A Traffic Signal Question and a Tire Question

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Hey guys.

Well yesterday I took a stroll into the city with the 36er, trying to practice my city commute. It was hard and I’m relieved that I thought of this before actually commuting during the day during rush hour. It was dark and I had like 3 UPDs, nothing major though, easily got right back on and rode on. People were pretty passive about it since there weren’t much traffic around. I can easily do it with the 26" but I’d love to master the 36" soon. Both are Nimbus Oracle for reference. My comfortability lvl on the 26er is around a 8.5 out of 10 and for my 36er I’m more like 5 out of 10. The guestimation on the traffic light is hard and if I get there early, I can’t idle like I can on the 26" and I’ve yet to learn the bunny hop on the 36, which I’m doing sorta okay on the 26. So stalling and waiting for lights is still a pain. I’m planning to do it again tonight and practice.

I still can’t use the brake much, it’s still a bit scary to practice it as I feel like I’m going to be thrown forward whenever I do. It just feels really awkward on the legs when I apply the brake, but I’ll work on it but am expecting a lot of falls.

The trip into the city was also very hard because of all the traffic lights as well. I haven’t commuted into the city on a bike for years so I’d like to confirm something about the signal:

TRAFFIC QUESTION:

I ride both on the sidewalk and the street.
For this light:

If it is green with the red hand and I’m on the sidewalk with my unicycle, I can’t cross, right?

If it is green with the red hand and I’m on the road with the cars, I can cross though, am I correct?

During the daytime, people are only allowed to cross the street if it is green with a pedestrian walk signal. That’s in the area in question. Near another area out of the city, I see people walking across even if it is green light with a red hand stop signal.

Tire Question

I’m having some weird issues with the tires. On my 26er I especially notice it and I think I notice it on the 36er. On my 26 I use the holy roller 2.2 for the slight knobs for grip and it rolls pretty well and is lighter than the Hookworm in which it replaces. I ran around 25 PSI as about recommended a few weeks back to help with the bunny hopping. It’s neat but the issue of the tire walls folding sideways sometime. Is it something that’s normal and I have to try to cope with it or what? Like there was one time riding on the 26" and it was fine then suddenly I leaned a bit to the left and suddenly it felt like my unicycle was completely out of control and it folded to the left rather quick and fell. The tube in it isn’t thin type either, but my memory is bad on which type it is. 26" 2.3-2.5 tubing. I just notice some instability when leaning to the side.

On my 36er I’ve been experimenting on PSI, but so far I’ve brought it down to 25 PSI and it still doesn’t roll over bumps as smoothly as what I’ve heard from people, as compare to my 26. I also slightly notice the tire issue so have brought it back up to 30 psi. I use to ride it around 40-45 psi but tried lowering it down to bunny hop and roll over bumps more smoothly. Yesterday while riding in the city with 25 psi, I hit a few bumps and the unicycle bounced and threw me off. It didn’t soak in the bumps as I would hope it did. Little hard to see all the bumps at night. It felt like the only difference going from 40 psi to 25 is that the tire wall seems to fold more when leaning on a turn.

2

Depending where you live, and the attitude of the local police, the hand/walk signs are more advisory. You will only get a ticket if you cross against a red.
Having said that, a “walking person” light gives you the right of way, but with the “stop hand,” you may have to worry about right-turning cars. (I UPD’d last week turning around to check for cars turning right while approaching a signal with “the hand.”) In general, it’s better to be safe than sorry, so if you come up to a signal that has already changed to a steady “hand,” you are probably better off stopping and waiting for the next green. (As lobbybopster says, “If I was in a hurry, I wouldn’t be riding a unicycle.”)
On my 36r, if I have to stop for a red signal, I usually walk it across when it turns green, and re-mount when I get to the other side. Less stress that way. Some guys are talented enough to idle and bunny hop until the light turns green, but not me (not on the 36r, anyway).

3

Yeah I’m trying to get to the point where I can bunny hop until it turns. I have no other option but to either hold onto a pole to wait if there is one that is in an arms length distance away or dismount and dismounting all the time is a mood killer. I’m not super comfortable on mounting again either. I have it at around 60-70%, but it’s definitely harder than mounting on my 26er, which is one of the bigger problematic factor so far.

I’ve also worked on timing the lights but that’s when I come across another issue. The 36er is faster so riding slowly to wait for the light is harder, not to mention the types of lights that I mentioned in my question above that you addressed. Sorta makes me have to think twice. And then if I ride slow and the lights turn I have to suddenly pedal faster to go across it before it becomes red again. My comfort speed is not very high on the 36er yet. I can even say that I just MIGHT be faster on my 26er. A few days ago I got on my 26er after taking a break for a week due to the weather as well and I really put some speed on it and was surprised at how fast I was going. Haha, commuting on a unicycle, it’s definitely harder than doing it on a bike that’s for sure, but the thought of being able to one day smoothly commute in the city is a very thrilling thought.

My average 36er speed is like around 8 MPH and my max comfort top speed is around 10 MPH, not much more. Stopping the short cranks (127 mm) so they’re near horizontal in order to bunny hop has also been another challenge so I really want to learn how to use the brakes but have been oddly very reluctant.

4

You should really be comfortable on your 36er before heading out in the dark. It is much harder to see imperfections in the road/sidewalk in the dark, even with a good light.

I’ve been riding a 36er for nearly 8 years and I don’t even attempt to idle at lights. It’s just not worth the effort, in my opinion. I just get off and remount when the light turns green or, better yet, try and time the lights.

Again, don’t attempt this skill quite yet until you feel a little bit more comfortable on your 36er. You’ll know when you’re ready. What kind of brakes do you have, rim or disc brakes? I use my brakes primarily for downhills, to save my knees. I also use them at the very last stroke before I dismount at a stop.

That sounds to be a good/sound/safe practice. However, I’m not as cautious. :slight_smile:
I tend to cross if the light is green for the cars, but the hand is red, no matter if I’m on the sidewalk or not. That being said, I’m almost always in the street. For the longest time, I felt safest on the sidewalks. However, this isn’t necessarily the safest practice. Cars coming in and out of driveways is a big problem. These drivers are not focused on the sidewalk and you can end up getting smacked. I say, choose the sidewalk as a last resort.

5

I’m going to come out and say it - For road-riding, even on my 29er with off-road tyre, I pump my tyre up hard as a rock. I find it far easier to try and control a solid tyre over duff roads than to rely on a squishy tyre for it, then have to do the rest of the ride on what feels like custard.

If your tyre is folding sideways at all, it needs pumping up harder!

6

Remounting will improve with time and practice; another good reason to just dismount and remount at the green. I never got to 100% free mounting. I’m close, maybe 90-95% of the time, I’m successful free mounting. I tend to do worse the more tired I am. If I’m doing a 50 miler, the last leg of the ride I tend to be around the 60-70% range.

Are you running 127mm cranks on your 36er? IMHO, that is way too short for someone that is not very comfortable on a 36er. You should be on 145-150 maybe even 165mm cranks. I think this would be a huge improvement in you feeling comfortable on your commute.

7

@scgoan

I’m okay with it (riding the 36"). I’ve been riding around this large block around this elementary school for a few weeks now. It just gets boring after awhile so I’m at the point where I want to explore different areas and learn more.

Like riding around the school on the sidewalk is pretty easy but when I’m on the street, it’s much harder. I really…really do not like the road crown in some areas. It’s crazy. I can (reluctantly) deal with some minor road crowns but some streets, as soon as my concentration is off, my unicycle quickly veers into the parked cars. A very scary situation but the only way to practice it is to do it even if its risky since the place almost always has some cars parked there. I don’t know how I’ll ever gain the experience to deal with those kind of road crowns. I have to lean my whole body a 35 degree angle just to deal with it.

I just head out in the dark because there’s not a lot of traffic and I’m less likely to be injured or cause an accident to other people. It’s not that dark in the city, I also ride slower because I can’t see the road as well. Well that’s my excuse and my logic that goes with it. I don’t ride in the dark because of no reason. In the day time it’s just too hard to practice riding in the city, I’m practicing to deal with the many lights too.

It’s the ones that come default on the Oracles, it’s a disc brake. Yeah, I’m trying to use it to handle steep hills better and in case an emergency stop is needed. I just don’t know how to use the brakes at all at the moment, which is a major waste since oracles automatically come with brakes…

Yeah I’m just new to the city commute so staying on the road all the time is still scary so if the sidewalk seems rather empty and I need a breather or a pole to hang onto, that’s when I would sometimes go on it.

8

Yeah but won’t that be much harder for bunny hopping? My goal is to ride the road and be able to hop up and down curbs.

I also tried the really high PSI and was not too fond of it, the ride just felt really stiff for me. Makes me want to give it another try though :stuck_out_tongue:

Yeah I’ve been practicing it while going around the school. I would dismount every half lap and remount. I have the biggest issue when my concentration is off or when I’m trying to mount on an upward slope.

I can easily and without a second thought 100% mount my 26er but I question if I’ll ever be able to do so with the 36er. I’m short and I’m guessing that doesn’t help too much, the 36er is huge lol…

Yeah, I’m short so the 127 feels the most comfortable on my groin area and I still have the comfort of bending my knees a bit. I tried the 150 and found that I was uncomfortable down there a lot faster. Pedaling is a lot smoother on the 127. I’d go back to the 150 if it wasn’t for the comfort issue. On the 150, I have to stretch more and it feels like my side part of my leg is pinching against the side of the seat too much when I push down on the pedal to comfortably reach it.

127mm I can ride for quite awhile.
150mm I get uncomfortable after like 20 minutes

KH street by the way. I use to have the freeride, but it was about an inch thicker and I had issues comfortably reaching the pedals with them. The street feels less comfortable especially on the 150mm where I’m force to push myself to reach more.

9

With discs the best way to get used to them is actually to wear them in.

To wear in the brakes you can ride along at a steady pace with the brake very slightly engaged, repeatedly. While you are doing this you can play with gentle modulation and work out how to make the uni feel like it is going uphill. This will get you used to the handle and the pressure needed to get minimum braking.

After a little bit of playing like that you can find an open space and bring yourself to a stop, brake slightly harder and let yourself slow down, let go of the brake, speed up again and repeat. As you brake remember to move your centre of balance backwards.

To turn with a brake i find it best to pull up on the handle dropping my weight back, then as with a car - brake, turn, accelerate

10

My suggestion would be to first, stop riding on the sidewalk unless ABSOLUTELY neccessary. Then, put some more air in your tire.

The only way to get better a handling road crown (or learning to use your brake) is to just get out there and do it.

11

I think it all boils down to if there is a situation or obstacle that is giving you trouble, you just need to spend more time riding it. At some point it should feel more comfortable.

How far is your commute and what city are you riding in?

I personally wouldn’t commute on busy roads on a uni. If there is a dedicated bike path for a good amount of the ride or roads without much traffic I would consider it, but busy streets in my mind is just too dangerous.

I commuted for many years on my bike, I understand the want to get out there in something other than a car. In my older age I’ve decided that it may not be worth it, and find different ways to get my riding in.

12

I’m glad you asked this question. There are some cities that are just not safe or not fun to ride a unicycle. I find it not enjoyable to ride in downtown San Diego, because of the heavy traffic, pot holes and all of the stop lights. There are no bike lanes. This can be somewhat dangerous, too. Without space between you and all of the cars, one error from either the car or you can put you in a bad situation.

13

For some weird reason after yesterday’s practice I’m able to almost always land a freemount now. It’s like I suddenly just got it. Pretty easy too. I can even roll the wheel back a bit and still make it go forward on the mount.

So YAY :stuck_out_tongue:

@davejh

Thanks, I’ll take note of those tips. I wish there were a video tutorial of using brakes on a unicycle. I’ll try it out today or tomorrow.

@Killian

Okay, I hear you. I still tend to go on the sidewalk a lot on my 26er. Can’t say I’ll stop doing that. But for the 36er due to its size I’ll mostly go road for sure.

The reason I lowered my pressure of the tire down was because I had the thought that I would be able to do it and make all the bumps be a lot smoother to deal with and the side of the tire won’t fold over. The bumps don’t seem to be any different going from 45 psi to 25 so I guess back up it goes.

I might try to go around there during busy hour on a bike and see how it is. I’ve never really needed to do it before. Whenever I do errands in the city, it would be by car.

I was trying hard to accomplish it on the unicycle because it seemed like a do-able challenge at least that’s what I thought at first until you put it that way. I’m determined still, but I guess we’ll see. It felt like one of those challenges where you’re like “ah, no way I can do it” until you see someone else do it and then you’re like “so there was a way, I shouldn’t have given up!”

My area is not as busy or big, but yeah it’s those tons of traffic lights and there are quite a few sections that I go through that don’t have clear bike lanes. The streets are okay. Then again a ride on a bike during the day and we’ll see how I map it out.

I think unicycling on the road has and will always be more risky. The one wheel requires concentration always in order to balance it. Any unexpected bumps on the road and a slip and the car behind you will probably run you over. For a bike I can drift off and not have to pedal all the time and only have to worry about large bumps / potholes on the street.

But so far it’s just stopping at the lights that’s getting me. If I’m ever able to bunny hop with ease for a long time or find a way to smoothly stall at lights, I think commuting would be like 50% easier. I already got the dismount down so that’s a big help. The other percentage is getting the brakes down. And also being able to comfortably ride at higher speeds to catch the green lights before they change.

I use to want a geared unicycle but I bet UPDing at 18 mph+ on a giant unicycle in the traffic would be really bad. I’ve yet to exceed 13.5 mph, it’s quite scary on a unicycle.

14

I totally understand the challenge aspect of why you want to do it. It may just take longer to accomplish the skills needed to pull it off.

It took me a while to be able to confidently bunny hop in one spot on my 29. Then it’s a whole other story to be able to do it at a busy intersection… I still can’t do it consistently, something about all those eyes on you :stuck_out_tongue: But when I pull it off it makes me feel great.

I’ll bet if you just work on bunny hopping at intersections and stop lights for a week or two it would make the whole experience much better. It’s tough, especially when you have a pack on and it’s bouncing around every time you hop.

And obviously working on mounting in this same situations.

It’ll be a piece of cake in no time.

15

I personally don’t bother with things like bunny-hopping or idling at lights, the pressure gets to me. It’s bad enough free-mounting there, let alone doing tricks!

16

It’s not as bad. I would say it’s more of a practice and mental kind of thing. I’ve been doing it on my 26er (the idle to wait for a light) and it’s pretty neat. I can bunny hop but not in place for long so that’s out of the question.

And then there’s holding onto something.

Perhaps I can get to the point where I’m good enough that I don’t have to think so much about idling and it becomes second nature. That would be awesome, something to strive for. Same with the bunny hop in one place.

17

mounts

I can’t give advice on a 36 cuz i never had one, but on smaller unis I just wait till there are no cars and then cross or I just walk across and use it as a opportunity to rest. I try to time the traffic lights so i catch them on green, so I have become a very smooth slow rider, I suck at idles but stall well.

also when I am tired or winded I usually can not freemount every time so i just use a curb to start, then i don’t have to worry so much about cars because its super easy to curb mount.

18

I’ve been hit several times. All but one has been on sidewalks. I still ride mixed sidewalk and street. I prefer the street. There are several busy high speed streets that I have to navigate. On those I’ll take my chances on the sidewalk. When I ride downtown Seattle I’ll hop upon the sidewalk for red lights. I usually lean on lamp posts. I can’t idle on any uncycle. I have free mounted in the middle of the street before. Its something I don’t like to do. Especially with a fully loaded work backpack.

19

I have some other issues that I’ve come across.

When you unicycle do you stop at stop signs?

I had the impression that you do not need to because I also seldom see bicyclists stop at stop signs. I had the thought that they’re considered pedestrians and have the right of way when approaching stop signs.

But I’ve googled that and it says we’re suppose to stop at stop signs too? What if I ride on the sidewalk, I would have the right of way then because one wheel is not considered like bike right? I would understand if it’s coming to a main intersection that does not have a stop sign and there are cars zooming past and you have to watch out but this:

Usually in that case I just slow a bit and just ride on through. So I have to do a stop and wait for the car that’s there first to pass through?

Okay and I got a few other scenarios I need help with. If I were to approach a similar stop sign intersection, but lets say it’s one way like this:


In this case, I ride towards the stop sign but there’s too many cars behind me for me to cross to the left side to do a left turn. Would it be okay to do that maneuver shown with the teal arrow? I would also go on the sidewalk if there’s no cars or cross the street and ride on the other side if that’s where the bike lane is or something I dunno… How would I approach that, put my left hand out right before hitting the stop sign and just cross over the pedestrian walk way in front of those cars … Or… stop at the stop sign, somehow stall the 36er (this is the biggest issue that I want to avoid stalling at stop signs) and wait for the cars to behind me to cross then I cross to the left afterwards?

I also have the same thing at red and green lights. In the same situation, if it’s a red light but I want to cross to the left which has green light, would that be a good idea to immediately turn left when I hit the red light if I was on the right side of the road? Hopefully no car is turning right, guess I have to watch out for that.

I’ll try to make it to the left side of the road but sometimes I’m riding and suddenly I’m like “oh crap I’m suppose to make a left turn here”.

For the red and green light, since the community is strongly opposed to cross during a red light (even when there’s no car in sight…but I am skeptical and think many of you guys would cross if there’s no car in sight if it’s a red light), I’m trying to do a method in which I zigzag and take whichever route as long as it’s a green light to get to my destination.

20

Much of how should you behave depends on local law.
I think going from “vehicle” to “pedestrian” mode and back too often is unclear for other people. If I’m on the right side and I would like to take pedestrian crossing to the left I would go fully to the right, maybe even enter the sidewalk, then turn sharp left to face the walk way, check if the cars are still standing and then pass the crossing and continue on walk way/sidewalk as much of the crossroads as possible and finally get back onto the road in the final direction.
But I would suggest passing A cars on their back while they are standing and then you are nicely on the left ready to turn left in a regular vehicle traffic.
As for red lights, I try not to ride at them, but there are some where I can clearly see there is nothing coming, and general traffic is very low around, and I sometimes do go on red in such places. Just remember that if you miss somebody, it is all your fault.