I just got the 27" UW, with the star on it.
I’ve padded up with ankle biters.
Is is good to ride next to a wall? What helps?
i tried search, and lots of stuff came up, but nothing on UW
I found this: http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/search.php?searchid=614846
And this: How should I get a UW?
People might think you’re Jewish. 
I learned next to a fence. That method worked well enough for me.
A few tips:
Point the toes and your foot downward at the bottom of the pedal stroke.
Squat a little. A few inches or so. Keep your head up and shoulders back (don’t hunch over forwards).
Keep the tire pumped up hard.
Use silicon spray lubricant on the sides of the tire to get the tire to slide more easily against your leg. You can get silicone spray lubricant at auto parts stores (like NAPA or Schucks or whatever you have locally).
Hey Billy! I just started learning UW also. I made a 26" via the plywood method, though I’m eye-balling the UDC Star-of-David model. (Don’t tell Rose!)
Initially, I couldn’t do a single rev.
Leaning on my truck I tried to concentrate on equal weight on both feet, all the way around the pedal-circle. Of the things JC mentioned, the one I’ve noticed to help the most is squatting tip. Bend both knees a bit, keeping your body at about the same height as you pedal along.
After about 3 or 4 hours’ practice, I can now free-mount and my distance record is 20 complete revolutions. My RTL teammate Roland is telling me I should wait until after the race to mess around with it, but he’s not the boss of me. It’s fun.
thanks for the tips.
i hope someone does a tutorial, with a link to a video!!
I haven’t ridden one of those things in forever, but here’s what I found helped me.
Don’t worry about the tire wobbling and hitting your legs, it’s probably best to let it rub against your leg for the first couple revs or so. Once you get past that you can work on keeping the wheel in the middle.
Go back to your unicycle and get as good as you can at riding SIF with the seat extended (if you can’t do that already). Try holding onto the seat with as little weight as possible.
I wouldn’t really recommend relying on a wall or fence unless you could get one with a place to hold onto on both sides. Even then you’re probably better off just starting from a wall then going for it on your own. I remember having to do that when I was learning.
I’d make a video of some sort if I had an ultimate wheel. 
I wanna try UW some time looks like fun along with the BC wheel.
After getting good at the SIF thing Forest said, I’ve read it helps to learn to seat push/drag before UW.
Although it’d be heavy, I would go the DIY route first. Get a 700 cc scrapped rim from your LBS, some plywood and these pedal plates.
I think 165 mm may be a bit too much for effective crank length. On my 20 longer cranks just cause more wobble SIF and it’s VERY difficult to ride my 24 w/ 170’s, but not from too much wobble. My leg just gets too high on the upstroke.
I’m just going to use some old bike cranks and lots of bolts.
I’ll tell y’all how that goes.
From what I hear from UW riders, the bigger the wheel, the easier it is.
FWIW, I never really rode seat-out successfully. As I said above, I can now free-mount my UW and my distance record is 20 complete revolutions.
I imagine my seat-out ability will improve now that I’m learning the UW.
I bet it will improve by leaps and bounds. It works both ways, I’ve noticed.
Haha I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve seen good ol’ Billy making a thread about something unicycle related.
There’s something that’s not unicycle related? what could that be.
Steveyo,
The UW makes me feel so IMPOSSIBLE, I’ve resorted to smoothing out my sif on the Coker. I’ve still got to add the silicon spray lubricant on the sides of the tire (thanks, John Childs), but right now it’s hard to get past the resistance of the wheel clinging to my leg armor.
Thanks again for the help!
billy
it supports my weight, yet despite my ability to seat drag consistently between 10 and 100m I can’t get more than one rev on it
of course, I’m not really trying
I am still trying to ride the UW myself. While I am not that far along (3/4 rev) I found I could not use my KH leg armor. The tire and the armor just don’t slide - too much friction. So I ditched the armor in favor of jeans (and I just wear knee protectors, not leg armor). Since the pedals are not pinned, I figured leg armor was overkill anyway. While I still can’t ride the darn thing, at least the friction of the leg armor isn’t holding me up.
Two of my kids (who can both ride the UW) told me to start with pedals in the 1 'clock and 8 o’clock postion. I was trying to start balanced out at 3:00 and 9:00. Starting the downstroke at 1:00 seems to give much more power to get the opposite pedal in the downstroke position for the next 1/2 rev.
-BTM
You could wear hard plastic shin guards and face them inward. That would give the tire a hard, smooth surface to slide on.
Or do like George Peck’s son in “Wheel of Justice” and wear rain boots duct taped to your jeans so they don’t flop around.
My 2 kids were about 9 when I taught them to UW. Shin guards and silicone spray on the tyre helps. They just mounted next to a pole and then went for it. Neither could SIF before.
How’s everyone doing on their UWs?
I’ve been practicing a bit, and last night, at our CAPUNI meetup (NY’s Capital District Uni Club), I actually succeeded in my first figure-8. Woohoo!
You go! Steveyo!
Great photo!
I felt I needed sif a bit because of the huge thigh burn.
the silocone helps a LOT, but I’ve still got lots of practice to do.