New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

Unicycles and Equipment
1

My Coker arrived this week and thanks to John Drummond came when requested.
Throughout the process John was very attentive and when it arrived spent a good
15-20 minutes on the phone with me, directing the process of attaching a seat
post with a quick release knob (which I had never done). My thanks to him for
all his help.

I’ll probably go on at some length here, so if you’re not interested but have
advice on free mounting, please skip to the bottom.

I’ve been coveting a Coker for sometime and what finally made me buy one was the
little blurb on Loretta Ehlers in the most recent On One Wheel. Like her, I’ll
be riding in a charity event in June (18 miles) and wanted a Coker for this.
Looking at the photo of her riding, my first impression was that she was happily
waving at the camera. Now that I’ve been on one (and know that it was only her
second day riding one) I suspect she’s probably flailing a bit to maintain her
balance. (But smiling all the more!)

Actually riding the Coker for the first time, took me about 5-10 unsuccessful
launches. Free mounting was out of the question (see below) so I had to use my
car as support to get up. Riding, at first, requires pushing off and going
without any hesitation. The slightest hesitation and I was down.

But what a blast! When I finally figured out how to get started it was a
tremendous rush. Your legs and arms really have to work, but you can get some
great speed and the ride is extremely smooth. (In fact, when I got back on my
20" I was initially taken aback by the choppiness). I ride at night in the local
train station parking a lot and zipped around 3 times without a dismount. (Yes,
I wear a helmet and reflective vest). There is a unicycle (and bike and walking)
path nearby and I look forward to trying it out and being able to ride in
daylight for some distance.

All in all I have to say that riding this machine is going to be great fun
and wonderful excerise. My thanks again go out to John for his assistance
(and to Loretta).

Now for the advice part.

Firstly, how difficult is it to idle on a Coker?

Secondly, is the question of freemounting. I’m 5’4" tall and it’s going to take
a lot of doing to be able to freemount the Coker. I’d appreciate the advice and
experience (especially of the shorter of stature out there), concerning
freemounting. The more step by step detail the better and if anyone has photos
of free mounting posted, that would be a huge help.

John has suggested jumping up on it. I will try that, but first I want to work
on the jump mount with a smaller wheel.

In approaching this problem I think what might work for me is (with helmet,
wrist guards and elbow and knee pads) holding the left peddle at about 4
o’clock, placing the seat in my crotch (with left foot on the left peddle),
holding on to front of the wheel and jumping up while pulling on the wheel. I’m
hoping to be able to straighten up, push off on the right peddle and be off.
(Anyone ever try this method?)

I appreciate any help that can be provided. Given the height of the Coker one
simply can not rely on there being support for mounting after dismounts. And it
just isn’t the same unless you can freemount.

Many thanks, Raphael Lasar (short guy with a tall ambition)

2

RE: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

> > Firstly, how difficult is it to idle on a Coker?
>
> Very difficult, but not impossible.

I agree with Kevin’s assessment. Idling a big wheel is a lot more involved
than idling a little one. But it’s a good way to improve your skills. Jack
Halpern’s explanation of how he does it was perfect. You actually stop, ride
backwards a bit, stop, ride forward a bit, etc. It takes up a lot of room and
isn’t convenient for red lights or other places where you might not have a
lot of room.

If I’m waiting for a light, I’ll either hold onto a pole or just dismount.
Whoever is watching is always fascinated to see how you get back on. And in your
case it would be good practice… :slight_smile:

The other reason I’d recommend avoiding idling for utility purposes is the high
wear on the tire. You’ll find your tire gets worn out in one area much faster
than the rest of it. Then you’ll either have to remove and rotate it, or just
buy new tires more often.

Kevin mentioned hopping, but that also places a strain on the wheel. Big wheels
are inherently weaker than little ones, especially in the case of the Coker
which uses a standard unicycle hub to hold it together. If you hop, I recommend
you keep the hops small and light.

(I ride a 45" Tom Miller big wheel, with a solid rubber wheelchair tire. Hopping
is possible, but out of the question for the reason above and the fact that it
just bangs on the ground. Though the tire lasts a lot longer, I’d trade it for
an air tire if I could…)

> John has suggested jumping up on it. I will try that, but first I want to work
> on the jump mount with a smaller wheel.

I highly doubt he meant a “jump mount” as described in our Standard Skill rules,
where the unicycle is stationary and you just jump on it. I’ve done that with my
big wheel, but I would consider idling it easier than that.

> The best way to mount is to do a rolling mount where the wheel will keep
> moving. Since the Coker wheel has a lot of momentum, stopping the wheel or
> rolling back any would make it hard to peddle forward out of. So, to do this
> mount, you’ll want to walk with the uni forward and when the cranks are almost
> parallel to the ground and the good pedal is back, then ‘jump on’ keeping the
> unicycle moving and your body weight moving with the uni.

This is almost exactly how I do it. I’ve done it on wheels up to 56" and I’m 6’
tall, so you should be able to learn it at 36" and 5’-4".

The difference for me (and maybe Kevin is doing this but he doesn’t notice) is
that the wheel is not moving when I get on. I roll the unicycle forward and walk
to get some momentum. When my desired pedal is just coming level, I stop the
unicycle but not myself. So then I jump up to land on the seat and rear pedal,
with my forward momentum carrying me up to the top of the wheel where my other
foot gets to the front pedal. My forward momentum has been practiced to where
there’s just a little bit left at this point, to get me a little bit out front
of the axle while I start to pedal. If this last part happens slowly enough,
it’s easy to just ride away. If you come on too fast, it might be hard to get a
smooth start. And you know how important it is to be smooth on a big wheel.

Now time for more practice…

Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com

“I’m not into pain. I’m into juggling.” - A grandpa with small child at the
Davis Picnic Day, walking away from the free unicycle lessons toward the free
juggling lessons (and already able to juggle!)

3

RE: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

How well does your big wheel mounting method work when you need to mount when
pointing uphill? I have problems getting started on my Coker when there is even
just a slight uphill grade. My mounting method on the Coker is to do something
similar to a standard mount. I roll the wheel forward about a 1/4 revolution,
jump up so that the wheel does not go backwards as I mount. Then I’m up with the
pedals parallel but stationary (the wheel has no forward momentum at this time).
Now I step on the forward pedal to get going. Works well on the flats and great
on slight downhills, but I can’t get going very well when there is even a very
slight uphill grade.

I’m thinking that I need to learn to do a proper rolling mount to be able to
mount the Coker on any sort of uphill grade.

john_childs

From: John Foss <john_foss@asinet.com>
>The difference for me (and maybe Kevin is doing this but he doesn’t notice)
>is that the wheel is not moving when I get on. I roll the unicycle forward
>and walk to get some momentum. When my desired pedal is just coming level, I
>stop the unicycle but not myself. So then I jump up to land on the seat and
>rear pedal, with my forward momentum carrying me up to the top of the wheel
>where my other foot gets to the front pedal. My forward momentum has been
>practiced to where there’s just a little bit left at this point, to get me a
>little bit out front of the axle while I start to pedal. If this last part
>happens slowly enough, it’s easy to just ride away. If you come on too fast,
>it might be hard to get a smooth start. And you know how important it is to
>be smooth on a big wheel.
>

Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

4

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

Raphael, I’m not convinced that being shorter is a huge disadvantage to
freemounting the Coker. I’m 6’4"
w/34" inseam, so keep in mind that I freemount my Coker with a 300 mm seatpost
that probably gives back any “advantage” that I might have had over you to
start with.

When I first learned to freemount the Coker, the “secret” for me was to get my
non-dominant foot closer to the tire and get the Coker as close to me as
possible and the Coker as “vertical” as possible. After a few successful
freemounts, the mind and body relaxes and future freemounts are much easier.

I also had to re-learn freemounting when I went to 125mm cranks and finally 110
mm cranks. As the leverage decreased freemounting became even harder.

Now if I could just figure out how to freemount when I have a leak in my tire
and I’m down to 15 psi…

-Mark

— Raphael Lasar <rlasar@lucent.com> wrote:

> Secondly, is the question of freemounting. I’m 5’4" tall and it’s going to
> take a lot of doing to be able to freemount the Coker. I’d appreciate the
> advice and experience (especially of the shorter of stature out there),
> concerning freemounting. The more step by

Do You Yahoo!? Send online invitations with Yahoo! Invites.
http://invites.yahoo.com

5

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

Raphael Lasar wrote:
>
> Firstly, how difficult is it to idle on a Coker?

Very difficult, but not impossible. I’ve been trying to idle quite a bit lately
instead of just getting off my Coker while I wait at stop lights. If I didn’t
have a backpack on, I’d be hopping instead which is much easier to do (but is
more tiring).

> John has suggested jumping up on it. I will try that, but first I want to work
> on the jump mount with a smaller wheel.

A jump mount would not be easy on a Coker, then again, I’ve never tried
it. What he probably meant by jumping on it is to just get on and ride.

The best way to mount is to do a rolling mount where the wheel will keep moving.
Since the Coker wheel has a lot of momentum, stopping the wheel or rolling back
any would make it hard to peddle forward out of. So, to do this mount, you’ll
want to walk with the uni forward and when the cranks are almost parallel to the
ground and the good pedal is back, then ‘jump on’ keeping the unicycle moving
and your body weight moving with the uni.

More information about how to do the rolling mount on any unicycle can be found
at: http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/mounts/rolling.html 

    ___________ =================================================== ___ /_/
    / / / / Kevin Gilbertson - mail@gilby.com <a href="http://gilby.com/">http://gilby.com</a> / _ '/ / /
    _'\_ / IT-Labs: gilb0179@itlabs.umn.edu \_ /_/_/,___/ / Free
    Unicyclist.com e-Mail at <a href="http://unicyclist.com/">http://unicyclist.com</a> /\/ /__________/ World
    UNICON X: <a href="http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/unicon10">http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/unicon10</a> \__/
    ========================================================
6

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

Raphael Lasar Wrote:

> Secondly, is the question of freemounting. I’m 5’4" tall and it’s going to
> take a lot of doing to be able to freemount the Coker. I’d appreciate the
> advice and experience (especially of the shorter of stature
out
> there), concerning freemounting. The more step by step detail the better
and if
> anyone has photos of free mounting posted, that would be a huge help.

Running mounts will come easy in time, but I would also look at a hand assisted
mount. Called an “Eric Mount” by the riders on the MN ride. Grab the tyre at
the top when mounting, this helps you lift your self onto the seat. It is
especially good when you are really tired as it doesn’t require as much energy
as a running mount.

Have fun

Roger

 The UK's Unicycle Source <a href="http://www.unicycle.uk.com/">http://www.unicycle.uk.com/</a>
7

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

Raphael Lasar <rlasar@lucent.com> wrote:
: Firstly, how difficult is it to idle on a Coker?

Difficult but not impossible, practise makes perfect as with all things uni.

: Secondly, is the question of freemounting. I’m 5’4" tall and it’s going to
: take a lot of doing to be able to freemount the Coker. I’d

Well I’m a little taller than you at 5’6 ish, I ride to work togged up in
combats, boots, wrist guards, lid etc . I freemount suscessfully about 90% now
the failed 10 generally being when I’m under presure at junctions ( typical).
I do a rock back mount just like on my 26… Now lots of cokerheads think
thats really hard, but I find it easier than the rolling or non rock mount. I
grasp the front of the( miayta) saddle firmly and with saddle in crotch and
dominant foot on pedel at about 9 o’clock, hop up, pulling saddle up with hand
and planting other foot on other pedel with wheel rolling backwards to bring
that pedal up to meet my foot, then a moment in balence with domiant foot at
the bottom and I power off, I find I use the hand that holding the saddle to
pull the uni forward a bit as I power forward, it certainly does a lot to keep
me stable.

About the only time I non rock mount is when getting on faceing down hill
when the non rock mount sometimes works for me. I think the key to it is
finding a mount that works a lot of the time and practising it till it works
99% of the time.

Have fun , welcome to the world of the cokerhead.

sarah

8

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

You will notice with the coker it does not move much. It is a very steady
machine. I believe it is easier to mount on Coker than smaller wheels because of
the steadyness of it. After you can do the double step mount, you will naturally
move to a jump mount. Its basically the same thing but done very smooth.

“Raphael Lasar” <rlasar@lucent.com> wrote in message
news:39005DF7.C35467F8@lucent.com…
> My Coker arrived this week and thanks to John Drummond came when requested.
> Throughout the process John was very attentive and when it arrived spent a
> good 15-20 minutes on the phone with me, directing the process of attaching a
> seat post with a quick release knob (which I had never done). My thanks to him
> for all his help.
>
> I’ll probably go on at some length here, so if you’re not interested but have
> advice on free mounting, please skip to the bottom.

9

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

My thanks to all who responded to my plea for help.

Once again the unicycling community has demonstrated its committment to
providing assistance and support.

Once it stops raining here in NJ, USA, I’ll be out trying the various mounts
suggested and will certainly find one that works for me.

I’ll report back (soon I hope).

Regards to all, Raphael Lasar

10

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

On Fri, 21 Apr 2000, Raphael Lasar wrote:
>My Coker arrived this week and thanks to John Drummond came when requested.

Congratulations! It’s a great machine!

>Actually riding the Coker for the first time, took me about 5-10 unsuccessful
>launches. Free mounting was out of the question (see below) so I had to use my
>car as support to get up.

Yeah, I started holding onto something at first too. My first couple of rides on
it were 10 feet or less, but it came pretty quickly after getting a feel for the
tremendous momentum the larger wheel has.

>Firstly, how difficult is it to idle on a Coker?

I can’t help you there. I’m still working on learning to idle on the 24", the
Coker’s out of the question for me at the moment.

>Secondly, is the question of freemounting. I’m 5’4" tall and it’s going to take
>a lot of doing to be able to freemount the Coker. I’d appreciate the advice and
>experience (especially of the shorter of stature out there), concerning
>freemounting. The more step by step detail the better and if anyone has photos
>of free mounting posted, that would be a huge help.

Freemounting is a totally different feel from a smaller unicycle because the
wheel doesn’t want to move when you put your weight on the back pedal. It just
sits there. I had a hard time at first, but did manage to land a few successful
freemounts my first day with it. It took a few days to get it consistant though,
because the techniques I used with my 24" didn’t quite translate.

I found that it works best for me if I set the pedals about horizontal, get into
position, then take a jump putting a little weight on the back pedal to get me
up on top. I can hit this one about 95% of the time.

>In approaching this problem I think what might work for me is (with helmet,
>wrist guards and elbow and knee pads) holding the left peddle at about 4
>o’clock, placing the seat in my crotch (with left foot on the left peddle),
>holding on to front of the wheel and jumping up while pulling on the wheel. I’m
>hoping to be able to straighten up, push off on the right peddle and be off.
>(Anyone ever try this method?)

Yeah, I tried holding the wheel my first day when other things weren’t working
for me. I actually did it once, but it was never really comfortable. I prefer
the little hop.

>I appreciate any help that can be provided. Given the height of the Coker one
>simply can not rely on there being support for mounting after dismounts. And it
>just isn’t the same unless you can freemount.

Oh yeah, you definitely want to be able to freemount this thing. It goes so fast
and smoothly, you’ll find yourself riding a lot farther, meaning, once you’re
out there, you have to be able to get back. Walking back with it just isn’t a
good option! <g>

Keep trying, it really doesn’t take too long to get accustomed to it. I was
doing it pretty consistantly after about 2-3 days of riding it. (Of course, one
of those days I was riding with my children, which requires a LOT of frequent
stops…meaning I got a lot of practice mounting it that day…)

Greg

11

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

Well, the spell of rain finally took a break in New Jersey yesterday and last
night I took the Coker out to the Matawan train station.

After a 5 minute warm up whirl around from an assisted mount it was time to give
the rolling mount a try.

Hey, it works!

After 5 or 6 unsuccessful attempts I managed to get my left foot on the pedal,
push up and catch the right pedal. I managed 3 mounts out of about 20 or so
tries. The actual takeoffs were a bit shaky as I didn’t go directly into forward
motion from the mount but hesitated a bit and then got going. It will take more
practice to put all the motions together smoothly.

All the help/advice I received was extremely helpful, but what really cinched it
were three items.

First, is these sentences from the Rolling Mount instructions at,
http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/mounts/rolling.html

For a slow rolling mount, I usually start with the mounting pedal 1/2 turn
in front of where I will actually mount it (horizontal and facing
forward). This allows a step or a step and a half before the pedal is in
the correct position.

This detail helped give me a mental image of the process.

The second very helpful item, was an AVI that Roger of The UK’s Unicycle Source
has of him free mounting a Coker. Of course, just seeing someone else do it is
encouraging and useful.

Lastly, John Foss’s comment that, in fact, at least in a slow rolling mount, the
unicycle stops while the rider continues to move also helped put the process
together. It seems easier to concentrate on the foot position and leap with the
uni stopped than with it moving. It’s also amazing how the little bit of
momentum that is worked up moving the uni a half turn is sufficient to allow the
body to get vertical.

Thanks again, Raphael Lasar Uni On, Jack! (or Jill)

12

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

Greetings

In message “Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP”,
Kevin Gilbertson wrote…
>Raphael Lasar wrote:
>>
>> Firstly, how difficult is it to idle on a Coker?
>
>Very difficult, but not impossible. I’ve been trying to idle quite a bit

I have been idling on big wheels for years, and I don’t find idling on a Coker
that difficult. Here is the “secret”:

Don’t “idle”, whcih involves rocking back and fourth, but “ride” backward and
forward half a turn at a time. That is, your upper body moves in parallel with
the wheel, unlike in true idling where it stays more or less in place while the
wheel moves like a pendulum underneath it. Once you get use to it, you can mic
the above with some real idling. Try it and you will see.

>lately instead of just getting off my Coker while I wait at stop lights. If I
>didn’t have a backpack on, I’d be hopping instead which is much easier to do
>(but is more tiring).
>
>> John has suggested jumping up on it. I will try that, but first I want to
>> work on the jump mount with a smaller wheel.
>
>A jump mount would not be easy on a Coker, then again, I’ve never tried
>it. What he probably meant by jumping on it is to just get on and ride.
>
>The best way to mount is to do a rolling mount where the wheel will keep
>moving. Since the Coker wheel has a lot of momentum, stopping the wheel or
>rolling back any would make it hard to peddle forward out of. So, to do this
>mount, you’ll want to walk with the uni forward and when the cranks are almost
>parallel to the ground and the good pedal is back, then ‘jump on’ keeping the
>unicycle moving and your body weight moving with the uni.
>
>More information about how to do the rolling mount on any unicycle can be
>found at: http://www.unicycling.org/unicycling/mounts/rolling.html
>–
> ___________ =================================================== ___
> /_/ / / / / Kevin Gilbertson - mail@gilby.com http://gilby.com / _ '/
> / / '_ / IT-Labs: gilb0179@itlabs.umn.edu _ ///,__/ / Free
> Unicyclist.com e-Mail at http://unicyclist.com // /__________/ World
> UNICON X: http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/unicon10 __/

>
>

Stay on top, Jack Halpern, IUF Vice President Website: http://www.kanji.org

13

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

On Tue, 25 Apr 2000, Raphael Lasar wrote:

>The second very helpful item, was an AVI that Roger of The UK’s Unicycle Source
>has of him free mounting a Coker. Of course, just seeing someone else do it is
>encouraging and useful.

Is Roger’s video available somewhere the rest of us could see?

Greg

14

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

Jack Halpern wrote:
>
> Don’t “idle”, whcih involves rocking back and fourth, but “ride” backward and
> forward half a turn at a time. That is, your upper body moves in parallel with
> the wheel, unlike in true idling where it stays more or less in place while
> the wheel moves like a pendulum underneath it.

Yeah, that’s what I do. Half the time when I fall down, it’s because some
bicyclist runs in to me from behind because the idles are quite big. When I do
idle, I end up still standing for quite a while while switching directions.

    ___________ =================================================== ___ /_/
    / / / / Kevin Gilbertson - mail@gilby.com <a href="http://gilby.com/">http://gilby.com</a> / _ '/ / /
    _'\_ / IT-Labs: gilb0179@itlabs.umn.edu \_ /_/_/,___/ / Free
    Unicyclist.com e-Mail at <a href="http://unicyclist.com/">http://unicyclist.com</a> /\/ /__________/ World
    UNICON X: <a href="http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/unicon10">http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/unicon10</a> \__/
    ========================================================
15

Re: New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

It is nothing special, and not very good at all, it was just when I was playing
with my digi camara when I first got the Coker!

Roger

----- Original Message ----- From: Greg House <ghouse@southwind.net> To:
<unicycling@winternet.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2000 12:33 AM Subject: Re:
New Coker Rider - Gives Praise, Makes Comments, SEEKS HELP

> On Tue, 25 Apr 2000, Raphael Lasar wrote:
>
> >The second very helpful item, was an AVI that Roger of The UK’s Unicycle
Source
> >has of him free mounting a Coker. Of course, just seeing someone else do it
> >is encouraging and useful.
>
> Is Roger’s video available somewhere the rest of us could see?
>
> Greg