an easy way to mount?

General
1

hi there: im looking for informatin on, or directions to a page showing
easiest way to mount my 6 foot chain drive. 25 years ago i began on a small
unicycle, slowy progressing up, i would ride in events, but could only ride as
far as i could, then walk back to a wall and ladder to mount again. getting
frustrated at not being able to free mount i lost interest, but getting onto
the web and seeing sites like this one has brought back my interest. thanks

2

Re: an easy way to mount?

Hey, I just got a six footer three weeks ago and would love to know if there is
a secret. Jack Wiley’s Complete book of unicycling suggests learning using a
curb or a 4 X 4 to block the tire then climbing up the wheel. No luck for me so
far. But hey, I was excited just to be riding up so high.

Let me know if you find any secret trick or if you actually freemount. I am
working on it too. John

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>
> hi there: im looking for informatin on, or directions to a page showing
> easiest way to mount my 6 foot chain drive. 25 years ago i began on a small
> unicycle, slowy progressing up, i would ride in
events,
>but could only ride as far as i could, then walk back to a wall and ladder to
>mount again. getting frustrated at not being able to free mount i lost
>interest, but getting onto the web and seeing sites like this one has brought
>back my interest. thanks
>

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3

RE: an easy way to mount?

(Re: giraffe freemounting)
> Jack Wiley’s Complete book of unicycling suggests learning using a curb or a 4
> X 4 to block the tire then climbing up the wheel. Let me know if you find any
> secret trick

I took a brief look this morning on unicycling.org for giraffe mounting
information and didn’t notice any. It’s probably in there somewhere but not
easily indexed. So here is the short, short version of how to do it:

  1. What do you need a curb or block for? All it will do is keep you from riding
    in that direction if you get up there. Standing on the bottom pedal will hold
    the wheel in place just fine.

  2. Stand up the uni in front of you, facing away from you or partially to the
    side. If the unicycle is low enough or you are tall enough, you can step
    directly to the bottom pedal. But usually you have to step on the tire first.
    I use my dominant foot on the tire, so my non-dominant foot goes on the
    bottom pedal. My dominant foot is the one I mount with on a regular unicycle.
    So when you start, your non-dominant pedal will be down.

  3. step on the tire with your dominant foot. By placing that foot right where
    the tire meets the frame, nothing will go anywhere.

  4. Put your non-dominant foot on the bottom pedal, and stand up on it. Don’t
    crouch and don’t hang around in this position.

  5. Swing your other leg over/around the seat, and get your butt on the seat
    before going for the other pedal. This is key unless you want to ride away
    seat in front.

  6. Your dominant foot will hit the top pedal from the front, pushing it
    backward. This puts the unicycle into a forward lean, and you have to start
    riding away. Also you are no longer in the dead spot so you can do so.

TIPS:
7. If you can’t idle or ride backward and you’re trying to freemount a giraffe,
you’re learning things in the wrong order. Giraffe riding is very unsafe if
you can’t back away or idle when you need to. Learn those first.

  1. Don’t play with different pedal angles before mounting. It doesn’t matter. As
    soon as you step on the pedal it will be straight down, so plan accordingly.

  2. Don’t play with different angles to tilt the unicycle before you climb up
    it. It doesn’t matter what angle you use. The only thing that matters is that
    you be more or less directly above the wheel when you get up there.
    Generally tilting the unicycle a little away from you allows you to run up
    there and then pull the seat under you to end up directly on top.

  3. Practice in stages. Do step 3 and stop, standing on top of the tire as
    long as you can. find the balance point in this position. When that gets
    boring, do the same thing standing on the pedal. Remember to stand fully
    up on the pedal.

  4. Safety! Practice falling down from step 4 to all points of the compass. If
    you know what to do when the unicycle goes down, you’ll be ready and less
    likely to be hurt. Eventually, you will go down in every possible compass
    direction.

  5. Repitition! It took me uncounted tries to get it the first time, and that
    was at age 17. Expect it to take a while. But if you practice enough,
    eventually you should be able to do 130 in a row. I did once. – I can’t
    remember why though!

Stay on top,

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.calweb.com/~unifoss/

“Insert clever quote here”

4

Re: an easy way to mount?

>5. Safety! Practice falling down from step 4 to all points of the compass. If
> you know what to do when the unicycle goes down, you’ll be ready and
less
>likely to be hurt. Eventually, you will go down in every possible compass
>direction.

Ahhh, wise words from our great teacher. I did this step only after learning how
to limp, due to many failed freemount attempts.

I also found it easier to do it in stages. I started by freemounting a 4
1/2 ft. uni before attempting a 5ft and then finally a 7ft.

“Tah tan gah”

Wayne van Wijk

5

RE: an easy way to mount?

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John Dibble wrote:
> idle. I am continuing to try and improve those skills. Riding the Giraffe
> seems a little tough but I am able to ride done the block and turn at
> this point. I find the massive amount of play in the wheel from the
> chain to be the hardest thing to get used to.

If yours is like mine (it is, but mine’s a 5’), the play comes from the crank
arm moving back and forth in that little hole in the top sprocket. The peg that
fits the hole is smaller than the hole, and there’s your play. I had the same
problem in the past with my Schwinn, and tried all sorts of ways to shim it up
or otherwise tighten the two parts together. Nothing worked for me until I
finally had the two parts spot welded together.

If you have additional play, like in your chain, it might need tightening.
Sometimes you get a sprocket that’s off-center (usually the bottom one). This
will limit your ability to tighten it. The main thing is not to be so loose
the chan can come off, or so tight the chan creates lots of friction in the
wheel motion.

Stay on top,

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.calweb.com/~unifoss/

“Insert clever quote here”

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6

Re: an easy way to mount?

> (Re: giraffe freemounting)
> > Jack Wiley’s Complete book of unicycling suggests learning using a curb or a
> > 4 X 4 to block the tire then climbing up the wheel. Let me know if you find
> > any secret trick
>
> I took a brief look this morning on unicycling.org for giraffe mounting
> information and didn’t notice any. It’s probably in there somewhere but not
> easily indexed. So here is the short, short version of how to do it:

John is right, the giraffe mounting page is buried (its under the fun things to
do section). The URL is http://unicycling.org/unicycling/mg.html. The main
thing the page adds over John’s advice is pictures of Wolfgang Stroessner
mounting a 9’ uni.

Beirne