I’m resurrecting this thread…
Got the 29" out today, in road configuration with a new light tire. It had been a long time since I used it. And I can’t quite grasp why I’m struggling so much with camber that slopes to the right. To the left, totally fine. Flat, pure pleasure. But to the right, it’s excruciating! And I feel the pain growing in my right knee when I do a long stretch with that kind of camber.
It’s probably purely psychological - I don’t really have problems on the 36" nor the 24"-, and a little bit physical - I have a feeling my right leg is a bit predominant. But it’s getting me…
Any suggestion for exercices and experiments?
Should I put a handlebar?
Should I sell the 29"?
And also if road crown is much a concern, you can try a narrower tyre : 2" or less with high PSI (max)
Ba29x2.0 , or marathon suprem (lighter) are good for making the road crown issues disapear (I only tried BA 2.0 though) , but I don’t recommend those schwalbe tyres if you have a kh rim cause it may blow out.
In Holland we have a zillion kilometer of bicyclepath.
To transport the water of rainfalls away they are not level.
Some more than other, but I’m convinced it’s the cause people sit different than if it was on truly flat area.
And it seems a trend they become more and more steep.
The effect of it becomes very clear when you ride in the wrong direction!
And in those cases the twisting is not a human error.
It was a bit better today. I switched the cranks from the Qu’Ax to a pair of Moments I had. Same length (125mm), but with more Q factor. Is it the thing that made it easier? I still feel a big psycho-physical element to the problem: I’m fine-ish if in a quiet area, if I feel like a group of cyclists behind me, or cars if on the road, I tense up and it becomes more difficult to deal with camber.
I had a twisted problem soon after I learned. I also discovered my seat was a little twisted in the opposition direction and straightening it only helped a little. I think I got really used to the seat twisted that I adjusted and got too used to it. So I I put the seat I bit the other way until I didn’t have to twist my body most of the time, and then straight so I didn’t develop the same problem in the other direction. Now I, at least once per ride, carefully check to make sure the seat is straight.
Probably couldn’t have worked for me w/ the partial paralysis issues I have in my lower body :o I still have frequent jerking trying to correct from loosing my balance when I hold on w/ two hands.
I read your story, and it’s amazing what you do on a uni, congrats!
I always check that my saddle, it’s almost an obsession.
Yesterday I went for a ride with the 29". I put handlebars on it and spent a long time thinking about what I was doing. Riding got much better - and enjoyable - by the end of the 20km ride. It’s not perfect, as progress takes time on one wheel. But I will work on it next time, and all my unicycles will benefit from it.
I think it boils down to a couple of factors:
my pelvis is slightly twisted, my osteopath and physiotherapist often spend some time on that when I go see them.
I generally use more the right side of my body and it’s exacerbated on a uni.
I tense up in stressful situations (being overtaken by a bunch of 30 cyclists thinking they’re in the Tour de France is a pretty intense moment), resulting in more weight on the pedals and stiff core muscles.
What I worked on was relaxing more, opening up the upper part of the body (I crouch a bit, a habit from muni), shifting my pelvis to feel what happens, even in straight lines. I also worked on ever lighter pedaling. One thing that was challenging after weeks mainly on the 36" and its heavy tire is the new tire I installed which is sooooo light, especially as it’s combined with a Foss tube. But one interesting thing about it is that it’s noisy. Not noisy in the usual tire sense (sound of the thread on the tarmac), noisy like echo-ey, like the body of a musical instrument. So when I don’t pedal very smoothly, I can actually hear the crank strokes. The challenge was fun: trying to make the tire sound constant.
And the most important part was that it was fun and not frustrating.
I’m glad there is such a thread.
I’ve been suffering from this when riding my 29" for 3 years and I gave up riding partially because of this.
I noticed that my saddle was a bit askew. I used my saddle & seatposts from my 20" but the issue remained so I came back to its owns. Could be a frame issue but I didn’t notice any deformation of it.
After a while, I persuaded myself it was only psychological and I was able to ride again (for a short duration).
I stopped riding and I moved in another region, where I rode again a bit. The ground was always rocky and never flat so I didn’t have this issue, but it was too hard for me to ride in this area so I stopped again.
After a year, I’m in town, I tried again my 29" and I encountered severe twisting. I tried for a few days but it has been so annoying I can’t enjoy my ride at all.
I took a look again at my saddle, it was a bit askew. I changed the saddle but the issue was still here (I forgot that I did a test with my 20" parts a few years ago).
Could be the frame, could be psychological (the saddle is just a little askew, not sure it could cause such a body twist !), could be both. Thing I know is the issue only appears on a flat enough ground.
I really want to ride again so I’m considering buying a 24" and sort of start from the beginning.
Thanks Getting acknowledged occasionally keeps me motivated when I get frustrated about even some of the basic things I still can’t do, like freemounting w/o a tree/ boulder/ shoulder for help.
I think the main reason for my twist is that my dominant leg is just pushing harder which twists the uni under me - to the left in this case. Another post above, don’t remember which one, mentioned relaxing more and keeping weight on the saddle not the legs. This works pretty well, but I still need to strengthen my weaker leg and focus on not letting the dominant leg rule the ride.
Haha!! Im flattered. You’re not taking my kooky ideas seriously are you??? Arms behind back and leaning foward, that’s masochistic and asking for a faceplant!
Just kidding. And seriously, it works really well for me! Anytime I go with something unfamiliar such as a bigger wheel or shorter cranks. I definitely do the arms behind back thing. Even for long rides I do it. When my back aches I do it. When I want to go faster or face blasting winds I do it.
You mention you have a dominant leg. My right is for sure dominant, forever dominant. I could hardly do any strong kicks with my left. I believe when you start riding more, building up muscles again and get comfortable again, try the arms in front close to the stomach and hips, shoulders square is also the key. Often times a twist comes from a arm and a shoulder lurching forward, not just a dominate leg. Arms behind back isolates that, pay attention on keeping shoulders square. Isolation is the key. With practice you should then be able to swerve with the very slightest hip, knee and ankle movements. So when you’re used to isolation of your upper body, it learns to stays still, and thus you’re able to track much straighter. Afterwhile, it really get rid of the flailing arm movements entirely. And when you’re tracking straight, that means you have gotten rid of your twists and your pedal strokes uses just the right amount of pressure.
At least for me, it applies true
Btw, I just drilled and tapped for 88s on my 36er. I can’t wait to hit the trails with them!! With my arms behind back of course:p
Have been working on that lately. I took the 29" out last week and realised that I had the left sit bone planted in the saddle, but not the right. After a few miles, with a lot of concentration, I could sit properly. When I tense up, I feel that I rise it again. Probably because of years of BMX and other 2 wh**l sports that require you to stand to dampen the terrain…
But I carry on and the good old saying is true: time in the saddle is the answer. As long as it’s done with concentration and analyzing what’s happening.
The other thing that helps me a lot is to vary the unis I’m using on a same day. I took the 36" after an hour of 29" and that thing was so easy. I could clearly feel my right leg doing the work, but the inertia of that big wheel gives so much time to correct a mistake that I was surprisingly more relaxed - camber is hardly a problem with the 36"!
Now I need to fix the tube… the Foss tube failed at the valve, that can’t be fixed. Wondering if I should just put a 29" tube in there, the weight saving must be close, and the $ saving is quite high… Anyone put a lightweight latex 29" tube in a 36"? Or would it not cope with the stretch?
Today I rode the 24" off road, and it currently has the Zero saddle. I actually had a lot of fun and realised that I spin way faster with it. Clearly the smaller speed and the prospect of falling in mud is less scary that face planting on tarmac!
I have the same problem, and it came out of nowhere. I never twisted before. I noticed it after I bought a new unicycle, and I thought it had something to do with it. In order to go straight, I have to bring my right shoulder way back. I’ve now got another new unicycle, and I’m still twisting just as bad. If I sit perfectly upright and level and let the unicycle go where it wants, it will turn in a circle to the left. That’s fine when the road is curving to the left, otherwise, it really sucks.
This happens on all three of my unis. It has nothing to do with tires, camber of the road/trail, or even how the seat is positioned to the right or left of center. It’s really starting to effect my ride, and the more I notice it, the worse it seems to get.
I’ve tried all kinds of things, and I’ve noticed that it’s actually a little difficult for me to ride in a circle to my right. I have to almost stop or slow down and swing the unicycle around. It’s totally weird!
The best I can tell is that I’m leaning the unicycle slightly to the left. I’m wondering if maybe my back or tailbone is crooked now, possibly from an injury or some sort of weird habit I’ve picked up. Putting my knees out and/or changing the position of my feet seem to give some relief, but oddly, sitting crooked on the saddle seems to provide the best relief. You’d think if that were true, then it’s an issue with the alignment of the saddle, but I’ve tried all kinds of different alignments (straight, to the right, to the left, etc), and it does nothing. If I really concentrate on leaning the unicycle to the right, it does seem to help a little, so I think I may be on to something there.
Whatever the case is, I think I’ve got a lot of work to do to retrain myself how to ride. That’s gonna be tough after almost 30 years! Thanks for all the comments and advice!
The issue could be related not to the saddle but to what’s just on it, especially when you are a man, you know what I mean.
What about putting several cyclist shorts at once ? :
I do wear 2 shorts at once, one exactly like this one and another cheaper.
Barely have unexplained auto steer issues (when there is no real camber) since I use those.
That sounds very plausible. I was riding with two pairs of shorts, but one of them wasn’t cycling shorts. After I got my new 24" muni yesterday (woohoo!) I was working on this, and I do seem to be leaning the unicycle to the left. This unicycle is taller than my old unis, and I have more to work with, if that makes any sense. When I try to lean the unicycle to the right, that seems to help. Of course, it could also be that I’m not really resolving the source of the problem but merely compensating for it. I did notice, however, that when I was riding off road, the issue became invisible. I was concentrating so hard on not falling that I didn’t really care what it took to stay upright, heh, heh!
Ultimately it’s just more time on the saddle that will correct this twisted riding problem. This is what helps me, not too high on the psi, lowered saddle height with a good bend to the knees so when falling you wont reach out to the ground and hyper exend your legs, especially when freshly going to bigger wheel. Practice with plenty of deliberate falls. Practice slaloms and circles. Practice to make sharper turns. Try rougher terrain and hills. Keep shoulders square, arms close together and practice to rely on your hips for turning.
Try steering similar to remembering how when you first rode a bike without the use of the handlebars, using your hips, a slight shift of the weight, instead of the shoulders and arms. Then when you get better , then you can add arms and shoulders to really throw into it. But at first, you can flail all you want with arms and shoulders , but if your hips, knees and ankles wont respond well, you wont make effective turns. Very similar to turning in skiing or snowboarding, if you ever tried.
When your’re comfortable and less concentrated on keeping upright your twisting will eventually go away. Simple as that
That’s probably true for most, but certainly not for me. After almost 30 years of riding, it just came out of the blue, around the same time I started getting more active again in all kinds of activities where I fall on concrete and other surfaces occasionally. That leads me to be more suspicious of injury, spinal, hip, etc. misalignment or something like that. Regardless of how much I ride, it stays the same.
Oddly enough, going off road (something new for me) makes me much LESS aware of the issue as I focus on trying to stay upright and while my legs are turning to jelly. (I think the answer for me may be just to stay off level surfaces, heh, heh.)
I’ve noticed that when there’s a significant amount of camber sloping to the left, the problem gets better, and I’ve just about made up my mind that my issues are caused from the unicycle leaning to the left. I just have to figure out how to compensate for that, but intentionally leaning the unicycle to the right has proven a bit difficult so far, but I’ll keep at it. I’m sure I’ll get there eventually. I know a few exercise that help with getting your spine and other stuff in line, and I may give those a shot too.
I’d say just keep on riding the offroads for a few months since you’re less conscientious of it, and get back to us… ( Im still willing to bet it’ll self correct)
Ride on my friend, ride on!!
I think UPD is to right though. As the wheel size increases, it exacerbates the things we’re not doing right. With all due respect, on a 20" you were probably going at a walking pace and had to be weary of all changes on the surface you were riding on. The 24 is taller, heavier, but also rolls over stuff better, so you end up going much faster than the increase in size would let you think.
All of UPD’s recommendations are great. I’ll also add the one he suggested ona previous page: once comfortable ride with your hands joined in front. Then with your hands in the back. That’s great advice.
