How to ride an electric unicycle - understanding the dynamics

[ir_fuel]

Well ....

short history: Started with an Inmotion V8. Switched to:

- Rockwheel GT16

- Gotway Mten3

- Gotway MCM5

- Ninebot Z10

 

Every wheel is different and it always takes a bit of getting used to when switching, but it only takes a minute or so when hopping from one on another, until  ...

 

yesterday I swapped wheels with my daughter. I rode her V5F for the first time. OMG what a weird sensation that was! It was as if I started riding euc's only a couple of days ago. Turning seemed impossible and I was constantly wobbling and needing to watch out not to fall when making big turns. Zero stability and confidence. The wheel felt "rigid" and "locked". I don't know how to express it but it was a very strange experience. I felt mechanically stuck. It's hard to put in words. I never felt this on any other euc I have ridden, and I have a bit of experience here (going from an Mten3 to a Z10 for instance, and even the MCM5, which is 14" like the V5F, I have no problems jumping on at all). Any other wheel I can hop on and ride on the streets. This one I would need a lot of time to get used to it before heading out on the road. Very, very strange. She rides it without issues.

 

Anyone else ever experienced this?

 

[Rywokast]

7 hours ago, ir_fuel said:

Well ....

short history: Started with an Inmotion V8. Switched to:

- Rockwheel GT16

- Gotway Mten3

- Gotway MCM5

- Ninebot Z10

 

Every wheel is different and it always takes a bit of getting used to when switching, but it only takes a minute or so when hopping from one on another, until  ...

 

yesterday I swapped wheels with my daughter. I rode her V5F for the first time. OMG what a weird sensation that was! It was as if I started riding euc's only a couple of days ago. Turning seemed impossible and I was constantly wobbling and needing to watch out not to fall when making big turns. Zero stability and confidence. The wheel felt "rigid" and "locked". I don't know how to express it but it was a very strange experience. I felt mechanically stuck. It's hard to put in words. I never felt this on any other euc I have ridden, and I have a bit of experience here (going from an Mten3 to a Z10 for instance, and even the MCM5, which is 14" like the V5F, I have no problems jumping on at all). Any other wheel I can hop on and ride on the streets. This one I would need a lot of time to get used to it before heading out on the road. Very, very strange. She rides it without issues.

 

Anyone else ever experienced this?

 

nope i love my v5f+.. why did turning feel impossible? turning on the v5f is a joy its so nimble with relatively high pedals

[ir_fuel]

55 minutes ago, Rywokast said:

nope i love my v5f+.. why did turning feel impossible? turning on the v5f is a joy its so nimble with relatively high pedals

It's hard to put in words. I felt stuck on it. Never had this on the Mten3, never on the MCM5, never on any other wheel I tried.

Maybe it's the extreme pedal angle.

[Rywokast]

5 minutes ago, ir_fuel said:

It's hard to put in words. I felt stuck on it. Never had this on the Mten3, never on the MCM5, never on any other wheel I tried.

Maybe it's the extreme pedal angle.

hmm strange not sure could be that.. i personally love angled pedals modified my other wheels to have more angled pedals

[ir_fuel]

I have no idea. I should film it. I think it will be quite funny to watch.

On one side learning to ride backwards with my Mten3 (and it's slowly getting better), on the other side barely able to turn on a V5F  

Maybe it's because the stance is super narrow.

[mrelwood]

7 hours ago, ir_fuel said:

Maybe it's because the stance is super narrow.

One thing comes to mind is tire pressure. An adult requires much more pressure than a kid weighing only a few lbs.

I have made an .xlsx file for rough tire pressure guide lines, you can find it in the forum downloads.

Edited August 2, 2019 by mrelwood

[erk1024]

7 hours ago, mrelwood said:

I have made an .xlsx file for rough tire pressure guide lines, you can find it in the forum downloads.

Wow! That's cool. Thanks!

 

[ir_fuel]

10 hours ago, mrelwood said:

One thing comes to mind is tire pressure.

Well. I didn't ride it but the wheel was at 0.7 bar. That's 10psi for all you savages here

 

[Mono]

12 minutes ago, ir_fuel said:

Well. I didn't ride it but the wheel was at 0.7 bar.

oups

[ir_fuel]

2 minutes ago, Mono said:

oups

Gonna try again with a bit more pressure. Might change the "locked" feeling. Just afraid my daughter will bounce around now  

[Rywokast]

3 hours ago, ir_fuel said:

Gonna try again with a bit more pressure. Might change the "locked" feeling. Just afraid my daughter will bounce around now  

uhh nobody should be riding with 10 PSI haha.. i keep my v5 at like 55 psi but for your daughter probably the lowest it should be is like 25

[ir_fuel]

On 8/2/2019 at 11:39 PM, Rywokast said:

uhh nobody should be riding with 10 PSI haha.. i keep my v5 at like 55 psi but for your daughter probably the lowest it should be is like 25

Well, that was it.

We went out for a ride yesterday and I tried again on her wheel. I could turn without issues. Pretty interesting experience  

[ir_fuel]

Amazing what a bit of off road riding does to one's confidence. I can highly advice anyone to visit the forrest or some trails with their euc (pad it up though!). I spent a couple of days there and now my standard lunch run which consists (partially) of riding approx 1 km over a very bad cycling path (concrete with holes, cracks and small rocks) goes a lot faster. Without forcing I ride over that same surface  5kmh/faster, simply because I am not stressed out about all the stuff going on below my feet. "It will handle all this just fine". Pretty amazing feeling.

[Retrovertigo]

Well I'm gaining confidence in my riding ability. Balancing and riding in a straight line isn't a problem at all anymore, and I'm pretty much there for smooth mounting and dismounting. But man I can't get my head around tight turns. Turning is what I'm focusing on right now, and I can turn, albeit with the turning circle of an 18 wheeler   The trouble is, it is mainly in my head, as I'm convinced it will just tip over. I'm using a Z10 and I imagine the weight of it is adding to that tipping feeling. But I have also seen plenty of videos where people almost look like they are dancing on these things, so I know it's capable. Just not sure how to sort my head out really, other than tough it out!

[mrelwood]

14 hours ago, Retrovertigo said:

But man I can't get my head around tight turns.

It requires a separate technique:

1. Let the wheel tilt between your legs. Practice when going straight so you'll see right away how well it works:

•  Position your feet a bit away from the shell.
• While riding slowly straight, turn your knees away from eachother a bit.
• Tilt the wheel between your legs, so that it will touch only your left leg, then only your right leg, etc. You do this by straightening the other knee a bit while bending the other.

2. Turn your head, shoulders, chest and mid torso first in the direction you want to turn to. Then let the wheel tilt between your legs to the direction you want to turn to.

Shouldn't require much practice, and you'll be turning on a dime in no time at all!

[Rywokast]

20 minutes ago, mrelwood said:

It requires a separate technique:

1. Let the wheel tilt between your legs. Practice when going straight so you'll see right away how well it works:

•  Position your feet a bit away from the shell.
• While riding slowly straight, turn your knees away from eachother a bit.
• Tilt the wheel between your legs, so that it will touch only your left leg, then only your right leg, etc. You do this by straightening the other knee a bit while bending the other.

2. Turn your head, shoulders, chest and mid torso first in the direction you want to turn to. Then let the wheel tilt between your legs to the direction you want to turn to.

Shouldn't require much practice, and you'll be turning on a dime in no time at all!

i always imagine the pedals are like something that can rock back and forth like an expression pedal, for a super tight turn i lean back (i always lean back on turns, not on a winding road but actual turns) lean back and say i want to turn right i will just push down with my right heel while raising my left leg, raising the left leg will cause it to lean to the right, but leaning back with your body while pushing down with your right heel hard will cause it to rotate in that direction and then you can centre your body weight over the wheel again to get going.. it takes some practice and good balance to get good but if you get good at it you can literally come up to a corner at speed, stop on the spot while at the same time rotating the euc and taking off in the direction you want to go.. basically turning right on the spot.. turning a corner like on the road or whatnot is just leaning in one direction, if a car can do it something you can carry in one hand on a single wheel can do it ridiculously easy, im talking like you come up to the edge of a cliff and have to immediately turn on the spot that kind of a sharp turn.. i have really good practice at it because the street where i come up to my house on the sidewalk looks like this, its very thin not even enough for two people to walk side by side with grass on either side.. i try to do it when theres no cars coming because they think im literally going to fly out into traffic but i practice by coming up to this corner at speed and then in the same motion coming to a near stop for a split second, rotating on the spot, and then taking off in the other direction.. probably looks really weird lol.. a u turn is a little different for that i dont lean back at all but i apply the same foot pressure as above but instead of just leaning the unit a little bit, lean it so much that its just before the pedals are touching, if youre really good at going slow you can do it on a sidewalk thats only wide enough for one person

[mrelwood]

 

Quote

If only you could reach your hand to the telephone pole while doing the turn... It would be like a Batman or Duck Avenger superspeed turn where you don't slow down or lean at all, but just grab the pole tightly until you face the correct direction! 

Edited August 10, 2019 by mrelwood

[Rywokast]

26 minutes ago, mrelwood said:

If only you could reach your hand to the telephone pole while doing the turn... It would be like a Batman or Duck Avenger superspeed turn where you don't slow down or lean at all, but just grab the pole tightly until you face the correct direction! 

lmfao that would be awesome just whip around it and slingshot off.. more likely i would just get ten splinters and tear my hand to shreads from the five billion staples in it xD

[Retrovertigo]

Cheers guys. I have a clearer picture in my head now of what I need to do. I'm sure I'll get there soon enough. At the moment I'm practising in the private car park here, but I am always conscious of the fact I don't want to come off and have my wheel hit one of the neighbours cars. I need a good empty space. 

I'll paint yellow lines there and tell them to park on the street  

[GMan]

 

I think the tutorials and videos are awesome and I found them immensely helpful. I did my first ride in the street with pedestrians and cars commuting back and forth to work today. It took me about 4 weeks practicing for about 20 minutes 3-4 times a week to get there. I’m in my 50’s; I don’t ski or snowboard and I failed miserably trying to learn skateboarding. My point is that with little persistence, anyone can learn. I learned by myself, using a wall to go a few feet at at a time. Once I could go straight 2p feet or so, I started practice starting then I added turning. I think the device is very intuitive to maneuver. I feel short practice sessions with breaks let’s your brain grow new neuronal pathways that enables this new kind of balance. It’s worth it. These things are great fun! 

[Retrovertigo]

I figured out what was stopping me doing tighter turns. My motorbike days had me doing something subconsciously. When trying to turn right for example, I realised I was putting pressure on the right footplate like I would do on the footpegs on a motorcycle. I didn't realise I was doing it at all.....but once I started thinking about what I was doing when turning, I realised why I was fighting the wheel as it wanted to actually go left instead. Weird how muscle memory works without you noticing. 

[GMan]

My issue right now is stopping smoothly. Right now, I start to slow down, the wheel starts to wobble and I wind stepping off while the wheel is still moving a bit. Then  I hop after for a step or two. Maybe come to a stop faster? Enjoying the InMotion V8 but it seems to struggle on inclines. I also experienced it tilting itself back up today. I must have approached it speed limit. It felt odd.

[Rywokast]

27 minutes ago, GMan said:

My issue right now is stopping smoothly. Right now, I start to slow down, the wheel starts to wobble and I wind stepping off while the wheel is still moving a bit. Then  I hop after for a step or two. Maybe come to a stop faster? Enjoying the InMotion V8 but it seems to struggle on inclines. I also experienced it tilting itself back up today. I must have approached it speed limit. It felt odd.

how long have you been riding? wobbling is purely down to being new/unfamiliar.. i think perhaps if youre still wobbling then coming to a stop faster might only worsen it and cause you to bail, dropping the wheel.. just practice doing it over and over until you get sick of it  i usually come to a complete stop and then step off with my left foot, but sometimes i slowly come to a stop with my left leg already off of the wheel and then stop with it basically already on the ground... you can also do a really fast stop where you kind of slam on the brakes and do a little hop off the wheel with one foot but i wouldnt recommend it until any wobbling ceases.. and yes, whatever you did take it easy and dont repeat it haha, tilting itself "back up" which is not the same as tilt back.. tilt back it would be level and then force you back causing it to slow down,, from what it sounds like tilting itself back up means you were very close to over leaning the wheel, which means you fall off face first, and unless youre going slow enough that you can run it off you are hitting the pavement every time and smashing the wheel,, best to avoid that xD

[GMan]

Thanks for the guidance! Yes, very new to this. I have only ridden in the street 4 times. I have been practicing several times a week in my multi level work garage. Riding “in the wild “ is much more challenging given the variation in terrain and other demands. I’ll be more careful with my lean and go back to the garage and practice stops.

[Rywokast]

7 minutes ago, GMan said:

Thanks for the guidance! Yes, very new to this. I have only ridden in the street 4 times. I have been practicing several times a week in my multi level work garage. Riding “in the wild “ is much more challenging given the variation in terrain and other demands. I’ll be more careful with my lean and go back to the garage and practice stops.

being able to stopping well and stop quickly is absolutely the most important thing for you and those around you  besides actually being able to balance of course haha,, good luck!