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Safety Tips for riding electric unicycle


Simon Tay

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Simon: great video!

 

I think the following gear are needed in areas of importance:

  • Lights (front/rear) for visibility during dim lighting
  • Knee Pads
  • Gloves
  • Helmet
  • Elbow Pads

When learning or doing tricks:

  • Padded hip pants
  • body armor, body as well as knees, elbows, and gloves
  • Helmet that protects the BACK of your head as well as the front

When I fell during the early days, the areas that got scrapped most were:

  • Knees
  • Bottom of palm
  • pinky finger

This is just for gear,  the video does a good job of suggesting behavior. 

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Good advice - We need to demonstrate that this can be done safely to gain acceptance

 

I wonder whether we also need a thread on "how to learn without injuring yourself"

I found an additional set of pads for the inside of the shins is useful to learn to "skateboard" the wheel along - riding on one foot and using the other for stability.

A pair of ankle length boots also helps.

A skateboarding / skating helmet would provide better protection than a normal bike helmet when learning and a chin guard would be a good idea as faster falls are likely to be forwards.

If you can practice break fall rolls, so much the better.

 

After my first day on an electric unicycle yesterday, my first impressions are:

     When you are going slowly, it is realatively easy to jump off sideways and land on your feet. If you trip you are likely to hurt your hands, elbows and head as you will tend to fall sideways though backwards is much more likely to damage the back of your head which is the most likely to cause serious injury.

     If you are going faster and fall off forwards, it is more difficult to stay upright and you are more likely to land on your front. Injuries are likely to be to palms, wrists, knees and face.

If you throw obstacles into the mix then a range of other options are possible:)

 

As a 42 yr old, I forgot how often I fell over when I first learned to ride a bike.

In some sports (eg paragliding or skiing) it is better to break a leg than an ankle - what are people's thoughts on footwear?

Do we have any sports injury experts on the forum?

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Good advice - We need to demonstrate that this can be done safely to gain

I found an additional set of pads for the inside of the shins is useful to learn to "skateboard" the wheel along - riding on one foot and using the other for stability.

A pair of ankle length boots also helps.

If you are going faster and fall off forwards, it is more difficult to stay upright and you are more likely to land on your front. Injuries are likely to be to palms, wrists,

I have to agree that shin pads on the inside of your legs is going to save a lot of pain and bruising in the first stages of learning!

As a 59 year old with a serious respect for self preservation I found that a cheap pair of skateboard wrist protectors off of eBay for about a fiver were great for starting out and also saved me when I face planted in one of my early attempts at mounting a 4" kerb, still a bit hit or miss on kerbs but it's coming slowly.

My head has never come close to making contact except for when I came a cropper in my early reversing attempts. That was one hell of a crack despite the fact I was only going at walking pace so I now wear a helmet for any reversing practice.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

I had, what can only be described as the total opposite thing happened to me.  I was riding on a cycle lane behind a random cyclist maybe traveling at about 5mph.  There where people coming down the opposite side of the path otherwise I would have done an overtake.  Then suddenly a cyclist rammed into the back of me knocking me off my unicycle.  I remained on my feet but my poor unicycle skidded across the ground and suffered additional scratches. 

 

I didn't do any sudden moves or any fast braking, just running at that constant 5mph speed.  It was noon and sunny and I was wearing a beige top with blue jeans.  I was totally raging inside towards that cyclist.

Posted

Was the cyclist drunk? Blind? Blind drunk? Or were you wearing your cloak of invisibility? :) :)

Seriously was the cyclist at all apologetic for the fact he had crashed into you?

Posted

Was the cyclist drunk? Blind? Blind drunk? Or were you wearing your cloak of invisibility? :) :)

Seriously was the cyclist at all apologetic for the fact he had crashed into you?

 

Yeah, he did apologize but thats not going to reverse the damage to my unicycle... :(

Posted

Is it possible to make the wheel with additional gyro stabilizers for sideways fall off?  Let's say if the wheel is tilting more than 30 degrees sideways it will self correct?

RC planes have them already.

There is a motor bike in works that does this.

Check this video.

Posted

I think there is almost no danger to fall to the side because of not balance the wheel.

The danger is, if the electronic board turns off without warning you early enough (then you get out of balance front and back): Then you have to run or have to learn fly!

Posted

Was riding the other day and traveling near top speed, for a second or two I looked down at the shiny lit on button.  Thinking what would happen if I reached down and pressed it.  Lucky my sanity kicked back in and I decided not to find out.

Posted

Was riding the other day and traveling near top speed, for a second or two I looked down at the shiny lit on button.  Thinking what would happen if I reached down and pressed it.  Lucky my sanity kicked back in and I decided not to find out.

 

That's an easy question to answer :)

The moment your electric unicycle is switched off you will very abruptly fall down. :) :)

 

Just try to stand on it at home while the unit is NOT switched on. It will be impossible to stand on it without additional support.

EU's are inherently UNstable devices.

Posted

Was riding the other day and traveling near top speed, for a second or two I looked down at the shiny lit on button.  Thinking what would happen if I reached down and pressed it.  Lucky my sanity kicked back in and I decided not to find out.

Like MvM wrote.....you will kiss the planet earth with 100% garantie.

If you can do it with a remote button, maybe you lucky enough to run fast enough.

Once I forgot to turn the EU on.......Any foot  was pretty quick not longer on any pedal.

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