Ambitious learner.

Hey, thanks for the responses, my buddy at the bike shop who owns the same uni measured his and said its a 25.4, and the seat clamp is my only real concern and dislike at the moment, when i get the basics and the basics are easy i will be well into starting trials and once things start to get past beginner i will buy a new uni. Probably a KH (partially because its canadian) and use my current uni as a spar/commuter for town/friends to try.

I have become rather good friends with a chain link fence… i have a feeling i have spent more time hanging off it then most >_< I have been getting solid sets of 10-15 rotations and am moving rather quickly back and forth on it, and as my confidence builds i angle myself outward and slowly release from the wall.

I have no numbness, no chaffing, no discomfort aside from the mis positioned nut. I will try to mess around with it some more and see how it goes, i have been running a little lower air pressure to help stability and decrease ruling speed but it was becoming a hassle last night so i will increase that a but. I am running a axiom seat, it seems okay? looking at the KH seats they are less like a banana and just tilted up some on the front. So other widen that i am really enjoying it =D

The Nimbus seat post clamps are 25.4mm. You can order those online pretty cheap.

I think the KH and Nimbus seats are less curved than yours. KH also makes seats that have less padding. I forget the names – Street and Slim models maybe?? If you’re used to bikes seats, these might feel better.

I’ve found numbness and chaffing to be facts of life on the unicycle. The nut issues just sort of work themselves out on their own. You get a lot tougher down there with practice. The good news is that it may not matter for you if you’re going into trials. Trials riders don’t spend a lot of time sitting down on the seat.

Day 3 - (attempt 1) I will be going out in a few hours for another round when its not 40 degrees Celsius. I tried the straight up hand unjust and it worked very well “they” were rather pleased with the riding after that, but! i wanted to adjust both my mounting/seated position to look less perv like and improve my pain issue. So i take the tip of the seat (front of the curve) and i do a bit of a sweep as i mount which get “them” in front, and keeps me more forward on the seat keeping a more natural centre. I tried to hold on less today and it was definitely getting better! i was trying not to look at the uni and just pick a spot straight ahead and move myself forward, things are going rather well, i have a 90 degree corner in the fence so i have been in advertanly practicing my right and left turns as well =D Its getting easier and WAY more fun.

Day 3 - (attempt 2) Much better, basically hopped on and was cruising back and fourth with decent 6-8 foot sections no touch, just getting more comfortable, and working on the whole eyes up thing? seems to work but its weird not watching what I’m doing. Tomorrow should be fun!

Day 4 - did not get as much time as i hoped, but i got a decent 1 1/2 hours in. Got a few really decent runs in with about 12 feet no balance and even had a run where i just continued past the corner into the land of no help… haha it was good, learned a lot, spent some time fighting my seating position to minimize pain, and am really starting to understand what I’m doing! even had a free mount…

Day 5 - Went pretty well but i think i may have “over done” it. I got about 4 hours of practice in today… and it is quite challenging when your starting… I spent 3 of those hours without a shirt on… i have only been without a shirt once in my life… now twice… i am fried… but thats no big deal… I got several good runs with NO assistance what so ever and clear on average 20-30 feet, making several turns (not intentionally) and un gracefully dismounting =D I think i got one run well over 40 feet. Its starting to come together.

My buddy tried it and was instantly hooked and was super sceptical claiming i was joining the circus but now he wants one.

Ha a lady friend try it for a few hours with me and she also did rather well.

Tomorrow is a holiday so my gym closes at the same time I’m done work >_< so i plan on doing hand stand push, push ups, and chin ups around town, then unicycling.

Day 6 - kept getting frustrated… and i missed my gym day because the gym closed early for the civic holiday and i worked today so i did some non weighted workouts in my apartment and on a playground jungle gym for chin ups. I got quite a few firsts today and improved my “average” by A LOT. My average distance un assisted went from 5 feet to 20 feet, and my personal best went from 40 feet to about 120… I was pretty happy with that run, i ended up doing a hug half circle and actually controlling my speed because i was just continuously accelerating. My mounting was 100% the whole time (assisted of course) and i was just feeling super good on it, comfy, balanced, and fairly in control. I believe i am somewhere in the ball park of 9-10 hours of practice which i think is doing alright considering it is only day 6.

So what do you guys qualify “being able to ride” I am obviously in for a long journey to learn all the basics, but i really do feel like i can ride this beast >_<

So i called it for the night because i sort of had my first semi real wipe out? I was about to fall backwards so i went for the dismount but… me left leg did not get clear of the pedals, scrapped down my leg no buggy… but when it caught my shoe… i reefed me back into the feet but i was half off by now and sort of gave the “goods” a punch… ouch… no serious damage but ouch…

I see all you guys/gals with photos of you and yours uni’s so i want to throw one up =D Please note i would love to get one of me riding but i require someone to be there with my camera so i will get that done soon.

Hey, I learned on that uni too. The seat is terrible, it feels so good when you get a decent one! Congrats on the progress :slight_smile:

Nice farmer’s tan as well:D:p

haha thanks, i have been contemplating just straight up painting myself… har har

Good on You!!

Looks like you are doing well… I’m no pro but about 9 months ago i was in your shoes… Just keep going with it and don’t give up… I hope you have fun and enjoy yourself… You’ve got 358 days left of this… =P

Choomii

we quit at the one yea mark? haha at the moments its intriguing. The learning process… well i was surprised. It did not come naturally to me but it has not been overly difficult. I would say tis about as hard as learning an instrument, learning to ride a bike, etc.

It took me 4 weeks to get some basic rhythm on a guitar, and 1 year to get into a core gym routine, so after 6 days and 10 hours to be where i am? I had hoped for faster :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

The fun will come when i get the basics down and i can cruise around town! Start small drops, and just see where it goes.

Shin pads! what is the deal with these?

My local bike shop can get both POC and SixSixOne, but apparently the POC are hard to get and they are pretty expensive but i know they are by far the best.

I tried searching the forums but it was posts from the early 2000’s… there should be stickies on here for beginners outlining a lot of this… >_< I would prefer just a shin pad, i don’t like wearing anything more then nesseccary because i run hot on a cold day…

i liked these

http://www.sixsixone.com/Catalog_661Bike.aspx?id=99cb1337-281f-4d50-b04a-58f097c2aafc&product=ddc919a5-4ebf-46fe-8fad-9e91b015f6ba

Opinions?

In my experience, after I was able to get 40-50ft reliably, my progress went much quicker and I got it within a few days. I still had a few kinks to work out, like the problem of constant acceleration, incomplete control, etc… but for the most part I had it.

It seems like most people experience this.

i know exactly what your talking about >< haha i just got in from todays practice ><

day 7 - was quite shocking… my first three mounts were terrible and i was clinging to the fence like a machine… BUT THEN it all seemed to be a fluke…

I had a shocking 10+ rides over 100 feet, and 3 over 200 feet… i was working on turning (ran into a basket ball net) and speed control because i was just pedalling like a mad man. Tomorrow should be interesting…

Day 8 - (should be 7 considering this is 1 week with the muni) I had another rough start, but i had a pretty great day at the gym so i was in good spirits. Same thing as before, first attempt to take off from the fence i was gone like a rocket >_< haha I was just feel in it tonight, i made 8 consecutive rides over 50’ to a designated line and dismounted (intentional) with the right and left leg forwards, the backwards was playing with me and i was not able to coax myself back ways but it will come. I just had mad ride over 200’ and just felt super cool about it, i reduced my random arm flailing by over 50% and was very controlled with it. I managed to control ym speed well and actually left the dance making a fairly sharp curve and ride to another part of the fence, being about a 60-70’ ride. I just felt good tonight, but it was misting rain, thunder in the distance so i only got an hour in o_O haha. Tomorrow is calling for more bad weather but its of little concern i want to ride!

On a note about what i have experienced on my bike, i once rode to work (7 kms) with 12’ of snow on the ground during a blizzard at 7 am, because it was my only 8 hour shift all week. Took me an hour compared to my usual 13 minutes, and dodged 4 plows >_< 3/4 of the store did not show up so i ended up opening and running most of the store.

This unicycling business if losing its intrigue and hard work and becoming fun =D

you laugh like a pirate.

yes i do (its my pirate side)

Day 9 - i basically jumped on and just rode around… i was doing circles and loops, and giant S patterns. It was feeling VERY good, even worked a bit on starts from poles… it was tricky i kept getting thrown off balance, but i got it. Worked a little bit on free mounting (need to watch a few more videos…) and just had some fun, i need to work on staying seated, i end up in a partial squat and tire my legs out after about 500 feet.

Lots more practice to come!

Day 10 - (final counted day, its getting lame) Did not get a lot of riding in last night, and the same tonight i went out with another girl to try it (she was extremely nervous) so i spent more time hold her up, giving suggestion, and encouraging but i made some progress as well. It was much less of a warm up today! I was expecting a 20 minute warm up along the fence before i blast off but it was down one way and on my way back i just rode off and did a huge loop. I was WAY more comfortable turning and made a few right/left turns in about a 20’ radius. I am going to start heavily practicing free mounting and sitting on the god damn seat! After about 600’ of holding myself up it gets quite tiring… Starting to get fun and the ladies seem to be rather impressed by it =D

I’m a newbie like you and only have 4 days on the uni, had to take a break due to spraining my right ankle on a bad fall :frowning:

Great to see that you’re enjoying it more and more! I’m behind you skill-wise, and it’s interesting to see what lies ahead :slight_smile: