I’m good at getting up hills on my muni (I should say remind that I’m talking about road hills rather than off-road ones), but when I do them on a bike i find the ‘standing up’ stuff quite awkward.
It seems to involve a lot of effort with the arms and handlebars, which don’t feature at all on one wheel.
Maybe it’s because I rarely go out on two wheels and more practice would lower the effort, but I can definitly say that, in my case, loads of practise on one wheel climbing has not translated into climbing skills on two wheels.
I’ve also noticed that on two wheels I tend to stick it in a low gear and leave it there; it’s as if I’m unconsciously trying to stick to what I’m used to with the effective low gear of the muni.
Recently I’ve been reading about fixed gear cycling (mainly on Sheldon Browns site). Apparently these guys love riding single geared cycles with fixed hubs (no freewheel), sometimes because they’re ex-track racers (or training for track racing), but also beacause of the greater sense of connection with the road, reduced/no need for brakes and the extra skills such bikes necessitate.
Advice I’ve often heard for normal geared cycle racers is to spend the off season riding a fixed gear as it teaches you how to ‘spin’ and pedal throught the entire rotation of the pedals.
So I wonder if long distance unicycling has similar benefits, after all, it’s in the ‘single gear, fixed hub’ ethic, but goes one step further by shedding a wheel.
The main downside would be that, after a season on one wheel, you may never go back to the bicycle
you are forgetting about the enormous amount of energy that is stolen from bikers via suspension.
experienced bikers know that while climbing steep hills you have to take circular pedal strokes, not just pushing as hard as you can on wichever pedal is foreward.
ok your video helped me a lot to understand the problem:
I did irregular pedalling but the burst ended with my cranks being veritical instead of horizontal.
as usual things are evident … after you know the answer!
Sorry if I sound like a jerk (I am a jerk), there have been some really bad points brought up here and I feel like throwing in my 2 cents… These bicyclists that you are talking about beating the snot out of are the shitty one…its like Matisse making fun of your kid for being a crappy finger painter. Unicycling has a lot to offer and is extremely challenging, especially in the woods (that’s why I ride one)…but lets face it folks, they aren’t more efficient on climbs or better on the downhills….they are inefficient and make mountains out of molehills…that’s why they’re fun… all this about drivetrain friction and suspension robbing power….in the hands of a good mountain or road biker these things mean NOTHING! You think Lance would say tomorrow “ boy Im sure glad I picked the coker for the L`Alpe Duez…it’s a lot easier without this chain crap”…. two wheels can do a lot more than one (except turn heads ). If you don’t believe me then try taking a uni on a 10ft half pipe….Just my $00.02
-Maroast
Sure have, till about a year ago I was racing expert class cross country on a FS XC bike…I like hardtails better…Not talkin about a 9in front-rear Downhill bike…although I’ve ridden them gobs too. Dont get me wrong, Muni is a blast! peace
-maroast
Oh, onetrack…i see your from Bend…Ive never been there but hear its an awesome cycling spot… Have you ever been cycling over by Hood River? I was visiting a friend in portland and he took me there.WoW. Some really sick northshore riding…i actualy still dream of going back (with my UNI that is!). Who ever built that system put in A LOT of work. You use to be able to find pics of it on pinkbike.com but i cant find them now…peace.
-Maroast
maroast,
many appologies, I have been a biker for about 4 years. now that I think about it Iv’e never ridden a full suspension xc bike. I mostly ride urban stuff. I could never stand full suspension. my current ride is a trials bike that I have built. I chose to use a rigid fork to eliminate as much flex as possible.
call me up if you and your uni ever make it out to north bend.
I don’t think you sound like a jerk but I totally disagree with your $0.02. In fact, I’d double that and put $0.04 on it. If you read my post, I said that given the right gear ratio, and the right gradient, there is no reason why you can’t go faster on a unicycle than on a bike. The problem is finding that right combination, and having gears means that you can go faster because you can always find the right gear. So yes, for the most part, a bike will be more efficient. But a MUNI (ie 24’/26’) is WAY undergeared. Try spinning a Coker up a Steep Hill (on road) and see how fast you can ride your bike up.
I think that in most situations an equally fit biker will beat an equally fit unicyclist. But Ken is right, for every crank length and wheel, there’s a steepness of hill for which the unicyclist will be best.
The big problem is that in any race, unless your are stupid fit, you’re almost certain to be riding against at least some much fitter people than you. There are just so many really fit bikers and it’s way harder to get as fit riding just a unicycle.
On the road, at least in most of the UK, I reckon there are very few hills that aren’t cokerable or 29er with short cranks-able, even the big hills in the Peak District are possible.
Off-road, once it gets to be proper off-road terrain, not really easy stuff, a good biker with full suspension will easily beat a muni rider up pretty much any hill, because they have so much more consistent traction.
This kind of comparison is only really meaningful if you compare the same rider on a unicycle climbing a hill and then the same rider on a bike climbing the same hill. That keeps the fitness of the rider constant. But you’re still left with the problem of making sure that rider has equal skill on the unicycle and bike.
I’ve compared myself riding my muni up a climb and then riding my mountain bike up the same climb. The muni takes me about 7 minutes on that climb and the bike takes me about 6 minutes. I’m also less tired at the top after riding the bike up than riding the muni up. The bike is faster and easier on that particular climb. The climb is 340 vertical feet on a wid dirt trail (or narrow dirt road). I’m not sure of the percent grade, but it’s a healthy climb without being too steep. I do the entire climb in the middle ring (32 teeth) on the bike and the second or third gear on the back. It’s not a granny gear climb.
My climbing technique and skills on the MTB are pathetic compared to my muni skills. I’m sure that if I practiced my MTB climbing skills I’d only get better and beat my muni climbing time by even more.
For steeper off-road climbs (where the bikes have to hit the granny gears) I still give the advantage to the bike. I haven’t pitted my muni self against my MTB self on a steeper climb yet. I’ll do it one of these days. I’ll bet my MTB self wins that round too.
I also believe that my MTB self could maintain a steeper climb than my muni self could. By sustain I mean not blowing up on the climb and needing to stop and rest. The granny gears are an amazing thing on a MTB.
Another factor is how ideally matched is the muni to the climb. For the climb against my MTB I used my 24x3 muni with 170mm cranks. A larger wheel with different cranks may be faster. Is it possible for me to pick a perfect combination of wheel size, tire choice, and crank length for that climb that would allow me to beat my MTB time up the climb? I don’t think so. I think I’d still be faster on the MTB. And if the unicycle ever did beat my MTB time I’d have to try a light weight XC hard tail instead of my full suspension MTB.
but I totally disagree with your $0.02. In fact, I’d double that and put $0.04 on it. If you read my post, I said that given the right gear ratio, and the right gradient, there is no reason why you can’t go faster on a unicycle than on a bike. The problem is finding that right combination, and having gears means that you can go faster because you can always find the right gear. So yes, for the most part, a bike will be more efficient. But a MUNI (ie 24’/26’) is WAY undergeared. Try spinning a Coker up a Steep Hill (on road) and see how fast you can ride your bike up.