The easiest freemount?

Riding Advice
1

A bit of a long post, but please stick with it…

Being almost entirely a self-taught rider, I learned some bad habits. As I started to ride by mounting against a wall, I got in the habit of weighting the bottom pedal and climbing onto the uni with the wheel as near to static as possible. Moving on to learn freemounting, I developed this technique in the obvious way, and used a ‘static’ mount for years, starting with the pedals at the 6 o’clock position.

I’m now coaching/teaching a mate, who is struggling with his freemounts. I now have several different mounts (nothin’ fancy, but they work) and therefore I find it hard to judge which methods are easy or difficult for a beginner - all the ones I can do are easy for me!

The 6 o’clock static mount presents difficulties because the rider mounts and finds himself / herself with the power pedal at top dead centre. This makes freemounting a 3 stage process: get on, find balance, start rolling. This is unnecessarily difficult.

I’ve never got on well with the roll back mount. I can do somethig approximating it, but not with the insouciance of an artiste. As a beginner’s mount it seems difficult because that top pedal can pass under your top foot and you can end up stepping over the unicycle completely. If you do minimal roll back, you just end up stalled at top dead centre, as per the 6 o’clock mount. Also, rollback can be a problem off road or mounting on a hill.

For general use, and especially off road, I now use a sort of rolling mount much of the time, with a very short shove of the uni to give it enough ‘back pressure’ to stop it rolling back when I mount with the cranks at about the quarter to three position. This gets me on with the cranks more or less in the right position to idle, balance or ride off so it reduces the three stages more or less to one smooth and elegant continuum.

So where is this going? Well, tonight I experimented with a new mount which I think MIGHT be handy for beginners, and I thought I’d circulate it and see whether (a) it’s already widely used, and (b) whether real beginners find it useful.

So, try this and see what happens and, if you feel inclined, give me some feedback.

First, put the back pedal above horizontal. On my 26, I find it works to put the crank exactly parallel with the fork, allowing for the fact that before the mount, the fork is leaning backwards. On my 20, I found it best to put the back crank at about the 10 o’clock position, or even a little higher. It needs to be about as high as you can get it without the unicycle moving away from you when you push against the pedal with your foot.

Now, put your foot onto the nearer pedal - that’s the one that’s above horizontal. It seems counterintuitive, but stick with me…

I find it helps to hold the front of the seat with one hand. Now, step onto the unicycle, placing your other foot on the front (lower) pedal.

Now, as you step onto the unciycle, you get the following effects:
(1) Because the nearer crank is above horizontal, and the uni starts off leaning slightly backwards, all the forces conspire to reduce roll back to a minimum. It’s more controlled. You don’t sail over the uni as it swoops beneath you.
(2) Because the front pedal is so low (the crank is lower than horizontal) you don’t have to make a big movement of your foot to get onto it. No big leap, just a smallish step.
(3) If there is any rollback, the front pedal is moving almost vertically upwards, rather than over the top and backwards. This makes it easy to ‘intercept’ with your foot, which is stepping down onto it.
(4) Regardless of whether there is a small amount of rollback, you find yourself mounted with the cranks more or less horizontal which means you can go straight into riding forwards with a powerstroke.

It worked for me tonight, right footed and left footed. What do you lot make of it? Thanks.
Mike

2

Mike-

I’ll certainly try it tonight but I am uni-less right now. Did you find this mount to be easier for you to do than some of the others? The only danger I see with the one you describe is the rapid attack of the shin of the second leg as it tries to catch the front (down) pedal.

3

That’s the point - the front pedal hardly moves at all, it only does so slowly and with little force, and your foot approaches it from above and steps down onto it - rather than fishing about trying to find it as it hurtles over the top towards your shin as in a standard rollback mount. I found it very easy, but I’ve reached the stage now where - although I have no circus-trick mounts - I can mount in several ways in various conditions, so measuring difficulty is itself difficult.

4

i learned to free-mount first, no wall to learn how to ride, so this might not be a perfect answer

i found that the roll back mount was the quickest to learn, since you start the balancing right away, and it gives you a little bit of time to get the other foot placed properly on the pedal before you have to use it(this was one of my biggest problems, i would only have half a shoe on the pedal) plus, better than the standard mount cuz you dont have that awkward bit of time when you are just waiting to fall forward and actually start riding(right after putting the front foot on the pedal)

overall however, i say just learn the mount that you think you are going to be using the most, and just start right into it(i should have learned the standard mount first). at least, thats how im going to learn everything i do–NO CRUTCHES!!!

5

I started off doing a rollback mount; I think mainly because that was the one my book explained…

However although I’ve done a non-rolling-back freemount a few times the rollback is still the only mount I can do with any degree of success. It’s a bit of a pain when off-road because it needs more space, but until I can do any others I get by…

Phil, just me

6

Re: The easiest freemount?

Mikefule wrote:

> I’ve never got on well with the roll back mount.

I’m a total Newbie, I have owned a Uni for just over three weeks. I
tried mounting where the wheel rolls back with no luck at all. :frowning:

> For general use, and especially off road, I now use a sort of rolling
> mount much of the time, with a very short shove of the uni to give it
> enough ‘back pressure’ to stop it rolling back when I mount with the
> cranks at about the quarter to three position. This gets me on with the
> cranks more or less in the right position to idle, balance or ride off
> so it reduces the three stages more or less to one smooth and elegant
> continuum.
>
> So where is this going? Well, tonight I experimented with a new mount
> which I think MIGHT be handy for beginners, and I thought I’d circulate
> it and see whether (a) it’s already widely used, and (b) whether real
> beginners find it useful.
>
> So, try this and see what happens and, if you feel inclined, give me
> some feedback.
>
> First, put the back pedal above horizontal. On my 26, I find it
> works to put the crank exactly parallel with the fork, allowing for the
> fact that before the mount, the fork is leaning backwards. On my 20, I
> found it best to put the back crank at about the 10 o’clock position, or
> even a little higher. It needs to be about as high as you can get it
> without the unicycle moving away from you when you push against the
> pedal with your foot.
>
> Now, put your foot onto the nearer pedal - that’s the one that’s above
> horizontal. It seems counterintuitive, but stick with me…
>
> I find it helps to hold the front of the seat with one hand. Now, step
> onto the unicycle, placing your other foot on the front (lower) pedal.
>
> Now, as you step onto the unciycle, you get the following effects:
> (1) Because the nearer crank is above horizontal, and the uni starts off
> leaning slightly backwards, all the forces conspire to reduce roll back
> to a minimum. It’s more controlled. You don’t sail over the uni as it
> swoops beneath you.
> (2) Because the front pedal is so low (the crank is lower than
> horizontal) you don’t have to make a big movement of your foot to get
> onto it. No big leap, just a smallish step.
> (3) If there is any rollback, the front pedal is moving almost
> vertically upwards, rather than over the top and backwards. This makes
> it easy to ‘intercept’ with your foot, which is stepping down onto it.
> (4) Regardless of whether there is a small amount of rollback, you find
> yourself mounted with the cranks more or less horizontal which means you
> can go straight into riding forwards with a powerstroke.

Wow! This is ‘exactly’ what I have learned to do. When I first started,
I actually leaned over and grabbed the wheel to prevent it rolling while
I stepped up to the forward pedal. Now after a week or so I use what you
call the ‘rolling mount’ to create back pressure which allows me to step
up and ride off- this was the natural progression from your ‘new mount’.

In a about a week and a half, here is the progress of my freemount:

  1. What you describe plus holding the wheel to prevent rolling
  2. Exactly what you describe in this post
  3. Your ‘rolling mount’ with back pressure

I have to say it’s kind of strange to read someone’s description of
exactly what I have taught myself in that past couple of weeks.

Jason

7

Re: The easiest freemount?

Mikefule wrote:
>
> A bit of a long post, but please stick with it…
>
> Being almost entirely a self-taught rider, I learned some bad habits.
> As I started to ride by mounting against a wall, I got in the habit of
> weighting the bottom pedal and climbing onto the uni with the wheel as
> near to static as possible. Moving on to learn freemounting, I
> developed this technique in the obvious way, and used a ‘static’ mount
> for years, starting with the pedals at the 6 o’clock position.
>
> I’m now coaching/teaching a mate, who is struggling with his freemounts.
> I now have several different mounts (nothin’ fancy, but they work) and
> therefore I find it hard to judge which methods are easy or difficult
> for a beginner - all the ones I can do are easy for me!
>
> The 6 o’clock static mount presents difficulties because the rider
> mounts and finds himself / herself with the power pedal at top dead
> centre. This makes freemounting a 3 stage process: get on, find
> balance, start rolling. This is unnecessarily difficult.
>
> I’ve never got on well with the roll back mount. I can do somethig
> approximating it, but not with the insouciance of an artiste. As a
> beginner’s mount it seems difficult because that top pedal can pass
> under your top foot and you can end up stepping over the unicycle
> completely. If you do minimal roll back, you just end up stalled at top
> dead centre, as per the 6 o’clock mount. Also, rollback can be a
> problem off road or mounting on a hill.
>
> For general use, and especially off road, I now use a sort of rolling
> mount much of the time, with a very short shove of the uni to give it
> enough ‘back pressure’ to stop it rolling back when I mount with the
> cranks at about the quarter to three position. This gets me on with the
> cranks more or less in the right position to idle, balance or ride off
> so it reduces the three stages more or less to one smooth and elegant
> continuum.
>
> So where is this going? Well, tonight I experimented with a new mount
> which I think MIGHT be handy for beginners, and I thought I’d circulate
> it and see whether (a) it’s already widely used, and (b) whether real
> beginners find it useful.
>
> So, try this and see what happens and, if you feel inclined, give me
> some feedback.
>
> First, put the back pedal above horizontal. On my 26, I find it
> works to put the crank exactly parallel with the fork, allowing for the
> fact that before the mount, the fork is leaning backwards. On my 20, I
> found it best to put the back crank at about the 10 o’clock position, or
> even a little higher. It needs to be about as high as you can get it
> without the unicycle moving away from you when you push against the
> pedal with your foot.
>
> Now, put your foot onto the nearer pedal - that’s the one that’s above
> horizontal. It seems counterintuitive, but stick with me…
>
> I find it helps to hold the front of the seat with one hand. Now, step
> onto the unicycle, placing your other foot on the front (lower) pedal.
>
> Now, as you step onto the unciycle, you get the following effects:
> (1) Because the nearer crank is above horizontal, and the uni starts off
> leaning slightly backwards, all the forces conspire to reduce roll back
> to a minimum. It’s more controlled. You don’t sail over the uni as it
> swoops beneath you.
> (2) Because the front pedal is so low (the crank is lower than
> horizontal) you don’t have to make a big movement of your foot to get
> onto it. No big leap, just a smallish step.
> (3) If there is any rollback, the front pedal is moving almost
> vertically upwards, rather than over the top and backwards. This makes
> it easy to ‘intercept’ with your foot, which is stepping down onto it.
> (4) Regardless of whether there is a small amount of rollback, you find
> yourself mounted with the cranks more or less horizontal which means you
> can go straight into riding forwards with a powerstroke.

8

I learned the rollback first because the static took too much courage. But I started going off-road and found it was unreliable, took too much room, and was difficult on hills. But by that time I had gained courage and skill in riding and mounting so the static came quickly.

As far as pedal angle on the static mount, I find that the rear a little lower than horizontal works the best for me. If the rear is a little too high I risk it flying forward over the top when I do the mount.

My 11 yo nephew was having trouble learning mounting today so he got the insane idea of trying a bunch of jump mounts instead; he landed correctly several times and came surprisingly close to riding away! I’m still too chicken to try that one, though.

9

Re: The easiest freemount?

> Being almost entirely a self-taught rider, I learned some bad habits.
> As I started to ride by mounting against a wall, I got in the habit of
> weighting the bottom pedal and climbing onto the uni with the wheel as
> near to static as possible. Moving on to learn freemounting, I
> developed this technique in the obvious way, and used a ‘static’ mount
> for years, starting with the pedals at the 6 o’clock position.
>
> I’m now coaching/teaching a mate, who is struggling with his freemounts.
> I now have several different mounts (nothin’ fancy, but they work) and
> therefore I find it hard to judge which methods are easy or difficult
> for a beginner - all the ones I can do are easy for me!
>
> The 6 o’clock static mount presents difficulties because the rider
> mounts and finds himself / herself with the power pedal at top dead
> centre. This makes freemounting a 3 stage process: get on, find
> balance, start rolling. This is unnecessarily difficult.

I learned on a Coker, so I did a static mount, but with the pedals at 9 and
3. If you mount hard enough that your weight is a little forward of center,
the rolling forward takes care of itself, and you only have to worry about
balance and testicles. Bike shorts really do minimize the latter problem.

> For general use, and especially off road, I now use a sort of rolling
> mount much of the time, with a very short shove of the uni to give it
> enough ‘back pressure’ to stop it rolling back when I mount with the
> cranks at about the quarter to three position. This gets me on with the
> cranks more or less in the right position to idle, balance or ride off
> so it reduces the three stages more or less to one smooth and elegant
> continuum.

Rolling mount is my next trick.
>
> So where is this going? Well, tonight I experimented with a new mount
> which I think MIGHT be handy for beginners, and I thought I’d circulate
> it and see whether (a) it’s already widely used, and (b) whether real
> beginners find it useful.
>
> So, try this and see what happens and, if you feel inclined, give me
> some feedback.
>
> First, put the back pedal above horizontal. On my 26, I find it
> works to put the crank exactly parallel with the fork, allowing for the
> fact that before the mount, the fork is leaning backwards. On my 20, I
> found it best to put the back crank at about the 10 o’clock position, or
> even a little higher. It needs to be about as high as you can get it
> without the unicycle moving away from you when you push against the
> pedal with your foot.

This puts the pedal at least 20" off the ground with a Coker. No way.
>
> Now, put your foot onto the nearer pedal - that’s the one that’s above
> horizontal. It seems counterintuitive, but stick with me…
>
> I find it helps to hold the front of the seat with one hand. Now, step
> onto the unicycle, placing your other foot on the front (lower) pedal.
>
> Now, as you step onto the unicycle, you get the following effects:
> (1) Because the nearer crank is above horizontal, and the uni starts off
> leaning slightly backwards, all the forces conspire to reduce roll back
> to a minimum. It’s more controlled. You don’t sail over the uni as it
> swoops beneath you.
> (2) Because the front pedal is so low (the crank is lower than
> horizontal) you don’t have to make a big movement of your foot to get
> onto it. No big leap, just a smallish step.
> (3) If there is any rollback, the front pedal is moving almost
> vertically upwards, rather than over the top and backwards. This makes
> it easy to ‘intercept’ with your foot, which is stepping down onto it.
> (4) Regardless of whether there is a small amount of rollback, you find
> yourself mounted with the cranks more or less horizontal which means you
> can go straight into riding forwards with a powerstroke.