different/easy ways of mounting a 36"

While I was posting. Yeah, that’s exactly what I was meaning too.

Loved it!

I started practicing my rolling mount after seeing a video of Bouin-Bouin doing it. I was able to study the video frame by frame to understand how it was done, and how to make sure you get the pedals in the right spot when you’re about to jump.

I’m a right foot fronter. Which means I do the static mount with my left foot on the rear pedal, so that my right foot gets on the pedal in front, where I’m most confortable, before riding off. So I figured it would be the same for the rolling mount.
After a lot of practice, I found the best starting point. And curiously, it works with any wheel size. I put the left pedal up, and I stand behind the uni. Then I start walking, but not how I would normally do: I take the first step with my left foot, and I do 2 steps before jumping. That way, when I’m about to jump on the rear pedal, the cranks are in the perfect landing position. It works all the time.

Yep, D-lock through the wheel/around the frame and round the U-rack thingy. Sadly it’s outside, I’m considering getting a rain cover! :astonished:

Now that I feel way more secure on the uni, I started taking it when buying groceries. Then I just use a cable lock to tie it to a lamp post or the bicycle racks. I just don’t like that the saddle can’t stay upright.
It is too much hassle to take the uni into the store with me, which would actually be a nice sight, riding behind a trolley :slight_smile:

If you put a thick rubber band wrapping the brake lever and saddle handle together it will stay up straight.

I got inspired by you to make a rolling mount tutorial. I posted it in the tutorial section: Tutorial on how to do a rolling mount on a 36" unicycle

You know, that with holding your hand over the pedal doesn’t work for me. When I mount I look a head, not down.
It also seems a loss of speed if the uni stands still at the moment you step on. So the only difference between the rolling mount and static mount is the speed with which you yourself get on the uni. It would be nice to keep the wheel rolling while finding your way on top, just like with a b#ke.

Hmm. You say this can be performed uphill? One of my major weaknesses I find when commuting is my uphill mounts. There’s a section of my route where I have to dismount because of stupid anti-bike… I mean, ‘anti-motorbike’ fencing on the bike path, and right after the fencing is a fairly steep uphill. I usually walk up this, otherwise I spend longer just standing there trying to mount on the uphill.

Now I have two things I need to get learning. trackstand-hopping, and uphill rolling mounts (and rolling mounts in general) :smiley:

I’m sure I would fall flat on my face if I didn’t look at the pedals. The “hand over pedal” from my first mounting tutorial is just a trick that has helped me.

The main purpose of this mount is to get your body moving, because you can jump higher when you move than when you stand still. Your body must travel farther than the uni, so it is natural that it halts while waiting for your body to make it over the center of gravity.

Yes, if it’s not too steep. You can do it perpendicular to the hill if it is room. I did this (or tried to) a lot before I learned to bunny hop on the big wheel. Now I usually do a static mount down hill and hop to the right starting position.

Hmm, there’s not many hills wide enough for me to mount permendicularly :smiley:

I’ll still give it a try though!

Hello UniMyra. Your egg mount video is brilliant. Pleease make more uni cartoons. :slight_smile:

Thanks, that video is helpful! I’m about to run out the door for work but I tried a few dry run mounts without the jump and your method makes sense. I’m going to give it a try next time I go for a ride :).

Here’s my new 36er Free mounting tutorial. This one took about a week or so to shoot, and for some shots I used multiple camera setups to help illustrate points. Hope this can help people learn to free mount! :slight_smile:

Thanks for that video. That was very helpful. I haven’t ridden my 36 for a week, because I got a new 29er and also because the 29er is a lot easier to handle, but the hopping might actually make it easier. When the goal is to hop first, you only have to jump up to the sky and not worry about hanging forward as well. Pity it is dark now already (6.30 pm in DK).

Thanks for that video.

I’ve been trying the static mount for a while.
I’m fine with it up to my 29".
On the 36", the extra height causes an extra problem… how do you place the uni between your legs so that you don’t crush the family jewels?

On all the other wheels, I manage to be almost in the right sitting position before jumping on the pedal. But on the 36", the saddle angle won’t allow me to do it without collateral damage.

Or am I missing something in the initial position?

What about jumping higher, so you end up more above the saddle.
Trying to get into hop position first, might help. I haven’t hopped yet with the 36, which heavier than a 29er, but at least you will start out just standing on the pedals, then when you feel you are about to roll away, you can sit down comfortably.
As for crushing my family jewels, I blame this mostly on the saddle. The Nimbus saddles are harder than the KH saddles, at least on the 5 unis I have.

This is where saddle height in so important. Once you get free mounting down like it’s second nature, you can ride with the saddle higher for maximum power and a longer leg extension. For learning, you want plenty of space between your butt and the top of the saddle. A good way to find the right height would be when your legs are about 65-70% extended at the bottom of the pedal stroke. If the saddle’s too high, you won’t have enough bend in your ground based foot to push you up onto the uni, and could also make you loose contact with the pedals. Start with a low saddle but not as low as indicated in my video. Find a good middle ground.

Today the weather was good, so I tried some rounds again with the 36er. At first I wanted to try to hop first as I got on, but the uni is actually quite heavy for that, so I decided to give the rolling mount a try. This went remarkably well. In those vidz the rolling mount is done in 2 steps : non-dominant foot and dominant foot directly on the pedal, but I found it was easier to add a step to that. I guess I also need my dominant foot to set off for the “run”.
The rolling mount turns out to be way way simpler than the static mount and most times I get on right away.

Thank you, UniMyra!! :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

It is a very instructive video, you have made. :slight_smile: In general mounts are not my best dicsipline, but the video explains very clearly the position of the pedals before “take off” and the number of steps. I put - like you - the left foot first on the back pedal, so it was easy to see what to do.

Today i tried it several times on my 29" with a succes rate of about 1 good out of 5 tries, which is not bad (for me), and it can probably be better.

Best regards,
Sanne

I’ve been practising the rolling mount as described by UniMyra for a few days now on my 36er. I haven’t mastered it yet - I probably land one in four attempts. But it’s starting to click.

Coming from only doing static mounts I’ve found that the two key points for me are:

  1. Jump forward rather than just up. Unlike the static mount I need to get my body moving forward with the jump to match the speed of the already-rolling wheel.

  2. As soon as my second foot hits the pedal, start pedaling. Unlike the static mount I can’t get away with pausing at the top. JuggleAddict mentioned this tip earlier in the thread and it’s a good one.

I can see that it’s a good mount for the 36er. When I nail it it feels effortless, unlike the static mount. Already on my ride today I found myself dreading dismounting less because I knew I didn’t have to static mount the big wheel in traffic while tired!