Beginners

[JRuss]

Hi all! I joined the Unicycle world after wanting more from my onewheel. I didn't expect balance to be the Maine struggle in riding... Dumb? Anyway. I feel like something nobody talked about in my endless youtube searching was practicing balance before purchasing. I feel like a great tool to practice would be a piece of wood over a curved surface like a foam roller or a dowel. When I did this AFTER trying a unicycle. I was amazed how off my balance was. Maybe mention it to new people looking to buy their first wheel. 

[rcgldr]

With a lighter wheel, arm flailing | yaw steering  (flail arms left to steer right), is almost instinctive for most beginners learning to balance at slow speed, but this would take a lot of effort on a 64 lb Monster V3.

Kuji Rolls and Wrong Way recommend using support to mount (look down and get your feet centered), and launch (look straight ahead, rock forward and back, and while rocked back and leaned forwards, release (don't push) from support to launch.

Extending arms will help with balance at slower speed even if you can't yaw steer well, but the bottom line is you'll need to go fast enough, around 6 mph to 8 mph, for the V3 to become stable and self-balancing, where little or no balance corrections will be needed. Most beginners gradually work up to this speed. You can see this in Kuji Roll's video where he teaches a girl to ride. Note the girl always uses support to mount and launch and never free mounts (no support). If you learn to ride first, then free mounting will be much easier, just push with one foot on and step on with the other foot.

Link to Kuji's Rolls video of the girl learning to ride on a V8. Some comments. He recommends starting off at 25 psi, but that is due to the light weight of the girl. In most cases, 30 to 35 psi would be a good starting point. Kuji also mentions pressing with inside toe to tilt steer, but this would accelerate a wheel. To tilt steer move inner foot down, outer foot up, without accelerating or braking. Kuji shows some one foot glide drills, with the intent of being able to step off but not let the V8 roll off into cars. Since she's able to step off without issue, she never does those drills. Again, as the girl increases speed, she's using her arms less and less, eventually relaxing them and tilt-steering towards the end of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6o8ZMlo5ko

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by rcgldr

[mhpr262]

I have been thinking about what woud be the best way to train and prepare newbies for riding an EUC. I'd probably build a "dummy EUC" to teach them how to mount and how to glide onelegged, with optional detachable legs for the later gliding stage. Something looking liek this:

 

 

[Cerbera]

On 9/8/2022 at 9:06 AM, mhpr262 said:

I'd probably build a "dummy EUC" to teach them how to mount and how to glide onelegged

But why ? If there is a fence or wall nearby it's really not that hard to practice getting up on a real wheel, and arguably much more beneficial to get student on that wheel from the outset. And I don't think I'd be teaching beginners one-legged riding at all ! That uses gravity-centre-offset skills that are far harder to acquire than beginners typically have leg strength or positional intuition for, and you don't want them riding on the unstable edge of the tyre when they are trying to learn control. Also I think it is easier to learn 1-legged riding by transitioning to it from an equal footing stance at moderate speeds where gyroscopic forces are on your side to keep you upright and stable, OR in short bursts round wide circles from stand-still at very slow speeds so that you already have the foot out to save you when it goes wrong.

So I'd be leaving that sort of thing 'til much later in the process, which would also pretty much negate the need for a machine to do it that isn't the wheel itself ! Sorry to rain on your parade, but I just don't see the need for this ! 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Cerbera

[rcgldr]

On 9/8/2022 at 1:48 AM, Cerbera said:

And I don't think I'd be teaching beginners one-legged riding at all !

Wrong Way mentions this in his how to ride video (no need for one legged riding if a beginner learns to ride first using support to mount and launch). The guy that gave me advice when I first started only uses his EUCs (18XL, V12) for commuting, has been riding for over 2 1/2 years, and never bothered to learn one legged riding or any tricks.

[Cerbera]

Yep, I do agree with Wrong Way there is certainly opportunity for learning the 1 leg balance thing when you first practice getting up and down on the wheel, but that doesn't mean we should take it  When people first start on these wheels it is challenge enough to stop it shooting off forwards or backwards, and to get the other foot up in time without knocking the pedal up - and that's going to be the primary things they need to overcome and get right without additional things to worry about like trying to hold the balance and weight of the machine off centre so they can do it with one leg ! I think they should learn that a) when they are fully comfortable and practised with getting up and down, and normal riding, and b) on the wheel itself - I don't think the proposed trainer device could offer the same sort of lean, weight balancing and feel as the actual wheel without rather a lot of over-engineering and unless it can do that, it is rather counter-productively training the wrong muscle memory, which is arguably worse that not training it at all !

Edited September 11, 2022 by Cerbera