I’ trying to learn how to hop. Any sugestions
Tuna,
Here is what worked for me. I simply rode up to a sturdy street sign, in my case a speed limit sign, and I came to a stop with the cranks horizontal. (Sometimes I’d mount using the sign and shift until the cranks were horizontal).
Then, using my grip on the sign pole, I would stand up onto the pedals while the cranks were horizontal, such that I was just standing on them as if I were on the ground … or better yet, kinda like a pogo stick.
I would use my arm-on-the-sign grip to make sure I didnt fall, while bouncing up and down on the horizontal cranks as if the whole contraption was a pogo stick. You’ll need to GRAB YOUR SEAT with the OTHER hand.
So basically, I just practiced bouncing on it like it was a pogo stick, using a sign for support. I did that OVER and OVER until it felt really comfortable. I even got to the point that I could let go of the sign totally, and hop 6-10 times or so in place unassisted.
Then, I practiced riding as slow as could go when cycling forward. Eventually my control was such that I could actually come to a brief stop (say, 1/4 of a second) on the cycle with my cranks in the horizontal position … then I’d continue riding forwards.
So, once I could deliberately slow to a stopped horizontal crank position and then continue on; it wasn’t much of a stretch to go into a full stand, and then just go right into the hop I had practiced on the sign.
In fact, for the first few times that I transitioned from the slow/stop horizontal thing into the hop thing, I did it next to the sign, so that I could grab it.
It wasnt long before I could go into the stand and just hop without assistance from the sign (especially since I had already weaned myself from needing the sign for hopping, I only used it to get positioned; so adding the ability to roll into the hop was natural).
Sorry if that was a bit wordy, and mechanical. I broke down what I wanted to do into steps, so I’m just relating how I did it. I hope it helps in some way!
Have fun, be careful,
Lewis
if you have a pogo stick, get good at it. I learned to pogo b4 and i wanted a new challenge so i got a uni and i could pogog on the uni before i could ride.
Hop with the balls of your feet on the pedals, not the arches. It’s MUCH easier that way.
Yup… I’ve been able to pogo for ages, which definitely helped when I was out riding and thought “I wonder if I can bounce on it?”, and what do you know, I’m a-jumpin’ up and down, scaring the neighbours…
Phil, just me
Re: hopping
“tuna” wrote…
> I’m trying to learn how to hop. Any sugestions?
The best advice I got was to try to jump off the unicycle, but hold onto
the seat so it follows you up into the air. That increased my hopping height
considerably compared to just trying to bounce a bit.
HTH
Andrew
0xADF
“Hop with the balls of your feet on the pedals, not the arches. It’s MUCH easier that way.”
please read greg’s advice VERY carefully
any suggestions on ideal tyre pressure when learning to hop?
i was quite impressed when i recently discovered that i could hop on my giraffe
and scared the neighbours’ kids who were busy trampolining at the time
it would’ve made a good video, from either side of the fence
Re: hopping
If hopping is that important to doing muni, e.g., for going
over tree roots, picnic tables, etc., then shouldn’t a pogo stick-like
spring be built in to the frame – perhaps having the ability to
either be stiff or springy ??
Re: hopping
On 9/7/02 3:24 am, tuna posted:
>
> I’ trying to learn how to hop. Any sugestions
>
Lift one leg then jump up and down. Or do you mean on a unicycle?
–
Trevor Coultart
RE: hopping
> “Hop with the balls of your feet on the pedals, not the arches. It’s
> MUCH easier that way.”
To toss my own two cents in, do all riding by default with the balls of
your feet on the pedals. Occasionally you may find a situation where the
middles of your feet work better, but I hardly ever do. Mostly for riding up
steep hills.
> any suggestions on ideal tyre pressure when learning to hop?
Enough to keep your rim off the ground. If you ever feel your rim hitting
the ground, you’re damaging your tube. The specific amount of pressure you
need is relative to your body weight and tire size. A 3" tire is usually
fine with 30 lbs or less, but a 1.75" tire should probably be around 60
(sorry I don’t have metric equivalents handy).
Just remember, hopping is easier than riding. I learned this by working in
the elementary schools. Whenever one kid would learn to hop, soon you’d have
a room full of kids hopping on the unicycles. Kids that couldn’t ride. Then
we’d usually have to tell them to stop, because the unicycles of the time
(Cycle Pro, American Flyer, or other Tiawan variations) would bend if they
kept it up.
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
www.unicycling.com <http://www.unicycling.com>
“This unicycle is made all from lightweight materials. But it uses a lot of
them.” – Cliff Cordy, describing the very heavy new prototype unicycle he
brought on the Downieville Downhill
RE: hopping
> If hopping is that important to doing muni, e.g., for going
> over tree roots, picnic tables, etc., then shouldn’t a pogo stick-like
> spring be built in to the frame – perhaps having the ability to
> either be stiff or springy ??
This would not change the necessity of the rider to compress his/her legs,
jump upward, and then pull the unicycle up as well. A spring in the frame
would allow your butt to bounce up and down, but your feet are not going to
be suspended by anything other than the tire (so a wider tire is better).
JF
FYI: 1 bar = 14.508 psi or lb/in2, or roughly 15.
I use 1.5 bar in my 3"x26" Gazz for trail riding. This is enough pressure not to bottom out on 3’ drops, but soft enough to absorb roots and rocks and give a comfortable ride.
-Erik
this needs to be found for each individual however, because not everyone weighs the same amount or does the same type of riding, thereby putting different levels of stress on the tube
Re: hopping
John Foss wrote:
> > If hopping is that important to doing muni, e.g., for going
> > over tree roots, picnic tables, etc., then shouldn’t a pogo stick-like
> > spring be built in to the frame – perhaps having the ability to
> > either be stiff or springy ??
>
> This would not change the necessity of the rider to compress his/her legs,
> jump upward, and then pull the unicycle up as well. A spring in the frame
> would allow your butt to bounce up and down, but your feet are not going to
> be suspended by anything other than the tire (so a wider tire is better).
>
> JF
> ___________________________________________________________________________
> rec.sport.unicycling mailing list - www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu
i think putting a pogo like spring in the seat tube or forks might be worth
investigating. Initiating the hopping motion via a pogo spring would
certainly make things easier…but keeping the seat on track and allowing up
to a foot of vertical frame travel is going to be a serious technical
problem.
But the technology is there it’s just a matter of adapting it to a unicycle.
Good Luck !
g
Re: hopping
Try to make the unicycle weightless as you snap the tire up into the air and
pull the uni with you…
Re: hopping
On a related note:
Any suggestions on skipping rope on a uni? I’ve been using toe-clips/straps
but they do tend to be a bit dangerous.
-mg
“tuna” <tuna.7i58n@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:tuna.7i58n@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> I’ trying to learn how to hop. Any sugestions
>
>
> –
> tuna
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Re: hopping
On Tue, 9 Jul 2002 01:08:35 -0500, harper
<harper.7ifnn@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>Hop with the balls of your feet on the pedals, not the arches. It’s MUCH
>easier that way.
And get the spring from flexing your ankle mainly, not so much your
knee. Or at least that’s what I do. Once you go seat-out-in-front, you
can use all of your leg.
Klaas Bil
I agree with Dylan. It takes practice to get to that weightless stage with the Muni. When hopping you want to achieve a state of oneness with the Muni. You don’t need to pull the hell out of the seat to hop the Muni over an object. That just screws up your wrist and possibly shoulder and elbow.
Make sure you take it slow and don’t try to hop that 12" or higher object by pulling hard on the seat. You can do it, but, it can take its toll with repeating yanking.
Work your way up to higher objects.
Try to get used to jumping as one with the Muni. When you arrive at this place, (not metaphysically) you will know it. You would be surprised how high or far you can hop without the massive effort you once used when you began learning to hop.
Also, when approaching objects, approach it at 45 degreess not head on. It will be much easier to hop on to or over the object.
When hopping head forward.
There are some good tips on hopping at Muniac.com in the tips section on hopping.
Practice Practice Practice Practice…
Work the maze.
There’s a couple of good video’s you can download of Kris doing a workshop on hopping (and other stuff) they are quite big files but worth the download time IMHO.
http://lutkus.com/video/Kris_Holm_workshop/
Cheers, Gary.
<click>
Eeek! These had better be good at about 20MB each… I’ll know in an hour or so…
Phil, just me