Essential Tools, Mechanical and Maintenence skills

They also experiment, and do so THEMSELFES. I’m not saying you shouldn’t ask questions, but 10 answers here will be less helpful than 2 hours of practicing. 30 opinions on what uni to buy will be less useful than having a go on one for 2 minutes.

Write down what you learned each practice session and see if it’s more effective (for YOU) to practice in two blocks of 20 minutes, or in 4 blocks of 10 minutes, or something else that matters. Go and collect your data about your riding, your preference in unicycles and your need in tools on the only appropriate subject: yourself. Asking others can point you in the right direction, but you will have to do the walking yourself.

I’m sorry it’s feelings were hurt, I’m sure it does a good job for you. I’m not saying they are useless, but what I am saying is that it’s really an item of convenience for people that are really particular about their setup, not something important. I’d also say that mounting and doing three hops is more accurately giving me the same pressure than any pressure gauge I have had on a pump so far.

I’m usually someone who overanalyzes too, but from my experience, you are usually better of adapting than planning ahead when it comes to unicycling. I can probably get used to a slightly more pumped up tire faster than it would take me to take the cap of the valve.

Regarding measuring tyre pressure:

  1. If you know the prefered psi, you can save time. Pump up your tyre to the desired psi and ride. No need to adjust tyre pressure out on the trail.

  2. If you don’t measure your tyre pressure, it will be a little different each time. It is a scientific fact that if you change a variable a little bit you will learn more and be better at what you do.

I usually choose no. 1

This.

I learned long ago to make detailed systematic notes, keep journals, make goals and plans and revise them and to refer back to them on many things I do.

People often fail in business and other challenging ventures because they do not take notes, plan, or otherwise do their homework properly. I have seen people go through years of expensive education only fond they hated the profession it led to, or the education they got was worthless in the marketplace. I constantly see people screw up when they buy real estate, vehicles, appliances etc. and end up with headaches, disssatisfaction, and buyers remorse, losing money and wasting time because they did not do their homework.

Unicycling is a challenging task that a very small minority of those that try it pick it up quickly and naturally. I am definitley not one of them.

I am doing my homework to sort out equipment and training knowledge and while I am learning to ride, updating and making adjustments accordingly. That with stubborn focus and determination and I will succeed.

I have found that the various tire pumps and guages I have all give different readings. I suspect that the temperature even affects how much those inaccurate guages move. Still no one has answered my question as to any very accurate tire PSI guage availability etc. I want an accurate tire PSI guage for MY notes.

Very sloppy and unprofessional. Sounds more like weekend warriors out having fun, which is OK, than serious competition.

This would change if a lot of money or other highly motivating factor to win was at stake. Two identical riders of equal skill and determination, the one with the precisely tuned hardware who payed close attention to all the details, big and small, would be the clear victor.

If I was competing to win, I would want my hardware, body, and mind dialed in optimally. I would want every factor that my support team and I could think of to give me every possible advantage to beat everyone else on the day of the competition.

I didn’t pick it up naturally, but I made a lot of progress by actually riding it in the time I saved by not making notes.

Here are a few links about accurate pressure gauges:

http://www.reviewlab.com/best-tire-pressure-gauges
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/gearbox-tire-pressure-gauges-tested

Anyone that owns a motor vehicle could likely benefit from a good tire pressure gauge.

Jim

Just don’t forget to have fun :).

I am making more progress the last few weeks than the last few months from reviewing the notes in my unicycling journal and adjusting my practice sessions accordingly.

Many of the notes I have are from this forum, other online information and videos etc. I joined it when I could not find answers to certain questions using the search function.

If there was no internet and I had no books or instruction available I probably would not be able to figure this out at all. I only took this up when I saw people older than me learning how to do it and getting pretty good at it too. What do I see online, people asking how to learn to do it right, how to learn to mount etc. There was a lot of information that was helping people figure it out, so I thought that if they can do it, so can I.

Commenting here and getting responses to them has definitely been accelerating my unicycle learning process.

Definitely. Running correct tire pressure in your car or motorcycle makes it safer, get better mileage and handling, and last longer.

Reviewlab might have some good info, the others are automotive based and for the unicycle I want something as small as possible. Like that the psi can be measured in 0.1 psi increments.

Thanks Jim

At the moment, it is still a difficult challenge. I like trying new difficult challenges.

Once I can mount, idle and ride unassisted and do enough other things so I can use the unicycle for transportation, then the fun starts.

Delayed gratification.

Then I will take it up a notch and learn to ride larger wheel sizes. All while taking on progressively rougher and steeper terrain until I am half decent at Muni.

Ah, that’s where I went wrong. I learned before the internet was available - as has been the case for virtually all of human history.:smiley:

The internet was available originally as ARPANET since the 1960’s…

There is an important difference between something “existing” and “being available”. Either way, being pedantic about establishing the date to within 20 years in the context of thousands of years without it is missing the point I was making - I suspect deliberately.

Point is, it is perfectly possible to learn simple stuff like riding a unicycle by just trying it and working at it.

Those that dumb things down and over simplify get left behind. They are the most unprepared for the unexpected and the least adaptable. They function at a far lower level than their potential and hold themselves back. Driven high achievers do not think nor operate this way. Over thinkers are the ones that bring inovation and experimentation and drive things forward bringing change to the world.

I am sure glad that they are in cycling and unicycling because far better hardware is available now than what they had to put up with years ago. That equipment did not stand up to off road unicycling being done today. If everyone was simplifying the last few decades today there would be no Trials or Mountain unicycling or brakes on them. If there was no good hardware in unicycling for rough off road riding I would be far less interested.

Telling people new at anything when they are hungry for knowledge on the subject to keep it simple as a blanket statement is never good advice.

I couldn’t disagree more. In every sport and activity I have been involved in, including but not limited to bicycling, unicycling, motorcycling, playing musical instruments, writing music, Morris dancing, folk dancing, fencing, scuba diving, kayaking, sailing, etc. etc., I have seen beginners either discouraged or misled by the belief that it is complicated.

The thing is to start, to do, to keep it simple and to establish a basis for improvement. Then add the complexity only as your capacity to cope with it develops.

I teach new dancers to do the basic “1 2 3 hop” in time with the music a long time before I start talking about relaxing the shoulders, and even longer before I talk about the nuances of the hand movements for the different traditions. I learned my scales before I learned my chords, and learned to play melodies confidently before I started to worry about chord progressions and accompaniment. I would teach the basics of reaching across the wind in a steady breeze a long time before talking about outhaul tension and its effect on sail shape. There are eight parries, all of which can be direct, semi circular or circular, making 24, but every new fencer starts with sixte and quarte and needs to get those working before they even look at the others.

In the same way, I would encourage any beginner unicyclist to get the tyre pumped up to firm, and to learn to ride a reasonable distance a long time before I would advise them to consider how minor changes in tyre pressure might optimise the ride for different circumstances.

Then, if someone wants to become a very good dancer, or musician, or a competitive fencer, or sail in races (or a wider range of conditions), or take their unicycling to the next level, I would introduce more complex ideas and perhaps see a place for note taking, watching videos, etc.

I see you like data and knowledge, this might be worth a look: Pareto principle - Wikipedia
The Pareto Principle states that 80% of the effect comes from 20% of the causes. You should focus on those 20% of causes first, before fixing the other 20% percent of your riding with the other 80% of your effort.

The ability to simplify and seperate important factors from unimportant ones is what makes one effective. Ignore an important factor, and you fail, but if you focus on too many, you will not keep up with them.

Interesting, although there ay be cases where it is not exactly 80%, and cases where it is difficult to quantify.

The thing I would query is that it would take 20% of your effort to address 20% of the causes. That is not necessarily the case. It may, for example, take 100% of your effort for a period, but once addressed, you would have 100% of your later effort available to address the other 80%

Your previous comments were more like enthusiam killing trolling than anything useful or informative. I expect more susbstance in posts from someone that professes to be an instructor. I rolled my eyes when you posted that you didn’t have the time to make notes, and learned without the internet, and have a post count close to 7000 in this forum.

I agree with this. Some things are closer to 90/10. It is a fundamental rule of the universe, that the creme rises to the top in almost anything.

Success is usually perspiration driven by inspiration. Drilling in the basics over and over, while finding the other factors, some obvious, others not so much.

Similar to yin and yang philosophy.

When Bruce Lee said somehing like, “find what is useful and use it, discard what is not”. What is useful is not necessacily easy.

I like things like this, thanks for posting!