Fresh unicyclist from finland

[Fezder]

Hello!

I'm 26 years old EE student, and I got hooked into unicycling about week ago. Had to take break due flue, but got back in saddle today. So, my training has just started.
Bike is 20" basic model, which already needed new set of pedals, since original, plastic ones broke.
Currently, in training, I'm slowly building way out of support, only gotten few meters so far until losing balance, due losing speed too much. I'm thinking of using walking sticks to train.

Also, I'm not sure about tire pressure, since I noticed I lose control more easily now when I started using nomila pressure of tire (40PSI), when before it was close to 4PSI. I've used in normal bike hard pressures mostly, but things seem to be different in this aspect too.

And as like title says, I'm from finland, not that many unicyclists here.

[Jener8or]

Hi Fezder, welcome to the forum! I am fairly new to unicycling, too. I would advise against using walking sticks to learn, as they might turn into impalement sticks pretty easily. For me, it was easier learning to ride (slightly) downhill, but that might not give the best sense of control when learning, either. I think you'll find after a few meters, you'll be able to catch on really quickly; the trick for riding any distance for me, was figuring out the right weight proportions to put on the seat vs the pedals.

As far as tire pressure goes, I think it has a lot to do with personal preference, type of tire, rider weight, and what kind of riding you are doing. I'd play around with it a little bit to see what works for you and your set up. I like lower pressure (not 4 psi, though! You meant 4 bar right?) for hopping than I do riding around the block, but there is definitely a window of being able to roll over things easily and control that tire pressure influences and will probably be different for every rider. In my higher volume tire I run 15-25 psi, but run about 30-40 psi in a "normal" sized tire, and would run even higher in a smaller road tire.

Good luck learning and keep us posted with how it goes!

[elpuebloUNIdo]

Originally Posted by Fezder

I'm thinking of using walking sticks to train.

Welcome to the forum. I suggest you either use a strong support, such as a wall or fence, some of the time, then for the rest of the time use no support at all. The problem with walking sticks is that you need your hands to save you when you fall.

There are a bunch of beginners on the forum right now. It's going to be helpful for all of you to share your progress. Good luck!

[Fezder]

Thanks guys, yeah, I think I'll ditch stick idea for now, since it seems dangerous. I fall enough as it is already hehe.

I really need to find some good place to train, since it poured some white stuff from sky that causes control to be even more harder.

As for tire pressure, I tested it on hard surface, and turns out, wheel is more responsive, but "slips" easier due decreased surface, which makes sense.

I noticed that it makes lot difference in distributing weight on saddle, as you Jene8or said, bike starts to wobble with too much weight on pedals and there goes balance. Also, keeping eyes on horizon is big helper, but It's too tempting to look where wheel is going to, which is ok with normal bike.

This is like learning to walk all over again...in a good way.

[Aali]

Originally Posted by elpuebloUNIdo

The problem with walking sticks is that you need your hands to save you when you fall.

Heh, I think I was the one suggesting walking sticks (ski poles) on a finnish biking forum

I used ski poles to train and did not have any problems with them when falling, usually I used the poles to regain balance when falling was approaching. Falling was not a problem at all with poles for me. Remember, everyone in Finland is very used to handling ski poles anyway so it is a familiar concept

[Fezder]

Hehe, yeah, I think it was you who suggested it, and few other fellows have used it too, so it could work used correctly and slowly.

Ski poles are easy to use, but in their normal application, there's no one big wheel you try to balance on....

I find it bit odd that there's so few of unicyclers here in finland, today I heard of other one here in mikkeli when I was questioning of using sports halls for training and whether I get bad name or not in using them, since bike isn't that best equipment to take indoor, highly polished floor, in case if (well, when) bike control is lost.

[Aali]

Anyway, welcome to this forum as well

If you look closely there is a Finnish-specific area here as well: http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=35

And yes, it is true that unicyclists are a rare species here. I have never seen anyone else except in the unofficial finnish championships 1,5 years ago: http://perakylanponnistus.fi/kilpailut/YksykliOpen.php

[Fezder]

Yes, I saw that sub-section, but didn't post there since it said something there haven't been new posts for 30 days, and I didn't want to start my life in this forum necroin' around. I'll say boo there, since date seems to "valid" in that section so It's not necroin'....yet.

[elpuebloUNIdo]

Originally Posted by Fezder

Yes, I saw that sub-section, but didn't post there since it said something there haven't been new posts for 30 days, and I didn't want to start my life in this forum necroin' around. I'll say boo there, since date seems to "valid" in that section so It's not necroin'....yet.

Well, I just learned a new term. Necroing. I got in a small flame war with a newcomer to the forum, several weeks ago, after I suggested he use the search more and start new threads less. Sorry for my ignorance, and I'm not trying to start another flame war, but I don't see how necroing can possibly be a bad thing on this forum. If someone revives an old thread, it is moved to the top of the feed, as if it is new. Others are given the opportunity (or not) to read the old posts in that thread. Frequently, riders have thanked others for reviving old threads. I don't think the pace of innovation is so fast in unicycling that threads outlive their shelf life. If the presence of old, inactive threads is an excuse to create new threads, then there is a proliferation of new threads, which leads eventually to more inactive threads. I've been on this forum for less than 4 years. During that period, it seems that adding to pre-existing threads has become less popular.

Aali, good point about the ski poles. If you are already skilled with ski poles, maybe they're the right crutch for you. For me, probably not. Shopping carts seem like a pretty cool learning aid.

[Fezder]

Yeah, I don't understand either hate of resurrecting older threads, since it even brings less burden to server than creating new topics all the time. If some topic has worker, why make new one? It's like building new post box next to old, functional one, instead of using previous one. When there's two post boxes next to each other, how postman knows which is being checked, if they look same?

Maybe I just dunno all thigs behind necroing threads, but for me It's easier so search if something has been discucssed, instead of making new thread.