Hey so I’m thinking of starting to learn seat drags. I’m lucky enough to have two unicycles, one is kinda crappy and old. Its rlly a beginner unicycle that I beat half to death with my first few years of riding. As an experiment I strapped some 82mm cranks on it which has been a fun experience but I generally just ride my other unicycle. My other unicycle is a stock nimbus II, 114mm cranks and generally a much sturdier unicycle hence it’s my go too. It’s worth noting the nimbus has an isus hub and the other uni has a Cotterless one, the cranks aren’t interchangeable. Also both are 20” wheels
Whenever I see videos of seat drags it’s freestyle people with tiny cranks but when thinking about learning to ride etc it’s always recommend to learn on longer cranks.
So I present my question - Am I going to have an easier time learning seat drags with my 82mm cranks or my 114mm cranks?
I don’t know much about seat drags, but I would imagine that shorter cranks are better. If it’s hard to ride the old beginner uni, maybe get some short ISIS cranks. They would be better for a 20" anyway.
Thx, I don’t rlly wanna swap the cranks on the nimbus cause I use it almost daily for street and flatland riding, ill probably try to use the old one (82mm) to try and start learning
I think there is not a simple answer. From my experience learning drag seat with 100mm, then perfecting with 89mm and now riding solid with 80mm but can still do it with 100mm, i would say: It’s easier to learn in mid-length around 100-110mm and easier to ride really smooth on 75-90mm.
With shorter cranks there is less movement so it is easier to hold a stable position but only after you have developed the core strength and balance. Longer cranks allow use of the larger-movement leg muscles but shorter cranks require lots of hip/core strength that needs time to build.
Part of the answer relates to the rider’s progression with short cranks: if you can already ride 80mm cranks SIF as well as idle and transition to/from, that’s a good step, as if you’re not used to it, then the control requirements on short cranks are very high, e.g. doing 1-ft idle with sub-100mm cranks can be very challenging.
As I was learning with 100mm cranks, after I could drop and ride 3-4 revs, more experienced freestyles recommend shorter cranks. Twice I tried shorter cranks and quickly went back up to the longer and then progressed slowly over a year from 100mm to 89mm and just recently to 80mm. Now it takes me a bit to adjust but I can also still do drag seat well on 100mm cranks.
So since you have 2, start with the 114mm which might be a bit long. Once you can do 5+ revs, if you’re getting too much side wobble, then try the shorter. But learning on 80mm seems hard to me. I think you would have to practice all-round riding with 80mm to build up you skill and strength.
Or maybe you could practice SIF on the 80mm to build control but try the actual drag seat on the 114s?
Last advice: Be prepared to invest some time. Teenage unicycle kids can learn in days to weeks, but most people need many months.
Oh, I thought of another reason not to start with the 80mm: when learning you will have some potentially nasty uncontrolled falls where your whole body pushes forward and the crank suddenly goes to the side, down and back and you fall hard. On the 80mm this happens really really fast and was quite daunting at first. With longer cranks you have much more time to react and the applied force is less, so much more manageable.