idling and wheel sizes

[john_childs]

Originally posted by onewheeldave
[B]
What do you guys reckon to the value of practicing these compared to the value of practicing an equal amount of muni?

i.e. while it makes sense that learning to idle one footed or seat in back, will improve muni and genaral riding ability, will it be more or less valuable than an equal amount of time spent muni-ing or riding?
[/B]

If your concern is to improve your muni riding then the time spent working on muni skills is much more valuable than time spent working on freestyle skills. The payoff for the time spent working on freestyle skills is small, but it’s still there.

What you get from practicing freestyle is smoothness and better balance. Since I’ve been practicing freestyle skills my pedaling has gotten smoother. I’m not wasting as much pedaling energy making constant corrections to my balance. I’m also able to entertain myself on level sections of logging roads and smooth sections of trail by riding one footed. One of these day’s I’ll be able to entertain myself by wheel walking along the trail.

Time spent working on climbing technique, rolling over obstacles, endurance, jumping, etc. will improve your muni riding more than working on freestyle. When you get to the point that you want to work on balance and pedaling smoothness then consider working on some freestyle skills.

[robin48gx]

whats the biggest wheel I can get?

I am 5’11" and have a 29" inside leg for trousers, whats the biggest wheel unicycle I can get and ride comfortably ?

[LanceB]

I’m 5’11" and comfortable ride a 36". The reality is pretty much anyone can ride any size they want, given proper motivation. (as evidenced by this little girl on a 36’r:

bobsta on her 36 unicycle

)

BTW, it appears you are new to the forum. I recommend using the “search” feature to look up topics of interest before resurrecting a random ancient thread that isn’t really related to your topic. Just a suggestion.

[Byc]

@robin48gx

I am 5’11" and have a 29" inside leg for trousers, whats the biggest wheel unicycle I can get and ride comfortably ?

Well, i for example have about 31.5" inseam length (from floor to crotch) with the shoes i normally use and i ride a 36" unicycle. I had to shorten the seatpost though, and i also had to shorten the seattube by 0.78" to be able to use 165mm cranks. I could have avoided the cutting by using a fixed seatpost instead of an adjustable one and by choosing a thinner seat (Fusion Street instead of Fusion Freeride)

So i’d think that riding a 36" should’nt be a problem for you too robing48gx.

Greetings

Byc

P.S.: related to topic? the thread turned OT quite some time ago.

[kahunacohen]

@john_childs

I firmly believe that learning freestyle skills like seat in back, seat on side, one footed, wheel walking, backwards circle, etc. improve your muni skills even though you’ll never do something like seat on side during a muni ride. Learning how to balance and control the unicycle while it is held in different positions improves your balance, improves your overall riding, and improves your muni riding.

Totally agree. These types of “freestyle” skills that happen to be in the levels are not on the surface relevant to muni, or even maybe trials, but they develop the kind of skills and discipline that certainly cross over to muni or trials, or even road.

Most great athletes cross-train. (American) Football players have practiced ballet, baseball pitchers martial arts etc. For Gods sake, mountain climbers unicycle. I think George Peck originally got into unicycling to cross train for, what was it, windsufing…or something like that…

Sure you could be a great muni rider only practicing muni, but you’d be a better one if you learned freestyle/trials/flatland skills. The more control and confidence you have, the better.

That being said, when starting out don’t worry about these skills. Get good at riding forward. Then get good at riding forward farther. Then going over some bumps, then maybe backward, then idling etc. You’ll know when and if you need to learn more skills.