I received my 1st unicycle for Christmas and have now managed to pedal along
and turn corners almost indefinitely.
Everything was progressing nicely until the other day my unicycle started to
make a clunking noise while I pedalled along. It turned out to be because
one of the forks had come slightly loose where it was bolted onto the post
that came up from the right-side wheel bearing. I went home, tightened it up
(and the other side for good measure) and also realised my tyre was a little
low in pressure, so I gave it a few more PSI.
Next time I set out for another training session my unicycle seemed to have
developed a wobble and my tracks (visible due to a frost) were all like
sinusoidal waves.
Is this expected? I’m aware there’s an obvious instability inherant due to
the pedals and cranks but I thought this would be countered by the
gyroscopic effect once I get a bit of speed up. Other unicyclists I’ve seen
don’t seem to oscillate as much as I do.
first off, as you’re brand new, that’s probably the reason for your ~~~~~~~~ tracks
I had the same problem, even though I was very experienced. I put on new cranks that were a little shorter (170mm from 175mm) but they also had a lower Q-factor.
Q-Factor is basically how far out from the wheel the pedals are. The farther out the pedals (due to the shape of the crank) the more your wheel will wobble.
This is nothing to worry about though, unless you were riding on something very skinny
Some unicyclists zig-zag more than others, but we all do it. The expression we unicyclists use is Wobble. If you hold your unicycle up by the seat post and give the wheel a fast spin, you’ll see it wobbles on its own. The gyroscopic stability of the wheel is upset by the off-center location of the two pedals and cranks, so the path of least resistance for a unicycle wheel is a wobble.
As you get more comfortable riding your wobble will minimise, but even if you work at it, it can be hard to ride a perfectly straight line. However, looking at videos of Kris Holm or some of the other Trials experts, you’ll see that a straight railing of very narrow gauge can be negotiated.
Wow! Just got a unicycle for Christmas and already you’re riding indefinitely? Congrats!
I’m jealous! I just got my first uni for Christmas too, but I can’t begin practicing in earnest until all this snow melts. Maybe I should move to Cali?
> I’m jealous! I just got my first uni for Christmas too, but I can’t
> begin practicing in earnest until all this snow melts. Maybe I should
> move to Cali?
I also got a uni for Christmas, a Pashley 26", I’ve tried to practice
about 30min each days but have probably not managed to do so more than
half of the days, due to sickness and staying in if the temperature is
below -15C.
There’s plenty of snow here, but I’ve cleared a small strip (3m x .5m)
close to a wall, and yesterday, for the first time I felt that I had
some amount of control, and managed to travel the 3m lots of times,
and a few times managed to continue out in the snow. A truley
wonderfull feeling.
This is of course far from perfect coniditions for learning, but it
can be done, so get your uni out i the snow and work on it, you will
get it.
Klas
Trying to figure out if it’s the unicyclist.com gw that messes up
the threads in google groups news reader.
“Daddy120702” <Daddy120702.h0wd1@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:Daddy120702.h0wd1@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> Wow! Just got a unicycle for Christmas and already you’re riding
> indefinitely? Congrats!
>
> I’m jealous! I just got my first uni for Christmas too, but I can’t
> begin practicing in earnest until all this snow melts. Maybe I should
> move to Cali?
I live right next to a railway station that’s floodlit 24/7, never used by
anyone (as it’s in a small rural village), and has a 300ft smooth tarmac
platform with a handrail running along its centre for its full length… I
don’t have much experience but I guess for a beginner it doesn’t get much
better than this. I’d guess I’ve totalled perhaps 6 hours practice to date.
