How to "pendulum" on an EUC?

[BKW]

Hey guys,

How long did it take you to learn how to pendulum on your EUC? Any tips/advice on this? My sticking point on this is going forward after riding backwards -- for some reason the transition from backwards to forward I tend to stall and fall.

Haven't ridden in some time due to moving and bad weather in NYC. Next week going to dedicate more time to this.

Edited February 3, 2022 by bkw

[mrelwood]

For me it was:

Riding forward -> stop and reverse for 4” only -> stop and continue forward.

 I repeated that many times, then increased the distance to 8”. Repeat many times, then a foot, two feet, three… etc. And at each step do it enough that you are bored to do it.

 For me it was much easier on a fine gravel road, as I could much easier twist the wheel to correct any sideways imbalances.

 Once I started to reverse for a bit longer, for some reason it was easier for me to “wag my tail” slightly when reversing. That way the imbalance didn’t get too severe before I was ready to correct it.

 Good luck and patience!

[Tawpie]

7 hours ago, bkw said:

I tend to stall and fall

EXACTLY. I'm still not good by any means, but had to work a strangely long time on reverse-to-forward. I wasn't "leaning in" enough. It's almost the reverse of my emergency braking action where I push the wheel forward as I assume the s*itting position... try to keep your body where it is but push the wheel back. If you watch people pendulum their head stays in basically the same place but their feet are going back and forth. Lots of Michael lean at the end of the back-stroke to get the wheel going forward.

You'll only fall off forward a couple hundred/thousand times before you get it... fortunately it's not a wreck and it's just wearing out your wheel's yoga mat.

Edited February 4, 2022 by Tawpie

[.....]

It took me about 1 yr total riding and an mten, to pendulum like a pro(on the mten only). Now 3 yrs in, the mten is kinda just magic. Still after 3 yrs, my pendulum is dicey at best on either my 18xl or sherman. I find that I keep kicking out to one direction in the transition, and the bigger wheels arent so quick to jump under me when I screw up. Back to front is actually easier on me, as I am better at leaning forward with boldness, than back. I find I'm having the best luck, when I evaluate my hip and shoulder position and try to mirror myself for transitions. At any rate, just my experience alone, tells me that its a toss up. Some people find it easy, some dont. Even a change in wheel, makes a difference. I do notice the more I practice, the easier it becomes. Im hoping by the middle of season 4, I can comofrtably do it on all my wheels. I have doubts, as some VERY exeperienced riders, still dont look like they've got it down to an art. It IS fun to not have to step off the mten to stand at a stop sign or something. The little tike is a pita to mount anyhow. I can only imagine how nice it wuold be, to safely and reliably pendulum on the larger ones as well. Just gotta remember, wheels can heat up if you pendulum too long.

Edited February 4, 2022 by ShanesPlanet

[BKW]

Dang, a lot of good responses so far. Thanks for that!

Being I haven't been riding long, I still very distinctly remember the feeling of "riding backwards seems impossible" and "they make one-footed riding look so easy". It just took me over and over to do that. I'm not good at riding backwards but I can do it, even for a short period of time, which is something that felt extremely alien to me at the beginning. I first learned riding backwards by going forward then doing a sharp u-turn stop into going backward -- I couldn't just go forward and go backwards at first. Then magically I just started going backwards without doing the u-turn stop.

My biggest hurdle is just getting bored trying it over and over again. I also eventually tell myself "I don't really need to learn how to pendulum anyway so I'll practice another time", but then I find myself at stops wishing I could pendulum instead of always dismounting and remounting. I just need to dedicate a lot more time to practice it.

I like the advice mrelwood gave about just practice going forward and backward back and forth until you make that sharp transition from stopping to not stopping, or that's how I took that advice anyway. Also, Tawpie said something interesting about body/head position and the difference I might be making going forward over backward, so I'll keep that in mind -- this is a good point because reversing from a forward movement there likely is more leaning involved; more than I may be aware of.

Edited February 4, 2022 by bkw

[MEX9]

I'm trying to master this on the S18 at the moment and I'm finding it incredibly different. I can ride backwards, I can ride forwards. The transitions from forwards to backwards, and backwars to fowards are both difficult to me. The youtubers make it look so effortless. Blood, sweat and gashes...