Day 2 struggling with the 18xl

[RoamBot565]

This is my first post in the forum, looking forward to engaging more now that I actually own an EUC. Been lurking for a bit.

Anyway, I got my 18xl yesterday, and I was super stoked. Got all geared up, went to an empty parking lot. I was out there for 2 hours, and left feeling astonished that people actually ride 30+ miles. Lol. Wow. 

Today was day 2. I practiced earlier in the day, started getting a little distance out of the wheel, instead of losing control immediately. Worked on mounting and dismounting in my garage, then managed to go up and down the street a few times. Even went around the block!

Had a few moments of critical frustration earlier today. Crashing over and over was grinding my gears, plus having to re-hook my neoprene cover every time was bothersome. That being said... When I finally got around the block, it was one of the most satisfying feelings ever. Can't wait to keep learning.

What were your biggest game changers while learning?

My biggest realizations thus far are:

- shifting my feet out from against the wheel and into a wider stance feels more stable, but scarier.

- practicing mounting and dismounting on both sides has been SUUUPER helpful.

-focusing on keeping my hips and waist stationary and flexing the glutes seems to help balance.

If anyone reads this and has a neoprene cover, any recommendations to keep it on better? Feels like dang near every time my wheel tumbles, I have to re-attach it underneath the pedals. I suppose I could glue it on, but I'd still like to be able to remove it for potential maintenance.

[Ben Hatfield]

5 hours ago, RoamBot565 said:

If anyone reads this and has a neoprene cover, any recommendations to keep it on better? Feels like dang near every time my wheel tumbles, I have to re-attach it underneath the pedals. I suppose I could glue it on, but I'd still like to be able to remove it for potential maintenance.

I've glued velcro to the shell of my 18XL (loop) and to the inside of the roll.nz case (hook) - just a few places around the bottom of the wheel will help hold the case in place.   That way the case can be removed, but is also held in place with the velcro.

With regard to starting out - I'd recommend a narrow stance where you can really control the wheel with your legs.  As you gain comfort, you can experiment with different foot positions, but having better control of the wheel is helpful in unpredictable situations.

I agree with tons of practice with mounting, dismounting - and control of the wheel with a single leg.  (generally speaking) I found it was good to have a mix of exploring, and riding slow in places like parking garages to help gain all around skill.

[meepmeepmayer]

Hiyo!

Learning takes time, and the 18XL is one heavy mofo. From your descriptions you're doing good. Just practice and don't forget to enjoy the experience and stop when you don't. Even on off days your brain is processing all the new information, and the next time you ride you're suddenly better.

8 hours ago, RoamBot565 said:

If anyone reads this and has a neoprene cover, any recommendations to keep it on better? Feels like dang near every time my wheel tumbles, I have to re-attach it underneath the pedals. I suppose I could glue it on, but I'd still like to be able to remove it for potential maintenance.

Since this is only a temporary situation, lots of duct tape (gorilla tape kind of thing) is your friend. After one or two weeks you can remove it.

[DjPanJan]

8 hours ago, RoamBot565 said:

 

If anyone reads this and has a neoprene cover, any recommendations to keep it on better? 

for bodyguard use 2 sided tape help keep on place.

You need sleep to be better. Everytime you sleep after EUC training next day is all more easy sleep is best euc learning hack!

Play with PSI learn on 40 psi is dificult compare to 35 psi. More psi more nimble EUC is you need find ideal for you. 

And superimportant not look down never! Look/focus you eyes on object 5-10 meter distance and tell you brain i want ride to this object and just go not look down! this is common mistake

One more gamechanger is not mount hard.(example you left leg is on euc and right in air to land on right pedal make this landing soft not hard hit). Hard "landing" foot change EUC direction and you lose ballance ! 

(forum advice use hearth icon righ corner for answers you like and what help you)

And last euchack is . .. . . . . .. . . NOT SHAKING HANDS keep hand in chill.

People around me what learn or try EUC prefer hard pedal settings my recommendation is same use hardest possible mode.(is not dogma everybody is unique) My opinion harder mode better control and faster learning.

 

[RoamBot565]

Thanks for the advice everyone!!

Definitely is one heavy mofo, one of the biggest struggles is holding it up with one leg before mounting lol.

So I just got back from a lil ride, I decided to make today kind of a rest day, cause I practiced so much the past two days. Bruises allllll over the inside of my legs lol. Sleep definitely helped, I can tell that I'm way more comfortable than I was yesterday.

I was able to get around the block twice, only had to stop one! I'm starting to feel how to correct the wheel when it turns suddenly, and I'm getting more comfortable with feet placement.

I'm definitely going to get velcro or double sided tape for the cover 🐱 I hate adjusting the dang thing lol.

Thanks again everyone, I hope you're all having fun times riding your wheels! The longer I'm able to stay on mine, the more I enjoy it lol

[Unventor]

On 8/24/2020 at 3:46 AM, RoamBot565 said:

What were your biggest game changers while learning?

Taking breaks and reviewing video of what I were doing ASAP I stopped practicing. 

10-15min practice and wait until next day. 

Due to weather/late wintertime once I could go outside made it easier and picking up a little speed 15-20kmh.

I am not ambixed rider still after 6000kmh and 2.5 years of riding. I had goals set to learn this this summer then covid-19 came... Maybe next summer or this autom. 

I don't hug my KS18L when riding it. It floats between my legs but I do lean it when doing speed long curve turning. I like to have my EUC bodyguard on it. It helps me being connected with the wheel. 

I used to stand precisly parallel feet on it.

- [] - 

Not any more. I started riding on foot infton and the other behind. The front foot being my gas pedal and the brake the rear foot (my dominent leg).

- [] _

 

But getting my KD16X made me shift style and not the V11 even enforces this to being more so due to pedal angle. I now use a duck feet stand. 

\[] /

In time you will find what you like best. And it come down to how defensive or aggressive you ride I belive. 

You just keep going at it. But it took me about 2500km to get unconscious body reaction in no mater what situation the cough me off by suprise. I think my old bicycle days made it harder to reprogram body reaction so they worked for me and not against me. 

Right now I am partly relearning this again due to V11 and how the suspension feels, reacts and helps out. 

[RoamBot565]

20 hours ago, Unventor said:

I don't hug my KS18L when riding it. It floats between my legs but I do lean it when doing speed long curve turning. I like to have my EUC bodyguard on it. It helps me being connected with the wheel. 

So, to update:

I just went on a 20 mile trail ride with my brother yesterday. I was nervous because previously the longest I had gone was 5 miles, around the neighborhood.

Not gonna lie, it was fantastic practice (and a ton of fun!). Also, I feel a lot more confident. I'm still playing around with my feet angle, like you suggested. And also trying not to grip the wheel hard, but let it float. Those things are still a little hard.

But all the basics are really clicking with me. I can turn, go over bumps, speed up and stop no issues. I think the biggest challenges are feet placement and speed wobbles. When I get above 15mph I start to feel some wobbles.

Thanks to everyone for the advice and replies! All the advice and perspectives helped me a lot improve my riding 😸 I'm happy to say that I am no longer struggling with my 18xl, but rather I'm now enjoying the shit out of it!! Haha.

[Unventor]

4 minutes ago, RoamBot565 said:

Thanks to everyone for the advice and replies! All the advice and perspectives helped me a lot improve my riding 😸 I'm happy to say that I am no longer struggling with my 18xl, but rather I'm now enjoying the shit out of it!! Haha.

This is what it is all about. And itt only gets beter from here on out. 

I too were struggling a bit with foot placement. It were super important to avoit wobble for me. But as I tide more I started to loosen up and relax more. And that is when the wobbles magically vanished. But I get them if my legs are tired. That is why I in general don't do 40+ km tours. 

Looking forward for more stuff from your on how this this taking you out to explore. 

[wheel-life]

20 miles a week after Day 1?? wow, well done! I can't even imagine that rate of progress after struggling with my 16X on my first day today. I've watched so many beginner videos and read so many people talking about how hard it is to learn but I still couldn't fully appreciate the difficulty this was going to be. I tried for about 15-20 min tonight and had to call it a day.

[UniMe]

I got my XL on July 21st, it didn't occur to me that starting on a smaller wheel might be easier. In the end, a good thing as now that I'm rolling the XL feels very 'middle of the road'. It's stable enough, has decent range, adequatepower to get everything done that I've tried so far.

I can roll around in circles, do tight ankle turns, steep inclines/declines etc. I practiced every 2-3 days and am up to about 180k on the wheel so it will unlock to the full 50kph soon. these days I'm cruising a lot around 35kph, with the beeper set at 36 as the tiltback will happen at 40 as it's still speed limited. When on the road I'm bumping against the beeper constantly. Considering I started at 17kph and thought that was fast, and inched it up a few kph at a time, it's surprising how settled and normal riding at 35 feels now...!

[PLEASE_DELETE]

Deleted.

Edited March 18 by PLEASE_DELETE

[houseofjob]

On 8/23/2020 at 9:46 PM, RoamBot565 said:

This is my first post in the forum, looking forward to engaging more now that I actually own an EUC. Been lurking for a bit.

Welcome! 

 

On 8/23/2020 at 9:46 PM, RoamBot565 said:

- shifting my feet out from against the wheel and into a wider stance feels more stable, but scarier.

On 8/30/2020 at 11:04 AM, RoamBot565 said:

But all the basics are really clicking with me. I can turn, go over bumps, speed up and stop no issues. I think the biggest challenges are feet placement and speed wobbles. When I get above 15mph I start to feel some wobbles.

Keep doing this (wide stance).

It's more important that the heels are wide, not necessarily the toes, as my feet while riding are like @Unventor says, "duck feet": toes narrower than heels. This positioning allows you; with alternating weight emphasis of ball of one foot (knee bent), heel of the other foot (leg straight), then switch; to rock / dip the wheel. I never think of operating the wheel body fully erect and upright, always leaning one way or the other. The byproducts of this are sharper turning, and having the wheel body leaning one way or the other, the weight compensation of the heel emphasized, locked leg foot will create a vibration dampening that eliminates speed wobbles. Speed wobbles happen because, when the wheel body and rider are both fully erect and upright, any slight waver in maintaining equal weight in both feet (due to fatigue or an unforeseen bump, etc) can cause a wave of wobble alternation compounded by the natural gyroscopic force of a spinning wheel, a force that increases with higher rotational speed .

 

On 8/23/2020 at 9:46 PM, RoamBot565 said:

-focusing on keeping my hips and waist stationary and flexing the glutes seems to help balance.

Think of how your body balances off the wheel, say riding a shaky subway, board etc. While yes, the hips and waist being centered, glutes flexed will help, the real main balancing mechanisms are utilizing a bent knee (doesn't have to be both at the same time) and balancing on the balls of your feet (doesn't have to be both at the same time). EUC is no different.

Edited September 1, 2020 by houseofjob

[Darrell Wesh]

24 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

the weight compensation of the heel emphasized, locked leg foot will create a vibration dampening that eliminates speed wobbles. Speed wobbles happen because, when the wheel body and rider are both fully erect and upright, any slight waver in maintaining equal weight in both feet (due to fatigue or an unforeseen bump, etc) can cause a wave of wobble alternation compounded by the natural gyroscopic force of a spinning wheel, a force that increases with higher rotational speed .

Ah, the scientific way of saying it. I tell people that they wobble because they’re trying to keep the unicycle balanced straight. A unicycle is designed to be unbalanced, the very nature of how we turn and accelerate is through the destruction of balance.
 

To be one with the EUC is to be comfortable in the most unbalanced positions, and uncomfortable when balanced. 

[RoamBot565]

1 hour ago, manieuc said:

20 miles a week after Day 1?? wow, well done! I can't even imagine that rate of progress after struggling with my 16X on my first day today. I've watched so many beginner videos and read so many people talking about how hard it is to learn but I still couldn't fully appreciate the difficulty this was going to be. I tried for about 15-20 min tonight and had to call it a day.

Ooooo trust me, trust me. On Day 1 I couldn't imagine riding more than 100 feet without careening to my death. 😹

I definitely got obsessive. It pissed me off to no end when I got my wheel, that I couldn't ride it. So I drilled pretty hard with it when I got it. Lots of cussing and crashing haha. You'll get it I promise! It's super challenging at first though.

56 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

Welcome! 

Thank you! And thank you so much for the tips! I'll work on implementing wide heels and see how the difference feels 😊 I've noticed the advantages of bent knees for sure, that's been super helpful for things like turning!

 

1 hour ago, UniMe said:

I got my XL on July 21st, it didn't occur to me that starting on a smaller wheel might be easier. In the end, a good thing as now that I'm rolling the XL feels very 'middle of the road'. It's stable enough, has decent range, adequatepower to get everything done that I've tried so far.

Considering I started at 17kph and thought that was fast, and inched it up a few kph at a time, it's surprising how settled and normal riding at 35 feels now...!

Wow! Yeah, the 18xl is a heavy beast to start with, but honestly I'm loving every aspect of the wheel. It's way more power than I need, more range than I can handle, and I've only hit 24mph briefly on my wheel. When I try to sustain the higher speed I get wobbles. But I'm sure they'll go away in time 😊

[UniMe]

There are some good threads here about wobbles. I get more wobbles when I try to ride in a straight line, less contact patch and the wheel just performs better when loaded more on either side. Small 'carving' movements help a lot. At first I would also start to get tense when they started, with the idea that I could make them go away by clamping down on the wheel and making my body rigid (think dead sailor). This is actually the opposite of what turned out to work... it's the loose rolling motion from side to side on the wheel that prevents and stops them. Sort of like I'm always turning just a tiny bit, or at minimum shifting my weight from left to right. I find this movement also goes a long way to preventing my feet from cramping up -- if I'm flowing they just don't.

[RoamBot565]

9 hours ago, UniMe said:

There are some good threads here about wobbles. I get more wobbles when I try to ride in a straight line, less contact patch and the wheel just performs better when loaded more on either side. Small 'carving' movements help a lot. At first I would also start to get tense when they started, with the idea that I could make them go away by clamping down on the wheel and making my body rigid (think dead sailor). This is actually the opposite of what turned out to work... it's the loose rolling motion from side to side on the wheel that prevents and stops them. Sort of like I'm always turning just a tiny bit, or at minimum shifting my weight from left to right. I find this movement also goes a long way to preventing my feet from cramping up -- if I'm flowing they just don't.

I just did a morning ride to get my day started. What a great way to wake up! 😊

So I tried keeping my heels wider than my toes, as @houseofjob and @Unventor recommended. That definitely helped with making turns way sharper and steadier ☺️

But! I noticed something else. Now that I am able to relax a little more on the wheel, I realized something related to what @UniMe said. If I accelerate with the ball of one foot, and balance the weight with the heel of my other foot, then shift every 5 to 10 miles per hour, I am able to accelerate without getting wobbles. Like what many people have said in this thread, the wobbles were coming from me leaning with both feet at the same time, pushing in a straight line.

So shifting my heels out a little bit, and accelerating leading with one foot at a time has done a lot of good for me. Just with my little bit of practice this morning I felt a big difference. I was able to hit 21 miles per hour with no wobbles. I couldn't even tell that I was going that fast 😃

Everyone's advice has been super helpful, and I really hope that anyone who's learning get something out of reading this. I've been doing my best to come back and update this post when I learn more or find something that works for me.

[Unventor]

It is more or less the same story we all been through (I say this in totally no patronising way). 

But it is alway a huge reward reading the reply once a new rider get ready to leave the nest. And this is where the story begins... New adventures and lods of joy.  Welcome to riders community. 😊 

[RoamBot565]

Just an update:

The Good:

190 miles on the wheel as of tonight. 30 miles today. It's no lie that it's addicting. I'm learning how to traverse where I've lived my whole life in these new ways.. it's so awesome. It's a lot of exercise, but the challenge of conquering long rides and traveling farther is just... The shit. Lol. This is the most fun I've had doing anything in a ridiculously long time.

I think I'm the only EUC rider in my area. But all the cyclists and joggers I see are friendly, usually because I'm extremely conscious of how courteous I need to be with people. They've never seen one of these amazing vehicles before. It's nice to see people out being active, it's refreshing.

The Ugly:

I will preface this by saying that I've literally never gotten on my wheel without a full face helmet, leatt body armor 5.5, knee pads, wrist guards, and gloves. I am absolutely decked out. Every time.

I have crashed hard like... 3 times. One at like 10mph after a crappy mount. The other two at like 20-25mph. I was able to roll out of two of those crashes and pop back up. Didn't feel a damn thing. I did Parkour when I was younger. When you fall off a wheel it usually sets you up for a forward roll, and I absolutely recommend it. It'll disperse the shock of the initial impact, and if you really train it you can land right back on your feet. 

The other crash, I was night riding in a bike lane, pretty late. There was basically no one around, but when I went to cross the street I checked over my shoulder. Used too much of my body to do it and completely lost balance. I landed on the asphalt on my hands and knees and just skid to a halt. D30 wrist guards and Leatt dual axis knee pads. Felt basically nothing, maybe just a little pain in my ankle, as my shoes dragged instead of skid. I might try to remedy that.

Tl;dr

I ate shit 3 times on my wheel in the first 190 miles. Between 10-25mph. I'm always wearing full face helmet, body armor, knee pads, wrist guards, and gloves. Have had 0 injuries. Feeling pretty good.

Thankful for safety gear, it's not if. It's when.

Thanks to anyone that reads this, happy riding 👍

 

[UniMe]

Nice...!

I recently passed 200km on my wheel so it finally unlocked to the 50kph max. I had the beeper set at 36 for the last 70k or so and chose to bump it up to 40 when it unlocked. I progressed really slowly though and had it capped under 30 for the first 100k or more.

I 'crashed' once, on day one, and scraped up my arm. I didn't have elbow guards then, I do now! Since then I stepped off the wheel quite a few times but because my speed was still low it I was able to just run out of the situation without needing to hit the ground. I'm going to keep the beeper at 40 for a long time... I'm near the upper end of the weight limit for the wheel and don't see any value in pushing it to an over-lean situation. At 40 I'm blowing past everybody and everything that isn't a car anyway, especially on any type of incline!

@RoamBot565 I'm with you on the full gear thing! I'm looking for a lightweight motorcycle jacket to wear as things cool down, but will always wear the full face helmet, knee and wrist guards!

 

[RoamBot565]

On 9/8/2020 at 9:39 PM, UniMe said:

I'm going to keep the beeper at 40 for a long time... I'm near the upper end of the weight limit for the wheel and don't see any value in pushing it to an over-lean situation. At 40 I'm blowing past everybody and everything that isn't a car anyway, especially on any type of incline!

@RoamBot565

I feeeeeeeeel that! Honestly I ride most of the time at 15-20mph. 30 feels so unnecessarily fast, especially on trails, where I feel like I'm flying past everyone already! 😁

The times I've crashed haven't been cutouts or anything, mostly it was just odd terrain or some situation where I failed to recover the wheel from some wonkiness. Thankful I wasn't going 30mph during the crashes, that would be crazy! 

Happy to hear you're enjoying your wheel, I'm loving it too. So so good!

[UniMe]

16 hours ago, RoamBot565 said:

😁The times I've crashed haven't been cutouts or anything, mostly it was just odd terrain or some situation where I failed to recover the wheel from some wonkiness. Thankful I wasn't going 30mph during the crashes, that would be crazy! 

Happy to hear you're enjoying your wheel, I'm loving it too. So so good!

Sounds sane, sort of like you would do on a mountain bike. I think bailing on a bike is more difficult actually, especially if the goal is a forward roll as the only way to it is usually over the handlebars (something I did a few times in my 20's, but at 50 I'm not so keen). from the wheel we're already closer to the ground and a quick tuck and roll seems like the safest way out of some situations.