Getting used to high pedals

[Mike Petrogeorge]

I've been riding EUCs since 2018. During my travels my travels, I bought a V-11, but I didn't like it because the pedals were too high off the ground, about 6 inches. Since then, I dumped the V-11 and have been riding the 16x and have enjoyed it. But it's time for an upgrade as I've ridden close to 4000 miles on it and can no longer keep up in group rides. I'm interested in the Veteran Patton suspension wheel, but I'm hesitant because the pedals are even higher than the V-11, at around 9 inches.

Another thought that has crossed my mind is that if I can't get past the high pedal fear, I could leave the EUC world and join the bad-ass scooter crowd. No, I don't want a cheap-ass scooter. I want a bad ass one. But, I want to see of I can get over this fear first before I do something drastic like that.

Do you have any advice and calm my fear of riding on high pedals? How to jump on the wheel without falling over? I really need to upgrade and get over this high pedal fear. I'd appreciate any guidance you can offer.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Mike Petrogeorge
adding content

[alcatraz]

How tall are you and how much do you weigh?

A 16in seems to be the better choice, yes. Get one where you can adjust the suspension or pedal height. 

Obviously you're not going to be able to get the best of all worlds (suspension requires clearance) but if you can customize your pedal height maybe you can find an acceptable balance. 

[alcatraz]

Wouldn't it be ironic if you crash because your pedals clip something exactly when you need the suspension the most? Like at a bump somewhere.

So if you do lower the pedals remember that you can't 100% keep up with all the other riders. Which is why you're upgrading in the first place. 

Customizable pedal height is still the way to go I think but balance it carefully.

[Mike Petrogeorge]

I am 5'9", (1.7526 m)  185 lbs (84 kilos)

[Cerbera]

11 hours ago, Mike Petrogeorge said:

Do you have any advice and calm my fear of riding on high pedals? How to jump on the wheel without falling over?

Yes. I have a Master, which is the tallest and tippiest of them all, with pedals over a foot off the ground if your suspension is running high...

First off - you don't so much 'jump on those and go', as you do 'climb up onto them', in a very controlled way. It takes a lot of practise to free-mount these taller wheels initially, not just extra effort of clambering up, but also in managing the massive weight of these things as you do so, at the same time as imparting balanced acceleration for a smooth departure. It does feel a bit like starting again if you come from a much smaller, lower wheel. But, like anything, if you do it a lot it becomes second nature, and eventually you can do it without really thinking.

Once you have done a week of intensive free-mounting and riding you should (if you are anything like me) come to love and appreciate the height - the visibility is SO much better up there, there is almost zero chance of pedal clipping from below, and in tight turns, and if you have the right power pads, the locked-in feeling up there changes quite quickly from scary and intimidating to empowering and useful. It's nice being considerably taller than everything else on the cycle path too - you gain a lot of 'stage presence' 

Disadvantages include getting sledged by crosswind, which is worse with higher pedals, and increased feelings of tippyness, which is mostly countered with stronger leg muscles and just getting used to it. Most wheels are better than the Master in this regard.

So in short I guess I am trying to say stick with it and eventually you'll probably love it ! 

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Cerbera

[Hellkitten]

I started on a v11. Whenever I ride something lower to the ground I constantly scrape the pedals while turning. You get a much tighter turning radius with higher pedals. Honestly it’s just going to take a bit of practice and getting used to the hight. If you had the stubbornness to learn to ride an euc you certainly can apply yourself and get used to higher mounting. After riding with suspension I doubt you’ll want to go back. 

[mrelwood]

2 hours ago, Mike Petrogeorge said:

I dumped the V-11

How much time did you give yourself to acclimate for the higher pedal height? It definitely doesn’t happen overnight. And did you have the suspension pumped up correctly for a 30% sag? Either way, pedal height is practically the price to pay on any suspension wheel, now and in the future.

I love the pedal height on the V11 for the mentioned reasons: no pedal scraping, no pedal clipping, lots of suspension travel. I am a tall guy, but I know several short guys doing just fine on a V11.

 

[0000]

Obligatory

No experience with high pedals yet, but I'd probably go back to practicing mounting next to the wall until you feel ready. That's what worked for me to start learning in the first place.

Actually I have a related question to the topic if anyone has had the experiences:

Anyone regularly go back and forth between low pedal wheel(s) and high pedal wheel(s) on trail rides? Wondering how difficult it is to adjust as learning the pedal clip height for various obstacles was a fairly long trial-and-error process where the errors involved many trips to the ground. I could see how changing that critical clearance up frequently could throw one's senses off.

[techyiam]

6 hours ago, Mike Petrogeorge said:

But it's time for an upgrade as I've ridden close to 4000 miles on it and can no longer keep up in group rides. I'm interested in the Veteran Patton suspension wheel, but I'm hesitant because the pedals are even higher than the V-11, at around 9 inches.

If you want a suspension wheel that would allow you to join group rides, what choices do you have?

Which electric wheel you would consider buying, and yet is easier to free-mount than the Patton?

IMO, the Patton is one of the easier suspension wheel to ride, free-mounting included. If it is the Patton that you want to buy, if I were you, I would not hesitate. You will go through a learning curve like everybody else. There is no getting around that. But to learn to free-mount on a Patton should not be bad at all. If you were wanting to buy an Abrams, V13, Master Pro, then it would be a different story.

I find it quicker to learn to free-mount by going through the drill one uses to learn to ride with one foot. That is to try to balance on one foot. You don't actually ride with one foot. You just try to. So the one foot that is not on the pedal, hops as you move forward. You can even fold up that side of the pedal, since that foot won't be using it. 

[Cerbera]

5 hours ago, Vanturion said:

Anyone regularly go back and forth between low pedal wheel(s) and high pedal wheel(s) on trail rides? Wondering how difficult it is to adjust as learning the pedal clip height for various obstacles was a fairly long trial-and-error process where the errors involved many trips to the ground. I could see how changing that critical clearance up frequently could throw one's senses off.

Yes, to all of that. After a week of rides in which I attempted to learn the Master I had a bearing problem which meant it was down for a week while I decided what to do.

No problem I thought - I am a true 'Master' of my MS3, having over 5 years XP on it previously, so I'll just hop back on that in the meantime ! Well, that was a whole bag of nope !!! In just a week and a bit my muscles had adapted to the much bigger and heavier wheel, and to my utter surprise I was back to being a frightened horse on a frozen lake when going back to the smaller wheel ! My MS3 felt unbelievably nippy, skatey, massively responsive and torque-y. Now, to be honest, that feeling did pass fairly quickly, and it was only maybe 1 km before I had 'remembered' the right levels of everything needed for stable riding on the smaller wheel, but I was genuinely surprised that my XP on that wheel had fallen off so dramatically in such a short time...

But one aspect that did not change was how comparatively easy it was to free-mount the smaller wheel.

So I think you would have to ride both wheels very regularly to be able maintain the right skills on both. My poor little MS3 now sits forlornly in my lounge unridden since the Master works again - it really is VERY hard to go back to non-suspension and woeful lack of power in comparison once you have experienced the joy of big suspension wheels... nonetheless I still try and remember to get on the MS3 in the kitchen occasionally and do 10 minutes of pendulums just so I don't lose the feeling completely over much longer time frames - The Master can still go wrong at any time and I'd much rather have a small wheel than no wheel at all when that happens, so gotta 'keep my feet in' just a little bit !  I am saving for a backup Master ! Which will probably be an EX-30 now, which I like more than the Master Pro ! Or a V13, but that would quickly become my main machine I reckon if I bought that !

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Cerbera

[0000]

Interesting. Yeah I don't watch everything out there, but I can't recall hearing much from any of the prolific multi-wheel owners talking about difficulties going back and forth between notably different wheels.

Kinda reminds me of a personal anecdote where I had a car with an extremely stiff clutch and went on a test drive for a car with a very light one. Due to all that reinforced muscle memory taming the performance clutch, I couldn't stop myself from slamming the clutch pedal to the floor on every shift. I know I looked quite dumb, but there was nothing to be done about it until my leg got used to actuating with a much lighter touch. Which wasn't until the end of the test drive .

[alcatraz]

On 5/8/2023 at 8:56 AM, Mike Petrogeorge said:

I am 5'9", (1.7526 m)  185 lbs (84 kilos)

16in sounds doable to me. I enjoy the nimbleness and effortless acc/braking. I'm 70kg and I lean towards 16in for a single wheel.