28" Wheels: stopping, turning and weight

Wow! I haven’t been in here for years. I have just been looking at some of
the posts and the accompaning links and am very impressed at how far uni
has come in the last 6-7 years.

Anyway, I bought a 28" DM Ringmaster uni about 12 months ago and have been
having a few problems. The first was that I ended up not being able to use
it as my primary mode of transportation because of chaffing problems. Also
with the training I was doing at the time the extra effort was just too
much. Now that I have stopped full-time training, I had been hoping to get
onto it more.

I am struggling at the moment with the weight of the uni. I find it very
difficult to stop and then idle. If I am traveling along and need to
stop, I have to put so much effort into slowing the wheel down, that when
it changes directions (ie wheel goes backwards) at the beginning of the
idle it has much more speed than it should. Consequently the uni shoots
out the back leaving me standing on the ground when I want to be sitting
on the uni.

Even idling immediately after mounting is rather difficult.

Another problem I find that comes from the weight of the wheel, is
turning. My technique is probably not quite correct, but I find I have to
either take the turn very wide, or take it very slowly and use my hips to
twist the uni around.

Also, on the topic of 28" uni’s, how do people mount them? I found in the
beginning that it was a bit painful free-mounting in the usual manner and
so adapted the ‘rear cowboy mount’. Unfortunately with the trouble I have
idling I was only getting about a 50% success rate. Now I can’t be
bothered. If I’m going somewhere I just use a pole.

Sorry about the length of this post, but any help will be greatly
appreciated.

http://www.zfree.co.nz

Michel Fouche

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Michel,

“Michel Fouche” <fouche@zfree.SPAMICIDE.co.nz> wrote in message
news:<3b0075ba$1@zfree.co.nz>…
>
> Anyway, I bought a 28" DM Ringmaster uni about 12 months ago and have
> been having a few problems. The first was that I ended up not being able
> to use it as my primary mode of transportation because of chaffing
> problems. Also

I bought one a couple of years ago too. No chafing problems, though. In
fact, the DM has the best seat of all my unis.

>
> I am struggling at the moment with the weight of the uni. I find it very
> difficult to stop and then idle. If I am traveling along and need to
> stop, I have to put so much effort into slowing the wheel down, that
> when it changes directions (ie wheel goes backwards) at the beginning of
> the idle it has much more speed than it should. Consequently the uni
> shoots out the back leaving me standing on the ground when I want to be
> sitting on the uni.

I find you need to plan ahead more, but I can stop ok then idle. However,
I find it a lot of work to maintain idling, and often dismount before the
lights change.

>
> Even idling immediately after mounting is rather difficult.

Improves with practise. Try reducing the length of the idle. I find it is
best with a small ‘stroke’.

>
> Another problem I find that comes from the weight of the wheel, is
> turning. My technique is probably not quite correct, but I find I have
> to either take the turn very wide, or take it very slowly and use my
> hips to twist the uni around.

I don’t have this problem.

>
> Also, on the topic of 28" uni’s, how do people mount them? I found in
> the beginning that it was a bit painful free-mounting in the usual
> manner and so adapted the ‘rear cowboy mount’. Unfortunately with the
> trouble I have idling I was only getting about a 50% success rate. Now I
> can’t be bothered. If I’m going somewhere I just use a pole.

I can freemount ok, but I require a long back-peddle to get started. The
total mounting time means means I may just get the end of the green light
at some intersections, and sometimes just walk across the intersection. I
tried the rear mount for a while, but couldn’t get it. As you say, it is
best if you can find a convenient pole to grab onto.

Regards,

Stephen Gun.