I’m trying to learn how to ride one footed and just wanted to know if anyone had some good tips.
please?
bump
Well, I’d say that to start out, learn to idle one footed, to get the feel of having one foot on the frame, one on the pedal. One you’ve got tha farily good, then try riding with one foot.
Start riding normaly, because it’s hard to get momentum by just starting still. Take your left foot of of the pedal, put it on the frame and push down with your right foot, ALMOST your take right foot off the pedal on the way up, and then push down…it helps to go down a hill, and keep a light foot on the way up, and make a nice smooth push on the way down, and practice.
Hold onto a wall or some support and practice moving your foot from the pedal to the frame. Once your body ‘knows’ the motion of getting the foot onto the frame you’re golden. 
Thanks
I’ll Try those ideas. Thank you very much
when u learn one-footed, u havto pedal with the other foot. like actually pedal. it seems obvious but when i was learning, i wasn’t going because i hadn’t gotten the feel for pedaling with only one foot… it actually doesn’t take all that much practice
There are tips for learning one foot riding here: One Foot Tips. That page is linked from the Skill Levels page.
I learned by method #2 on the one foot tips page. There is no need to learn how to one foot idle first. I didn’t learn how to one foot idle till after I learned how to ride forwards one footed. I found learning to one foot idle to be harder than learning to ride one footed.
Big tip is to practice on a very flat and very smooth floor. A gym floor is ideal. If you don’t have that then look for a very flat and smooth concrete area or a tennis court or something similar. Flat and smooth is the key. That will make it much easier to keep your momentum and get the pedal over the top when you’re first learning. My big breakthrough with one footing came when I got some practice time in a gym. The one footing came together quickly in the gym. My previous practicing was outside on asphalt and my progress was stalled. The gym was the key.
One thing the tips page doesn’t mention is that it really helps to pedal smoothly in a circle. Point your toes down at the bottom of the pedal stroke. And scrape your foot back at the bottom of the pedal stroke like you’re wiping mud off your shoe. And then lift your leg up on the backstroke and maintain the circular motion of your foot.
If you try to mash the pedals (pedal in a square) you are not making the most of the pedal stroke which makes one footing harder. You need to make the most of the pedal stroke that you’ve got because for about half of the revolution you have little control as it is.
Check here for more tips:
Check out the freestyle page of The Unicyclopedia if you want advice on learning stuff. Also, make sure to add any useful knowledge you have to the page.
After learning one footed riding one week ago, i have started to make turns… The turn to the right comes pretty natural, but the turns to the left took a while to learn…
I can turn to the right in a circle, avoiding jugglers and obsticles… butto the left, it’s more of a rodeo ride.
hey, i learnt to ride one footed without even touching the frame, i live in sydney and didn’t know any other unicycle riders, so didn’t even think about putting my foot on the frame. took a while to learn. when i finally found out its easier to put my foot on the frame, i already could turn both ways, then found it really easy to ride one foot with my foot on the frame.
I’ve read many times the advice to “learn idling one-footed first.” To me, it seemed illogical. We don’t tell people who want to learn to ride a uni, “learn to idle first, then you’ll be able to ride forwards”!!! Granted, it may make things easier, but it can be one hell of a learning curve to surmount!
I practiced using less and less pressure on my non-dominant foot while riding. After a while I could take my foot off the pedal for portions of a revolution (usu. the “upstroke” of the pedal) and I’d practice increasing the time off-pedal.
The tough transition for me was putting the foot on the frame. I found that when I’d go to put the foot on the frame that I’d push way harder on the pedal my foot was still on than usual, and induce a UPD. After learning to carefully move the foot that goes off-pedal independent of the other foot, I could one-foot whenever I wanted!
I finally picked up one-footed idling, prolly two months after learning one-foot riding. It was w-a-y easy after practicing one-foot riding.
Get that foot on the crown! It was a lost cause for me trying to learn one-foot with that leg just sticking out there. Once you get the quick pull up and plant on the crown, everything else will just fall into place.
Also, learn when the best time is to pull that foot off. For me it was when said foot was at the top of the rotation (pedal was at 12 o’clock)… but experiment and find what’s best for you.
This trick requires you to have some speed - you need momentum to carry you through the part of the rotation when you can’t apply pressure. Don’t try it while your flying, just not crawling along either.
Dave
Not for me.I learned foot off the crown,even now i have trouble putting my left foot on the crown.I can do whatever with my right foot though.
I too,didnt know that you could put the other foot on the crown.Also,my scwhinn didnt have a flat crown.I guess it depends on how you start to learn.
I recently learnt this.
I didn’t ever put my foot on the crown…I stick my left foot behind me…
I had a lot of other tips, but I’ve forgotten them all…damn…I’ll post more if I remember anything else that helped me.
i dont think that is neccessary. ive been riding for over a year and can idle but cant 1 ft idle. never found the need to learn how to.