failing The Mullings of a Beginner

[meepmeepmayer]

Hm, take it as a positive. You learned under aggravated circumstances, so you learned faster. No better idea how to spin this lolYou must be really good indeed if the wheel was bad in your videos

It's not your fault, though, that this kind of crap can even happen. That's 100% on the manufacturers. Don't blame yourself. Yours was the worst case of pedal dipping/non-defective-wheel behavior that I've ever seen. Nobody could have expected that.

[seage]

On 1/13/2019 at 4:31 PM, Rywokast said:

took me about ten mins to learn on it.. i learned on a ninebot one though which has a thinner wheel so swapping over to the kingsong and other wheels was cake.. but i found its best not to do it on pavement when learning... just go to a big grass field and dont be afraid of falling, the preemptive hopping off is what will get you, you need to just stay on and dont think about falling, because even if you do youre on grass it wont hurt especially at the probably slow speeds youll be going.. i never got any bruising or sore legs like people talk about but i have tiny legs and so they rarely even contact the unit lol. but just put on some padding and go for it, dont think too hard and dont stop until you get it.. once you get it it just flips a switch and suddenly it seems like its so easy. if you know someone else who rides get them to show you some techniques and help you out, i have seen people take weeks to learn on their own whereas two of my friends i taught they were able to do it confidently mounting without holding anything etc within 15 mins, i mean theyre not going in any competitions that simply takes many hours of practice but they can hop on, (almost) keep up with me, and get off most of the time somewhat gracefully

I think i may be able to actually keep up now. Although, i see you're out in BC, are you in Van or like...the mountains? Lol. Because does Vancouver even get winter, or is it just extended fall? Over here, if i ride on the grass, i will break my bones, lmfaoo! The grass is harder than the pavement as its all frozen with pockets of ice. Its rock hard. I tried walking across it yesterday and it hurt my feet through my shoes. Its actually that bad, loll. But in spring/summer i would do that first. I learned to ride my bike on grass and it was perfect training to prepare me for the road, where it was like easy mode. Now that ive fixed my issues with my wheel, i wonder what the rides gonna be like. Ive only tested it in my basement, but even down there i was able to ride slowly around, which i couldnt do before. 

 

On 1/13/2019 at 4:33 PM, meepmeepmayer said:

This, very much. Get out of the kiddie pool, it just hinders you at this point. Go for real rides that challenge you. You won't believe how fast you learn then, you'll be much better at the end of one ride than at the start.

Now i can do that! I'm gonna take a little time to get used to the wheel again, and then im gonna actually start riding around. Im no longer worried its gonna drop me off on my face, into a hill. 

5 hours ago, Flying W said:

When I got my dad into these contraptions I had this whole itinerary in my head of how I would teach him. I dont known why I thought at 68 he would be any different than his norm dive right in self. He didnt want to hear anything, just did what @Rywokast said and went to a grass field, never held anything to get on the wheel, and fell off a bunch. Got shin checked by the pedals, and added a lot of tuck n roll for good measure. He did this for about an hr and a half but kept slowly getting a little further and then "click". He made his first circle on purpose and drove off the field and into the parking lot and came all the way back. Still bleeding in many places (his skin tears easy and he doesnt stop bleeding very fast) but he had the smile of a fresh addict!  Now we ride all over the place. 

Your dad sounds amazing! Haha. What a freaking trooper. Reminds me of my own dad. When he decides he wants to do soemthing, he doesnt even want to hear what i have to say. Hes jumping on and taking heavy hits before figuring it out and flexing on me. Thats so funny though. Im just imagining him happily riding around gashed up. Sounds like a character from an anime  

5 hours ago, Flying W said:

I was a little different, I had read up on how to ride these waiting for mine to show up in the mail. Got on it at a little league field holding the home run fence and planned on using the fence to help. Took off, machine leaned to the right and I drove into the out field.  Arm waving and hip twisting kept me on it and I made it back almost to the fence and walked off. Said to hell with the grass and took it to the side walk. Mounted using a light pole and took off. It felt like a mix between rollerblading and skiing. It had been 20 yrs since I had a pair of rollerblades on but the brain remembers. 

Thats kinda what happened with me. I was ready and watching videos in anticipation. And then started super slow. Then my brother comes along with no knowledge, fights with it for a few mins then just gets it and click. I can understand why he could still ride it even though it wasnt calibrated correctly. Even still he trusted the wheel. Didnt care at all. I was filled with doubts and fears and bailed anytime it felt off. I cant really describe what it feels like for me when it finally clicks. Its like gliding, i guess. 

5 hours ago, Flying W said:

So far the only time I've hit the ground was about a month in. I call this the "I got this phase". Went to pass a jogger on a 2 track at a pretty good speed (wheel log showed about 18mph) but the middle of the 2 track was sand. The wheel turned what felt like 90 degrees and I kept going forwards landing on my airbag (belly) elbow pads and knee pads.

It's funny, I ride a lot better now but I go slower in the dirt than I did before the belly flop.  

Lmao! I've heard so many stories on here about this exact thing. Its the showing off thing where people just eat dirt. Pretty much always infront of people, haha. I was even warned by someone that im gonna experience a big fall once i feel confident and attempt to then ACT confident infront of people. I was like, damn, is it that common?

4 hours ago, houseofjob said:

LOL, I remember this phase.

Most of my early falls were due to passing by people saying "cool", which tickled my show-off bone. There's nothing worse than ending up on the pavement, being asked by the same people if you're alright, when only your ego is the thing hurting the most 

Lmao, yikes! I guess im lucky that i just feel self conscious when people look at me in anticipation that i'll do something cool, since I couldnt even mount the damn wheel LOL. 

 

4 hours ago, Major Bathos said:

I said that to my girlfriend once... I'm no longer dating her. 

lmao!

[seage]

7 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Hm, take it as a positive. You learned under aggravated circumstances, so you learned faster. No better idea how to spin this lolYou must be really good indeed if the wheel was bad in your videos

Haha, thank you! Honestly, I've been feeling good about it all day. Im not even bothered about the days spent fighting with it. Im looking forward and im happy I can now have a "safe" ride and work on improving properly. Everyone who saw the videos were like "wow...yeah thats not normal........"

8 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

It's not your fault, though, that this kind of crap can even happen. That's 100% on the manufacturers. Don't blame yourself. Yours was the worst case of pedal dipping/non-defective-wheel behavior that I've ever seen. Nobody could have expected that.

Damn. I didnt realize it was that bad. (Well up until my wheel did a combat roll when i tried to get on it). But i wasnt sure if the videos would showcase what i was trying to say properly, because i had nothing to compare it to. Only just speculation that this HAD to be wrong. Im happy I was right and was able to fix it, because if that was actually how the wheel was supposed to handle, i was gonna just give it to my brother and buy some running shoes, haha. 

[Smoother]

Sorry. I read your reports of dipping pedals and forgot to add it to my list of advisals.  It crops up here weekly, and as a matter of fact,I was advising someone of it just last week.   Anyway, glad you got it sorted.  Now you can really ride.

[Flying W]

@seage that's great you have proper calibration now. I messed mine up before I even stood on it adjusting the pedal angle with it leaning on a wall. 

Mine was not as bad as yours at all so I put 200 miles on it before I got it right.  On right turns the pedals would dip slightly, on lefts they would tilt back slightly. I calibrated it multiple times with a level to change the angle and it worked great every time. 

Has your dad given it a try yet? I cant imagine anyone not loving it! 

 

[seage]

13 hours ago, Smoother said:

Sorry. I read your reports of dipping pedals and forgot to add it to my list of advisals.  It crops up here weekly, and as a matter of fact,I was advising someone of it just last week.   Anyway, glad you got it sorted.  Now you can really ride.

I figured it would after finding out the solution. I thought that I was doing it properly, so i didnt question that it was wrong. So i instead blamed it on my own instability, until the roll that is. Then i was like...ok, this things broken.....................

13 hours ago, Flying W said:

@seage that's great you have proper calibration now. I messed mine up before I even stood on it adjusting the pedal angle with it leaning on a wall. 

Mine was not as bad as yours at all so I put 200 miles on it before I got it right.  On right turns the pedals would dip slightly, on lefts they would tilt back slightly. I calibrated it multiple times with a level to change the angle and it worked great every time. 

Thanks! And I see. Yeah, I think if mine was a bit less garbo, i would have ridden on it for a long time before realizing. But it lett me know when it rolled me and just went straight down, haha. I was like, yeah, no, this is wrong, haha. I wanted to get outside today to ride but was in meetings all day, and now its all rainy and freezing cold...ugh.....

14 hours ago, Flying W said:

Has your dad given it a try yet? I cant imagine anyone not loving it! 

He hasnt. He seems interested, but im not sure HOW interested. He road bikes, and hes actually got way more endurance than me. I can beat him on a sprint, but he'll blow past me on any hill and outride me in distance. So he may be interested. I'll bring it up in the summer XD. 

[Rywokast]

20 hours ago, seage said:

I think i may be able to actually keep up now. Although, i see you're out in BC, are you in Van or like...the mountains? Lol. Because does Vancouver even get winter, or is it just extended fall? Over here, if i ride on the grass, i will break my bones, lmfaoo! The grass is harder than the pavement as its all frozen with pockets of ice. Its rock hard. I tried walking across it yesterday and it hurt my feet through my shoes. Its actually that bad, loll. But in spring/summer i would do that first. I learned to ride my bike on grass and it was perfect training to prepare me for the road, where it was like easy mode. Now that ive fixed my issues with my wheel, i wonder what the rides gonna be like. Ive only tested it in my basement, but even down there i was able to ride slowly around, which i couldnt do before.

vancouver island.. i call it winter its cold af.. like 8 degrees C  not compared to the rest of canada though.. of wow, thats crazy lol, i havent seen ice this year or last

[seage]

6 minutes ago, Rywokast said:

vancouver island.. i call it winter its cold af.. like 8 degrees C  not compared to the rest of canada though.. of wow, thats crazy lol, i havent seen ice this year or last

LOL! Im so jealous! Today we got a high of 1C and i was dancing around my house, couldnt wait to get outside and enjoy the heat, haha! We're hitting -21C this weekend. I'm not looking forward to it. 

[Rywokast]

9 minutes ago, seage said:

LOL! Im so jealous! Today we got a high of 1C and i was dancing around my house, couldnt wait to get outside and enjoy the heat, haha! We're hitting -21C this weekend. I'm not looking forward to it. 

i would literally die, im wearing like six jackets, toque, gloves and still freezing my ass off.. i hate the cold!!

[Major Bathos]

31 minutes ago, Rywokast said:

toque

How much trouble would I be in if I pronounced it as 'toke'?

[Rywokast]

4 minutes ago, Major Bathos said:

How much trouble would I be in if I pronounced it as 'toke'?

id fire a harpoon at you from my igloo

[seage]

Keeping up my studying, even when its icy and cold outside. I watched this ollld video from speedyfeet and in it he gets up on his wheel from a complete standstill, so i figured id try from a slow start. Just to see if i can, haha. I got it a few times. I figure if i get some speed even after a bad step up, i can fix my feets placement. 

 

[Smoother]

9 hours ago, seage said:

Keeping up my studying, even when its icy and cold outside. I watched this ollld video from speedyfeet and in it he gets up on his wheel from a complete standstill, so i figured id try from a slow start. Just to see if i can, haha. I got it a few times. I figure if i get some speed even after a bad step up, i can fix my feets placement. 

 

You're exhibiting some advanced skills there.  Being able to step on like that at low speeds is a great thing to learn and will boost your outside training immensely as you wont have to trolley back to some place in order to get back on.  The only thing holding you back now is the weather. Looking back on my learning, I wish I had learned that skill, early, and not weeks later.  Having to find a launch aid all the time became a real pain in the ass.

[RoadRunner]

Another good tip, get those XL Pedals, received mine yesterday and just did a little testride.

And man they are so great.

[seage]

7 hours ago, Smoother said:

You're exhibiting some advanced skills there.  Being able to step on like that at low speeds is a great thing to learn and will boost your outside training immensely as you wont have to trolley back to some place in order to get back on.  The only thing holding you back now is the weather. Looking back on my learning, I wish I had learned that skill, early, and not weeks later.  Having to find a launch aid all the time became a real pain in the ass.

Im trying to treat this as i treat everything im studying for the first time. Just drilling the foundations. We got snow today, haha. So im still locked inside. Its super windy and slippery. Just gonna do the most I can until I can get back outside. Funny thing. I've started to work out since getting the wheel. Stretching and working out as i got annoyed with all the huffing and puffing i was doing while learning to ride it in the beginning. So at least i have more to do during this horrid weather XD. 

And yeah. After surveying my own street and realizing theres almost nothing good to hold on to to get on the wheel, i decided its probably best for me to get better at this. Hopefully with time my success to failure ratio will get smaller, haha! 

7 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

Another good tip, get those XL Pedals, received mine yesterday and just did a little testride.

And man they are so great.

Are the bigger pedals really good? My buddy got some and said he liked em too. If so i should put in an order now, haha. 

I'm not sure if it would matter for me at my level XD. What do you guys think?

[meepmeepmayer]

Bigger pedals will help at any point. Better control (I guess), more relaxed stance, less foot fatigue. Things a new rider will appreciate especially much. If I were you, I would have ordered yesterday. With apologies to your wallet

[RoadRunner]

2 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

If I were you, I would have ordered yesterday

Oh yeah 

[seage]

2 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Bigger pedals will help at any point. Better control (I guess), more relaxed stance, less foot fatigue. Things a new rider will appreciate especially much. If I were you, I would have ordered yesterday. With apologies to your wallet

Seems to be out of stock or not listed on the sites i checked

Until Feb. Damn, haha. 

[Flying W]

The XL pedals are awesome! I keep looking for a heal toe shifter 

[RoadRunner]

21 minutes ago, seage said:

Seems to be out of stock

I got them from 1radwerkstatt here in Germany, he’s got them in just a few days ago.

I am in good contact with him and i can ask him tomorrow if he will ship them to what price, if you want.

Youre in Toronto right?

[seage]

34 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

I got them from 1radwerkstatt here in Germany, he’s got them in just a few days ago.

I am in good contact with him and i can ask him tomorrow if he will ship them to what price, if you want.

Youre in Toronto right?

Thanks mate! I actually just talked to the guy who sold me my wheel, and he was putting in an order for a broken piece on my euc, so hes getting the pedals at the same time. XD. Im all sorted, just have to wait a bit. Thank you though! 

[LanghamP]

5 hours ago, seage said:

 

And yeah. After surveying my own street and realizing theres almost nothing good to hold on to to get on the wheel, i decided its probably best for me to get better at this.

I would get bigger pedals as well but at your crash level I would put many strips of duck tape on the bottom and corners just to reduce the wearing away of metal. Later you can remove the duck tape. The hinge where the pedal meets the wheel is more problematic because you cannot pad that part up.

Mounting and then riding off is an extremely complicated action. You have to get above stall speed while riding one legged for a short time, and jamming your foot is a real possibility.

Honest to God, I think rolling the damned wheel then hopping on was easier.

When I got my first wheel I encountered a semi-pro surfer. He stepped on the wheel when immediately hopped off, studied it for a few seconds, then hopped on and got it, including turning on the sidewalk. In retrospect, he must have already known how to ride a regular unicycle.

[Flying W]

26 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

In retrospect, he must have already known how to ride a regular unicycle.

My friend who is also my boss rides a regular unicycle. Hes been riding them since he was 12 and hes 54 now. He did almost the same thing. Used a wall to get on and idled a little to see what it would do then he just rode off twisting his hips.  He made a sloppy u turn and came back, started riding in a fairly small circle that smoothed out really well. 

Then he gave it back "before I hurt myself" haha. 

I tried his real unicycle, the skill does not transfer the other way very well at all 

[Smoother]

21 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

 If I were you, I would have ordered yesterday.

I "ordered" mine 9 months ago, been loving them ever since.

[Paul2579]

I started riding last week (18XL) and was able to stay on the wheel for as long as I wanted after about an hour, thanks in no small part to the tips on this forum.  But much like with a motorcycle, I feel like I could spend a lifetime exploring the dynamics of the wheel.  (Which is the fun part!) The "OMG what have I done" phase was mercifully short, but memorable enough to make me empathize with this thread.  The question I asked myself at that time was:  "Does anyone ever not learn how to do this, or is it like riding a bicycle, which 99% of the able-bodied people seem to be able to do?"  I realize this is a self-selecting group and therefore not representative of the population at large, but what is the collective wisdom here?  Do some folks try to pick this up and then have to walk away because they find it impossible?  From my lurking around here and elsewhere, I've never seen it suggested that someone who was motivated to learn might nonetheless not be able to.  (In which case, as I told myself at that time--there really is nothing to worry about )