How to ride an electric unicycle - understanding the dynamics

[John Eucist]

Link to @tjcooper's referenced post above:

 

[electricunicyclelady]

Here is another great tutorial for beginners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8UtHOPqPZ4

 

I hope this helps!

Edited July 2, 2016 by Shoe73
Link to vendor page

[EricGhost]

Hi I've just received the 1rst euc of my life a ks16b 680wh, and after 3 hours of self training my memory  is fresh so here what I found helpful:

1 -have a look at some video on youtube or posted in this site

2 - I started in my car parking area but the success came when I moved to a roller skate park area, mainly because of the handrail running along the whole rectangular perimeter (about 15x30 meters), so I did not use lateral wheels and no strap, just a lot of padding on the wheel and protections for the body

3-started with one foot up and one down and performing arcs back&forward to get some feeling, like in the ninebot video

4- with help of the hand rail got both feet on the pedals with my toes out of the pedals so it's more more natural to push down your feet, like you're pushing on two car accelerators, it comes natural to move forward and accelerate. Remember to set the app bicycle mode on learning mode to have smooth acceleration/deceleration

5 - a lot of up&down along the shortest side of the roller park at arm length from the handrail and making a lot of usage (continous) of it at the beginning and then slowly slowly you start to feel it, the more speed the more stability, and you do not touch the handrail anymore

6- after 3hours I stopped satisfied to be able to run straight the park diagonal accelerating and decelerating and stop against the handrail (no collision) after reaching the alarm at 20kmh

7- still in my learning queue standalone start without handrail to mount on my euc, and of course the turning. But I'm happy of how the day ended as at the early beginning in the carparking I was depressed, my ski,roller/ice skating experiences looked like were not helping.

8 - anyhow before moving out of roller park area I want to reach a very high level of confidence 

key to success HANDRAIL, plus some bruises on my legs

Edited June 29, 2016 by EricGhost

[EricGhost]

On my second training day (2.5 hours) I tried to consolidate the situation with a lot of straight runs adding acceleration/deceleration control and while doing it always trying to increase the range between min speed to max speed without falls.

Toward the end of the training I added high radius curve attempts and attempts to start motion at very low speed while leaving the handrail, this I think will help when I'll try to learn the start from one foot on ground and one foot on the wheel without handrail support.

At 19:15 my daughter (24years) arrived for her 1rst runs, at 19:45 she was low in moral complaing that she could not stand and feeling not able to go straight always going in a lateral direction, in true she could not appreciate the small improvements of her body balance generated during the last half an hour attempts.

I told her it was better and not to give up and to continue trying betting that within 20:30 she will go straigth for  short travels.

Well at 20:23 she got her first 10mt run and at 20:35 I've a video were se perform the whole rectangular park curving too!! She is a very good skier too so maybe this help

key to success HANDRAIL, plus some bruises on my legs and not to give up attitude, your brain-body learns even if you do not feel it!

 

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2016 by EricGhost

[Jag_Rip]

I had good success training to run figure-8 on the euc. Large 8 at first and then try to get it smaller and smaller. Add a stop and go later on to it to train mounting at the same time. But yeah, hurt is part of the game, but its so rewarding afterwards

 

[EricGhost]

10 hours ago, Jag_Rip said:

I had good success training to run figure-8 on the euc. Large 8 at first and then try to get it smaller and smaller. Add a stop and go later on to it to train mounting at the same time. But yeah, hurt is part of the game, but its so rewarding afterwards

 

Looks like a good suggestion I'll put in my learning schedule.

on second thought after today I'll add before the 8, the O figure left/right with the same suggested technique

Edited July 1, 2016 by EricGhost

[Pingouin]

Hi,

I figured out that for me, learning to get on the EUC with the left and the right foot helps in confidence when getting on and off the EUC. We all have our favorite foot that we put on the pedal first, but I think it's worth trying to learn doing it with the other one, and not that hard.

[EricGhost]

Yesterday I get out of the roller park for the 1rst time.

In the previous days I performed a lot of O at very low speed and then a lot of 8 at low speed once I felt very confident at low speed I tried the standalone jump up & start without the handrail,I succeeded somehow after three attempts and then got it around the 10-15 attempts

Then I performed 4rounds of the park lane (about 800 mt), avoiding pedestrians and bikes

Today I travelled up to the nearest big park 3km by bike lane, then performed 3rounds of the park (about 5 km) and got back home so around 11 km without problems.

I have a lot to learn still but I can say that after 12 hours of dedication in boring exercises you can safely start to enjoy the wheel

Critical now are the downside slopes even if they are not so steep, while upside slopes came to me more easily

Edited July 7, 2016 by EricGhost

[animan]

After about a week of practice, today I was able to go round and round the parking lot. I was on the wheel for about 10 mins without needing to hop off. Needless to say I am really thrilled... the practice is paying off 

Now, I have started to practice mounting on the unicycle without assistance of a wall or pole. I have my right foot positioned correctly on the right pedal with the unicycle tilted at a diagonal to the right, right calf supporting the wheel. I now give it a gentle push forward and try to place the left foot and go. Problem is my left foot is usually way forward or back, never in the right position. One time it was so forward that I nearly tipped over while pushing off. I have managed to ride a little bit once or twice, but it's iffy at best... with me struggling to adjust the left foot constantly while moving.

What is the secret to having the 2nd foot positioned correctly? Would appreciate any tips on this.
Thanks
 

[MaxLinux]

11 minutes ago, animan said:

What is the secret to having the 2nd foot positioned correctly?

For me the secret was practice. At first, my second foot was almost never in the position I wanted. Gradually my success increased. Now I get my second foot in the position I want on the first try about 95% of the time. I am very bad at moving my foot on the pedal while in motion. I feel like I cannot keep the EUC under control while shifting my foot. Usually if I want to adjust my foot position, I either step off and back on again, or I find something to hold onto like a signpost or fence while I adjust my foot.

[The Fat Unicyclist]

21 minutes ago, MaxLinux said:

For me the secret was practice. At first, my second foot was almost never in the position I wanted. Gradually my success increased. Now I get my second foot in the position I want on the first try about 95% of the time. I am very bad at moving my foot on the pedal while in motion. I feel like I cannot keep the EUC under control while shifting my foot. Usually if I want to adjust my foot position, I either step off and back on again, or I find something to hold onto like a signpost or fence while I adjust my foot.

Yep. While it's possible to "wiggle" into my ideal position - it is so much easier to find a post to hold onto!

[Keith]

Like every other skill you need to learn by practice it is a "muscle memory" you will develop. Keep practicing and your foot will eventually land in the right place by itself almost.

For a very long time the large amount of street furniture we have meant there was always something nearby to lean on and I got lazy but also embarrassed as the only time I didn't have something to lean on was when stopped by people blocking my way, resulting in a "walk of shame" to the next lamppost. The only place there wasn't anything to hold on to is in my garden on the lawn, so I practiced out there helped by the soft landing if I got it wrong and hindered by the bumps. A local park would work just as well.

Try as I might I find riding one legged too painful, but I keep practicing that in the garden as well particularly whilst circling as that leans the wheel away from one leg. The useful outcome is I can now move one leg enough to adjust it while riding so practice that as well even if you have no intention of being the next Sideshow Reny or Hirsuite.

 

[animan]

I guess practice is it... no magic bullet. I did practice about 45-50 mins today, but mainly riding. Need to practice mounting as well so I don't feel embarrassed.

My TG-T3 went from full charge down to 1 bar in 50 mins...  time to look for another wheel  

[Chris]

For me to learn riding the big thing that made it all just click, was riding in a narrow long corridor. Narrow enough to be able to always reach both sides and keep your balance with help from the walls. 

I tried some other tips from the forum for a few days like riding next to a wall outside and riding circles around a big clothes hanger outside, but that just didn't do it for me. Mostly cause I couldn't keep balance for more than 3-5 meters. So my tip would be to go straight to a narrow corridor to learn balance first, helped loads for me! Having things to grab on just one side of you or having a strap (tried both) just hinders your learning process because you ride bent and unnatural. Also you don't need a strap to not scratch your EUC if you learn to dismount one foot early on, think big triangle when you dismount one leg and you're fine. Arms out on both sides, no straps and walls on both sides was what did it for me!

Edited August 27, 2016 by Chris

[Keith]

2 hours ago, Chris said:

For me to learn riding the big thing that made it all just click, was riding in a narrow long corridor. Narrow enough to be able to always reach both sides and keep your balance with help from the walls. 

a strap just hinders your learning process because you ride bent and unnatural. Also you don't need a strap to not scratch your EUC if you learn to dismount one foot early on.

Totally agree about using a hallway, due to heavy rain for the first couple of days I had mine, a hallway was the only place available and it helped enormously. By the time I was able to get out into the local park I could ride a good distance in a straight line and just needed to start working on turns.

However, everyone seems to misunderstand the use of the strap as your "bent and unnatural" statement shows. If you pull on the strap and use it as a balancing aid it does far more harm than good, if you ensure it is long enough to hold it loosely (but not long enough to go through the wheel) it prevents the wheel charging off and is a significant safety device. At least twice it prevented the wheel hitting a parked car and, when going faster and hitting the "wobble barrier" (I.e. Too fast to "dismount one foot" but suddenly wobbling so much you lose your balance) it stopped me faceplanting by pulling me up short as I flew off and the wheel fell over.

I kept a strap on for a couple of months, without it I would have been limited to the park for a hell of a lot longer as I'd have been too worried about damaging someone or something to use it to actually get from A to B. I only dispensed with the strap once I was sure I had speed wobbles mastered and sudden pedestrians, roots, speed humps, etc, etc were no longer a challenge.

[Chris Westland]

This has been a wonderfully helpful discussion for me.  I have about 3 hours of practice so far on my Airwheel X3 (about 45 min with training wheels, the rest natural).  The biggest problem I've had so far is one that hasn't been mentioned at all in this thread -- I have great difficulty getting the euc to move forward at any speed.  I can go backwards (but quickly step off because I'm not used to it) and I have pretty good balance.   But with or without the training wheels, I will push off pretty hard and move forward about 10-20 feet before I run out of speed.  I've tried weighting my toes and leaning far forward, but no matter how hard I try I have so-far been unsuccessful.  I'd be curious whether others have had this problem.  

I'm planning today to work through the triangle, etc exercises that this thread and videos have discussed and see where I end up after another few hours of practice.   

I learned to ride a motorcycle fairly late in life, and followed a similar path to the Airwheel, by reading everything I could get my hands on and putting them in practice (oh... and wearing protective gear).  I similarly found a huge amount of bad advice or incorrect science, and I've similarly found a lot of bad advice online with respect to euc's (in fact Airwheel's own instructions on riding their euc are sorely misleading IMHO).

Edited August 28, 2016 by Chris Westland

[Shoe73]

@Chris Westland Try moving your feet further forward on the pedals if you're having trouble going forward. Don't worry if your feet stick out a lot in front of the pedals. 

[Chris]

 

18 hours ago, Chris Westland said:

This has been a wonderfully helpful discussion for me.  I have about 3 hours of practice so far on my Airwheel X3 (about 45 min with training wheels, the rest natural).  The biggest problem I've had so far is one that hasn't been mentioned at all in this thread -- I have great difficulty getting the euc to move forward at any speed.  I can go backwards (but quickly step off because I'm not used to it) and I have pretty good balance.   But with or without the training wheels, I will push off pretty hard and move forward about 10-20 feet before I run out of speed.  I've tried weighting my toes and leaning far forward, but no matter how hard I try I have so-far been unsuccessful.  I'd be curious whether others have had this problem.  

I'm planning today to work through the triangle, etc exercises that this thread and videos have discussed and see where I end up after another few hours of practice.   

I learned to ride a motorcycle fairly late in life, and followed a similar path to the Airwheel, by reading everything I could get my hands on and putting them in practice (oh... and wearing protective gear).  I similarly found a huge amount of bad advice or incorrect science, and I've similarly found a lot of bad advice online with respect to euc's (in fact Airwheel's own instructions on riding their euc are sorely misleading IMHO).

I don't know where you ride but grass and gravel requires more effort to accelerate and maintain speed on. Maybe you should try a harder more even surface to practice on, I had problems maintaining speed on gravel when learning. It was like you describe about loosing speed, for me it was all an issue of failing to push the unicycle hard enough. The EUC just requires more when on those surfaces. Changing to a stiffer ride mode helped some for me as well, dunno if that's possible with airwheel x3 though!

@Keith Fair enough to not endanger others, but for learning I still think it's a misstake since it hinders the use of the arm you're holding it in. However maybe you could attach it to your belt, never tried that.

[Rehab1]

I believe in the strap method, just don't hold onto it! Run the strap through the belt on your pants. Make sure your belt is worn sung around you waist so you don't loose your pants if the wheel drops?

My feeling is your concentration should be fully directed at learning how to mount and ride the wheel. If your focus is divided between learning to ride and fear of dumping your wheel the learning curve will take much longer. @Keith, yes I agree holding onto a strap is counter productive. You need your arms free.

I use my strap when learning a new technique. Riding forward and reverse is one example where I used it. I know many people pad the heck out of their wheels for protection. For me I don't like the idea of my wheel flailing out of controller as it bounces around the ground possibly loosing internal components or worse cracking the shell. 

[Rehab1]

 

@ChrisI took a few photos and a video of the strap system I have used in the past on both my NB1 and V5F+. The belt strap approach leaves your hands free while first learning to ride.  On the NB1 I fastened the strap to the handle using a large wire tie wrapped around it. On both wheels the strap is fastened securely around my belt with Velcro fastening. There is enough slack left in the strap so you can easily stand upright.  Anytime I am trying out a new riding technique I use the belt/ strap method. This strap method would not be conducive if you are performing elaborate stunts like @Sidestreet Reny, @Hirsute or@Jonathan Tolhurst?

 

Edited August 29, 2016 by Rehab1
Edit

[Chriull]

5 hours ago, Rehab1 said:

I believe in the strap method, just don't hold onto it! Run the strap through the belt on your pants. Make sure your belt is worn sung around you waist so you don't loose your pants if the wheel drops?

I just put the end of the strap loosely into my pocket - imho fixing the strap to the belt is dangerous if you are running off at higher speeds. Then the EUC will not get loose behind and could destroy your legs/ancles/etc...

if the EUC gets loose in front of you the force of "ripping" the strap out of your pocket is enough to kick the EUC aside so it stops. And if something precious/valuable/sensible is in front of you one can grap the belt and stop the EUC immedeately.

[Rehab1]

@Chriull I never use the strap anymore except occasionally when learning new maneuvers or demonstrating like today. Yes I agree never use it going fast but I can see if the strap is not attached in some fashion it could easily become dislodged from your pocket without you knowing it and get caught in the wheel and instantly pull you down. There are so many methods so in my opinion what ever works best to help riders feel more relaxed and focused while learning. 

[Gormash]

My training experience was broken down into 10-20 minute sessions over about a weeks time right outside my garden. There I have a fence running about 10 meters at a slight incline, and right below that is a large open area where a road terminates with space for cars to turn around. Perfect for training as there's little to no traffic there.
Here's roughly how I trained:

- I started with the training wheels. 5 minutes the first day (had other obligations, just wanted to test it), then 15 minutes the next day. How to get on and off was really easy thanks to the wheels, I just had to control my speed forward and back. This ended with me faceplanting thoroughly when one of the training wheels suddenly dipped into a small pothole (about 2cm wide) and threw me off, giving me a shoulder injury that I still have to this day and might still have to put to surgery to fix. I threw the training wheels in the garbage bin after that.

- Next I tried practicing getting on and off while holding onto the fence. Once on the bike I slowly rolled forward and back while holding the fence. As I got more and more confident I let go while going forward, grabbing it again when I felt like I would tip over.

- On the open area I tried getting on the bike with no support. I used the triangle technique that I'd seen in various youtube videos. At first I praticed hopping on, and immediately tipping my weight back toward the side I had on the ground and set the foot back down again, without having rolled any forward. I did this for a few minutes until I felt I could place the foot relatively right on the pedal.

- I then started hopping on, and rolling for a few meters and stepping off (generous term that, "stepping off". Think "stumble like a running ostrich suddenly getting tripped").

What made it finally click for me with the last part there was two things:
1. I looked down, and as soon as I started lifteing my foot to hop on I raised my gaze and looked forward.
2. I set myself small tasks. Look at a shadow 10 meters away and task myself to drive there and come to a stop. Then the same back again.

These two things made me go from an immense clutz to a fairly safe amateur in about 10 minutes time. I still had a lot to learn and still kept pinching the wheel too hard with my legs, but I could suddenly ride the blasted thing! 
Once that hurdle was passed things accelerated quickly. Took me about half an hour to learn how to turn safely and efficiently.

All in all the entire learning curve, from beginning to the point where I could safely drive to work (1.2 km) took me aproximately 3 hours combined. I have no prior experience with skateboards, unicycles, windboards and any other balancing things.

Oh, and I used the strap, holding it in my hand. I've never had any trouble letting it hand slack from my right hand, using only my left arm for balance.

[Chris Westland]

On 8/28/2016 at 11:14 AM, Shoe73 said:

@Chris Westland Try moving your feet further forward on the pedals if you're having trouble going forward. Don't worry if your feet stick out a lot in front of the pedals. 

Thanks Shoe73.  I have a few more hours under my feet now, and most of my teething problems just resolved themselves with experimentation.  There is a learning curve.  Right now I am struggling with uneven surfaces, but as you go faster most problems seem to evaporate.  It is very useful for me to hear about the experiences of others.   Whether I use a technique or not, it is something to try out.   

[Silverbrewer]

Newbie here! (Few hours))

I can mount unaided, but it is more of a lift second foot into place, stand still for a tenth of a second like a demented pillock, then lean forward to get some movement.

Because of this duff method, the direction I end up going is somewhat arbitrary, but not bad.. in a quiet industrial estate I have been a total of a couple of miles with various wobbly turns, a road hump, up hills downhills and moments!!!

I need to develop a mounting process that is more a case of with one foot in place, launch forward gently and at the same time lift and place the second foot in a nice flowing movement, with me and the all equipment heading off as one in the direction I actually need to go!! 

My question is, relative to the direction you wish to go, where do you "throw" the initial body lean, to get the whole shebang (wheel direction, body launch direction and bloody hell, I've done it, direction to coelesse into the gracefull launches I see you guys doing :o( 

Is it a case of chest facing 5 degrees to the right of intended direction, throw body 2 degrees left of intended direction, then guide wheel right of intent, then left, then stabilise in the direction of travel....

or none of the above!!

Loving it so far.

Rog.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Silverbrewer