Hi all!
Another hobby, another forum… I got my first unicycle a month ago and now I feel brave enough to go public.
I’ve got a QU-AX Luxus 20". My level is, well, I can ride 100-200 meters, turn on a dime (if the dime in question is about 10 meters wide), freemount on 5-10% of my attempts, and build a 3 storey house of cards on my thigh (not while riding (yet)).
I’ve just ordered a Nimbus 29", and hope to commute it before the first snow. After that I plan to get a studded tire and keep on commuting. We’ll see.
Apart from single wheel locomotion I’m into recumbent bicycling, paragliding, skiing, kiting, playing flutes, whistles and harmonicas, and surfing (the web, that is (rather a lot of that, really (and I love parentheses))).
Looking forward to waste a lot of time on this forum
A non-knobby tire is rather weak in the snow he was talking about. Studded tires exist, but you would only really need one if your commute included a lot of icy sections. Unicycles grip pretty well on regular snow.
Welcome to the unicycling community! Methinks you are leaving out at least one other hobby of yours. Are you a member of the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo?
Welcome to the forums, I think you will fit right in here.
Studded tires are great when you need them. I am guessing that Norway is one of those places that you are likely to need them. I sure do here in Saskatchewan (Canada)
Only problem is, studded tires are expensive and of limited selection. You could make your own with some basic tools. I wrote a tutorial here for studding tires but unfortunately the pictures disappeared with our gallery.
Studded tires: I mean with metal studs/spikes. I haven’t decided on knobbiness yet. I have very varying winter conditions as I’m close to the sea. Ice, wet sludge, loose powder snow, or nothing at all. My commute is only 2 km, so having to walk parts of it is okay. I have no idea how good I will be on this thing, so I won’t buy the tire until November, I guess, if at all. Proper tungsten carbide studded tires are expensive, but worth it IF I’m active during the winter, I’d say. In any case, it will have to be a compromise between snow/ice grip and clean pavement riding as I’d be doing both.
I noticed the studded 29er selection is limited, especially above 2 inches wide. (The Nimbus I’m getting comes with a 2.35 Schwalbe Big Apple balloon tire.) I’ll have to browse around a bit, hope to avoid the DIY solution.
I don’t ride my recumbents much in the winter because I get cold feet (literally and figuratively). I’m hoping it will be less of a problem with the uni since the feet are so low (I have no cold feet trouble at all when walking).
If I ever manage, there will be a video, I promise
I’ve got the 29er now. It is really fast and stable, I doubled and tripled my distance instantly. The disadvantage of the speed (and height) is when falling, as I discovered…! But I do think I can commute on this soon. Freemounting is a challenge though.
I sure hope you’re right, and I get it before I get repetitive strain injury
Did one more freemount today, in an hour of practising.
The thing is, I thought at first I was a quick learner. I rode 10 meters after about 2 hours, starting from scratch. But the freemounting is a different business. I’ll try watching some vids, to see if I can learn something from that.
use kerbs and small stationary objects to get you started. you put your tire in front, touching the object. then you freemount normally, but the uni cannot roll backwards.
Thanks! I thought the whole point was to make the wheel roll backwards, under me, and a little past me, so that I’m leaning forwards and ready to go. Seems I was wrong, and the vids I saw yesterday confirm it. Hope this will make todays session easier!
This one by the UniGeezer on a 36er was really good:
You’re talking about the “roll-back” mount, unireed is talking about the “static” mount.
Both are valuable in their own way.
I like the roll-back cause it teaches you some of the principles you’ll need to learn the “idle”. The static is very handy to know for when you’re mounting in places where you don’t have the space to “roll-back”.
Static will probably be easier for now, get back to the roll-back once you’ve generally increased your wheel controll skills on the bigger wheel.
Or, keep working on the roll-back on a 20 or 24, and keep using the static on the 29 so you don’t get despondent.
And yeah, Repetitive Strain Injuries are real, I did a tendon in my right wrist while learning the freemount on the giraffe.
A couple of climbing injuries later and the hand’s never quite been the same again.
Thank you so much for the advice, all of you. I tried the static mount, but found it hard to get enough momentum to get up and start rolling. Then, on a dare, I tried the rolling jump mount from the UniGeezer video, and it just worked!! This is the first mount I have had consistent success with, I’m at about 50% success rate now. Did more mounts than I could care to count. It’s a fantastic feeling!
