I second this. I learned both skills together.
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Yesterday we went to the race track with my learner neighbor and it had rained so the rubbery-hard tarmac thing was very slippery. I did a roll-back mount before even warming up my muscles and decided to try to idle. And it was very easy! I could do a dozen idles without even thinking about it. I figured that the wet slippery floor made it very easy to correct the left/right unbalance, with hardly any effort.
An hour later, the sun had come out and dried and warmed up the ground a bit, and idling was harder than usual. Probably because this material is very grippy when dry.
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I find the same effect with tire pressure. The higher the pressure the less resistance to turning and the easier to idle.
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Yeah, I noticed that too. It also just means you can put less muscle into the movement, which is helpful at times.
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Idling has just come slowly, but steady to me. I just counted 50, I stopped because my bare foot was hurting.
I have been practicing it as often as possible for a few months now. KEEP AT IT GUYS!
(I don’t know if I will ever do it at a intersection).
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I’m still working on idling, but even after riding for a few years I still get unnerved by the dead zone. I think it stems from a few falls I had early on. I feel similarly unnerved by any manoeuvres involving standing still, like transitioning between riding and hopping.
Plus any low speed/high torque situations always require extra concentration when you don’t have momentum in your favour.
I can idle but have never really tried or saw a need to do a roll back mount. I can see the connection though.
I see idling as three very simple things and one hard thing for anyone that can ride a uni. When idling most anyone can maintain balance in the forward and back direction, that simply comes naturally. Then maintaining balance in the left and right direction while traveling in the forward part of idling is just like normal riding. The hard part that people have to completely relearn is maintaining left and right balance in the backward part of idling. Maintaining the left and right balance when backing is completely the opposite as normal riding. When you start to fall left you have to turn right and v-v.
If someone is good with a roll back mount and can make any needed corrections in the left/right directions, they should be able to idle with little effort. Of course there are likely some that do a roll back mount that do not make and left right corrections till they are moving forward. They would have little advantage when tiring to idle.
Mounting directly into idling could make the idling harder if 1. Your foot position is not settled right at the beginning of the mount, and 2. You’re not settled into the seat at the beginning of the mount.
Your proposed technique takes care of the backward to forward part of the idle, but the forward to backward part still needs to be figured out. The forward to backward transition is more of a mind trip. You have to deal with the fear of falling backward while dealing with the new sensation of pedaling backwards. For that, I suggest practicing riding forward and coming to a sudden stop with the wheel out in front of you. That will create the conditions for an eventual half rev backwards.
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I’m not sure I see what you mean. I can free mount with the rollback mount and, as @slamdance said, instead of riding away, I can idle directly from mounting.
Actually, when you see juggling acts, they always mount with a rollback because you need less ground space, and also the unicycle rolls under you, which means your body stays in the same place.
For someone in the beginning stages of learning to idle, I am suggesting that method might be a little bit harder. But entirely doable.
“always”… I’m not so sure.
I at least, find it easier to mount with the pedals flat and then press down on the forward pedal. That becomes me first quarter rotation, and the beginning of the idle.
In general I’m not a big fan of the rollback mount, because I don’t like to go back and then forward. On a small wheel it’s a trivial time waster; on a big wheel, it’s a lot of effort. Noticed how much your pulse raises if you struggle to mount a big wheel?
I can show in a video, but I don’t know who much it will help 
Hmmm, debatable. I would like to see a rollback mount on a railing 
edit: Actually, not debatable. A static mount can always take less space than a rollback mount.
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Ok I guess I used the wrong image. It’s the mount where the unicyclist stays in the same position, in reference to the ground under him.
Isn’t this exactly why the static mount is called static mount? (However, the same is true for a jump mount, too…)
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I’m learning to idle too (20"). I cannot idle more than 6-7 revolution, but I am testing various ideas:
- when idling standing I can make it really slow and “control” better when starting backward riding (cannot go past 4-5 revs backward)
- when trying to idle one footed I decide do sit with more weight on the saddle and start feeling how to turn with only the bottom foot… thinking about turning sideways when the foot is 6 oclock seems to help impressively manouvering at slow speed (today I did my first 180° spot-turn trying to recovery from the 6-12 feet position)
- costantly switching lower foot is increasing my self confidence about recover from dead spot using the upper foot
- I’m still struggling to decide if it is better to idle wh 2 feet or one footed idling, but one footed is more tiring for sure
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I don’t know if this is any help; but notice how I go more forwards than backwards. If the cycle goes too far back behind me it’s really difficult to recover.
I nearly loose control near the end, but then I just recover my balance and do a rotation backwards, before continuing.
All the steering is in the hips.
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“Tada!!” 
Thanks for sharing! I found that too, the unicycle going too far backwards (especially on a bigger wheel such as a 26er) really threw me, so I guess that’s another thing to focus on: keeping the distances controlled.
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Did anyone learn to idle since this thread came up?
I cannot understand if it is already been wrote… KEEP YOUR SEATPOST AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. I set it today at max leg extension so I’ m really obliged to idle with plenty of weight in the saddle making it far more easier (hit 15 idles versus previous 7~ at the 2nd attemp)
Yes if you assume learned as, idle with left foot down 25 times and idle with right foot down 25 times, I leaned this year.
The key is persistence (firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition), it simply takes time to burn the idea in your head (muscle memory) so you react instantly without thinking.