I have finally somewhat improved at cycling with sharper turns (left / =
right turns), but I still need to do a little more practice. I notice =
with the Coker, my legs rub up against the wheel during the sharper =
turns. Does this mean I need to have less sharper turns? Or should I =
be doing something else to avoid the rub?
My early (and much of my pressent) turning on the Coker was done in jurks followed by stabalizing- often with a wheel rub on tight stuff. I think this is a natural way to controll the big heavy wheel when first learning to tame it. You can make smoother, more controlled turns by making a concerted effort to pedal smoothly throughout the turn. Go commondier a parking lot and practice turning tighter and tighter- without disrupting your cadence overtly. Pivot/Torque turns have a place, but take more energy; I’v grown to depend on them and my technique suffers for it. Once I knew what to expect from the Coker, the pointed observations of a friend and my own comfort allowed for easy transition away from extream torqing.
Just my 2 cents.
Christopher
Re: Turning right or left with a Coker problem
cu@cu.noemail.com writes:
>I have finally somewhat improved at cycling with sharper turns (left /
>right turns), but I still need to do a little more practice. I notice
>with the Coker, my legs rub up against the wheel during the sharper
>turns. Does this mean I need to have less sharper turns? Or should I be
>doing something else to avoid the rub?
This used to happen to me. It disappears with riding. I think I didn’t
lean enough on turns – it’s a bit scary at first – and eventually I got
more confident and leaned enough to avoid the leg scraping.
David
Co-founder, Unatics of NY
1st Sunday / 3rd Saturday
@ Central Park Bandshell
1:30 start time after 11/1/01
Yes when you lean more into turns, avoiding the sidebending at the waist, then your legs, especially the inside leg, are free to relax and assume their normal position astride the wheel. I observed this in myself and in my nephew. The tendency seems to be to try to turn without turning, hence the “cringing” kind of body position that indicates an inner fear of falling. By confronting this fear and concentrating on keeping our bodies straight, we both were able to overcome this problem.
Re: Turning right or left with a Coker problem
I don’t mean to sound dense, but when you say “lean”, do you mean the =
whole Coker leans or just you lean? I think you mean the Coker leans. =
Yeah, I can see how that seems intimidating. LOL. I’ll give it a try =
this Sunday.
A couple of ideas, other than the obvious ‘practise practise practise!’
On a smaller wheel, if I want to do a sharp turn, I tend to turn as the foot goes down on that side. Thus: right foot goes down, wheel turns to the right; left foot goes down, wheel turns to the left. This leans the uni in the right direction, and the curve of the wheel does most of the work.
On the Coker, for some reason, I sometimes find myself turning with the opposite foot: right foot goes down, Coker turns left, and vice versa. (Dancers will see the similarity here with a closed sidestep, rather than an open one.)
By turning with the opposite foot, you may find that your leg catches the tyre less.
The other thing is to plan carefully: get the speed down if you intend to do a sharp turn. A Coker is less manoeuvreable than a smaller uni. if the wheel is spinning, it has rotational momentum which makes it harder to turn. Things happen slower on a Coker (until they go wrong, then time speeds up suddenly!) so you can slow almost to a stop and do your sharp turn, even if you can’t idle.
Be careful doing sharp turns on difficult ground. The seat and forks may turn, but the bottom of the wheel may not, in which case the wheel rim will become a more challenging shape to describe.
On my few fairly short (3 to 5 mile) rides, I usually have to make several turns. I’ve found myself (counter-steering) like on a motorcycle. In other words, to turn 90 degrees to the right, I start by going slightly left which causes my body to shift right relative to the original position, which further causes the entire unit to lean and turn right by correcting the balance issue. I’m not sure if that would help anyone, but it works for me and doesn’t seem to twist the frame or wheel in any way as it’s a natural curve. Mounting is where I’ll twist the wheel, but that’s another subject.
I know exactly what you mean. I was trying a Coker for the first time at UNICON. It was going OK until I tried the brake. I was riding, then I was walking. It was pretty instantaneous and I don’t think anything happened in between. Good brake, though.
I have seven inch cranks on my Coker, this makes turns much easier and level rides more boringer. {I live in the mountains} My Coker rides like a big, fast Schwinn. As for the knee bump problem; just reposition your feet on the pedels. Works for me…
carjug@yahoo.com
RE: Turning right or left with a Coker problem
> several turns. I’ve found myself (counter-steering) like on a
> motorcycle.
I think counter-steering works very well for a Coker or other big unicycles.
The concept sounds less crazy on a unicycle than on something with
handlebars. On a motorcycle, you tell the rider to push slightly on the
right handlebar to turn right. And then they say “Huh?” (I used to be a New
York state certified motorcycle instructor; it works)
Without the handlebar confusion, the explanation sounds more sensible. To
turn right, first twist your wheel a little to the left, without leaning
over. This causes the bottom of your wheel to go to the left while the rest
of you, and your center of mass, keep going straight. It only takes a little
bit of this to put you automatically into a lean to the right. Then the
unicycle can curve smoothly to the right, with little or no upper body
movement on your part.
To make a smooth finish to this turn, you may have to repeat the process at
the end. Otherwise it’s sometimes awkward to get out of this leaning
situation. To do so, curve the wheel a little extra to the right. This will
move the bottom of the wheel to the right of your center of mass. Doing it
in the right amount will cancel your rightward momentum, and you will
straighten out into level flight.
Yes, it takes practice. But it’s better than flailing your arms all around!
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
novice Coker rider
(with 20 years experience on a 45" big wheel)
Tim, John,
If my lunch hour wasn’t burnt up already, I’d be out on the Coker putting the counter-stear to the test. Thanx for the info- I’ll feed back later.
John, do you employ this technique on smaller wheels at all?
-C
RE: Turning right or left with a Coker problem
> John, do you employ this technique on smaller wheels at all?
Yes, it definitely gets used in the Obstacle Course. Surely basketball and
hockey players use it as well, though they may not think of it in this way.
JF
Re: Turning right or left with a Coker problem
“John Foss” <john_foss@asinet.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.1028834593.6947.rsu@unicycling.org…
> > John, do you employ this technique on smaller wheels at all?
>
> Yes, it definitely gets used in the Obstacle Course. Surely basketball and
> hockey players use it as well, though they may not think of it in this
way.
if you watch people ride, a lot of people do this, but don’t think about it.
I noticed myself countersteering through a crowd in london the other day.
Joe