SI=Seat-in. In other words, traditional butt-on-or-under-the-seat riding. There are some interesting threads on the forum comparing various aspects of SIF vs. SI riding. The post below is from a 2008, when younger riders hadn’t yet ditched the forum for the facebook unicycle chat.
[THREAD]65564[/THREAD]
Now the only ones left on the forum are a bunch of old fogies complaining about their hemorrhoids. Easily remedied with a tube of SIF!
that’s funny. Thanks for the morning laugh, and for the info. I am full of questions. I appreciate all you old fogies being willing to educate us newbies 
This is good to hear. I will stay the course and continue to have fun on these trails. Hopping is an emerging skill for me right now. I can hop to stay in place or make tight turns; the one time I did manage to hop onto a sidewalk from the street, I was so surprised I couldn’t ride out of it. Your advice is well taken though… I’ll start looking at smaller objects and imperfections in the trail as opportunities for jumping practice.
Yes! Thank you, I have found the chart made by saskatchewanian and it is fantastic. Cadence brings up an interesting point. I’ve never tracked my cadence, but that might be more interesting data than speed since it can be compared more broadly across different wheel sizes. I’ll start paying attention to it.
Note that your maximum cadence is also tied to the crank size… smaller the cranks, smaller the circle, higher the cadence. Usually gear ratios are pretty low on a unicycle, so shorter cranks usually translate functionally into an increase in speed because you increase your max cadence, but are still within a comfortable gear ratio to push, although you do lose some acceleration and control. A crank size of course doesn’t have a max cadence, but in general, your personal max cadence will be higher on shorter cranks.
if you do have speed data and want to have cadence data:
[B]wheel diameter[distance]* Pi * cadence [revolutions/minute] * 60 [min/hr] = speed [distance/hr]
where distance is the same unit measurement, so add your respective sensible units and convert there. [/B]
This is independent of crank size, but cadence will increase with shorter cranks, and the gear ratio will go up, so it will be harder to push the wheel.
If you assume a constant foot speed:
Cadence = foot speed[distance/minute] / (crank diameter[distance]*pi)
You can see here that increasing foot speed linearly will increase cadence linearly… that’s no surprise, especially on a unicycle, but notice that crank diameter is inversely proportional to cadence, so assuming you have the same foot speed with large cranks that you do with short cranks (big assumption that isn’t true) halving your crank size will double your speed.
This has been discussed extensively in other threads, but it’s also been a source of debate and confusion.
It’s another needless abbreviation, which has no place in a thread that was started by a new rider with new-rider needs. Now we have to keep explaining all of our acronyms instead of helping with the topic.
So sit on that and UPD. 
Sweet! Thanks Juggleaddict, that makes a lot of sense. And, being that I’m a huge nerd and proud of it, I couldn’t help myself from making a chart showing expected velocity based on wheel diameter and pedaling cadence. Feel free to check my math, I’m more of an arm waver than a details guy.
Based on the chart in my previous post, I can average about 70rpm over an entire ride, and my top speed of about 8 mph means that my maximum cadence is somewhere between 110 and 120.
That top speed is really into the red zone too. Its usually on accident, and if I manage to recover from going this fast, its just barely. I’ve been reading the current “tips for riding fast” thread too, and I’ve been trying for speed in short bursts in an attempt to control it.
I had a fun moment on tonight’s ride too. Riding past the park I saw a friend sitting at one of the tables so I turned to say “Hi”. I didn’t dismount while we chatted briefly, just rode some tight turns around the picnic table. As I was riding off I realized that the turns were not awkward, jerky turns that I often use, but smooth turns that I pedaled through while leaning in. YEAH! It pays to be distracted sometimes… until I’m daydreaming, miss a pothole, and go sprawling.
Fantastic! Like you said, the best moments! I think you’re right about being distracted. It gives the body and brain a chance to just do what it now knows how to do. We just have to get out of the way sometimes.
A new wheel!
There’s a new addition to my uni family!
I recently purchased a no-name unicycle for sale locally. It had a bent hub, but the price was right and the rest of the parts were in great shape. I ended up completely disassembling the wheel and then rebuilding it around the basic UDC CroMo hub. It’s not quite a bulletproof trials uni, but it’ll be perfect for playing out front and focusing on some skills.
Here she is:
And here’s a close up of my new wheel:
Here’s the family photo. Awwww… I just love sibling photos. These both have fairly distinct roles, so I don’t expect there to be much in the way of jealous rivalry.
Some impressions now that I’ve ridden the thing:
First off, I think a 20” unicycle set for a 6’2” guy looks kinda silly; I’ll probably end up lowering the seat a bit from what I have here, but I have to cut a couple more inches off the seatpost. Second off, the seat is significantly less than what I call “comfortable”, so I’ll probably be replacing that soon as well.
I was able to freemount and ride right away, but wow does it feel different from my 24”! I feel much closer to the ground, and the wheel feels like it’s not even there when I’m turning and maneuvering. The cranks are 5”, which is the same as what I have on my Club, but I find it’s easier to pedal at higher cadence with the smaller wheel, and this is great because lately I have been trying to increase and smooth out my cadence. Maybe it has to do the overall speed being a bit slower for a given cadence? I’m very curious to see if the faster cadence can translate back to my larger wheel.
Building the wheel was fun. This was my first wheel build, and it took me a few tries to get it laced up correctly, but once I got the pattern sorted out everything went smoothly. I didn’t hear any pops or pings during my first ride, and everything has stayed straight and true so far.
Yay! That is awesome! I have a feeling your family is going to continue to grow I’ve been practicing on my 20" here and there. It feels so different. The guy who sold it to me was quite tall, so I was surprised to find that I feel very comfortable on it. I have a feeling the saddles are supposed to be a bit lower. But, that makes my knees crazy, so for now, I’m leaving mine as is. Good for you for your first wheel build. Have fun!
So, you haven’t removed any length from the seat-post? You said you’ve practiced idling, but can you ride forward with the seat at its current height? If so, your seat height might be okay.
My own seat-height ended up being way higher than I initially thought was possible. A few weeks ago, I experimented with lowering the seat a bit on my mUni, and I hated it. So, in my experience, once I got used to a higher seat, I didn’t like going back. My technique changed, however, to accommodate the increased seat height. My hips flex more at the bottom of each pedal stroke, and it feels more like I’m reaching for the pedals at the 6 and 12 o’clock positions. The position of my feet on the pedals has shifted more toward the toes (which has helped a lot with control). I use plastic pedals on my 20" which are pretty easy to adjust the foot on.
More rambling… Unicycle group?
Hey All! Yup, unicycles still rock. I have experienced so many benefits since I learned to ride in January, and considering I bought my first unicycle as a lark, most of them were completely unanticipated.
Here’s an attempt at a summary:
• Unicycling has whipped me into some semblance of shape. My job used to be physically demanding and did a good job of keeping me fit, but five years ago I changed jobs and we had our first child, and these two things led to me becoming more of a potted plant. I have always hated excercising, but I LOVE being active. Unicycling lets me step out my front door and raise my heart rate for a while doing something I love. Since learning in January I ride a total of 6-15 miles in 3-5 rides per week. On my 24” wheel, I can now cruise comfortably at 6-8mph. This has lowered my blood pressure, lowered my resting heart rate, added significant muscle to my core and legs, and dropped my overall weight by 12 lbs.
• I have had lower back pain since an injury in 2006. Amazingly, that has all but disappeared since I started riding. I’m sure this has to do with stronger back and abdominal muscles. My wife tells me that my whole body looks different.
• Unicycling makes me happy, not just in the sense that I love doing it, but in the sense that runner’s high is a very real thing. I feel like I could go forever and I never want to stop, even when I become exhausted and start doing the fore-aft wobble. The concentration required pushes out everything else and I end every ride with a big grin.
• My favorite benefit has to do with my five year old son. He is a stud and he learned to ride his bike without training wheels right before his fourth birthday. He could ride, but he hadn’t really mastered some of the finer points and had become a little discouraged. He was intrigued when I got the unicycle, and he came out and watched the whole learning process (fail. fail. fail. fail. fail. fail. fail. fail. fail. fail. fail. WIN!!) and it seemed to make quite an impression on him. It was great for him to see me fail at something so dramatically and publicly, and then persevere till I could do it. While he was watching me learn he would ride his bike around and ended up mastering its basics. Now my challenge is to keep up with him as I chase him down the bike trail.
I love muni, and I did not expect to be doing much road or bike trail riding when I started. However, in light of all the time I’m spending chasing my son on the bike trail, I decided to get a bigger wheel. I snapped up a Torker AX 29” on C-list and I could not be happier. It is the perfect uni for this purpose. It feels super fast, and because of its all alloy components, it weighs in at only 11.6lbs! Of course, I need a slightly longer seatpost, especially if I want to swap in shorter cranks, and this can be a problem on this particular unicycle since it has a weird 26.8mm diameter seat tube and a non-standard seat. I ended up ordering a seat post shim to step the tube down to a 25.4mm, so we’ll see how that works. At some point, I might put on a narrower slick tire and try that. That, and shorter cranks, could potentially bring the overall weight down very close to 11lbs. I’m finding the 29” to be quite an adjustment after being used to a 24”. I’m not very efficient riding it yet, and currently it is kicking my butt. Here’s a photo of me with the UniFamily:
Here’s something else weird. I am now a co-organizer of the Sacramento Unicycle Meetup Group. I am something of an unapologetic introvert, and this is way out of character for me, but I can’t resist the urge to meet some other local riders. So far we’ve had a meet and greet to hang out and work on skills, and I’ve scheduled another one of those as well as a trail ride along the levee in the upcoming weeks. Does anyone have any suggestions as to fun things to do with a group (3-4) unicycles of various skills? If any of you are in the Sacramento area and want to come out to a meetup, we’d love to see you.
Here’s a link to the group: http://www.meetup.com/Sacramento-Unicycle-Club/
Thanks for letting me ramble everybody.
Keep rolling!
What a great update Thank you. Let us know how the Meet Up thing goes. I have talked to a couple of people about doing the same thing here. I’m also fairly introverted and would never think to something like this…except in this situation. Anyway, thanks for putting into words your experience. As I can’t ride right now, it put a big smile on my face to think about what I have to look forward to again
Swapped Cranks = Two New Unicycles
I learned to ride on my 24” wheel which had 125mm cranks, and when I purchased my 20” wheel, it also came with 125mm cranks, so I’ve gotten very used to spinning this crank length. When I got my 29” wheel, it came with 150mm cranks, and these felt really different.
I was having a hard time spinning the longer cranks on my 29”, plus I like to take my 24” wheel off-road, so I decided to swap the cranks, putting the 125mm on the 29” and the 150mm on the 24”. I now find the 29” wheel much easier to ride, but the longer cranks on the 24” make it feel like a totally different machine. This is a little unsettling because the 24” has always been my most comfortable, go-to wheel. I’m having a particularly hard time climbing with the longer cranks; as soon as I stand on the pedals everything goes out of whack.
I expected to feel a difference in the amount of torque generated at the hub, and this is noticeable, but I’ve adjusted to that pretty quickly. I did not anticipate such a difference in feel due to pedaling in larger circles, and this is proving to be more of an issue.
I assume this is just something that takes getting used to, but does anyone have any suggestions for getting used to different length cranks?
For long cranks, try keeping the seat higher; as I gradually raised my seat, I started extending my feet and my hips during the pedal rotation, which made spinning bigger circles easier. My cadence improved, even with longer cranks, after I started using bar ends on my unicycle; this stabilized my body on top of the unicycle, so I could spin bigger circles without throwing off my balance. Keep experimenting. I learned a lot of new technique after experimenting with crank length.
I’ll give raising my seat a try, I did lower it a little when I did the swap. While its a little frustrating, it’s also exciting because it definitely feels like something I can learn from as I spend more time with it. Same with the different size wheels. I feel like I learn something new whenever I spend quality time on my 20".
