are minor in comparison to the muscle memory needed to get used to getting on and off.  I still maintain my prediction: It will take me a month of practice (given my scheme of 15-20 minute daily practice) to feel comfortable with commuting to work (six miles in downtown traffic with bike paths).  I'll update as I continue to improve!

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hi, i'm new here and also a relative noob to EUCs. I just got mine last week (king song 14d) and wanted to chime in with my thoughts on learning in case anyone might find it useful.

I was able to feel mostly comfortable riding on the street/sidewalk in my hilly neighborhood after about 5 hours of practice, split up in about 1 hour each day over 5 days. I do electric skateboard and snowboard, so that probably helped a bit.

I found that the hardest thing by far was just getting on the thing, so I optimized my practice to get as many reps of that as possible. I found going and stopping fairly easy, so I didn't bother practicing that.

So I would get on, ride until stable (usually 5-10 ft), then just get off. Repeat many many times. It was boring and repetitive but it worked. Some key points about getting on that I learned:

  • When putting the first foot on, it helps if its all the way up against the body of the machine. Having the ankle and shin touching and putting pressure helps a lot with control
  • Foot should be slightly forward on the pedals, ie. heel should be closer to the pedal center than toes.
  • When pushing off with back foot, put pressure on the toes of the front foot. This will move the unit forward which makes it easier to balance
  • Place back foot on floor right next to the pedal. This will decrease the shift in center of mass when you get on
  • Push off slowly and smooth from back foot, going up on toes, then finally lifting foot off the ground. This avoids any sudden and large shifts in center of mass

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 11/28/2017 at 10:03 PM, Marty Backe said:

Be sure to practice all the mounts :)

 

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I just spit out my coffee @Marty Backe I pulled this up as I just got my Ninebot E+, as soon as you did the airplane roll I said what in the WORLD???? haha

However this and your other EUC mounting video did help a bit, going to try it hopefully tonight!

 

Thanks as always.

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52 minutes ago, aalenkin said:

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I just spit out my coffee @Marty Backe I pulled this up as I just got my Ninebot E+, as soon as you did the airplane roll I said what in the WORLD???? haha

However this and your other EUC mounting video did help a bit, going to try it hopefully tonight!

 

Thanks as always.

Glad that you got a kick out of it :D

Edited by Marty Backe
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