Hey all. I figured it would be foolish to bring back my old thread from the dead, so I may as well start a new one.
I’ve gotten to the point now where I can roll forward comfortably, can almost start idling, and am interested in practicing freemounting. The hallway in my house is much too small now to practice anything (not to mention too fragile), so this is mostly for the other Ottawa unicyclists. Where’s the best place to practice this time of the year?
My second question, I have a Norco 20" MUni, completely stock except for the saddle. I’m going to assume it’s built tough since it’s meant for muniing, but I’m wondering how much torture it can take. I’ve heard it isn’t the strongest out there, but should it be ok to handle drop after inevitable drop while practicing free mounting? I’m going to have to do it anyway, but I’m just wondering if I should put some money aside for new parts to replace the broken ones.
hmm… In the middle of winter, i’d say unicycle in your garage if you have one. If you live in an apartment or something, just try and find a parking garage or something, or go unicycle in the snow, that always works, try to find some sticky snow
that makes sense. I suppose I could always just do it in the snow outside. Not much either, so the wheel should be able to handle it. Still curious if there’s a really good spot some Ottawa unicyclists have found though.
“I’ve gotten to the point now where I can roll forward comfortably, can almost start idling, and am interested in practicing freemounting. The hallway in my house is much too small now to practice anything (not to mention too fragile), so this is mostly for the other Ottawa unicyclists. Where’s the best place to practice this time of the year?”
I practice still stands in my room. I have a 4ftx4ft area cleared, which is enough for me. Practice anywhere devoid of sharp/valuable objects. Use your common sense.
“My second question, I have a Norco 20" MUni, completely stock except for the saddle. I’m going to assume it’s built tough since it’s meant for muniing, but I’m wondering how much torture it can take. I’ve heard it isn’t the strongest out there, but should it be ok to handle drop after inevitable drop while practicing free mounting? I’m going to have to do it anyway, but I’m just wondering if I should put some money aside for new parts to replace the broken ones.”
Dropping from freemounting is fine. You can drop your unicycle hundreds and hundreds of times until the saddle bumpers break/ wear out.
I had this exact same norco unicycle. It is not a muni unicycle, even if it says so. Although it can be used as a muni, don’t do jumps higher than 2ft until you have the money to replace the cheap hub/cranks. I bent mine, then a few months later broke them on a 4ft drop (I weighed 100lbs then) and twisted my ankle really good. Change out that crankset before you start doing anything big. The Kris Holm Moment crankset is advisable.
Also, you may have noticed that your seat is like a cresent moon. This is the “old school” style seat, which freaking sucks. It wedges and chafes. It would be a good idea to get a new flatter seat.
Already did. Under recommendation from here, I bought the KH Freeride Fusion seat. Much better I might add. Also, thanks, I’m going to just keep doing what I’m doing. Once the streets clear up a bit I’ll head out.
I also learnt in the winter. Where I found worked best for learning was outdoor skating rinks because they were nice and flat and did not have snow to throw you off.
My biggest problem with skating rinks were that they were sort of small for really riding around to much. This shouldn’t be to much of a problem for you since you guys have the largest outdoor skating rink in the world.
Stud up your tire and go hit the ice.
There are a few difrent ways to stud a tire, There is a couple threads about studded tires but I don’t think that there is a really good tutorial on studding a tire on this site, but you might be able to find one on a MTB site.
You can “unstud” a tire but it is generally better to just have two tires.
yeah, unicyclist.com is amazing for any help you need. also, go to some neighborhoods that are sorta designated for senior citizens, they usually have their sidewalks salted and stuff. It can work nicely.
Hey Val88,
I found a parking garage here in Ottawa that I practice in. It’s the garage shown in my video. It’s as depressing as heck to practice there for more than an hour or so, but it 300 feet long, and has barely any traffic on the weekend. I still haven’t ridden outside yet since learning to ride in December!
PM and I can give you details on where it is, etc.
I found the best way to learn to idle was in my living room watching movies. I did this for the opposite reason as you. It is to hot here to ride during the day, most days. Today I went to the park at 5 PM. It was sunny and 80 F. , but after 5 there are shady spots to hang out for the hot old fat guy.
For me, I have found the ability to idle, both with the right foot down, or the left, to have taken me months to learn. It’s a lot of fun, and I am getting better every day. I can ride backwards, and switch to idling with either foot down, but I idle better with the left foot down.
So in a way, as a beginner, you have a lot of options. Better riders would be bored idling watching movies, it’s to easy. But if it’s hard for you, you can learn important skills this winter, and watch South Park at the same time.
I kinda think most riders could learn a lot just sitting on their uni watching George Bush on the tube. How many riders are so skilled that they can sit on their uni almost motionless? If you learn perfect balance (I haven’t) I think that’s more then can be expected watching TV. A lot can be learned in your living room, besides how stupid is the mean average of American minds. You can actually learn a lot watching TV, at least as a rider.
I never thought of it that way. I found out that if I cleared the living room of furniture I have a fairly big spot, big enough to try freemounting and not worry about my unicycle flying off and hitting something. I’ll try to practice idling more. I’ll definitely try it with the tv on though.
Don’t be afraid to just go ride in the snow. I started unicycling about 3 weeks ago (was given a Nimbus 26" MUni for x-mas) and I’ve managed to commute to and from school (about 5 miles each way) a couple times now here in Minneapolis. The snow and ice isn’t really a big deal with the MUni tire–in fact I feel more stable on slippery surfaces on my uni than I do on my bike (which is what I usually use to commute) since my weight is over the wheel. I think the most dangerous thing for beginners like us is dismounting–if you have to get off in a hurry on a slippery surface, watch out!
Excellent! I figured the snow was plenty solid enough today, what with the temperature around -∞ºC. Guess I need to forge my own paths from now on :D. Thanks for all the help.
I think Jerrick is right, that the salt woud be bad for the uni. Here in Ottawa they salt and sand the roads and sidewalk. I’m concerned the sand will get into everything and the salt will rot the spokes and rims within a year. I’d play it safe and wait until the sidewalks are clear, even in it means riding indoors for another months or so. Riding on the Canal would be possible since they don’t sand or salt it.
Holmono. Do they put salt on the sidewalks in Minneapolis?
It’s -20 C today. So riding outdoors will have to wait anyway.
