I tried riding a bike the other day, and discovered to my dismay how cumbersome it feels. So heavy! And I was quite surprised that I couldn’t ride it with no hands. I’ve never been able to do it, but I thought that after learning to unicycle, I’d be pretty good at it.
It felt extremely clumsy and I couldn’t control steering at all. Heck, the fact that it wasn’t direct driven prevented me from going without hands for more than like 2 seconds.
Anyone else like this?
Before I learnt how to unicycle, I could ride about 5-6 km without using my hands, as long as there weren’t too many bumps in the road. I thought that riding a unicycle would be as easy as riding a bike with no hands, but it’s completely different. I think that the type of balance that is used is different, because being able to ride without hands on a bike doesn’t make any difference at all. I suppose that it’s the same for the other way around as well. But I don’t know, because I learnt how to ride a bike with no hands first…
me nither
I tryed riding my old bike a little while ago, and oh man was it ever heavy!! i cant go up hills with it AT ALL, it’s SO much easyer to go up with a uni.
And yeah i can’t ride with no hands on my bike ither! i thought i for sure would be able to ride it…but i just figure there was more to control.
)-(x)
~Laur
Re: Can you bike with no hands?
This is a pretty interesting question. Back before I could ride a unicycle,
I could ride a bike no-handed as long as I wanted. About a year ago, I was
on a (rare) bike ride and tried going no-handed. To my surprise, it was so
scary that I couldn’t do it. It felt like I was trying to control it with my
hips, but the front wheel and handlebars out there were completely screwing
me up. On a later ride I forced myself to no-hand the bike but it never got
as comfortable and easy as it was in the old days. If I have to give that up
to unicycle, no problem!
—Nathan
“asqlerth” wrote
> I tried riding a bike the other day, and discovered to my dismay how
> cumbersome it feels. So heavy! And I was quite surprised that I
> couldn’t ride it with no hands. I’ve never been able to do it, but I
> thought that after learning to unicycle, I’d be pretty good at it.
>
> It felt extremely clumsy and I couldn’t control steering at all. Heck,
> the fact that it wasn’t direct driven prevented me from going without
> hands for more than like 2 seconds.
>
> Anyone else like this?
Sort of off topic, but unicycling has definately helped my mono-ing skill on a bike.
Andrew
I was just thinking about the no hand biking last week also. I used to be able to bike no handed with the best of them. I could turn no handed sometimes and go for a long time, but when I tried it for the first time in months last week, it was impossible, I almost crashed. It’s because of the unicycling. peddling on a bike is a much smoother motion than on a unicycle, and I think that’s the reason. When I first got on my bike I the pedals kept slipping backwards, because there’s no resistance against peddling backwards. Such a different feel.
How easy it is to ride a bike with no hands depends on the bike. Some are very stable, and you can easily control them.
I once had a Trickstar BMX bike, which was very stable. I could stand up on the frame with the seat between my legs, and ‘Surf’. It was very fun riding down hills, through intersections, over railroad tracks, etc.
My current BMX is a Red Line 640 Freestyle. I feel very unsafe taking my hands off the handlebars. I wish I would have tested the bike out beforehand, because surfing was essentially my only skill on the Trickstar.
(I think the stability has something to do with the fork angle)
i can ride no-handed, on 1 and 2 wheels. The bike does play a part, for instance i could ride my mountainbike no handed all day, but my bmx is a different matter, it’s really difficult to ride no handed. Don’t think it helped me learn to uni though
A little off topic, but –
Not everyone knows how to ride a bike. If anyone here can ride a unicycle but does NOT know how to ride a bike (or never tried), PLEASE TELL US! That would be so cool!
Dave (uni57) – I know how to ride a bike. I choose not to.
I gotta admit I never forgot how to ride a bike. I guess it’s like riding a bike! I own an artistic bicycle, and still ride my “traditional” two wheeler to work occasionally.
Riding a bike no-hands depends on the fork rake and frame geometry of the bike, as well as how much weight is on the front end. BMX bikes are generally harder to no-hand, and if you’ve ever ridden an actual racing bike, those things are super-squirrely. A touring-type bike should be very easy to no-hand, assuming there isn’t a lot of junk attached to the handlebars or front end.
I could ride perfically fine no handed on a bike before I started riding unis. When I started to ride mtbs again, the seat felt narrow and slanted. It was very un-comfortable.
-Budd-
Bike seats suck in general. I would rather have my air seat stuck to my bike than its stock bicycle seat. The uni seats are so much more supportive…
Does the KH Velo seat not have a bicycle width seat post? I should try putting it on my bike sometime… that would be cool.
Oh, and I can’t ride no handed. I used to be able to, but no longer. I do have a pretty nice 26" mountain bike though. I quite like it. I don’t think I’l ever be able to give up 2-wheelers completely, but I definitely uni more than bike. (The great thing about bikes is that you can go fast and ride with people and not have drivers honk their horns at you.)
I can ride no handed. I agree that BMX’s can be difficult to no-hand because the front wheel tries to wobble about or lean to one side. It feels really easy no-handing a bike compared to a Unicycle because you can sit there going down a hill, leaning back and not doing any work. It is good to stretch back because hunching forwards on a bike is a bit uncomfortable. I don’t think Unicycle seats are at all suited to Bicycling. There is all that support up the front which has no use on a bike. It would just add to the chafing which is not a good thing. You can get Gel seats and stuff like that for a bike to make them more comfortable. The curved seat works much better on a unicycle to allow more control and to keep you from slipping off the front.
I could ride no handed, but it wasnt a real ‘skill’ as such, just a way to have a rest.
I havent noticed it getting any easier since riding a uni, but as andrew said, it does get easyier to ‘mono’ a bkye…I couldnt do that at all before, now I am really confident with it.
I remember when i was in year 5 a kid in my class rode all the way up the main street of the small town I lived in monoing his bike. We all thought he was the coolest ever.
Now i realise how ‘easy’ it was…
What does monoing mean? One handed riding?
One interpretation of Mono-ing a bicycle is when I saw a guy at the Gypsy Fair and he must have had a fixed gear on the bike that didn’t freewheel. He mounted it on the frame in between the handlebars and the fork, with the bike turned up on end, riding around on the grass field. Another way Andrew might have meant could be a wheelie. I am no good at wheelies even after riding a unicycle so I think they are different since you hang onto the handlebars. Another version of Mono might mean like what Mathew Moosehead did, he was doing a wheelie and he somehow unleashed the quick release and took the front wheel off his bike and was riding around with only the back wheel.
Where i come from monoing means a ‘wheelie’, riding on the back wheel (or front) for ages…
Anyone ever tried juggling while riding a bike no-handed?
Just one of the crazier things I can claim to have perfected…
where i’m from, (california) that’s called a manual. go figure.
We call a manual going along on the back wheel without pedalling. It’s even more of a manual if you don’t brake.
Andrew