My static freemount

How about this?

A bull rider is only allowed to hang on with one hand as two would make it too easy to hang on.
When the rider is thrown away from their balanced position they violently throw the available hand around to compensate for the lost balance in an attempt to bring it back under control.

So two hands on the saddle is a very stable position and much easier to stay balanced as long as you stay within the narrow balance point.

If you are not able to have absolute control during this then you throw an available hand out to regain your balance (because it’s out).

A single hand waving out achieves an asymmetrical balance which is much harder to keep track of then a two hand on the saddle, symmetrical balance.

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I was mounting no handed, then thanks to someone on this forum for the past 3 weeks I’ve been mounting left foot with left hand on handle. I use my right hand for momentum and balance.

Mounting with no hands now feels very uncontrolled.

Sometimes when I feel its an imperfect mount I have to let go of the first hand immediately and momentarily to get balance. But mounting with the left hand on the seat handle feels good.

My left hand on the handle is my dominant riding hand btw. I leave the left hand on the handle and take the right off if I’m having troubles with hills and in a muni situation, right hand is the one I use for balance, left stays on the handle.
Not sure how this evolved, but it was the same when bike riding too. Whenever I needed a break from being in a 2 handed riding position, I’d always take my right hand off the handle as a default.
Anyway, my left is my weaker side, maybe I need my dominant hand/body side off the uni for balance. And if I’m riding right hand only on handle up a hill, I can’t climb the hill with so much power. I’m trying to get better with right hand riding on more difficult things, but if I’m struggling, I think it’s always going to be left hand on handle as the default.

The “narrow balance point” gets larger the more you practice with both hands holding on. Instead of sticking an arm out for balance, you stick out a hip. I can hold a still stand for more than 5 seconds while sitting on the seat and holding on with both hands. I have also learned to ride backwards and currently can do a sketchy backwards figure-8 in the “four points” (2 sit bones, 2 hands) position. I can idle in this position. My 24" is brake-less, and I have the most control going down steep hills while holding on with both hands. Okay, I’m bragging. But only to point out that I disagree with the notion that 2-hands-on only works within a very narrow balance point.

You know we have a different thread for that.

But you also hold the seat with 2 hands when mounting a 36"?

Speaking of 36ers. I generally static, freemount mine with one hand on the saddle. But occasionally on my way in to work (in the summer months) I pick up coffee and a pastry for breakfast to eat as I cycle in (a nice side benefit of the uni commute over the bike). Obviously this requires a hands free static mount.

It is not a lot harder than with one hand to be honest. Though it probably also helps that there is a very slight slope downwards outside the coffee place I am most likely to frequent, which is pretty much an ideal mount point for me.

P.S. Before you ask, I only spilt (part of) the coffee once, that I recall. :stuck_out_tongue:

On uni’s 24" and smaller it’s easy to do no handed mount just place the seat in your crotch and keep both arms out like a plane and step over. Feels a little weird at first but is surprisingly easy. But I prefer to hold the saddle/handle with my riding (right hand) to do rollback mounts. I can mount and hold items in one hand with not much difficulty as I learnt to do this so I could carry a torch in the morning on the way to work and mail from the letter box too.

As for 36" I can only reliably mount via rolling mount, I just changed the pedals from 150mm to 137mm and it took a little adjusting to mount. I don’t think I could do a rollback at all with shorter cranks now.

I think mounting with both hands in the air is what most of us did when just learning to ride unicycle. With both hands in the air flailing to hold balance. I did try a while back to not have any hands on the seat, which worked fine, but felt strange. I reckon it just depends on what you’re used to.
I do like what elpuebloUNIdo says about 2 hands on the seat. Nowadays I ride more and more with both hands on the seat ( when I have no TBar) and feel fairly confident. Only when the terrain becomes rough do I throw one hand in the air, but knowing how it is to ride with both hands on the seat, might make it easier to learn to mount that way too.

On my 36er I original used two hands on the saddle but very but quickly changed to one hand on the saddle and one hand free. I find it is a benefit to throw the free hand/arm up and forward to give a little extra boost up. It you want more of a boost, put a weight in the free hand, as in this video.

One free hand is very useful for carrying things.

For jump mounts on the 36er the only way I can do it is with two hands on the saddle and with the brake set. As this.

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I don’t ride a 36". The physics would definitely change on a 36". I would be harder to get my center of gravity over the hub. Like JimT said, I can see how throwing up one hand during the mount would be helpful.

I’m a two fister on my 36"er.

So you’re eating and drinking coffee while fighting traffic on a brakeless 36" with 125 cranks. Pretty bad ass. You’re too cool for scool dude!

I know a guy who mounts a 36’er with both hands free. He doesn’t watch Youtube, so he just did what felt natural. He can’t mount up hill however.

Nah, not really. As I have always admitted I am a very basic rider.

Anyway, in case you know it, it is the Kaffebrenneriet on LĂžrenveien that I sometimes go to. I head in the Sinsenkrysset direction. This road is fairly flat at that point and has both a basic cycle lane or a wide pavement (sidewalk / fortau). There is only one crossing I hit before I am likely to have finished at least the cinnamon bun (Kanelbolle) that I typically buy, and it is not so busy, so low risk and effort IMHO. Plus I generally slow down as I eat and drink. I do however go right past Sinsen school, around the time they are starting their day, so probably amuse the kids with my silliness.

As I am sure you saw (since I commented previously both here and on twitter), I was once filmed by someone (well a celeb, not just anyone! :slight_smile: ) coming out of a different place, Åpent Bakeri Torshov. That time I was on the 26 and only bought a cinnamon bun (no coffee), so mounted with one hand. You actually can see the bun in my hand as I leave if you look carefully.

And yes, I have a weakness for these things but hey the unicycling keeps me slim so I figure why not. Still, it did cause my wife to question how often I waste money buying snacks on my way into work, when someone sent her the video. :stuck_out_tongue:

Uphill mounts are always the worst. I recall a video you made where you mount facing downhill and hop to turn around. Sadly I never taught myself this but I do a slight variant where I mount facing downhill, ride just a little to get some momentum and then do a sharp turn to face the correct way and continue. It sometimes works and saves me having to walk up the entire slope first to get back on the uni. :slight_smile:

Unicycling only keeps you slim when you do it more than once a week, I reckon. That is why I have to do extra sporting now. Occasionally my wife finds receipts from places where I get much lunch, when I don’t want to eat the bread from my lunchbox and she also asks how often I waste my money on snacks.
A few times I tried mounting perpendicular to an incline and then only had to hop 90ÂșC to start rolling uphill. This made it at least easier to mount, because you don’t have to hop up so high. Facing downwards, I always hop too fast and end up jumping over the uni. A 90 degree turn is also easier than a 180.

I really struggle to static mount a 36". But after riding the 36" I found the 29" easy - funny that.

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So buy a 50" pennyfarthing and make it into a unicycle. Learn to mount that. 36" will be a cinch, then.

I really dislike sarcasm, andrew.

Sorry mate :smile: Anyways, I experienced the same thing with a 24 and 26, which are pretty similar, but when I was learning on a 24 and still bad at free mounts, I got to ride a 26 and after doing that the 24 was pretty easy.
It’s kind of interesting, it seems obvious in a way but in another it seems kind of strange.

I just said it because the difference
 or the change in my mentality to the 29" was striking after having ridden the 36’er.
And yes, it seems obvious.

I try to explain this phenomenon as follows:
Cats jumping on a wall don’t jump an inch higher than they have to. If the wall were suddenly lower than expected, they would jump over it.

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