On an electric unicycle you can ride at an obstacle at speed and bang your tyre in to it causing you to boink up in the air.
It’s a practical way of getting up kerbs and over roots etc.
Do people do this on unicycles as well, is it possible?
On an electric unicycle you can ride at an obstacle at speed and bang your tyre in to it causing you to boink up in the air.
It’s a practical way of getting up kerbs and over roots etc.
Do people do this on unicycles as well, is it possible?
Well, I sometimes attack kerbs and stuff at speed at a right angle to get over them, and it sometimes feels a bit like “boinking” up in the air. I am unsure if I have ever bounced over kerbs, but I have definitely bounced over branches and stuff in the woods. You need some speed to make it work indeed, but not so much speed you can lose control. I do not want to bounce up specifically
Not really. You can however ride up small obstacles: e.g. maybe a half-height curb, moreso if you have a large tire/wheel like a wide knobby muni tire or a 36". However, as the obstacle size increases there is a chance of crashing and most skilled riders would at least half hop/unweight, meaning that as the tire hits the obstacle there is almost no rider weight on it, so the tire rolls up (and most riders would prefer to completely jump up if possible, as also maintains speed and momentum). If you just stay sitting and ride directly into a curb, then it will probably hurt.
Yes. I definetaly unweight at impact, unless I want a snakebite.
I’d say kinda, but much less. I can for example use small roots as a takeoff, where they give me a little extra “kick” to leave the ground. But we are talking very small (<10cm I’d guess) objects, I think we lack the power to use anything bigger for those techniques.
It’s possible to roll up surprisingly high edges, but as @MUCFreerider points out, you would normally at least unweight the tire instead purposely boinking it into the edge.
Yes, I do that sometimes, but no, it‘s not possible*: The uni and I go separate ways after that.
I think the EUC (plus rider) has a lower center of gravity, reducing the chances of the vehicle getting stuck while the rider keeps moving (aka UPD). I don‘t know to what extent the electronic assistance could be of help, too.
*for me
When i do it i unweight the pedals like others have mentioned. Also if i have the pads installed on my wheel i can bend my knees and pull the wheel up higher.
The problem with the electronics is if you lean to far forwards or back it will cause the wheel to accelerate causing a dodgy landing.
With an EUC it depends of its power and your ability to unweight your feet before climbing on a curb. Eg., I can overcome 15 cm high curb on the Inmo V8 EUC but only from almost stillstand state. So far, I have no idea how to do it with, say, a 24 or 26 inch unicycle. I suspect that with this technique, at least, the cranks should be in the 3-9 position in front of the curb, and it is better if the push leg is in front.
The speed bumps and the lower (up to 5cm) curbs are not a problem with the “floating” technique when you unweight first your seat and then your wheel “on a go” over the obstacle. For me this is applied for 20 to 26" unies. For 29" and this kind of obstacles almost nothing special has to be done.
Maybe it’s easier to learn how to jump over the higher curbs?
This is what I do even with my 29er. Riding along sideways or at a small angle and hopping up. Or at least I did before changing to 110 mm cranks. Now I really don’t jump curbs anymore I guess I should just try it.
Jumping up curbs sucks (in my opinion, that is) because it’s such a loss of time. And I hate it that a seemingly small obstacle takes so much effort to overcome.
With my 20er and down to 114mm cranks I could ride up curbs up to about 10cm, last but not least thanks to a rather wide tire (2.6"). With 110s I can’t do that anymore, and that kinda sucks.
Rather 4-10 position, as far as I’m concerned, cause with the wheel rotation the front pedal moves to a less favourable position where you can’t exert the maximum force any more. Not optimal when you’re overcoming an obstacle, or just did so and are still busy reestablishing the balance.
Attacking a curb, or rolling down one, at 12-6 pedal position is always such a joy
Yep, avoiding it when riding up, but not when riding down, and too often UPDing when landing in 12-6 position.
I see no difference in the crank position when rolling down the curbs up to 25 cm high provided the velocity is high enough to not to get a kick to your ass.
I can say nothing about the higher curbs, because have no such an experience.
Attacking a curb, or rolling down one, at 12-6 pedal position is always such a joy
I know I‘d have a hard time with those stairs, even if there‘s a short pause after the each step. Congrats on riding those!
Thank you.
It was not that hard. The main problem here was to overcome scare.
Edit: It was half a year ago and now I do it much more confidently
Jumping up curbs sucks (in my opinion, that is) because it’s such a loss of time. And I hate it that a seemingly small obstacle takes so much effort to overcome.
Work on your rolling hops and with enough practice, it won’t be such a loss of time.
It’s a practical way of getting up kerbs and over roots etc.
Do people do this on unicycles as well, is it possible?
I think I have the definitive answer to that question, after giving it a thorough try today. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the 640x480 glory of my dumbphone (yes, I forgot my camera at home - once again):
It kinda works, but sucks big time.