Turning is easy one way, hard the other. True for everybody?

[DaveThomasPilot]

I'm a beginner on a KS14C. 

I've been doing figure 8's in my driveway and I'm now very comfortable turning to my right while moving slow or moderatelly fast and with a pretty tight radius.  However, when I turn to the left, I just can't seem to get away from the wobbles or not getting the correct wheel tilt for the radius turn I'm doing.

I have a titanium left hip, so I'm wondering if that's a big part of the problem or if everyone has this issue?   If it's just a matter of more practice, I'll do that.  But, if it's a limitation of my THR, I'll just favor turning right instead of left.

 

[Lukasz]

This kind of normal in the beginner stage that turning one way works better than the other way. At least it was true for me and few other friends.

The same happens with the learning process to ride backwards -  doing figure 8's - left turns are not yet fluent in my case..

 

 

 

 

 

[dpong]

Me when I was still almost a beginner:   Now I can turn either way, but still favor turns to the left.  Seems like just about everyone has a favorite side to turn on. 

[This video was taken 2 YEARS AGO, so NO SUGGESTIONS are necessary.  But THANKS, just the same!]  

 

[MaxLinux]

14 minutes ago, dpong said:

Now I can turn either way, but still favor turns to the left.  Seems like just about everyone has a favorite side to turn on.

For a long time left turns were easier for me. I don't mean 90 degree turns. I am referring to tight turns or U-turns. I could turn much tighter and easier left vs. right. After maybe 6 months my skills equalized, and I could turn well either left or right.

[Lukasz]

So this is yet another proof that we are not fully symmetrical...   ;-) 

The only answer is practice, practice, practice,  daily use of the EUC if conditions allow....  - after first 1000 km Your turns will equalize for sure....

[HermanTheGerman]

I can confirm that, although I forgot it until I red your thread title.

For me at the beginning there were the left turns where I had difficulties. I remember the 90 degree street curve here in my area, where I had no problem in one direction on the inner side of the curve (it was right), while I had to jump off the wheel once when I first did it going in the other direction (though outer side of the curve, but it was left).

Meanwhile for me it's like on a bicycle, it doesn't matter if a curve is left or right, I don't see a difference, not even if I do narrow slaloms here at our test area.

Just practice with patience, and try to think away from how doing it while you practice. It's hard to describe, but at some point in time it will just work.

Don't worry about your titanium hip, this should normally not influence your riding (if it is well done and also doesn't influence your other life). It's just a matter of practice.

[Christoph Zens]

Same here. For me, left turns were much easier in the beginning. I also wondered why that is and what I do different during a right vs. a left turn. Eventually, I found out that I didn't really look into the direction I wanted to go when doing a right turn. This lack of really facing the way I wanted the wheel to go caused the problems for me. In my mind, I figured a right turn, but my body was not acting like it so the wheel was not doing what I wanted either. The feeling that the wheel would not want to follow me made me act even less confident when entering the turn, so this was like a circle of action and reaction I had to break through. Once I started to concentrate on facing the direction I wanted to go first and let the body and wheel follow automatically, things became much easier.

I also used the same technique later when I practiced 180 degree spot turns. I started to practice them relatively early since I consider this maneuver essential for safe riding. It comes in handy when one needs to turn around in a confined space. Again, I had problems to do the full 180 degrees at the beginning when trying to do a right turn and again it helped to first turn around and face the desired target direction before actually executing the move with the lower body.

Another good way to gain more confidence and even out the left/right preference is to go slow on a straight path and sway left and right evenly, just like one would do when skiing.

[TremF]

When I started learning with my Ninebot I struggled with turning right. The ACM was a slightly different learning experience but no issues with turning. The Monster though... Once again I struggled a little with right turns due to it's size and having to learn to ride totally different to my ACM.

[DaveThomasPilot]

Thanks for the replies and encouragement!

Off to practice some more.

[ubertoad]

@Lukasz what is that soft thing attached to your KS16? I think I could use it too, I'm a beginner and my inner shin is sore.

I'm riding pretty similar to that dpong's video now, but it is quickly getting better.

[LanghamP]

Left side was easier at first, probably because ice skaters go mindlessly counterclockwise in an ice skating rink. I'd practice towards my weaker side and then the weaker side would be stronger. And so on back and forth. Right now I feel about equal.

Being weak in something is probably a good reason to practice it. I feel pretty weak mounting with the opposite foot than normal but I can still do it.

[LanghamP]

On 4/27/2017 at 3:02 AM, Christoph Zens said:

Another good way to gain more confidence and even out the left/right preference is to go slow on a straight path and sway left and right evenly, just like one would do when skiing.

This. Nothing helped my riding or turns more than doing this.

[Dan the Man]

I guess it is all in your mind. Same here for me, and it was the same when I learned bicycle as a child. There were no child bicycles around 60 years ago, so to stop I had to let myself fall to the left side until my left foot would touch the ground. It was impossible for the right side. So I did not do right turns since I would not want to lean to the right.

Same with the unicycle: I always have my ride foot on the pedal to start and stop. My mind says if I feel unsafe while riding I can put my left foot on the ground, and that would work with a left turn. With a right turn it would be more difficult, and that is why my mind tells my body better not do right turns.

[vladmarks]

On 27/04/2017 at 0:20 AM, DaveThomasPilot said:

I've been doing figure 8's in my driveway and I'm now very comfortable turning to my right while moving slow or moderatelly fast and with a pretty tight radius.  However, when I turn to the left, I just can't seem to get away from the wobbles or not getting the correct wheel tilt for the radius turn I'm doing.

 

To explain shortly, the body favours turning in the direction opposite of your main foot (left or right, not always matching your left/righthandedness). Your brain simply feels more in control when the wheel is inclined to the opposite direction, and less in control when the passive foot has to hold the majority of pressure. 

Technically, you can easily become feet-ambidextrous after some time practicing. Yet, here I am after 2 years of riding, still preferring left turns. At this point my right calf is so buff it's easier to turn right having only my right leg on the pedals. Obviously, not at a high speed  

[ubertoad]

I don't have preferred turns. I'm a beginner, but I pretty much can do turns, while I still fall sometimes on the tight turns. I may be a bit legs ambidextrous, but I think this is how everybody are, you have preferred leg, but you can do with other too, you just can't do very complex things with legs anyway. Now I have way preferred leg for starting, but it also aches way more, so I considered to try the other, but then I was parted with muh wheel

So, well, I think it is not necessary to have preferred turns, just try not paying it much attention, probably.

[DaveThomasPilot]

It's definitely getting better (left turns).

One thing that really helps is not trying to control the left tilt of the wheel to match the radius of the curve I want.  Instead, I let the wheel tilt full left until the calf of my leg stops it.  If that's too steep, I go back to straight up for a brief time, then let it flop over again.  So, the turn radius ends up being control by the "duty cycle", or how much time the wheel is straight up versus tilted.

Trying to control the precise tilt of the wheel between straight up and way left is much more difficult for me.

When I turn right, I can lean and "do what it takes" to get a turn radius and speed to match whatever right tilt I give the wheel.  I've been trying to do that turning left and struggling.  So, now I just don't do that and it works fine.  While it probably doesn't look graceful, I feel in complete control turning left now. 

Also, I just started letting the wheel flop one way or another and am realizing nothing drastic happens.  I just start turning at a radius that can be controlled by how long I keep it tilted.

This might just be a crutch to use as my skills improve, but it helps a lot!

 

[mrelwood]

Some EUC's have a messy calibration when bought. From the 3 EUC's me and my brothers have, 2 would tilt back on one turn and front from the other. Calibrating the wheel with the phone app resolved the issue.

Nevertheless, after 2000km I still have a strong preference for tight left turns. I think I just do them more when making U-turns riding on the right side of the road/path.