has anyone ever tried taking it vert w/ a modified unicycle or really short cranks … cuz that would be sweet
just an idea
im going to try it soon
but im not as good as most of you … im only learning unispins - i can do them no problem holding onto sumthin… but i can’t do them w/o that sumthin
i dont think the prob lem would be speed but the fact that to balence you have to keep your center of balence(cob) above the contact point so if you go up even a moderate vert you head would hit either the concrete of the vert or you would be put of balence buy your position in the air
well thats my $0.02 and i could be rong
well
if you think about it … if you have enough speed to catch air and good balance even for a unicyclist then you will be nearly perpendicular to the vert face of the ramp
i have thought about this stuff
-stephen-
You’ve thought about it incorrectly, and, you haven’t tried it. Unicycles balance by keeping the rider plumb to gravity. When you’re going up hill at speed, you’re not perpendicular to the hill, you’re parallel to a plumb line hung from your helmet (more or less). If you try going up a vert ramp, you get to the point where you’re leaning way too far forward and there’s not enough traction. A number of people were trying to get up a sloped ramp at Moab, and I don’t think anyone made it, although one or two guys were getting close. On the vert ramp, no one was close. I don’t think it’s feasible, except possibly for a BC wheel.
If you consider the ramp in the attached picture a vert ramp, then the answer is yes… I have ridden up ramps like this on my Coker.
At the last Rolling Trials competition, both Brian MacKenzie and I rode up a ramp similar to the one in the picture on our Cokers and incredibly enough Frank (hell-on-wheel) made it on his 26" (after many attempts and a lot of determination) to win the competition!
If your talking about riding a vert ramp like a skateboarder in a halfpipe, I can’t get very high up the wall of most of the vert halfpipes I’ve tried (on my Coker of course) and still spin around and ride back down… but I did manage to get pretty close to the top of the wall on some mini half-pipes a handful of times. It’s a pretty tricky maneuver (on a Coker, anyway) because it feels like the uni wants to throw you off if your technique isn’t perfect.
The couple of times I pulled it off felt like a fluke… or just luck after many attempts. I do remember having to really lean forward after the 180 spin at the top of the ramp and then push down on the pedals as hard as I could to accelerate the wheel back under me, but I couldn’t succesfully duplicate the maneuver even after I did it. The succesful times may have had something to do with my pedal position accidentally winding up in the most optimum position at the top of the ramp, but I couldn’t say for sure.
I remember seeing a video of einradfreak (on his 20") blasting up the sides of a mini half-pipe that looked like it was fairly vertical at the tops of the walls and he was spininng 180s at the top and riding back and forth up the walls of that half pipe like it was nothing!
What if you tried it on a 20/24 inch geared unicycle??
Then you have the speed and a small wheel to do quick turn at the top.
On ‘Defect’ someone (not sure who) manages to get air out of a quarterpipe on what looks like a 20". It doesn’t look like he could of kept it up in a half pipe…
The plumb line idea is, fortunatly, wrong. Such a thing would only happen if you didn’t have enough speed. If you had adequate speed, you would be perpendicular to the ramp, this due to centripetal force.
ive glided of a monster at sugarloaf in the summer not pretty
I think it was Dan Heaton, he rode up a quarter pipe and 180 in the air 
gjk
this is what im talking about … going slow you would have to be plumb, but at higher speeds would be impossible to remain “plumb” without doing a faceplant into the vert face…
but I think short cranks would provide enough speed … im going to try it on my piece-of-crap unicycle
Try to use a big wheel too. Short cranks on a 20" still doesn’t get much speed.
I’ve played around with quarter pipes, up to 8 or 10 feet or so. It’s not as feasable on a uni as I would like to think, I tried a big half pipe, but it wasn’t that great. I didn’t drop in though.
BC wheel might have more luck if people get good enough because you can drop in and let gravity do the work a little more. Who knows? The sport… both of them, are still progressing. Maybe vert is just a little ways down the road.
Just incase people didnt know, a vert ramp must be vertical at the top of the slope for it to be called a vert ramp. The smallest vert ramps are generally around 8-9 feet or so and go up in size from there.
It is called a mini-ramp when the top of the ramp is not vertical. Mini ramps are usually 6 feet and under.
I doubt that anyone would be able to do much in a vert ramp, but alot of stuff is possible on a mini-ramp.
um, it’s very possible. if you want to know what it looks like, check out the video in my gallery. i’ld link it, but i don’t know how. i managed a few runs on the halfpipe, and it would have looked cooler on video, but my cameraman was/is retarded. it’s cool to do, but it doesn’t look as cool as doing it on a bike. oh, at the time i did the halfpipe, i couldn’t unispin, but i had about 2 years of flat land, no-tricking riding. in fact, even my cameraman was able to drop in on it and ride a bit (not as high on the banks) and he couldn’t even free mount at the time. dropping in is super fun, but plan on falling the first few times because (you can’t see this in the vid cause of the angles) when you exit the lip on the drop your wheel doesn’t make contact untill the ramp starts to roll into the flat part. i’m gonna try to start backwards and 180 unispin to begin the run. that would look tight. anyway, hope i was able to help you and definatly check out my video, it might help you know what to expect as vert uni is kindof an abstract concept still.
already been done…with video
half pipe riding is very possible on a 20" even with not short cranks. if you want to know what it looks like, check out the video in my gallery. i’ld link it, but i don’t know how. i managed a few runs on the halfpipe, and it would have looked cooler on video, but my cameraman was/is retarded. it’s cool to do, but it doesn’t look as cool as doing it on a bike. oh, at the time i did the halfpipe, i couldn’t unispin, but i had about 2 years of flat land, no-tricking riding. in fact, even my cameraman was able to drop in on it and ride a bit (not as high on the banks) and he couldn’t even free mount at the time. dropping in is super fun, but plan on falling the first few times because (you can’t see this in the vid cause of the angles) when you exit the lip on the drop your wheel doesn’t make contact untill the ramp starts to roll into the flat part. i’m gonna try to start backwards and 180 unispin to begin the run. that would look tight. anyway, hope i was able to help you and definatly check out my video, it might help you know what to expect as vert uni is kindof an abstract concept still.
PHOTOSHOP GAYNESS!!
dude
it took me 2 seconds to figure out that that was photoshopped
his hand has black around it and he has no pedal 
sorry better luck next time
one more thing
i said VERT … i know that its possible to ride halfpipes w/o vert, but I want to see some awesome rider (im probably not good enough) catch air out of a vert … im going to buy a helmet and try it @ the “slab” (local skater-built skatepark)
i figured something else out…
put the ramps closer together (much like in a bowl) … then you don’t have to pedal so fast for so long and you could gain speed w/o getting so tired
