First off great job on the progress you have made on your first day of trying, amazing stuff. From your videos it seems the slightest movement of your hips backwards caused by leaning your torso forwards leads to many of your UPD’s. As you already know you have no back pressure to recover from this so you have to stay either directly on top of the of the center of balance and hub or be a little bit in front of it (so you can catch your self by peddling).
So I think one of the keys to success in figuring out how to ride a coaster uni is figuring out what would be a good body posture that will keep you hips a little bit forward of neutral. Perhaps arching you lower back in a way that makes you belly stick out will be a good body posture to keep your hips forward. I just tried riding with my standard 36er with my back arched that way and it definitely feel pretty awkward… but it did keep me hips and center of balance above or in front of the hub, while making it much harder to get my center of balance behind the hub. But this is all just wild speculation because the only coaster uni experience I have are on BC wheels, which seem like a total different beast. Once again, awesome stuff! I look forward to hearing how you progress and the insights you gain while trying to tame your giant coaster uni.
Totally agree with you there. As soon as you get behind the wheel, you’re down before you can even think about it. Problem is, if you try to stay in front of the wheel, it forces you into peddling. So you have to work to find that perfect middle spot right on top of the wheel, it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I’ve gotten up to around 10 feet of coast.
Thanks Shmolagin for the imbed.
Thanks everyone for the good words. This has been a blast so far, can’t wait to see where it goes.
Nice job, I can’t see the vids from work, but from everyone’s response it sounds like the 36er wheel is easier to coast than a smaller wheel.
You mentioned getting forward to maintain balance, which necessitates pedaling, which then makes you go faster…you need a brake to help modulate speed in places where coasting is tougher.
The brake allows you to pedal against the resistance, which provides some support and keeps you from going to fast.
Good job, I’ll watch the vids from home tonight.
So, anyone wanna buy my 24" Nimbus Muni Coasting Uni?
You’re welcome! I’m not sure how useful it is. It looks like you’re off to a great start and just need to keep practicing. I’m pleasantly surprised to hear you got such great coasting runs off the bat. Those will only get longer as you practice more. Body position may not be as critical on the larger wheel, but for neutral position you may want to think about keeping your back slightly arched with your shoulders over your hips (instead of hunched forward). If you need to be forward for momentum lead with your chest and use your lower back muscles to move your torso. When you’re coasting the slightest change can throw you off; I find that keeping a rigid body position and only moving what I need to for balance works best. Or ignore that and figure out what works best for you!
Thanks for giving this a try and posting the video! This looks like a lot of fun! I’m tempted to see if I can get my local bike shop to do a freewheel conversion on my 36" KH. It’s an older frame so disc brakes won’t work without alterations. I could go with a symmetrical hub and probably reuse my existing rim and spokes, then get a Magura brake.
I’m competing at UNICON (unicycle basketball) so I’ll be in Montreal in the Summer.
Killian - I can’t wait to see this with one of the geared-up drift trike hubs (one of those 3.8X ones Waalrus found), you could change the face of Unicycle commuting forever! 36" wheel geared up 3.8 times… How fast would you be able to push that, then just freewheel it!
The gearing system utilizes custom dropouts. I wouldn’t put it past anyone on this forum (except me) to cut and reweld the fork but it’s an extra level of DIY. I’m interested in comparing the experience of riding a 36" direct drive freewheel vs. a 20" 3.8x geared freewheel.
Running mount But on a serious note, how highly-geared do 2-wheelers go?
Ahh, I think I remember you saying that on one of your threads. Shame really, but yeah I’ll be watching the freewheeling scene with interest, especially concerning those high-gear hubs. I really can’t help thinking unicycles are lacking in the ‘gearing up’ section - Schlumpfs are cool but are impossibly high-priced, and if larger freewheels are remotely useable as Killian says, then these trike hubs could be our saviour I think a few people would take the learning curve of freewheeling over the added cost of a Schlumpf, especially if there were a new freewheeler hub designed for Uni’s with a better gear % than the Schlumpf.
Just got in from another hour of practice today, and will be going out again after dinner. Today, my freemounting was up around 90%. The only freemounts I miss are when I space out and forget what I’m doing completely :D.
I’m finding that the coasting is getting easier to control; I can almost coast-pedal-coast-pedal-etc. which makes speed control much easier as well. The longer coasts are happening more often as well. Every once in a while I’ll hit one of those 10-15 ft. coasts and it feels awesome.
I do believe that the brake is essential, I’m just working out how I’m going to mount it. In the mean time, I’m seeing just how far I can go without one.
I think by the end of the week (if the trend continues) I might be able to do some pretty cool stuff with it…
My fixie has an s3x hub, and the input gear is around 90 inches. At one point I was having a hard time adjusting the shifter, and it was stuck in high gear. I can say from experience that a gear higher than that would be a bear to start even if you got it rolling a bit first. Keep in mind that I also had long bicycle cranks. The idea of a 20 geared to 78" is intriguing, but I don’t think you would want cranks longer than 140 due to pedal strikes. It would still be quite a push to get it moving.
Killian: that machine is amazing, and that’s double for your motivation. Between you and waaalrus this is one of the most exciting developments in a long time. Now to get the brake assisted glide down.
I have no experience coasting whatsoever. Anyone who has previous experience coasting (I.E. feet-on-frame or BC wheel) I believe would have a reduced learning curve.
In case I missed it, I’m very curious as to what you feel the advantage(s) might be, if any, to having a coasting hub on a uni? Is it because you can stop pedaling every now and then, like when going downhill, or just to take a break from pedaling and “rest”? But I guess “rest” is really not the best way to put it since you have to focus so much more on just staying on the uni whenever you stop pedaling while in motion. Again, I’m just curious as to your choosing to go the route of a coasting uni. I just can’t see the practicality, but then again, I ride a BC, or try to, but I also know it’s not a practical means of transportation. Maybe, like me, you’re doing it mainly for the challenge and for the sheer fun of it.
In case I missed it, I’m very curious as to what you feel the advantage(s) might be, if any, to having a coasting hub on a uni? Is it because you can stop pedaling every now and then, like when going downhill, or just to take a break from pedaling and “rest”? But I guess “rest” is really not the best way to put it since you have to focus so much more on just staying on the uni whenever you stop pedaling while in motion.
Again, I’m just curious as to your choosing to go the route of a coasting uni. I just can’t see the practicality, but then again, I ride a BC, or try to, and it’s even less a practical means getting around compared to a coasting uni. But, maybe like me, you’re simply doing it mainly for the challenge and for the sheer fun of it.
Terry, it is actually quite fun trying to ride a coasting uni, very intense, super core work out, it’s not all like coasting with your feet up on the frame of on a BC wheel.
I was working at mine pretty hard for a while, then got busy and have let it slide.
I don’t think it’s practical for distance riding, but only because I find that it makes ridinh so difficult as to make riding impractical; and because I can’t ride it as well as Waalrus :o
Mine’s for sale, so if you’re game for a new ride, you could buy mine
I like riding unis as they are, my only wish is for a slightly lower gear step on a Schumpf…hmm, maybe I’ve mentioned that before?
Okay Keifer, I watched your vids, that ain’t riding a coaster, I wanna see some distance, like a 1/4 mile or longer. Even this old guy can ride a hundred yards on a coasting uni
I think that once you really get confortable on it, it will be less work than normal riding. You actually end up pedalling less, since you coast a little bit in between every pedal stroke. I also reeeeeeaaaaaally want to be able to coast down hills. I’ve heard of bikers getting tickets for going 50 in a 35 at the bottoms of some of the hills around here; my dream is to get that ticket and frame it. Whether that goal will ever be attainable, I do not know.
As to the practicality of it, what’s practical about normal uni riding?
I guess part of why I’m doing it is because of the unknown. It’s never really been done before, and the ‘newness’ of it is fascinating.
And like you said, it is perhaps a bit for the challenge and sheer fun.
Ben, I’m not sure how to video a 1/4 mile ride, but I think I could do it. Riding doesn’t seem to be the problem for me. I’m falling off in the video when I’m trying to coast, I could keep pedalling for the most part if I wanted to.
I was thinking we should petition for a lower stepped schlumpf. I’ll probably be getting one next year regardless, but maybe if enough people go together, someone would pay attention.
I should also add that though I see this as a viable option for uni riding, I don’t think it should replace normal hubs. Normal riding is still plenty fun, and I’m not ready for a freewheel muni.
I think a few people would take the learning curve of freewheeling over the added cost of a Schlumpf, especially if there were a new freewheeler hub designed for Uni’s with a better gear % than the Schlumpf.
