Speaking of brakeless budget freewheels. I am considering lending a BC wheel from a friend. Would that be a stepping stone towards freewheel unicycling or is it too much of its own thing, really? I imagine them to be quite different but the freewheel balancing aspect seems quite the same, apart from the seat. A BC wheel is probably a lot harder?
I think learning BC will definitely help with freewheel balance.
As the foot plates on a BC are below the centre of the wheel, I’d expect it to be slightly easier than brakeless freewheeling, however I own a BC wheel and I’ve never actually got around to learning it 
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Then I guess you have to find out if it really is easier? 
…And so a freewheel unicycle joins my collection of wheels and frames 
I had to steal some crank bolts and pedals off of another wheel lying around, though now I can say I have a complete-ish freewheel unicycle to learn on when the time comes around! 
The complete specs as it stands now,
- Club 26" frame, seatpost, saddle
- Velocity Atlas 650b rim
- Sapim Race spokes
- High Roller Drift Trike Hub (No disc mount unfortunately)
- Rene Herse Loup Loup Pass 650bx38 tire
- Rene Herse TPU tube
Although I do plan on learning to ride without a brake installed, I do want to add a brake at some point in the future after I feel like I can graduate from riding on mostly flat ground. I’ve been thinking about it since before the rim was built, and part of the reason why I decided to opt for 650b is that I can move the rim closer to the top of the fork than a 26" rim (to hopefully widen the selection of potential rim brake options) but still have some tire volume compared to a 700c rim.
Off the top of my head, the two most attractive options for adding a brake are
- Getting my hands on a Dia-Compe Clamp-On brake caliper and hoping it can fit. This would be my preferred solution since it doesn’t involve making any modifications to the frame, although I’m not 100% positive that it would fit. I did a quick measurement of the brake reach I would need and I think it might work… Hopefully.
- The other option is drilling the fork and adding a side-pull brake that way. I know others have fitted brakes this way and has worked fine, but I’d like to avoid modifying the frame more than absolutely necessary
Anyways, I’m excited to give it a try when the weather lightens up a bit. 
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That’s a nice looking machine – probably a better starting point than the Mobo hub that started you down this route – it just lets you see that reading the comments in YouTube videos can be useful sometimes 
Good luck with the brakeless.
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Oh, for sure! Although going with the Mobo might’ve been cheaper overall, who knows what other complications would’ve came with it in terms of quality and fit.
Also, I decided to try and just sit on it a bit ago… First impressions? Terror… But I didn’t fall to the ground, so that’s a plus!
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That seems like a fairly concise (and probably quite restrained) assessment of your first impression …
I still haven’t built my Pipifax hub into a wheel, but it will have a fairly capable brake attached for sure… one of the videos I watched a while back advocated learning without a brake, I can see the argument for that to be honest, but a brake it will be for me…
Welcome to freewheeling. It’ll be like learning all over again. Look for a practice area with a slight incline to ride up. The incline makes it easy-er to find the sweet spot for balancing.
I advocate to wear a helmet. Always wear a helmet. A fall can happen so unexpectedly when you are learning, and even after you can ride, that you’re on the ground wondering how you got there. Do your best to tuck-and-roll when you invariably experience a UPD. Once more welcome to the freewheel club and stay safe.
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I’ve been practicing with a helmet alongside some elbow pads as well. Seeing some other videos of people trying freewheel for the first time, I don’t want to fall down and inadvertently bash my elbows
Also don’t fall down and sprain your ankle. Did that and it was very painful. Still recovering from that. But now back on my freewheel BigRed and pushing my recovery a bit. Feels so good to be back in the saddle.
I had a thought that freewheel unicyclists may be able to answer. Would you be able to use a freewheel unicycle as a crude one-wheeled scooter?
Basically I’m thinking you’d set one pedal in the 6 o’clock position and push off with your other foot. I’m imagining this would be done holding the seat in front of you. Or even spinning the uni and holding onto the handlebars. You could even tape/zip tie the crank at the 12 o’clock position to the frame to hold it steady.
I ask because it occured to me that if a Schlumpf hub were to break, only able to freewheel and you needed to limp home (quicker than walking) this may be a decent solution. Unless I’m missing something? Thoughts?
I don’t think it would work. It’s hard to coast on a freewheel uni, let alone with a single foot on a pedal. Some people do use this tech for downhill - look at Florian ‘Freewheel’ Kaiser who loves using his feet in technical downhills -, but that doesn’t seem to be applicable to flat riding.
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What you describe sounds a bit like a UW (but with a seat) or closer to the peg freewheel uni of @waaalrus . But in both cases, the rider mounts and ride with both feet on. I think your question would be better answered by a freestyle/artistic uni rider formulated: which one is the simplest between one foot gliding (or equivalent) and freewheel coasting (as explained in @Sanne.Kj ?
On the likelihood of being in this situation IRL, I would bet a sub-1%. But if you want to be prepared, get a basic freewheel uni with a cheap hub and start practicing with @Sanne.Kj 's tutorial videos 
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Hello Siddhartha_Valmont,
Sorry, but you must be confusing me with someone else. I don’t ride freewheel, and I have not made any tutorials at all. 
Best regards,
Sanne
I am very sorry for the confusion @Sanne.Kj ! That is what happens when I attempt a response before coffee 
This time I did a search to get it right and it was @AJ_KJ ’ videos (and I double-fail my quote here are the videos):
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I understand! 
BR Sanne
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Does this belong here? (1st link is a video, 2nd a newspaper article)
I mean, what’s it other than a freewheel touring unicycle with gears?
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i would say so. It’s quite impressive, even with gears
That guy is cool! People in the comments aren’t very positive overall. I admire his dedication and him living his dream, no matter what the rest of the world thinks of him.
