There was a funny moment. Recently I felt I reached a plateau with my idiing (no progress, 100max idles with the left foot low and 20max with the other one) with a tend to lowering. The real reason turned out to be that the tire pressure had dropped to 20psi. After I pumped the tire up to 40psi the things went better.
The weather became better and I relocated outdoor and changed to a 24" uni with 145mm cranks to continue with idling. Hope to make some video soon.
Hi Slamdance
I am interested in backwards riding.
Now Iâm trying to perfect this pattern gradually increasing the number of swings with each leg down.
In addition, you can change your leg by doing half a rev back instead of forward
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Me too.
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Nice day for unicycling, Aye Huku
Thanks for your video, again.
Yes, please check your tire pressure.
High pressure = stiffer tire = more response!!!
I also notice something about your seat position.
I know itâs preferable to go high seat = less muscle work = more leverage for riding distance.
When the seat is high:
a.) The leg is straight at 6 oâclock(bottom pedal) and leg muscle is relaxed/resting.
b.) The leg when pedal is at 12 oâclock does not bend so much.
High seat is for long distance riding efficiency.
Letâs do the "opposite:
a.) When leg is at bottom pedal, letâs keep it bent. So, muscle is active and not resting.
b.) When leg is at top pedal, letâs bend knee as much as possible. So, muscle is at strongest flexed position.
You will gain more âfeelâ and âsensitivityâ when more muscle is used.
You might feel a little sloppy and unstable in the beginning, because the smallest movement will be amplified on the unicycle. However, you should be able to master it quickly. I believe it will help you develop more feel and control. The price is more energy, muscle and fatigue.
I wonât go into the science or mechanics behind âlow seat/more muscleâ reasoning, because itâs somewhat complicated. I just deleted 3 paragraphs trying to explain. I want you to just try and let me know how it goes. Okay.
âŚslam
Hi, Slam,
As usual, Thank you for detailed analysis.
Yes, my bigger uni is out of use now for some reasons and I used this 24" one for commuting just before these exercises and the saddle remained at the riding position. My fault⌠Will try to change the height, see what is resulting and report.
And, perhaps, it would be worthwhile to pause the exercises with 20" now, so as not to mess one with the other, right?
What a pity! It would be very interesting to read these 3 paragraps⌠I am a mechanical engineer by education and unicycling is interesting for me not only as a sports but also as a mechanical process.
Thank you again for your work.
I set the saddle 3cm lower. If in short, the system became a bit less stable, but more controllable. The last achieved (I think so) due to 2 factors:
- smaller moment of inertia related to the contact spot => faster responce;
- more freedom in legâs movements => control action is stronger and faster.
I tested that with my 20" uni, because all the necessary is on hand.
24" test will follow outdoor.
Thanks for advice.
UPD:
About 24" test with lowered (ca. 5cm) saddle.
I managed to do ca. 20 idles (fwd+back) with my hands crossed on my chest.
Another result of the saddle lowering.
I had 2 juggling balls with me and tried to do a swap while riding. It worked pretty well as never before. I wished I had a third ball. 
All that thanks to the low saddle.
PS: My wife with a camera was not nearby, so no video this time.
Hi Huku,
Glad to hear your progress.
Actually, I am also an ME. Maybe I will get into the physics of unicycle maneuvers next time.
I donât like to use equations or free body diagram explanations, but rather reference what we feel and body motions that generate forces. Explaining unicycle movement is complex, because it is dynamic and coordinated(timing). From our heightened sensitivity on the unicycle we must apply instant, precise and measured reactionary motion to balance and stay on or fall down.
I was out riding and trying to âpracticeâ what I preached regarding âlowering the seatâ for better control. So, I lowered from 150cm to 135cm, which felt a little strange.
However, I noticed some small observations:
1.) I felt more control during idling, because my knee and legs âhad toâ generate more force. Not a lot, but more than normal. I noticed I used âless ankle action on my pedalâ and more âflat pedal with straight push downâ for balancing.
2.) During SIF training I forgot about this, but in order to SIF ride you must âsquat downâ a little bit in order to do it. Itâs almost as if, I had dropped my seating post 150 to 120cm. Thus, making my legs bend and work harder. However, this equates to more control and balance. (I am a beginner/intermediate level at SIF, I know advancers can stand straight up).
So, I hope this encourages beginners to âdrop that seatâ for better idling performance. Then later, as you get more advanced you can raise the seat up again.
Keep onâŚslam
Did you mean mm (marked on the seatpost)? Or are you riding a giraffe? OrâŚ
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15 cm!
I have never measured my seat height before. I think it should be measured from the lower pedal to the lower point of the saddle, so we can compare it to the inseam leg length. Measured this way my riding height of the saddle is 87 cm, while my inseam leg length is 85 cm (isnât my saddle too high?? Perhaps it is a bad habit, which results in too strong ankle action. Are there any rules in this respect at least to start with?).
I tried to lower my seat 5 cm more (10 cm in whole compared to usual riding position).
The results:
-
My âidlingâ turned to âworkingâ by both of the legs with a full control of the unicycle at any moment. Now that process is not that stable as i wish, there is still some work to be done, but the result encourages. I even can stillstand at some points (esp. rear one) an then continue âworkingâ.
-
I learned that there is only a half a step to SIF for me. I stood up on my feet while riding with that extra low saddle, pulled the saddle forward out from under myself, done two revs more and then⌠UPD.
I gave up continuing with SIF because of lack of any protection gear and besides that was not planned for today. Letâs not abuse bonuses and return to that a bit laterâŚ
âŚand preferably on a hard court. Unlike its name suggests itâs rather soft, so falls hopefully hurt a bit less.
Unfortunately, there are no courts here. Neither hard ones, nor soft.
But there are rubber coated playgrounds. However, there are some peculiarities with such kind of surface: tough turning about vertical axis because of high friction, which can be partly compensated by higher tire pressure, and greater lateral drift due to deformation of the coating itself.
Anyway, falls are softly on them.
Winter returned here and the weather drove me from outdoor with 24" unicycle back indoor to return back to 20" one.
At first, the idling didnât want to work at all. It didnât look natural, but rather forced (remember the free and forced oscillations of a pendulum from a school physics course). Then the âauto-tuningâ had worked, something had âclickedâ and everything returned to normal.
Perhaps, that skill to retune is worthwhile to be worked out too. That concerns not only idling, of course.
It could be another application of my four unicycles. 
Okay Gents,
Iâm back, I had been distracted for a week or so, but I have continued to do my riding.
I hope changing the seat heat yielded some improvement in âfeelâ and also made your legs âstrongerâ
The discussion of the topic SIF is very interesting also.
It seems some of us like to just âgo for itâ.
This process:
a.) ride forward.
b.) stand up
c.) pull seat in front of you
d.) continue.
I am sure I have âtriedâ to do that, but âimmediateâ fear from so many variable changes told me to sit back down and ride. I believe most unicycle riders who have tried that method already have some ânaturalâ balance When you stand in SIF position, all of a sudden your normal unicycle riding CG(center of gravity) has shifted. Most are not aware of this and just fall off behind the unicycle. Then when you become aware of this, we donât ânaturally lock intoâ the exact forward angle position that is needed. Just like any machine we have to adjust our âgainâ back and forth. Problem is âtoo muchâ forward lean and boom you will fall on your face. Something a helmet doesnât usually protect. Ouch.
Thatâs enough comment on this for now, if you followed another topic=âGetting Boredâ I go into SIF a little bit more.
In meantime, letâs focus back on advance idling, which will naturally lead into backwards and SIF idling, once âweâ all catch up and improve our skills.
âŚslam
Iâve been back on a unicycle for about four weeks now after a 10+ year hiatus. I can still do quite a few fancy tricks, idling consistently recently becoming one of them. I have never been able to idle SIF, whoever told you to learn that is a liar! Lol. I can pull SIF, ride, stand static, mini hop, recover and pull the seat back in and ride away no problem. Idling SIF is nothing more than a gym routine for your calves.
Focus on idling comfortably with your butt on the seat, thatâs what will train the right muscles. Also, as circus related as it may seem, if you can juggle, add it to your idle training. If you can comfortably idle and juggle 3 balls at the same time, youâve nailed idling. Idling uses your hips, juggling whilst balancing uses your shoulders. Once your upper and lower body are working together, youve nailed both skills.
Hereâs a tip on SIF idling.
Press the saddle against your belly.
This instantly gives you more control.
Not only to stabilize the saddle, but you can manipulate the entire rocking action with your body against the saddle. Makes idling easier. Were you doing it the other way? Holding the saddle away from body?
Hereâs a quick review of the advantages of SIF idling?
1.) The ability to control the unicycle lateral balance with feet only. Advanced idling. This is similar to an ultimate wheel but without dangerous forward movement.
2.) The ability to learn to âbail outâ with pedals at 3 & 9 oâclock(that means flat pedal, somebody thought that means 90 degreesâŚno, nyet, nein)
3.) WellâŚduh, learning to SIF. If you donât want to âriskâ the stand up/pull out/ride SIF method, learning idling SIF would seem logical, right. Then add the forward rolling part.
More later in another topic postingâŚsoon
âŚslam