hey!
I’m at the stage with my bc wheel now where I can mount and go for a fair ways before falling off. I’m starting to wonder if it’s possible to take a foot off, and push like a skateboard.
Also, for braking am I pretty much limited to a kneepad or something to rub along the wheel?
I know af ew of you are pretty damn good with the bc wheel (lookin’ at you, spencer :p), perhaps you could give me a few hints here.
thanks,
-Dave
Hey, If you can get comfortable enogh with the skate mount for starting off then when you slow down you can take your foot off and push, its basically just like another skate mount. If you practice enough you can get it pretty smooth so its not like you are completely getting off to push it.
For braking i think the only option is leaning against your leg (wearing some shin guards). Dont try it with a knobby tire though. On my normal bc i have been going so fast that when i lean it against my leg to stop my it burns even through the 661s. Right now i am going to get some ace bandages to wrap around my leg so i dont have to wear my 661s (they have holes in them so i stuff them with socks:D )
Re: BC Wheel Propulsion/braking?
“flyer” <flyer@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:flyer.1u10h9@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com…
>
> hey!
>
> I’m at the stage with my bc wheel now where I can mount and go for a
> fair ways before falling off. I’m starting to wonder if it’s possible to
> take a foot off, and push like a skateboard.
> I know af ew of you are pretty damn good with the bc wheel (lookin’ at
> you, spencer :p), perhaps you could give me a few hints here.
>
OK take anything I say with caution for I do not ride the BC wheel. To
take a foot off means all your weight is then on one side of the wheel, so
my first guess is that you will have to tilt it. Once weight is on one
side will you not automatically have maximum braking with the active leg?,
which will make any skate push difficult?
So it may be worth while trying to ride with more weight on one side and
shifting that balance gradually, rather than just “going for it”. Test the
water gradually.
Or just find a shalow hill
Nao
Naomi, that’s not quite true. It’s possible to ‘push’ with your ankle off the bc plate to keep the wheel relatively straight to give yourself a little push when you get on.
I can already ride the wheel, btw. I’m just tired of rolling all the way downhill and then having to come back up! 
spencer: thanks, that’s what I was thinking you did. I’d been trying it, and it does seem possible. one-wheeled skateboard, here I come! 
Anyone want to offer some advice on the skate mount? I find it very hard to get a decent amount of momentum on it, I end up basically just stepping up onto it, even though I try to push.
When I started using the skate mount I just did one push. Basically just suck the wheel up under you and push it out as you are stepping on. Once you get the hang of that you can do multiple pushes to go really fast and you wont have to worry about not having enough momentum. Just try to angle the wheel so its tilted towards the foot that is doing the pushing so it doesnt rub the one on the plate.
Edit: in the beginning of this movie i do a one push skate mount http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albums/album574/BC_Wheelin_2.wmv
try lowering yourself down enough to push the wheel foward with your hand. ive done it but never made it back up with more speed than i had going down.