i started workign on riding one footed today, with a previous recond of 1 and a half rotations, i have no reached 9 in a short 20 minute practive. I find it hard to keep going any tips on getting further?
Make sure that you give putting your foot up on the frame a try. Some people find it easier with their leg extended, but most are more comfortable with one up on the frame.
Getting up speed while riding one footed is simply a matter of practice, and this is defintely a skill that is more practice than anything else. There’s really not much in the way of technique to be described, since most of it is subconcious pedal pressures.
Keep your arms out wide and keep going for it!
just keep practicing. apply a little more pressure on the “downstroke” to get enough momentum on the pedal to come back up again. but good job, and just keep trying.
but curiously, do you hold your arms out? i hold onto the handle… its just habit, it doesnt hurt if i take it off, it’s just habit…
yea, i think at the moment im holding the handle, it just makes me feel more secure. also i have another question, i have a crappy unicycle, and the part of the frame where i rest my foot is cruved, like this:
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does it help to have a flat frame? because i dotn feel very secure with my foot on my frame…
try to make it a fluid motion rather than a “pulse” motion it makes it a lot easier to go further and keep your balance.
I was actualy doing the same thing today, working on my one footed rides, although I still cant get more than two or three revs. I also have a really hard time putting my foot up so I tend to just stick it out and try to balance. I have heard that it is alot easier if you can put your foot up but i think its more just what you feel you prefer.
i think its easier to learn with your foot out for more balance… then once you can do it for a long time… go with putting your foot on the frame… it became much easier… and dont just just go really fast and take your foot off and hope for the best… go at a normal cruising speed and just slowly take it off… try to keep the same speed and try to go in a strait line…with about two hours of solid practice on a 28" i had it to where i was able to go about 50 revs… sorry if that ramble is kinda confusing… good luck
Chase
no, you don’t HAVE to have a flat crown (that’s what that is called, the crown of the frame)
if you have curved ones, you can go down to the local skate shop and get two ~ 1inch X 4 inch strips of grip tape. that’ll help keep your foot on the crown.
I ride one footed on a 20" with a rounded frame. You don’t necessarily need to poot weight on your non-pedaling foot, you just stick it on the frame so is has somewhere to go.
Then, if you ride a flat-crowned uni, it becomes MUCH easier to do.
I just don’t like having a foot flailing around looking silly.
Someone told me to practice finding the crown with my free foot, just while stopped and leaning against a building or something, so it’s easier to find it when riding.
I thought it was a useful tip.
I learnt on a 24 Schwinn, with a round crown, and never put my foot on it. Just pointed my foot backwards, bent at the knee, to keep it out of the way of the pedals.
I found going from about 1.5 rotations to about 10 pretty easy, then I really slowed down, but kept up and finally got past it, to where I could go 1/2 mile or so.
Now I have a uni with a flat crown (also 24) and I stick my foot there, but I’m still better doing it the other way. On my 28, the crown is just too high to ride with a foot up there, same with a Coker, so I think it’s a usefull skill to learn anyway.
Im trying to learn one foot, i can one foot idle really well and have no porblems getting my foot to the crown even on my 24" frame, but i always stall when my left foot reaches the top of the stroke, i just can’t seem to ever push it further in to the next reveolution, any tips?
Sure if you break a pedal or a crank, you can still get home 
I had the same exact problem , where my right foot (the one pedaling) couldn’t seem to make it past 12 o’clock / straight up / 90º. I suggest 1ft idling and moving your CG as far backwards and forwards as you can, and then work up your momentum and lean forwards while pedaling. Hopefully you’ll get the pedal to come all the way back up and around, and continue that motion.
The first time I rode 1ft for more than 2 rotations was down my friends driveway/ slight decline. Maybe that’ll work for you too.
Oh u learnt it from idle? I’ve heard that is more difficult, and i have tried the extra movement of C of G during idling, with no sucess, i think i slight slope may well help.
When you have your foot on the crown, you can kind of push the uni forward with that foot on the upstroke of the used pedal. In the same way, you need to lean back a bit, if you can’t get the used pedal past the 12 o’clock spot. I think that’s how it works anyway. I just do it systematically now.
You’ll get it. It just takes a little practice. I got like 3 revolutions on the first day that i started trying, then 7 on the next, then 20 on the next, and now i can just go until i hit a bump or pothole. It’s a pretty simple trick once you get it. Oddly, i still can’t do it with my goofy foot. Haven’t really tried though.
It actually takes months for most riders to get super solid on one-footing, to where you can bust out the trick on the trails, on up and downhills and so forth. To get real fluid you basically have to coast and just let the wheel run for half a revolution, from bottom to top crank angles. The more you can let that bit flow, the smoother (and faser) you are till there is little to no speed differential between strokes (no jerky action) and you’re barely pushing down on the pedal at all–basically coasting w/ a foot feathering the pedal.
JL
I always find that I need to lean forward, actually.
I read some tips somewhere about riding along normally, but just thinking about mainly using one foot. Your other foot just goes on the pedal to keep in balance, but doesn’t provide any power. Then, if you do that down a gentle hill, and just take your foot away from the pedal momentarily before returning it- you might get the feel of going up and over the top. Gradually increase the time away from the pedal- making it up to the crown once you are comfortable getting it on and off the pedal. Once you get the feeling of relaxing your leg past the point of no return it becomes easier to progress, and 10m will soon become 100m and eventually you’ll be one footing for 1km with ease (probably needing to switch legs at about that point though).
I tried doing it that way but I just found it easier to push from 1ft idle into another rotation. I could also practice it this way in my house when it would be raining outside or when I would have the urge to practice something after watching videos at 4am 