Yes, that is my question,
How do you know when you can coast?
I have been learning to coast in a large hall. I ride to the half way line (to get speed) and then coast the rest of the hall until i hit the wall 
I am going to try and coast outside when it is dry some time, and see how far I can go.
But, do you have to be able to coast for a certain distance before you are able to say ‘Yes, I can coast!’?
Cheers,
Joe,
Re: How do you know when you can coast?
Sounds good enough to me, congrats!
Yes you can COAST!!!
my defenition of coasting is being able to do about 20 metres most times. Thats when i say i can coast
Trev
Good good, now i need a tape measure… 
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albuu48/DSC00181
This is the almighty 10 metre tape!! costs about £5 off Market
Trev
Cool!
My dad has one of those, but a 5m one. I will get him to get the beast!
Cheers,
Joe,
Just read the IUF Rulebook.
You have to coast for 10 metres before you really can coast. The big question. I have made a few times a coast of 10 or more. But a lot of athers attemps to coast arent good. can you coast than???
yes but 10 metres is a small amount to have learnt to coast. Its like learning to ride 10 metres and saying you can ride.
The feeling comes when you dont have to think to much and can coast well past 10 metres. To me that is when i would say i can coast.
Become the wheel! dont ride it!
Trev
Hey!
Trust me, you will know when you can coast. You get this funny feeling inside and all of a sudden everything works. You can coast if you can do 10-20 meters in control, not crazily. You’ll know when the time is right.
-Ryan 
Hi Trev,
I didnt make myself clear. I was not goin to coast for just 10m. I was going to use the tape measure to measure how far i coast.
Having a 10m tape will be easier than a 5m tape. It will take half the time!
I will let you know how I get on…
Joe,
Minimum coasting distance
Tracking coasting requires a minimum coasting distance of just 1
meter to qualify as actually coasting. Any shorter distance doesn’t
qualify as a coast and would be a disqualification for that coasting
attempt. Track coasting assumes the rider will coast until he falls,
so no transition back to riding is ever expected in this competition.
For standard skill, the minimum distance would be 4 meters. That is
half the 8 meter distance of coasting in a line which scores half the
points of a full 8 meter coast. Obviously, 8 meters would be better.
Standard skill requires that coasting be immediately followed by a
transition to riding or another skill; a fall results in negative points.
For freestyle, a coast could be even shorter than 4 meters and gain the
rider some points, though most judges would probably want to see at
least 1-2 meters of coasting per attempt. So here again, the absolute
minimum would be 1 meter, depending on the judges. Here a fall after
coasting a few meters would net the rider negative points, depending
on the judges.
In my opinion, 4 meters coasting is reasonably long enough to rule out
luck. However, when the coasting distance is this short, a transition
back to riding would most effectively rule out luck, beyond any
reasonable shadow of doubt.
In my opinion, coasting 4 meters and transitioning back to riding is
more impressive than coasting 20-30 meters and then falling.
However, back to the original question: How long does one have to
coast (beforing falling off) before it is considered be to be really
coasting? In my opinion at least 4 meters, and maybe 5 meters.
Of course the next step after consistently coasting 4-5 meters is to
transition back to riding or another skill. This is the point at which
one gains the respect of top unicyclists for one’s coasting skill.
Sincerely,
Ken Fuchs <kfuchs@winternet.com>
Thanks Ken!
Joe,
I practiced coasting last summer and i could choose when to get back to riding because thats when i considered myself to be able to coast. I beleive that its just understanding the balance point
Trev
Until that time, you will have a funny feeling on your hind-side while attempting to coast! 
Congratulations Joe. At this point, I can only dream of coasting.
Joe, no need to pull out the tape measure. Every unicycle has a built in tape measure.
Well, actually you need a tape measure one time, to check the exact circumference of your tire. Then, anytime you want to know the distance between something, you just count your pedal strokes and multiply by the circumference of your tire.
WaLa, built in tape measure. --chirokid–
or use my trials method, i measure stuff in shoes i have size 7’s so I now know i can do drops of about 4.5 size 7’s thats a different tape measure you always have.
you expecting to count the revoulitions while coasting? Are you mad? i use 102 cranks and the speed i set out coasting your not even going to be able to count them…
Trev
Re: How do you know when you can coast?
On Sun, 8 Feb 2004 04:47:02 -0600, kfuchs
<kfuchs@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote:
>For standard skill, the minimum distance would be 4 meters.
<snip>
>Standard skill requires that coasting be immediately followed by a
>transition to riding or another skill; a fall results in negative
>points.
According to the skill level definitions (both IUF and USA), it says
with level 10
“Coast for 10 m”
(So 4 m is not enough)
and it says in the introduction:
“All skills start and end with the rider riding forward, seated with
both feet on the pedals.”
(so not to transition to any other skill).
Just thought I should mention that for all aspiring level 10’ers.
I have a feeling you might need two points of contact with the ground for such a thing to work? Or at least training wheels on the front and rear. - John Foss commenting on a picture of a one-wheeled vehicle he saw on RSU.