Totally newbie

[US69]

3 hours ago, phatmike said:

Thank you all for your advices. I decided to buy as first wheel an Inmotion V5F+ (Thanks to @Jason McNeil). The wheel is just arrived in perfect conditions and I almost kill my self trying to test it in my bedroom!  I'm very excited ad I will spend on it some hours next saturday.

Just a question: it is better to use a belt/rope  for practicing or it is better without? 

 

Thank you all again. This forum is really great!

you have to decide, if you are better learning with or without belt...

i would try first steps on a location like in the following video...

there you will not need a strap...once you can drive some meters...you do not need anymore anyway :-)

and yeah, pad the hell out of it:

just for the location:

 

 

[Jurgen]

5 hours ago, phatmike said:

Thank you all for your advices. I decided to buy as first wheel an Inmotion V5F+ (Thanks to @Jason McNeil). The wheel is just arrived in perfect conditions and I almost kill my self trying to test it in my bedroom!  I'm very excited ad I will spend on it some hours next saturday.

Just a question: it is better to use a belt/rope  for practicing or it is better without? 

 

Thank you all again. This forum is really great!

 The belt should not be used to 'learn' to ride. The belt is often misused to avoid having to 'jump' on the pedals to get started, but I feel this is a bad way of starting.

Put the foot of the strong leg on the pedal, and the weak legg on the ground, next try stepping with the weak leg, and learn to take bigger and bigger steps over time. Once you have enough ballance for 2 or 3 secs, you can try putting you foot of the weak leg on the wheel. It will  take a bit longer before you'll be actually riding the EUC, but once you have mastered this, you'll find you can also ride a couple of secs on one leg, and will be able to step off gracefully.

The belt is just a way to avoid that the wheel runs off when you  step/fall off. The strap allows you to avoid damage to the wheel or even worse that it is run over by a car or even causes a traffic accident because a car tries to avoid running over it.

ps: wear full protecive gear

 

[Rehab1]

7 hours ago, HunkaHunkaBurningLove said:

@Rehab1 used a learning belt to secure it loosely to his waist belt if I recall correctly to prevent it crashing to the ground.  I'm not sure how well that works as sometimes when you fall off the wheel spins like crazy out of control.  Others hold the belt loosely just to be able to catch the wheel.   I didn't used one as I had to use both arms to wave around to help balance.  I had a cheapo generic wheel that I padded up though.

With a nice wheel like a V5F+ I would pad it up on both sides and under the pedals to prevent scratches.  If you have some carpet or carpet underlay cut some pieces and wrap tape all around it.  Looks dumb, but once it's removed you have a nice pristine wheel still plus it will cushion your legs.

 

The belt worked perfect! I will use it again briefly when the V8 arrives.

[Frode]

On 4.9.2016 at 8:22 AM, phatmike said:

I'm a good skier and I (was) a decent skater (skateboard and rollerblades) but I'm not shure if this is going to help me on a EU.

Well, I know a person like you (skier, skateboarder) that asked me if he could try my wheel because he had never tried that before. I showed him how to step on to the wheel while holding on to my shoulder. After about 15 seconds he just raised his hand from my shoulder and drove around the parking lot, between moving cars and even stepped up on the wheel on his own without support. So my guess is that you will learn this pretty fast.

[houseofjob]

@phatmike Congrats! The V5F+ is IMO arguably the best 14" short/mid-distance EUCs out today, and surely the most innovative and well-thought out.

I come from a background of skiing and board sports as well (Advanced Skiier ~20 years / Intermediate Snowboarder ~15 years / Novice Skateboarder)

IMO, these sports do not help in the main and most important aspect of learning to ride an EUC: balancing while staying in motion. Athleticism, in general, and lack of fear help more (note: I personally am not naturally athletic and am a slow learner with much fear~).

Where they do translate is in carving / slaloming / turning. You probably purchased the best EUC for this, as the V5F+ has a unique, set/track-like carving motion (unique to InMotion) that reminds me of parabolic skiis in the way that the wheel almost does the turning for you. Also, I employ the same physics of braking perpendicular to downhill that I do going downhill on skiis or boards.

 

Some pointers I wish I had been told when learning:

• To balance on an EUC, either your upper torso or lower body needs to be moving / counterbalancing (usually the lower body, esp when first learning), while the other half stays still (think balancing a pencil upright on your hand). The best pointer I read when first learning was to, when in doubt, twist like hell from the hips while fighting to stay on the EUC.
• Do not lean with your upper body, lean from your legs / pelvis. This is because all EUCs have a limit to how fast they can accelerate before you overpower the EUC, potentially cutting out and dropping you (called overleaning; the InMotion wheels have an audible warning for this). Leaning from you lower half while staying upright will help you not faceplant in this possibility.

[mhpr262]

On 4.9.2016 at 3:15 PM, Questor said:

but your first wheel WILL get pretty beat up as you learn.

I have never had a tumble that damaged my wheel, even though it is very weak for my weight (350W for 270lbs). I just make sure I always have a good grip on my strap. Only the edges and corners on the underside of my footrests have received a few scratches.

[phatmike]

Thank you all for the advices. After a week with the wheel I'm able to jump on it and do the basics: turn, jump on/off and going slow. In the video (my little son did it) I can also manage my first little jump. 

My first considerations:

The first half hour is a nightmare. After ten minutes, trying to jump on the wheel, I was very discouraged and I wanted to quit.

It was very important for me to start trying to jump on the wheel because after that you realize that this  is the most important thing to learn.

I did not use any walls or belt or any help. It Is harder this way but I think you learn faster.

In all the sports that I did in the past the only one that help me a lot was skiing (when I try to do slalom with the wheel I use the exactly same technique)

I felt only once, badly and I was in my bed room. So my advice is: never try it at home!

I feel comfortable on the wheel but if I go more than 15/18 kmXh the wheel starts shaking a little to much. It shakes if I do a very quick brake too. Is that normal and is just a question of time or I have to inflate more the tire? (2.8 bar now)

Thank to this forum Im an electric unicyclist now. So thank you all again.

 

 

 

IMG_0396.MOV

[Greg Spalding]

1 minute ago, phatmike said:

Thank you all for the advices. After a week with the wheel I'm able to jump on it and do the basics: turn, jump on/off and going slow. In the video (my little son did it) I can also manage my first little jump. 

My first considerations:

The first half hour is a nightmare. After ten minutes, trying to jump on the wheel, I was very discouraged and I wanted to quit.

It was very important for me to start trying to jump on the wheel because after that you realize that this  is the most important thing to learn.

I did not use any walls or belt or any help. It Is harder this way but I think you learn faster.

In all the sports that I did in the past the only one that help me a lot was skiing (when I try to do slalom with the wheel I use the exactly same technique)

I felt only once, badly and I was in my bed room. So my advice is: never try it at home!

I feel comfortable on the wheel but if I go more than 15/18 kmXh the wheel starts shaking a little to much. It shakes if I do a very quick brake too. Is that normal and is just a question of time or I have to inflate more the tire? (2.8 bar now)

Thank to this forum Im an electric unicyclist now. So thank you all again.

 

 

 

IMG_0396.MOV

First of all, congratulations. Next, thanks for filling us in on your progress. I know that better advice and more important advice will come from those here with four more experience than I have.

I enjoyed the video but you sure were traveling quite rapidly. please take care of yourself. happy you are doing well. 

[Keith]

10 minutes ago, phatmike said:

I feel comfortable on the wheel but if I go more than 15/18 kmXh the wheel starts shaking a little to much. It shakes if I do a very quick brake too. Is that normal and is just a question of time or I have to inflate more the tire? (2.8 bar now)

All beginners hit a "wobble barrier" that seems impassable at a certain speed. With experience it goes, often quite suddenly as your confidence improves. It seems to be a combination of things: foot position, muscle shake, nerves, etc. It is discussed more here:

 

[Frode]

On 3.10.2016 at 4:06 PM, phatmike said:

Is that normal and is just a question of time

Most probably yes. Try to relax your feet.

I beleive it is mostly due to interaction between your wheel and your feet muscles. Think about it this way: If you are standing on your wheel and you suddenly press a little harder on say left foot, the wheel will turn to the right due to this pressure. But because the wheel turns to the right the left foot's pressure will decrease and the right foot's pressure increase. This will then turn the wheel to the left. This in turn will putt pressure on the left foot and the wheel will turn right again. And so on. Relaxing the muscles in the feet will reduce the wobble and even stop it completely - at least for me. Pinching the wheel between your legs might also help, I think because this pinching will also inhibit the difference in pressure from the feet on to the pedals. You should also note that som sudden wobble now and then is normally not dangerous, just don't panic.

Just my 16,02 øre (= 2 cents according to todays currency exchange rate)

[phatmike]

Thank you all, I think I got it. I notice that if I put less pressure on the wheel and stop to think that I can fall, everything goes better.

Another question (thanks in advance): what are the best shoes, in you opinion, for driving ecus? 

 

[Paddylaz]

2 minutes ago, phatmike said:

Thank you all, I think I got it. I notice that if I put less pressure on the wheel and stop to think that I can fall, everything goes better.

Another question (thanks in advance): what are the best shoes, in you opinion, for driving ecus? 

 

To be honest all you really need is time.

When I first started getting 'that' foot pain, I did what most do which is to widely experiment with different footwear. It makes little difference.

All you need is time. I promise it goes. Just keep getting out there and your body will adjust.  

[Frode]

15 hours ago, phatmike said:

what are the best shoes, in you opinion, for driving ecus?

I ride what I find convenient there and then: flops, slippers, crocs, motorcycle boots, hiking boots, sneakers, rubber boots, barefooted...I really don't care, except maybe for long runs (10+ km) where I prefer something with a stiffer sole, or on rainy days where I prefer something with reasonably good grip. And on cold days, obviously not barefooted.