Gliding

General
1

I have a 2006 Torker DX 24" with a 2.6" mountain tire. I am tryng to learn to glide? Is it possible? Or is it like trying to learn to ride on a giraffe?

2

Sure, it’s possible. Plenty of people have glided on mountain unicycles, but why would it be like learning to ride a giraffe?

3

i cant glide myself but ive got the jist of it. im pretty sure its got nothing ot do with riding a giraffe. u have to learn to 1 foot wheel walk then everytime u slide ur foot back up u let the wheel spin for a second or so then gradually increase the amount of time. here’s more info - http://munimanpete.unicyclist.com/freetips.htm#gliding

cheers, keep it wheel.

4

Seems strange that for gliding you should have to learn one-foot ww, because the far more difficult “coasting” can be started by one-foot (fast) pedalling, and doesn’t require, or even need one-foot ww for the transition to coasting.

5

If you want to learn it the hard way. If you pick up gliding first, coasting will be a lot easier. You can also learn to glide from one footing as well, but I don’t recommend it.

The original guy didn’t say “learning to ride a giraffe” he said “LEARNING on a giraffe.” I learned on a giraffe. Again, not the best method.

6

Gliding

Thanks a lot for the tips.

7

whats the difference between gliding and coasting?

8

Yes, it is a bit like trying to learn to ride on a giraffe in that you have not selected the ideal unicycle to learn this skill on. You CAN learn to glide on an offroad unicycle just as you can learn to ride on a giraffe. It will probably take you longer to learn than if you used a 20" freestyle unicycle.

Gliding is generally more difficult on a bigger wheel and more difficult on a tyre with knobbly tread. I can glide easily on a 20" wheel but struggle on a 26" wheel.

I presume you know that a good sequence of skills for learning to glide is wheel walk, followed by one foot wheel walk, followed by pull gliding and then gliding.

One thing that may help you to learn on your Torker is to put your seat up quite a bit higher than you normally have it. Wheel walking, gliding and coasting are all easier with the seat higher. Freestyle riders tend to run their seat height very high compared with trials and offroad riders. If your leg is sharply bent when your foot is sitting on the tyre in gliding position then it is more difficult to adjust the pressure on the tyre and hence more difficult to control your balance.