I just can’t resist giving contradictory advice. I say “Start with the handle.” I went from 30 years of riding 24" and 27" unicycles without ever laying a hand on a seat handle to a 36" V-frame guni with aerobars. The handle bars in no way hampered my transition. From day one I appreciated having something substantial to hang on to for dear life.
Try it out with the bars. See how it feels. You’ll definitely want those bars on the long rides. Learn it right the first time. Otherwise you’ll have to learn the big wheel with out the bars and then change your riding style when you put the bars on.
Anything you only do on the day of will probably be a problem. Like trying a new seat. The most important thing to do is to condition your knees/body to long rides. Then I back that up with the supplements, taking the recommended dose for at least a week leading up to the big ride, and more on the day of.
My knees are probably a little more sensitive than others, but I really learned the braking lesson on my first Lake Tahoe attempt. I didn’t use the brake enough on the many downhills, and eventually burned out my knees. Before I’d gotten 30 miles, I was walking the downhills. I could still ride the uphills, but the downhills were too painful.
I will go with Naturequack and say with. Three reasons. First, you bought the thing. Start by holding the seat handle, but also start getting used to the idea early on as well. Second, it might help you to avoid seat-dropping dismounts. The less dropping you do, the longer you go between needing new cranks & things. Third, the Shadow was designed for relatively inexpensive replacement of the handles while not having to replace the whole thing. Just don’t get it custom powdercoated.
Or do, as I have also found that to be deterrent to crashing…
…in people who suffer from Osteoarthritis. If I have that, I don’t know about it. What I suffer from on long rides is basic knee abuse. The stuff seems to work for that. And my dog takes it every day. She walks different if we miss a day. So maybe she doesn’t have Osteoarthritis either, though the vet recommended it. She’s 13.
scott ttocs . . . I fully appreciate and understand your position regarding glucosamine, I have never taken supplements and barely ever take a headache pill. In my experience people do all sorts of things to achieve their goals, if it works for them and doesn’t hurt them or anyone else, who am I to say that it’s wrong. That being said, if I find myself in a position where my diet is not providing what my body needs, I too may try alternatives. For long rides I am considering taking ibuprofen due to the anti-inflammatory effects (and I suppose the painkiller in it may also be off some benefit).
Flyjeffva . . . the flexmeters with the dual splints look great, and with screws and metal now in your wrist it obviously even more important that you look it. Let me know how you get on with them and get well soon.
aarons vs. naturequack & johnfoss . . . a bit of controversy goes a long way.
Not having ridden anything larger than a 24" and then jumping straight to a 36" with handlebars maybe a bit foolhardy, but that seems to be the way I go about things. If I can visualise it I go for it. This method worked for me the last time I learned to ride a unicycle . . . but that was 33 years ago! I think in this case I’m gonna go with naturequack, take the bull by the horns and try and hold on. If I don’t get anywhere then I’ll take the handlebars off and start again.
A few weeks back I was stupid enough to Uni the 5 miles to work with 15Kg of tools on my back, thought that the extra weight would help with my conditioning as the distance was short. All was going well until I looked back over my shoulder to check for traffic before making a turn. When I swung back to face forward, the backpack (one without chest straps) pendulumed and spun me off. I don’t have much natural padding on me and hit the curb with my pelvis pretty hard. Turns out I took a chip out of it. :o Think I’ll be looking at getting a CamelBak.
Question . . . I’ve been told there are mountain bike shorts with hip guards in, does anyone out there have any experience of these and do they work well?
Handlebars are at their worst during mounts (and sometimes dismounts). I recommend using the handle built onto the seat for mounting, and using that as your “base” to start getting used to using the handlebar. I had an “intermediate” handlebar setup for a long time before going to the Shadow; a Wyganowski handle with a little T on top, for upright riding, and then some bar ends down on the front for a somewhat tuck position. It would have taken me a while to get comfortable without that T on top, so take your time getting used to the long Shadow bar. Don’t expect it to feel comfortable/stable for a while.
I’ve seen them but not tried them. They may be overkill for your needs (and expensive?). You can also try regular bike shorts with other shorts over them, which is how I often ride.
Hey there Johnfoss . . . Thought the hip guard shorts might be overkill . . .if I went all out I’d end up in full body armor, good for falling, not so good for distance unicycling.
I’ll be using the seat handle to mount, but will attempt to use the shadow handle for riding from the start. On the 24" I was holding the seat handle with both hands on the longer rides. I’m pretty sure that even if I hold the Shadow handle on the 36’er it will probably only be with one at the start, while the other flails about wildly.
I used a pipe cutter and a file to smooth it down. Future proof in case you change crank length by not cutting too short. Measure twice, cut once.
Do not cut that Shadow Handlebar! Longer is better there. Just don’t butt it up against the inside as I and several others (see pictures in other thread) had our Shadow break right at the weld. My Impulse was one of the first off the assembly line and I do believe they have been reinforced since then. My welding fix is not pretty but it seems to be holding up fine.
I thought that same thing but was too scared (non-mechanical) to remove the brake cable so I my handle took a beating when I was learning. I guess you could cut off a short piece of the spare straight handle and mount your lever there. I told Josh UDC should throw in another short handlebar for just that purpose. In the end, I am glad I learned with the Shadow in place. My left hand has not left it since. Now if I could just get my right hand to sit there instead of flailing about but that will come with shorter cranks.
Intermediate handle:
I had to do something similar with my new 36" Schlumpf. It has the Shadow handle, and a brake on there. I entered a mountain bike race, and didn’t want to trash my pretty, powdercoated handle, but needed a place to hang the brake lever (essential on that course). So I went to the bike shop and found a BMX post to fit in there, and cut it down so it held the brake lever, and a bicycle handlebar grip. That was my dirt handle, and it worked nicely.
Started riding ‘the beast’, but I love her (she is still to be named). Finding the free mount a bit tricky but its only been one day. Went for a 2 mile try out, one thing I’ve noticed is no more idling at traffic lights. Also found that the wheel hits my right leg sometimes, but that’s probably down to being new to it, nerves and not holding the seat tight enough between my thighs. Speaking of nerves, after the first time i got on and rode for 15 mins i was sweating like a trooper! Must have been seriously stressing out.
DavidHood . . . thanks for the tip, have now adjusted handle so it’s not butt up against the end. Also gonna wait a good long while before I start cutting the handle down.
jhonfoss . . . after trying some free mounts (and failing) with full shadow handle, am having the same thoughts as you about my powder coating. might go with your intermediate solution - - - thanks.
Question . . . what’s the best angle for my knee to be when the far pedal is at 260 degrees (9 o’clock)? At the moment when pedals are at 6 o’clock my leg is almost at full lenthgh, but not locked. I’m thinking that my leg should have then knee bent at 90 degrees when pedal is at 260 giving optimal output force!
The old rules of seat height for unicycles are, uh, old. They were fine for riding on flat ground, which was pretty much all people did then. But riding a road unicycle means hitting bumps. Having your seat height maxed out leaves you vulnerable if you hit a big bump with your pedals vertical. So I run mine a little lower than the “slight bend at bottom” standard.
For offroad riding, my rule is “a lot lower” than that slight bend standard. But how much is a lot? I don’t have a formula there. For rides that start with a lot of climbing, I will start with a higher seat; almost as high as I run for road riding. Then when I get to the technical stuff, it goes down at least a couple of centimeters.
But I think it all sill boils down to amount of bend with pedal at the bottom. Everything else follows from that, as that is set based on keeping your feet on the pedals. I may be wrong there, but getting into knee angles would be a new area for unicycling. If it’s going to happen, road riders will be the ones to figure this out…
Johnfoss . . . Optimal knee angle for force delivery. Now that’s a challenge that I can’t refuse. I’ll be taking to a chiropractor friend off mine about this one.
jojoxie . . . That’s exactly the kind of thing I was looking for, thank you.
Question . . . Do you (jojoxie) or anyone else out there know what kind of pedals are available for the MKS XP-EZY Removable Pedals system, and how reliabale / robust they are?
Wiggle stock three or four types… the best looking and most expensive are http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mks-compact-ezy-removable-pedals/ I notice that Wiggle sells the adaptors separatly. I have never used them but imagine that axle strength would be compromised to some degree. You could probably adapt the axle mechanism to a pedal body of your choice? I also imagine the spare adaptors might catch your ankle/foot if you ride close to the crank.
A pedal spanner or allen key would be a lot cheaper and probably safer. From my experience life expectancy of pedals on unicycles seems to be significantly lower than on bikes, so this could be an expensive route.
Personally I wouldn’t use them but that is because I’d be too worried about getting my foot caught on the spare fitting. It could be fairly unpleasent if using the inner set and the foot rides up and over the outer fitting at the top of the pedal rotation
Of course there are ways to minimise this risk if your very brave:
keg . . . I agree with your analysis. Having the pedal attachment sticking out of the cranks would almost certainly lead to increased UPD’s. I’ll save my money and put it toward a 29" with a Schlumpf Geared Hub.
I’m interested the different kind of frame failures (including seat posts and brackets) that occur in unicycle frames. I have been thinking about unicycle frame design wondering if it is based mostly on dealing with compression and torsion forces loading the structure.
Question . . . does anyone have any thoughts on whether catastrophic failures in frames and seat posts are caused by extreme compression, tension or lateral forces being exerted? I would imagine they will mostly be a combination of two of the previous.
stephenpatriots . . . I’m still new to long distance riding but ’ reduced pain ’ seems appropriate. In my experience riding a 24" for more than 25 miles is a pain (even with short cranks). My understanding is that conditioning is the key, short breaks and also having a handlebar to take some of the weight off of your posterior.
Also taking appropriate precautions depending on your age / problems with joints, like knee supports ( and in extreme situations where not finishing is not an option, having topical ibuprofen!).
There are some pretty step descents on the London to Brighton route, so I was thinking about a drag brake. I was wondering if one can use a 5 speed cable shift that actuates a a secondary reservoir that’s tied into the primary braking system, without impeding the performance of the touch braking system?
I say “Start with the handle.” I went from 30 years of riding 24" and 27" unicycles without ever laying a hand on a seat handle to a 36" V-frame guni with aerobars. The handle bars in no way hampered my transition. From day one I appreciated having something substantial to hang on to for dear life.
If I don’t get anywhere then I’ll take the handlebars off and start again.