Do suspension eucs prevent losing contact with the foot pedals after encountering road irregularities...

[bpong]

y'all;

last week i was happily rolling along at about 40kph in the bike lane.  i rolled over a small depression in the bike lane - it was about 2 feet long,  about 10 inches wide, and about 8 inches deep.  the depression was not a hole with vertical sides,  it had rounded smooth sides.  after my euc dipped into this depression, i suddenly lost contact with my pedals and when me and the euc continued our travel forward out of the depression,  i no longer had contact of the pedals.   consequently,  i hit the bike lane front facing, and suffered a medium sized forearm scrape.  my body only suffered that wound,  aside from sliding forward for several feet.  the front of my shorts, and the front of my riding shirt are toast,  the shirt buttons ground off the shirt itself, and the front of the shorts heavily abraded too.  and, since i wear a hockey helmet with front metal cage,  that cage kept my face totally off the pavement.  there was a point at the beginning after hitting the pavement, that i was staring right at the pavement momentarily, with my front cage scraping against the road.  kudos to bauer hockey helmets...

my question is the following:  will a suspended euc react differently when encountering a medium depth depression in the road ?  will the suspended euc foot pedals maintain contact with the rider on the initial drop into the depression, followed by the rebound portion of the ride,  coming out of the depression ?

the euc i am riding is the gotway tesla V2.  nothing exotic but a good commuter wheel.

this was my first encounter with the pavement and IMO i did pretty good, no broken bones or fractures.  and of course, i was wearing  pads, gloves, and a helmet.  im currently sewing a pair of forearm guards to protect my forearms from any future abrasion from pavement or anything else i may encounter.  of course, im using 9oz cowhide as the material of choice for the forearm guards.

when the suspended wheels initially came out, i was skeptical.  now they have been around for awhile now,  and i wonder if the suspension in these hybrid eucs greatly aids in maintaining foot contact over irregular road conditions.

thanx for your replies.

bpong

 

 

 

 

 

[AtlasP]

Bending your knees more extremely before entering/exiting the hole could have prevented you from losing contact, but yes, suspension does also "greatly aid in maintaining foot contact over irregular road conditions".

[.....]

I would say it helps a little bit. Your knees are much better as they have more travel and are adjustable on the fly. I've also found that a little rear lean (not level) in the settings can help push the feet into the pedals during small bumps, rather than sliding right off the front. Sadly, aside from hooking your feet into the pedals with some kind of jump block, I think what you experienced is just a risk we take.

[WIZARD]

May i ask about how many Miles total you might have on eucs?

Good job on the Face Plant. Sounds like ur wearing all the good stuff.

I've got 3000 miles and my reaction comes naturally to the larger sidewalk edges, tree roots and potholes in general.

My ankles instinctively press together tightly to maintain foot position, keep my feet on the ready and, all all costs remain seated.

The damage is not caused by hitting the hole. Its caused by the second big bang, hitting and being launched off center or sideways.

If you are still mated to the unicycle, bounce up and fall straight back down, you can survive a pretty good bump or hole.

Learn to lock your ankles onto the lower sides. And bounce straight back up. No Suspension will ever do as good as 3 feet worth of good bent leg.

Regardless of future touted Suspensions, they will add 5 or 10 pounds. Think about the added weight.

Like in the Old days of Hanggliding. You can only add so much weight to this sport before to body is less able to control.

How many miles???

🙂🙃🙂

[bpong]

wizard,

i havent really added my mileage...up here in toronto, i dont ride during the 4-5 months of winter (we salt our roads so i dont want to ruin the aluminum in my wheels).  hmmm, i dont think its much mileage.  i started riding in mid 2018 summer.  lets average per day in kms, would be about 5 - 10 per day x 5 days per week = 25kms min / weekly, 100km(min) monthly x 8 months = 800 km per season x 3 complete seasons = 2400 km...not including weekend riding....damn, its about only 1500 miles minimum.

i do squeeze the wheel between my lower legs,  and i do bend my legs especially over long bumpy stretches.  but this fall happened so fast;  if i had paid more attention to the road ahead of me,  i may have had a chance to catch it and prepare for the lane depression.  this caught me totally off guard.

suffice it to say, i accept this 1st fall and will be prepared for more to come.  i suspect hardware will not save any rider from some obstacle that they did not see or anticipate.

thanx for the riding tips,  will add them to my riding skills.

take care and have a great summer too !!!

[OldFartRides]

My feet occasionally come off a little on bumpy downhills on the s18. And they tend to end up more forward on the pedals.

[PourUC]

It will depend on your suspension setup.

If you have a medium/low pressure in your suspension with a high rebound rate, then when you get on the wheel, the suspension will partially compress. Then when you go into a bump, the suspension will push the wheel down, but the range is only as long as the initial compression.

Bent knees + suspension will be best, however bent knees do about 75% of the work in this scenario.

The suspension is good for when you have loads of small bumps that you yourself cannot really prepare for individually. It will help your wheel maintain contact with the ground and reduce bouncing/hopping.