About three months ago, a freewheeling unicycle fell into my possession. It was created by an adventureous soul, but had spent the last few years getting dusty in a Wisconsin attic. I never expected to be awesome at riding it, but I was amazed at waaalrus’s videos, and knew I had to give it a try. Plus it was free. (See this thread for the miracle of the free unicycles.)
So, I gave it a try. I’m a modestly functional unicylist. I can’t one-foot anything or ride backwards much, but I can get around reasonably, on road and off. The freewheel is a whole different game. It’s hard. I landed on my butt. More than once. I put my fearless 10 year-old on it. He fell on his butt. He went back to his muni.
I knew I didn’t want it to get dusty in my attic, so this week I took it to a club practice at the gym. I am lucky to have a club with several current and past world champion track/freestyle riders. These people know what they’re doing. They one-foot ride with their left foot on the right pedal. They do the backwards hand-wheel-walking nonsense. They don’t fall over. They amaze me. So I casually offered the freewheel uni to them, for some light amusement. Five or six riders could get about 10 feet on their second attempt. One brave young man must have caught the bug, because he worked with it for about 45 minutes. By the end, he was sweating pretty good, and could make it across the gym. I told him to take it home with him, because he was going to use it more than I would.
I guess the moral of my story is this: freewheeling is hard. Practice makes it better. If you’re not going to persist through the rough beginning part, I strongly suggest getting a free one. 