Wow! This was truly amazing, today I finally got my QX-36 Disc Uni and it was huge…
I couldn’t imagine how big it would be.
Thanks to @Raffi and @UVcycle (who also got his 36er today :)) I could mount over the QX-36. It was outstanding experience and I am still trying to figure out how I am going to mount it by myself… my heart pumped really fast as I was pushing the pedals of this beast - Scary
BTW - my wife’s reaction was of a total shock, the Uni is almost at her height…
Here is a picture of my new love one!
I will keep updating on my progress over the week.
To make a long story short or better yet put it in one word, it would be the word: “Overwhelming”.
I was afraid I won’t succeed to freemount, but after about half an hour or so of freemount attempts, I was able to gain confidence and get up on it and actually ride it - seriously, it wasn’t easy but from that point it wasn’t hard either.
My freemount success rate became ~50-50 which is quite good for me.
I noticed the following aspects during my practice and I’d appreciate your input on those:
1- The wheel is right next to my legs (unlike in 20" uni) and it happened more than several times that my legs slightly rubbed the wheel. Is that how it should be?
2- The T-Bar is new for me also and I couldn’t quite hold on to it with my two hands at the same time except for during the freemount. I was only able to hold it with one hand for very short while each time. When I tried holding it with my both hands I had to dismount because I felt I’m losing balance.
Is that ok? Is the T-Bar not adjusted correctly maybe?
3- I was very afraid to come near my brake and I didn’t feel like taking the risk. Do you have suggestions on how to gain practice with it without crashing during… How hard is that?
Other than that the speed was wonderful and I rode in an open basketball yard and it felt really good to circle around it every 10 to 20 seconds… wow!
You are where I was about 2 years ago. Nice job on freemounting. It’s not easy.
It happens. Don’t worry about it. Try to keep your knees lined up with your feet so that you’re not putting stress on them from one side or the other. I notice some rubbing even on my 29 from time to time. I think it’s normal for a big wheel.
This takes practice. If you’re used to waving your arms around, it is really hard to hold them still without losing it. It took me a couple of weeks to adjust. I found that I learned to maintain balance using foot pressure on the pedals when I forced myself to stop moving my arms.
Use the brake very lightly at first. One of the great things about a disc break is that you have precise control over how much it grabs. A light squeeze will not launch you off the front of the unicycle. It might be a good idea to get a little bit more comfortable with #2 before trying so that you don’t struggle with balance at the same time. Like everything, baby steps.
[EDIT]: brake assisted launching can be fun if you do it on purpose : )
The TA is my favorite looking 36er tire. It the only road slick design on the market. 99% if my Cokering is on asphalt. I’ve had two Nightrider tires. Now (I’m a weight weenie, especially rotational weight!) I use “The Todd” with even bigger knobbies (which I’m working hard to wear down, one mile at a time). The TA design appears it would reduce rolling resistance. I like the way it looks. People are constantly asking me why I use a mountain bike tire on paved greenways. I wish someone would make a slick that was thinner and therefore lighter.
@aarons. Well put! “I found that I learned to maintain balance using foot pressure on the pedals when I forced myself to stop moving my arms”. My left hand never leaves that Shadow handlebar. It is not until I bring my right hand in that I feel the need to balance with my feet but it also squares my shoulders and encourages smooth cadence albeit with some wobble.
Disc brakes are awesome. I only run rim brakes now on my 36er because of the Schlumpf hub. I had and sold a Nimbus Impulse with a butter smooth disc brake. Drag brake on a gradual downhill and pedal into the break. That is how it hit some of my better speeds. At my age I have no business riding faster than I can run. YOLO.
I was thinking of meeting for a joint ride this coming weekend but the weather news from yesterday said a heat wave is coming to the area… bummer
Maybe we should consider riding at an air-conditioned mall
Looking at your vid now reminds me my doubts yesterday regarding practice “Go/ No Go” due to the late evening hour because of my not so much sharpened senses at the end of the day.
I am glad I didn’t give up on this practice.
Just got back from a one hour ride in the streets of my neighborhood.
It felt really good - like hovering above the ground.
Even the people reaction (drivers mainly) was outstanding. No laughs or mocking, but encouraging feed-backs - I’m not use to it, or at least wasn’t use to it while riding on my 20"
Another nice progression was the fact I was able to ride most of the time with one hand on the handle bar.
However, as I tried holding with both hands the handle bar, I got out of balance.
I really need to figure out what it is that I’m doing wrong.
I hope to take a video of my ride tomorrow and share it with you!
As promised, here is the video from today’s morning practice:
Enjoy!
BTW - I’d be happy if you could comment on what I need to improve in the way I hold the handlebar or its angle, since as I told you in previous posts and as can be seen - I can only hold it with one hand while two hands together puts me out of balance.
Well, today I rode my first ~5 KM in off-road trails.
I was afraid that the TA tire won’t fit to it well enough - but except for being significantly heavier than my 20" uni (which required more pedaling force to be applied), it was pretty much the same as riding the 36er on the road.
I also noticed that the momentum of the wheel helps a lot to bypass even small quick sand areas along the trails in which I usually had UPDs with my 20"; so that gave me a lot of confidence during my ride and less worries.
I just finished an evening training of Static Mount on my 36er.
The motivation for this was my last week ride with @UVcycle in which I learned from UV that it is better to control the Static Mount over the Rolling Mount at least in the meanwhile until I will get a better “ground control” over the 36er.
It wasn’t an easy training, but here are the results:
- yes, I wish…
But no doubt I have a lot of training to go before reaching that point…
I had a ~5 KM ride yesterday in the evening and I spent a lot of time because of failed mounts. I want to be able to make it on the first try every time.
I got home very frustrated due to the failed mounts and the delays they caused me during the ride, that’s why I decided to focus on this training.
