New rider with trouble moving forwards

[CrumbsAndYums]

My experience has been about the same as the speeds Tawpie mentioned. When I started, I felt that the balance was manageable once I got to ~12km/h (7.4m/h), and after a few weeks of practice, I now feel that the balance is generally manageable at ~8km/h (5 m/h)... I say "generally" because if there are pedestrians or obstacles close to me, I freak out and lose my ability to balance 🤣

[Funky]

21 minutes ago, CrumbsAndYums said:

My experience has been about the same as the speeds Tawpie mentioned. When I started, I felt that the balance was manageable once I got to ~12km/h (7.4m/h), and after a few weeks of practice, I now feel that the balance is generally manageable at ~8km/h (5 m/h)... I say "generally" because if there are pedestrians or obstacles close to me, I freak out and lose my ability to balance 🤣

Hmm, i didn't have any balancing problems, when i started riding, even at walking speed. Same feeling as standing on place, but on pedals.

Do having more weight on euc may helped me there, making wheel more balanced?

[Freeforester]

A good way to get to the decent stable speed is to ‘commit’ to the forward momentum by adopting a slightly bent knee stance like you would in skiing, and ‘holding’ out in front of you an imaginary drinks tray, which gives you the important forward point of balance necessary for getting the wheel to gain momentum. This was my own personal ‘Eureka’ moment, gleaned from another learner earlier in the year, it was a definite lightbulb moment when I first tried it, but as mentioned, you must commit to getting that drinks tray over to the far end of the hall/runway, call it what you will.

See from 1:10 in: 

 

You may notice too, that when mounting, the wheel balances best when it is already leaning toward the foot you lift on last, by virtue of your dominant, controlling leg pushing it toward that side: the dominant leg should ideally lean the wheel down some, because if you try to have the wheel too much vertical/upright, it makes it harder to place that remaining foot on, because the act of you lifting your remaining foot off the ground will further imbalance both the wheel and you away from that same second, pushing off/lifting up foot; keep the wheel body angled toward the remaining foot as seen in the video, and the weight of the foot and rest of you coming on to the second foot plate will certainly induce somewhat less imbalance, but not so much, and with practice this is soon overcome providing you simultaneously commit to the ‘drinks tray’ idea.
 

It ain’t easy to learn on a Sherman, and there are other videos out there suggesting it is nigh impossible, but the lad in the video shows it can be done, albeit with some analysis of what is required. Kudos to him!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hellkitten]

@CrumbsAndYumsI’m at almost 700 miles now and it took me till about 500 for me to feel even close to being comfortable close to pedestrians. I’m still VERY aware while near them and just keep things relaxed. I found the tightening up and going ridged was mostly my issue. Congrats on the riding btw! 

[Funky]

11 minutes ago, Hellkitten said:

@CrumbsAndYumsI’m at almost 700 miles now and it took me till about 500 for me to feel even close to being comfortable close to pedestrians. I’m still VERY aware while near them and just keep things relaxed. I found the tightening up and going ridged was mostly my issue. Congrats on the riding btw! 

Dam, I was going true people my second ride. Doing zigzags true them at walking speed. About 50cm from them.

Ofc i panic little bit, what if they step sideways, what if i lose my balance at slow, slow speed, what if.. Same time i try to do as big circle around them as i can..

Have fallen only two times.. First time learning ok KS16S, and second time i turner to fast and my upper body went to much sideways.

Everyone learns at their speed as mentioned before.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Funky
Fallen.

[Hellkitten]

@Funky I don’t trust people. Lol. 

[Funky]

1 minute ago, Hellkitten said:

@Funky I don’t trust people. Lol. 

Who does?? What if i bump on one of those so called Karen's. xD

God, what if one kid suddenly side steps, and i truck on them. Scary things out there for sure.

Good thing i'm very careful, can notice almost anything in time that can go wrong.

[Tawpie]

7 minutes ago, Funky said:

Dam, I was going true people my second ride

Just for the record, I hate people like you. But that's out of pure jealousy, nothing more. Why do I have to struggle for days, bathed in sweat, bruised and sore, questioning my spending great treasure, when there are folks like you that can just hop on and go? IT'S JUST NOT FAIR.

[Funky]

8 minutes ago, Tawpie said:

Just for the record, I hate people like you. But that's out of pure jealousy, nothing more. Why do I have to struggle for days, bathed in sweat, bruised and sore, questioning my spending great treasure, when there are folks like you that can just hop on and go? IT'S JUST NOT FAIR.

I said i learned on my dad wheel first, okey "learned" if you can call 4 times, 3 of was just simple wheel falling fun.. At 4th like i said, my brain simply "clicked"

And i was going in circles.. 18xl the same wheel just bigger? Sadly now it's winter and i have ridden only ~100km LOL.

When i get my new tire, i will open whole 18xl motor etc.. Water prof it all, for next winter/rainy days.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Funky

[Begodecrashtestdummy]

Use a 4 wheeled walker for old people in a nice smooth parking lot you can learn to balance and have something stable to hold onto 

[.....]

1 minute ago, Dosingpsychedelics said:

Use a 4 wheeled walker for old people in a nice smooth parking lot you can learn to balance and have something stable to hold onto 

and for the love of all things good, film it to share!

[CrumbsAndYums]

1 hour ago, Tawpie said:

Why do I have to struggle for days, bathed in sweat, bruised and sore, questioning my spending great treasure, when there are folks like you that can just hop on and go? IT'S JUST NOT FAIR.

That only makes success all the more sweeter when it finally happens 😄

[.....]

I quite enjoyed the bruising and sweat. It had been a while since I had actually forced myself to try something difficult. It was a LOT harder than I expected but yes, well worth it. Now, I don't get nervous or hardly think about it. Specially my mten. He's an a*shole, so it makes sense we read each others minds...

[goatman]

tried indoors on the carpet but theres not enough room to get going, went outside, hopped on and away i went, 

its a bonus that i only paid $100 on craigslist for it 

i wasnt all that worried about the wheel getting damaged which kept me from getting damaged

 save yourself and not the wheel

 

these things are amazingly stable, im out riding on frozen snow and ice with a street tire in awe and amazement with only about 100 miles  experience

i love these things

[.....]

10 minutes ago, goatman said:

tried indoors on the carpet but theres not enough room to get going, went outside, hopped on and away i went, 

its a bonus that i only paid $100 on craigslist for it 

i wasnt all that worried about the wheel getting damaged which kept me from getting damaged

 save yourself and not the wheel

 

these things are amazingly stable, im out riding on frozen snow and ice with a street tire in awe and amazement with only about 100 miles  experience

i love these things

Not cheap at all. This disease is expensive, you merely got started for less. Give it time and your bank will inform you that you only THOUGHT it was a great deal when you got that $100 wheel... As the disease progresses, so does the desire for more blinking lights. Eventually you succomb to the OBVIOUSLY overstated marketing. THEN you begin to justify all of it thru any means neccessary. Yup, $100 wheel may have been your first mistake, clouded by temporary happiness...  

ONE OF US...ONE OF US

[Begodecrashtestdummy]

2 hours ago, ShanesPlanet said:

and for the love of all things good, film it to share!

You can check out this video on YouTube for ideas this guy used some sort of cart to push. 

 

[Tawpie]

20 minutes ago, goatman said:

ts a bonus that i only paid $100

What is it they say on the street when you're handed that little packet of white powder? "The first one is always free"?

Jokes on you, now you're one of us.

(welcome to the nuthouse by the way, it's wicked fun in here)

[Begodecrashtestdummy]

7 minutes ago, Tawpie said:

What is it they say on the street when you're handed that little packet of white powder? "The first one is always free"?

Jokes on you, now you're one of us.

(welcome to the nuthouse by the way, it's wicked fun in here)

I wish my first euc was free .I’ve been trying to save up forever .soon as I get enough saved .I either get hit with a huge medical bill cuz I’m type 1 diabetic and my insulin and supplies cost a small fortune or something happens to my car ..it never fails 

[Tawpie]

2 minutes ago, Dosingpsychedelics said:

I’ve been trying to save up forever

Yeah, sadly these things ain't affordable. But gently used ones make swell points of entry. Sure, they don't go as fast or far as the latest models, but they go. And unlike the latest models, they're less likely to "have issues". If the thing was looked after even a little bit (and works), it'll serve you until you can save (again) for the wheel-to-die-on for.

[Begodecrashtestdummy]

1 hour ago, Tawpie said:

Yeah, sadly these things ain't affordable. But gently used ones make swell points of entry. Sure, they don't go as fast or far as the latest models, but they go. And unlike the latest models, they're less likely to "have issues". If the thing was looked after even a little bit (and works), it'll serve you until you can save (again) for the wheel-to-die-on for.

Right on.I’m ready to buy soon ..I have 2300$ saved up right now just haven’t pulled the trigger 

[goatman]

im already thinking its time to sell my bikes

anyone want to buy a stiletto

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=103833&hilit=stiletto#p1652815

[rcgldr]

On 1/6/2022 at 1:42 PM, Tawpie said:

One new rider noted that he felt the wheel stabilize at (as I recall) about 5-6 mph.

Probably me, I mentioned a speed range of 6 to 8 mph on a V8F. It probably became stable at 6 mph (maybe even 5 mph), but once it became stable, I varied the speed a bit from 6 mph to 8 mph the first time I tried the V8F on a long straight where I felt comfortable going faster than I did at a tennis court where I first started at 3 to 5 mph, where I was arm flailing left | right for balance and to direct the V8F. Once at around 6 mph, I noticed I no longer had to focus on balance, and relaxed and lowered my arms.

Still, you need to be able to balance after free mounting and before reaching stable speed, and for myself and other beginners I see in videos, arm flailing is almost instinctive. I was able to do laps around a tennis court the first time I ventured away from the fence and arm flailed. My wife took this video on day 2, where I had a bit less than 1 hour total time on the V8F, but it doesn't look any different than the first time I tried arm flailing. The video was helpful in that I didn't realize I was hunched over so much and straightened up afterwards (see next video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPyy84EThmM

This gave me the confidence to move to a long straight with two trash enclosures about 500 feet apart, which I used for supported mount and launch, and where I found that V8F became stable at 6 mph. This wasn't a case of "it just clicked", but instead just going fast enough for the V8F to become stable. Since I didn't have to focus on balance, I practiced leaning forwards | backwards to accelerate | brake, essentially instinctive. Next was tilt steering (move inner foot down, outer foot up) to see how the V8F would respond, then some weaving patterns, and then large radius turns. After a few days on the long straight, it was time to learn to free mount (no support) my one an only time on grass (between two soccer fields). I didn't accelerate fast enough on my first two tries, having to step off, partially due to being on grass, but got it on my third try. I then switched to riding at other locations. My wife was with me on day 10 on a long wide pathway at the Great Park in Irvine, but it was about the same as day 6. It's at night with the headlight on, and you can see the V8F becomes very stable once I reach 6 to 8 mph, where I relax and lower my arms. I do some weaving on the way back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keDvRMScO1g

Speed control by leaning forwards | backwards was instinctive, but I had to estimate coordinating how much to lean my body sideways and how much to tilt my EUC to take turns or weave, depending on speed and cornering radius. I did practice using tilt steering inputs to counter-steer, mostly tilt more to lean less or straighten up, thinking that with enough practice it would become reflexive, which in my case, a transition that took about 2 months (I wasn't riding every day). During that 2 month transition, I also worked on being able to look around and|or move my arms without upsetting balance.

Edited January 8, 2022 by rcgldr

[Paul A]

Can conduct experiments at low speeds on actions (such as crouching) to see the effects. 

Slowly increase the action consciously to observe.

May find crouching by bending knees causes instability and wobbling.

May find crouching by bending at waist maintains stability.

Important evasive action to avoid low tree branches.

Results may vary between individuals.

[Julian Lo]

Have you guys seen this thread?  Full of practical and theoretical information.