Hands free or hold on to the saddle?

[Gockie]

@Setonix

Once I took my 29" to work and back then I could only ride with my right hand on the seat and left hand out and because I never go as fast as bicyclists, an old lady was complaining that she couldn’t pass me, because my arm was in the way. Since then I’ve been practicing having my right hand in the air on cycle paths.

How about neither hand in the air, both on a handle? I can understand it’s not going to work if it’s very steep though.

[Setonix]

True on flat I also ride with both hands on the seat, but when wanting to put some speed into it, it is easier to have 1 hand in the air.

[Dino]

@oaradl

I don’t like holding onto the saddle. Neither when mounting, nor when riding

I understand not holding the saddle when riding, it’s a learnt skill that doesn’t always come easy or feel natural at the outset, but it’s well worth learning to do. However I’m not even sure how to mount a uni without holding on to the saddle
It’s the only way I’ve ever mounted any of my wheels (20", 26", 29" & 36").

[jswim788]

@Dino

I’m not even sure how to mount a uni without holding on to the saddle

There have been some videos in this forum showing how it is done, but I cannot find them now. Maybe @ruari did it? I vaguely recall something about needing both hands free, one for coffee and the other for ??? Hold the seat between your legs and step right up. It looks easy when someone else does it.

[UniMyra]

@ruari mounted his 36’er hands free in one of my videos:

Riding a unicycle part 70: Harestua - Oslo with Erlend Loe and Ruari @VelocipedeRider

[ruari]

Ha… Not the cleanest example that one actually. Coffee would probably have gone everywhere on that mount to be honest, even with a lid

But I can and have done it many times. I’ll blame the camera weight putting me off.

[Unigoof]

I never mounted without holding the saddle until I unicycled while holding another uni. I needed both hands to hold the uni and just sort of figured the rest out. At some point during a ride whilst carrying uni I was about two miles in and very fatigued since it’s an awkward thing to do and missed the forward pedal on a mount. Concrete is yummy. So as long as you are focusing on the mounting and not trying to carry large items I think mounting without holding onto the saddle is a viable idea.

[Dino]

@jswim788

It looks easy when someone else does it.

@UniMyra

@ruari mounted his 36’er hands free in one of my videos:

Thanks for posting this, I’ve never seen this done before.

[Gockie]

@jswim788

It looks easy when someone else does it.

This applies to any 36er freemount for me!