I had a little kid - I’d guess no more than four - rush out of a shop door this week and right under my front wheel. Well, actually he was headed about 6" in front of where the wheel was when I commenced to prop-and-stop before dismounting off the back. I was a meter from the shop facade and no visibility until he sprinted out.
If I did not have an automatic rear-dismount then I would have wound up either rolling over him in the brief moment of indecision or I would have dismounted over the front and - squelch - onto the little tike.
He got only a touch by a stationary wheel - dusty tread pattern on his shirt - and a very grateful mum. If I was pushing a pram or shopping trolley he would have fared a lot worse.
If you are going to ride where there are peds then you owe it to them to either develop instinctive and strong rear dismount or you owe it to them to ride elsewhere.
I watched the mercedes commercial Kris holm did, watched him do a rear dismount… looked like a boss… decided i must look like a boss as well…
i thought it was the mercedes commercial, apparently not. He rode across and intersection (looked like down town somewhere in BC) and dismounted on the street corner.
Not that IUF guidelines are so important, but on this question, they do appear to have changed their minds. I’ve never gotten off my uni from the back, at least not willingly, but maybe it’s time for a change…
I’ve been trying to do it. As a result of this very thread, I think. And by trying, I mean I can do it and I do it whenever it occurs to me and circumstances seem to permit but I don’t consider myself reliable or automatic at it yet. Besides the reasons given elsewhere in this thread to learn to dismount from the rear, I can add that when it works, it feels very cool.
If anyone cares (not likely), my guess as to why it’s no longer required is that I’ve never seen it to be a problem for people doing level testing. The big deal on Level 1 was always the freemount.
I can now almost always freemount on the first try, ride for miles without a UPD and am even learning to hop a bit, but dismounting from the back of the uni is something I still can’t do. Some people on this thread say you should learn to idle first, which sounds reasonable, but to me it suggests that dismounting from the rear is a pretty advanced technique, and still beyond my ability. It’s intriguing to me that some people think it’s something every beginner ought to be able to do.
Even when I was a complete noob I always dismounted off the back… How does everyone else dismount if not off the back? I thought that was the normal way!
Having helped dozens of people learn to ride, and watched them progress through learning, I would say that dismounting off the back is at least an order of magnitude easier than idling. It’s really not hard at all and most people who practice it can pick it up in a few minutes, or on their first try. Just lean back, let the unicycle keep rolling forward, take your foot off the pedal, and step down.
I think Jona is right. When riding a smaller wheel, I always dismounted off the front, and it was pretty much like just stepping off. I never gave it any thought until reading about rear dismounts on this forum. So I started trying it. When I got the 36", I found it was a LOT better to dismount off the back. Very controlled. (But I always use the brake to come to a firm stop as I dismount.) Dismounting off the front of the 36 always seems more like a controlled fall (to me). Not very graceful, and often unpredictable. (I do occasionally front-dismount, if something takes me by surprise. But that’s more of a UPD.)
Neither rear dismounts nor idling are beyond your ability. Both are what I would consider core foundation skills. Not so much on the idling if you only ride a 36".
To dismount from the rear ride to a full stop. One foot will be in the front or bottom; that’s the one that’s holding the wheel. Step off with the rear/top foot as you start to fall back. Piece of cake.
Then learn to idle and ride backward; it will help in tons of ways with your general riding, especially when going slow.
I thought that was the normal way!