KH (emphasis added):
Yes, it is a lot like tiptoeing around the house. That’s not a bad thing, though. You just need to build up your calf muscles to support it. Besides, if you do walk around on the balls of your feet (not tiptoes, really), you can sort of glide without bobbing up and down, which some observers find unsettling. But I digress. It is good exercise for building up those muscles, though.
If you want really difficult, try balancing on the ball of one foot (on the ground, not on a uni) for an extended period. Like 10 seconds or more. It sounds easy. It is not. It would surely become easier if I did it more. Like anything else. It seemed to help my idling. I mention that just to point out that walking on the balls of one’s feet is easy by comparison.
I did some research on foot position awhile back and the verdict was that people ride either way as their preference and riding on the balls is generally better unless you’re doing high drops, which can cause an injury. Like a torn Achilles tendon or something. Really high, like 10 feet or so. Certainly at least 3. Before a drop, you’d need to switch to the arches or you’d just do the whole ride that way. It seemed to be trials/street riders that preferred the arch most.
Somebody mentioned braking. I am perfectly able to descend or climb hills on the balls of my feet. I can be lifted out of the saddle before encountering any problem with my ankles giving out on me. I don’t consider myself to be a particular beast in this regard.
When braking, I use my brake. 
But if I do have to stop abrubtly while I’m travelling at speed, I can shift my feat forward a bit on the pedals to really get my body weight into them. But for most stopping, I can stay closer to the ball of my foot.
Indeed. And if you look at freestyle unicycling (in gymnasium, not jumping around urban equipment), you’ll notice that they mainly use the front of their feet. With thin soles, it’s almost like they’re grabbing the pedals with their toes.
I had the opposite problem you have Nate. I was wanting to do drops and downhill all the time and I was only comfortable on the balls of my feet. It took me a while to become accustomed to a more flat-footed stance for the type riding I do. Now I can’t stand riding muni on the balls!
Okay thanks guys I’m going to go out in a bit and learn to freemount on the grass and hopefully won’t drop the uni much if at all when I try it on pavement. The grass really soaks up my jumping power (at least that’s what I think).
I will try a bit of both. I plan to go up and down sidewalk and up some hills.
Since Killian brought up my foot position, I was wondering if it could help with giving me extra reach when I need it but I think it’s something that I shouldn’t count on too much especially if I also plan to shift my foot back and forth. But I’ll have to test it out, I’m just not sure if I can shift my foot on grippy pedals that fast whenever I want to and any wrong move might cause problems.
Oh and as reference to any other people that are interested in how to shift their feet back and forth, I found this link that I’m reading up and I think is helpful.
HOW TO SHIFT YOUR FOOT WHILE RIDING FOR THOSE WONDERING
Haha. Just got home from some errands. We’ll see in a sec. I’m especially interested to see if it’ll help me with the reaching issue that I’ve been wondering about.
Self checklist of things to do today or very soon:
- See if there’s any replacement seat post at udc that fits the KH seats with smaller weldings to push closer to clamp for more space.
- Take out KH street on 26er and see if I can ride it without the gel pad now. If it works I might switch it to the 36er to replace the thicker Freeride for better pedal reach.
- Try new foot placement that I just found out about.
- Go up hill
- Learn to idle on 36er with 127mm
- Learn to swerve around like pro
- Learn to use brakes
- See if I can bunny hop on a 36er
- Freemounting on pavement…after mastering at the grass area.
K be back in a few hours, wish me luck 
Sig worthy.
Just went around for 3 hours. A sudden leg cramp wouldn’t go away not to mention being tired, I call it a day.
Foot Placement: So far the foot placement that was brought up on the last page. It does help a bit with the reaching. It also feels nice when pushing down on the pedal. It seems like I was able to ride alright on the 127 but am still curious as to how it’ll be on the 150s again. Maybe tomorrow.
Idling: Only able to do 5 max, most of the time 3 so basically I still can’t idle
The wheel is just so darn heavy but the biggest issue is that, unlike my 26er, the wheel is more resistant to swerving. The wheel really keeps me from swerving much. I have the biggest issue when it leans to the right and I try to swerve back and to the right to catch myself. Unless I solve that, idling remains impossible over 5-7.
Free mounting: This unicycle is so high and mounting it is hard!! Especially with the 127 crank. It’s especially hard with the static mount. The rolling mount I got it 2 out of 20 something tries so basically I don’t really have that either. I did manage to catch the seat, only missed once. The height definitely makes it hard.
Swerving: So far I find its maneuverability similar to that of my 26er. Turn just about the same, only has a bigger roll.
Braking: Forgot
Going up hill: I found that it’s almost like the 26er. I went up the same hills almost the same. There was one hill that I almost got all the way up, lost momentum, but then again I also sometimes have problems with it on my 26er. HOWEVER, going downhill was different. I couldn’t go down it, the wheel overpowered me. I tried to try the hill again but that’s when the cramp really got to me and I could barely do even assist mount. I tried half way down the hill to hold onto someone’s fence but the dogs didn’t like it 
A few people also brought this up but going up hills with shorter cranks just might be easier. Less dead spots on the pedal revolutions.
Bunny hop: Didn’t try much, but I need to finish my learning on the 26er.
I’ll contact udc about the post.
I probably should have thought that one through before I posted it…
With that said… always remember to ride BIF everyone! Balls In Front!
So, I rode to work today on “Big Pun”.
I see that there’s about an inch and a half of room on the post, that wearing my five-tens and on the 127 holes.
I could see that with a freeride seat it would make things close if you are any shorter than I am.
My advice is to lose the freeride seat. You could sell it on the trading post pretty easily and get the fusion.
Most of us experienced riders (most, not all) prefer a smaller profile seat. I do because after x number of miles the bum and boys are going to be uncomfortable anyway, so you might as well get the seat out of the way. I want as minimal seat as possible while still feeling comfortable. On my commute, for example, I often stand up to crank up the many hills, so I am not on the seat for a portion of the ride anyway and when I do stand up I want the seat out of the way. I found that after some conditioning riding longer distances and perhaps with the seat breaking in, it becomes more comfortable. AND I also like it because it gives me a bit more breathing room for the post, given, that I, like, you are just on the smaller line of those that can comfortably fit on a stock 36.
As far as the shoes, yes they are expensive, but they have been a great investment for me. Look, you spent less than a grand on a top-of-the-line machine. A top-end bike would be thousands more. On a unicycle, your shoes are key. So spend the money and get decent shoes if you are going to take the sport seriously. No, it’s not necessary, but neither is a unicycle, really.
I love the impacts because of the grip, protection and support. I’ve had a few UPDs on the 36, and on other unis (usually on muni) where I was glad I had the ankle support and general foot protection of the five-tens. Best hundred dollars I ever spent.
Yeah last night I was up and thinking about switching my freeride over to the 26er and my street over to the 36er. The one with the gel pad stuffed inside. With the gel pad stuffed inside, it measures to be around the size of the freeride.
So if it gets too uncomfortable and I can’t seem to break the seat in like you mentioned, back goes the gel and I’ll have the equivalent of a freeride again.
I’m going to do that in a bit after an errand. I wanna see how much it can go down to and if it’s even worth the switch.
Thanks for the shoe recommendation. I might get it one of these days but not any time soon (depends actually), that 36er got me really broke heh.
I took out the gel on the Street KH and it’s like almost one inch less thick than the Freeride.
I tried riding with the street and I THINK from my 5-10 min ride that I can handle it better but I still feel the pinch around my thigh area where the seat rubs against it. Like something cutting into the side of my thigh. I’m thinking of shaving off a bit out of the side.
Only thing keeping me from doing it is that it’s a $70 seat, so I gotta think twice.
I still prefer to cushion though but I’ll try what some of you guys say and deal with the pain, hope it’s worth it. The feel of my bone pressing against the seat is something I’m concern about. Pain is there to tell you something is wrong and I hear people having some medical issues that they find afterwards that prevents them from riding the unicycle (muscles / nerves being pinched) etc, hopefully putting up with the pain doesn’t eventually lead to possibly having that problem.
I’m going to read up and see the seat flattening process. I wonder if there’s anyone that has flatten their seat and end up actually not liking it and how they fix that.
A few people didn’t particularly like it. The good news is that the seatbase can be curved to it’s original shape again because the plastic has a bit of memory. In my experience it will snap back to it’s original shape upon being reheated. (I reheated mine to make it even more flat then it already was.)
The pain you are feeling may be skin that is getting pinched. Try applying some lotion in the area that is getting pinched. That may allow the skin to move into a position that does not hurt. Bike shorts with no seams in the crotch area can also help a lot.
I’ll give it a try with the lotion. I have a pair of bike shorts but I don’t plan to use it unless I do a continuous long ride, probably somewhere in the close future once I get better with the 36er and I have less dismounts. It bulges and feels weird if I get off the seat and walk around with it and I commonly wear house clothes (like sweat pants) when I cycle around.
I have a seat post / seat tube question. I think you guys call it the seat tube right? The tube that the seat post go into?
Anyhow, the question is, is there a minimum length of seat post that has to be in the seat tube? I’m switching the seat tube from my freeride seat to my street kh. I wish it would be a simple switching one seat to another unicycle but it seems like the tube on my 26er street is too long and bumps the wheel of the 36er.
Just wondering if it would weaken something somehow if there’s just a tiny bit of seat post length in there, maybe just enough for the clamps to hold on but just that.
I read somewhere a long time ago that you should have at least the diameter of the post beyond the bottom of the slot/clamp. I read somewhere else that you should have at least twice the diameter of the post inserted from the top. In both cases the number would come out darn close to 2" of insertion with a 1"/25.4mm seatpost.
In truth I would use the longest post I could, and if it goes to the bottom of the crown it would add some strength (by reinforcing the seat tube at the crown). So I fit my posts with my longest cranks and figure that I can always raise my saddle for the shorter ones.
Oh, and definitely bike shorts. They make a huge difference even for short rides. They help to minimize pinching and chaffing. I know it feels odd to wear them if you aren’t used to it, but they make such a difference that it’s worth it to try.
I think it’s usually seat post as that way it isn’t confused with the inner tube or the frame tube. If you’ve got the post set all the way down, it should be fine as long as the post goes all the way past the clamp. If your post was sticking out a lot from the frame though I would say that you would need more then that in the frame.
Seat post is the thing that attaches to the seat. Seat tube is the part of the frame that receives the seat post.
Sometimes the seat tube is referred to as the seat mast on bicycles where it extends quite a bit from the seat cluster (the place where the seat stays, seat tube, and top tube come together). It may be a better term for that part of a uni frame, but for now seat tube.
Okay. Much appreciated info.
I’ll try the biker shorts again, but I plan to wear it on the outside of my briefs. I just don’t see myself washing it each time I use it, I think it’s meant to be worn against the skin, but I only got a pair and I ride almost every day… we’ll see how that works.
Great news today! Well, two actually. The KH street switch has given me that significant reach that I was looking for, it’s almost an inch thinner than the freeride. The freeride is now on my 26er. I haven’t tried the 150 mm hole but so far I find the 127 to be pretty great. The only downside to the 127mm is a bit on the brake power, but that’s not too bad, and the danger going down steep slopes, but it should be okay once I know how to use the brakes. The brakes can be scary to use, I might need to bleed it, I believe that’s the term, but not sure how. I’ll see if youtube has videos on d brake bleeding process.
I still can’t idle to save my life though. Can you guys idle for awhile on 127mm crank on a 36er? The tires make swerving at certain angles very very hard, depending on which leg you use to push down. I can’t make the swerve to get the balance together. Of course also that the tire is very heavy, no help with the shorter crank.
So today I did a couple of tight circles, etc, great stuff. I felt very comfortable. The KH street doesn’t hurt as much, but I don’t know how it’ll really be if I put full weight on it for a long time. But I rode around for a few miles, felt alright.
The second great news!
I’m able to free mount! Second day trying. Was able to static mount 10 times in a row and I was relatively tired. I would say I can static mount 80% on a flat surface. On bumpy surface it’s around one out of three.
I can also roll mount, 60% on flat and about one out of three times on bumpy road.
I haven’t tried mounting on a steep slope.
I can’t believe the extra confidence in landing mounts can help you so much in future mounts. Before I lacked confidence thinking how freakishly high the unicycle was. Now I think it’s not so bad and I got the confidence to make the leap and it’s worked very well
Thanks a bunch guys!
T BAR, I’m almost ready to reinstall you again!!
The seat post took me about 2 hours to transfer. The reinforcement plate and some other issue made it a very frustrating and needlessly long experience :o
Idling a 36er with any crank length is hard to do. Don’t think I can do it (not that I’m a good rider or anything). But IMO, idling is one of the most useless skills out there. Again, strictly my opinion. On my 36er, I either dismount, grab hold of a sign or something, or (most often) time my approach with traffic. Don’t remember the last time I actually stopped at a stop sign, and I’m pretty good about timing my approach to lights.
Good times though. KH street lives on all of my unis, I think you’ll ‘grow’ into it.