No this is not a thread for all you anorexic kids out there. It’s to talk about skinny riding and still stands.
Skinny riding has become one of my favorite tricks, just because its really relaxing, once you learn not to sway your arms all over the place.
I made this thread because I have a question about. I have recently grown the balls to attempt to ride a rail. But I was wondering how you mount on it. I’ve mounted on objects about as wide as a rail, but never before curved. I’m not so much afraid to ride on the rail but rather to stand on it.
Try practicing on a bike rack (the ones with the horizontal poles on the sides and vertical stands in the middle for a bike tire) this way you could hold the center and work on your balance and confidence. I did this today and it worked out really well.
i just improved mine alot by sitting on my uni between a wall and a chair while watching tv.I just tryed to hold the stillstand as long as possible and used the chair or wall so i dont fall over.After doing that for along time i realised i didnt need to make as many adjustments as before.
for skinnies, get a 2 by 4 and put it on the floor. It’s stable and close to the floor so you can have no fear about coming off, but it’s just as trickiy as an elevated skinny. You can set it so it’s flat on the ground for a four inch wide skinny, then stand it on edge for a 2 inch wide skinny when you get more practised. Stick a brick under either end if you want to start getting used to not being able to just roll off it, and build from there.
i have found that the best way to mount on a skinny, is to get balanced on it, set one foot on your pedal… and your other foot on your skinny… i find tthat the best is to have it 30-40 cm from where the tire touches the skinny. look to the front, and not down on the tire when you mount, and when you’re on it, look at your wheel and balance slowly forward… just train!:o
I’ve been practicing the last few days, and I was practicing on a flat rail and found the skinnier the skinny, the easier it is to do a still stand. Is it because the sidewalls are able to grip onto it?
hmmmm im not sure but is a high seat easier to stillstand on or a low seat because tom pec and joe hodges have theres pretty low.Is it just they have godly skill or does it help to have it low ?
I can ride a 6m long 2" wide skinny and I can’t stand still for more than 2 seconds and I ride really fast when I do it :P. BTW I can do 3" ones easy with a shaved tyre
If physics has anything to say about this, it’d say higher is better. Just as idling a giraffe is easier than idling a trials uni, taller objects have a lower natural frequency. What that means for the rider is, a taller unicycle responds more slowly to imbalances… you have more time to correct your balance.
Being that I do my stillstands standing up, I can’t comment on seat height…
As for mounting on a skinny, I believe a shorter seat is easier. Taller seats mean you have to do more work to get off the skinny onto the seat. The less work you do on a skinny, the less opportunity you have to throw your self off balance.
If you’ve ever tried slacklining, you’d use essentially the same technique for still standing.
You need to use your whole body for balancing… don’t think about using your arms or your waist by itself, think about bending your whole body one way or another to keep balanced. If you can find any footage of Kris Holm riding a skinny, you’ll notice he bends his entire body, even his unicycle tilts when he balances.
Of course, the unicycle won’t tilt in the same direction as your body, otherwise you’d fall off! Think about sticking your hips to the left when your upper body bends to the right, and vice versa. This way, your center-of-mass remains (approximately) directly above your point of contact with the ground / skinny.
I Want to start practising still stands and skinnys but I am not sure how to start. Any suggestions?