How fast did you guys learn?

[EoZ]

Just got my Kingsong KS 16 delivered to me today. Was at work first, and then a party until about 0200 hours. I got the wheel delivered to me at work, and I have about 2 miles to go from work to home. I thought "What the hell, I will just ride this puppy home". Tried to get up once, failed, twice failed. 

Grabbed a hold of a lightpole and got out on the grass in order to not bang the wheel up badly if I fell. Started going. Got maybe 30 yards before I had to put a foot down and restart. Had to use the lightpole again twice more. At about 02:20 I was actually riding it. I went past my house, to a fuel store to inflate the tire fully. After that I went about another 3 miles. No fallls, no tipping over. Managed to stop by putting my foot down without tipping over. No need for support to get going. Was inside the door at about 03:20 hours or so. 

I watched a video before I got the wheel that said that 4 hours to become even remotely proficient was fast. I have not been on it even a full hour yet, but have like 8 miles done without wiping. What is going on here? 

How long did it take for you guys to learn? Also, I did not ride any wheel of any kind, or a segway prior to this. No unicycle either. Inlines though, I did that a lot, and handtanding. Your thoughts?

[Shoe73]

It seems to be different for everyone. It took me several hours along the fence railing before something clicked and I "got it" but as soon as that happened I was good to go and rode all the way around the block. Except I still had trouble getting on, I remember it took a while longer before I could get on reliably without a wall or tree to lean on. 

[David S]

I was able to ride it instantly though i wasn't anywhere near complete control right away. The first time i stepped on it I was able to ride it out, took a liltle bit of time to learn to turn effortlessly and jumped off it a few times which caused it to fly around on its own. After about 2 days of short use I was very comfortable. I often walk my energetic labrador retreiver on it, and learning how to control him on it took much longer. At first i didnt know how to stop him if he ran faster than its max speed which would force me to either jump off the solowheel or let go of his leech.

I worked for cirque du soliel for a decade though so things like this are very natural to me.

[US69]

Can be everyting from nearly full control after just 30 seconds( i witnessed it, the guy was a skate and Snowboarder he said)...

....or a Little bit control after 5 minutes...

or still not more than 5 meter riding after 2-3 hours....

 

But in the end...i think it is possible for Anyone! If it takes 5 hours to get a 20 Meter or even 10 hours....does not matter! You will get it!

 

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Great I feel like a wuss   - it took me months and months to get used to riding my 14" generic wheel.  The tire was inflated rock hard though plus I only had practice time once a week and a little indoors due to work.  Yeah yeah I know excuses excuses.  I'm pretty coordinated, but seriously it took me ages.  Adding padding onto the hard plastic sides helped a lot and watching the Solowheel "twisting" video helped as well.

At one point I despaired that I would never be able to ride my wheel so I would have this useless device sitting around collecting dust.  I'm so glad that I persisted with it as it became quite a personal achievement to be able to ride after such a long, arduous learning process.  It was quite satisfying once I got the hang of it.  I see people selling their wheels because they never were able to get over the learning curve, and I know exactly how they feel.  I was almost at that point of giving up.

For those still learning, keep at it.  Everyone has their own learning pace.  Once it clicks it's the best feeling in the world to have accomplished a new skill that not many people can master right away (okay some people can, but those are just the lucky and naturally gifted few that we will ignore ).

[johrhoj]

I had my first wheel delivered to work. 

The first few tries was just standing on it, indoors, feeling the balance, going for a few meters at a time. The next day i took a pump to work to pressurize the tire. That evening, first time outside, i went all the way home (2.5km) with it.

I noticed immediately that it was mostly an issue of trust, a mode of just doing, no questions asked. 

[Pingouin]

Hi,

It took me about 1h (3km) to be able to stand on the unicycle and get on on a flat outdoor floor with no obstacles and nothing to hold on, but without being able to control the directions, and about 3h (10km) to control the directions and go where I want. I did go on a segway before, but it doesn't help at all, and I don't have a very good balance overall.

Some riders I met said I learned pretty quickly compared to them (6 mounths and they are were the level I had at 5h), but I also now a youngster than could ride within minutes so... ^^

It's more important to have fun than to learn quickly, plus the longer and harder you have to try, the greater the reward imao.

[Chuts]

Took me about 4 hours... hour a day. 

I think that people who already ride a skateboard, rollerblades, snowboard or ski will learn faster, as they already have developed inner core muscles which helps so much in balancing.

The rest is having the gusto to ride it, again people who already do the above activities will have plenty of it.

[EoZ]

Thanks for all the great replies! If this came across as some kind of bragging, I am sorry. I was too high on hype yesterday to realize I think when I wrote it. 

I am not in complete control of the wheel yet, but I can comfortably go pretty fast and far. Was just very curious. I am generally not very nimble, so was expecting something more like hunkahunka, where I would be struggling badly. 

To anyone else reading and struggling, keep at it! Trust the wheel, and it does most of the work. Keep your knees soft. 

Regards from Sam

[Czestnut]

I got mine at xmas time, and trying regularly in my basement waiting for the snow to melt was very frustrating,  In March I tried outside for a bit, and kept falling and I was giving up, saying to myself like Danny Glover "I'm getting to old for this sh!t".  
I thought about what I keep telling my kids to keep trying things until you get it.  
I finally realized that I just had to stay calm, completely relaxed, and rid myself of that dreaded fear of falling we get as we get older.  Then it clicked.  Relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax.  I finally was able to ride around my block, amazed and free.  The feeling I got the first time on a nude beach.  Freedom.

So for me, 4 months.  Could have been faster if I drank.

[Rehab1]

2 hours ago, Czestnut said:

I got mine at xmas time, and trying regularly in my basement waiting for the snow to melt was very frustrating,  In March I tried outside for a bit, and kept falling and I was giving up, saying to myself like Danny Glover "I'm getting to old for this sh!t".  
I thought about what I keep telling my kids to keep trying things until you get it.  
I finally realized that I just had to stay calm, completely relaxed, and rid myself of that dreaded fear of falling we get as we get older.  Then it clicked.  Relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax.  I finally was able to ride around my block, amazed and free.  The feeling I got the first time on a nude beach.  Freedom.

So for me, 4 months.  Could have been faster if I drank.

I like your will and enthusiasm ! Winter is a tough time learn especially if your area experiences lots of  snow. I have luck that my practice is located on an acre pave lot so between patients I jump on my NB1 every chance I get. Enjoy!

[Mono]

14 hours ago, Samuel Grayson Vilhelmson said:

How long did it take for you guys to learn?

I would say more than 100 hours for me.

[yourtoys7]

3 days (30-45min.) each day to get going in straight line, from that point on just getting better, more comfortable/ confident on the wheel. 

[edwin_rm]

I pushed a shopping cart around every day for a week. However, the learning process never ends. You will always keep improving your skills, just by riding. Eventually it becomes second nature. But as we push what we can achieve while riding more and more, accidents are inevitable. After a year of riding I still have accidents all the time. As a matter of fact, I'm wearing bandages as I type this. 

Here's a photo from when I was learning:

 

[MaxLinux]

22 hours ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

it took me months and months to get used to riding my 14" generic wheel

It took me about 2 months, practicing about 30 minutes per day. Like HunkaHunkaBurningLove, I sometimes wondered if I would ever be able to ride. The only reason I continued trying was because watching YouTube proved it is possible. I started with a TG T3 http://www.banggood.com/132Wh-T3-Electric-Wheelbarrow-Balancing-Unicycle-15-20km-Endurance-p-949305.html?cur_warehouse=CN

[MaxLinux]

1 hour ago, edwin_rm said:

After a year of riding I still have accidents all the time.

I haven't had an accident in a while, but when I do have one, the most common reasons are changing direction suddenly or sudden stops (when I see a car coming, for example) and wind gusts. I have literally been blown over a few times by sudden strong wind. A couple of weeks ago my EUC fell over for no apparent reason! I replayed it in my mind trying to figure out how it happened, and I couldn't. So one can have fewer and fewer accidents, but probably not be completely accident-free.

[Reivax]

It didn't take long to be able to ride straight, may be one hour.

But I needed a couple of days to be able to start without holding on to anything, and a couple of days to be able to turn within a reasonable radius.

But I saw a friend master all that under less than 30 minutes

[Master Ong]

On 6/11/2016 at 0:21 AM, edwin_rm said:

I pushed a shopping cart around every day for a week. However, the learning process never ends. You will always keep improving your skills, just by riding. Eventually it becomes second nature. But as we push what we can achieve while riding more and more, accidents are inevitable. After a year of riding I still have accidents all the time. As a matter of fact, I'm wearing bandages as I type this. 

Here's a photo from when I was learning:

 

Thats a genius idea!

[GenghisRoy]

Here's a little video I made of my first ride. 

 

 

[GenghisRoy]

 

[egiljo]

I have a background in skateboard and inline skating, both on street and focus on tricks/jumping down stairs/sliding on handrails etc.

Now I feel to "old" for such crazy riding (I'm 43 years now).

So I thought to try Euc after reading on this forum and watching videos on YouTube.

After 3 minutes with ninebot e+ I was up and running, after 30 minutes I was on a trail in the forest (so much fun ?)

I have a total of around 3.5 hours runtime now on trails and asphalt. Have good (not perfect) control with basics: mount/dismount, tight slalom and turns, hard breaking and acceleration, and can stop still for a couple of seconds without falling 

Just started to train on 1 foot riding.

Riding the Ninebot is the most fun I had since I quit skateboarding and inline skating. 

 

Edited June 18, 2016 by egiljo
Grammar error

[John Eucist]

38 minutes ago, egiljo said:

Now I feel to "old" for such crazy riding (I'm 43 years now).

You're younger than the average here.  EDIT: I just realized you were referring to the skateboarding not euc. 

 

Edited June 18, 2016 by John Eucist
edit shown

[yourtoys7]

One of my friends tried it, WOW, he was riding/ turning  with in 15-20 min. :()  I was impressed...

 

[MarkoMarjamaa]

I just wrote a article in Finnish Mensa about unicycles and taught the basic riding in one hour.

For me, getting to the same level took 4 hours. For me, the problem was mounting and getting the speed. When I was teaching, I could lend an shoulder for support so he could learn the basic riding first. When that was ok. he started practicing mounting and dismounting.

That is essential to know you can learn this in one hour, because it then would be possible to have one hour courses.

[Tech Nossomy]

Two weeks every day for about an hour and a half. That was a 14 inch. Embarrassing.