A while back while I was practicing on my UW I talked to a guy who said he had seen another UW design. It used ski boots attatched to the pedals to keep sideways stability. He didn’t know how it had worked out or even if one had actually been made, so I am still wondering:
Has anyone seen or tried such a UW?
I think there might be a number of problems with the design (e.g. mounting and dismounting), but if the thing exists somewhere I would like to hear about it.
Morten
UW & ski boots?
Don’t see how the ski boots would affect stability. The instability of an UW is due to an imbalance of force between the power pedal (whichever is at the top of the stroke) and the returning pedal (whichever is at the bottom of the stroke). If the ski boots cover your leg high enough above your ankle, they’d be a big help in overcoming the PAIN factor, and the really stiff sides of plastic ski boots would make it easier to brace your leg against the side of the wheel, and so I’ve extemporaneously decided that you should ignore my first statement above. If you wear the boots without them being attached to the UW, problems of mount/dismount are … well, less serious than if your feet were actually clamped to the side of the UW. If being clamped to the UW were all that you needed for stability, you could just use clipless bike pedals.
If you just wheel-walk the UW, there’s no need for pedals or ski boots at all! An axle would be nice, in case you wanted to glide… but that would be an IW, wouldn’t it?
What I want to know is; anybody come up with a giraffe UW yet?
Re: UW & ski boots?
I love it! Make two and sell me one. LOL
how would you be able to ride that, I have enough trouble walkin in ski boots, let alone riding an ultimate wheel. Ski boots are designed so you cant move your heel backwords so you wouldnt be able to push the petal all the way forward because the boot would be stopping you
Re: Ultimat Wheel & ski boots?
Walking is different than pedalling in that the surface you walk on is
normally stationary. When pedalling with ski boots the pedal can rotate. I
think that ski boots securely affixed to an ultimate wheel’s pedals would be
dangerous but would probably work. I’m left wondering why someone would go
to such lengths though, given that it’s not really that hard to learn to
ride an ultimate with normal shoes.
-mg
“tel” <tel.84dxm@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message
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>
> how would you be able to ride that, I have enough trouble walkin in ski
> boots, let alone riding an ultimate wheel. Ski boots are designed so
> you cant move your heel backwords so you wouldnt be able to push the
> petal all the way forward because the boot would be stopping you
>
>
> –
> tel - KC8KYC
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In the beginning I a big part of keeping the UW upright was letting it rub against my legs. I think the idea with the ski boots was to lock the feet on the pedals the same effect without the wheel actually touching the legs.
I think it might work, but it would have other disadvantages.
I guess you could make a double wheeler 
Morten
giraffe UW?
Hey, Mike,
I was thinking of something along the lines of this illustration:http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=19318
I think it counts as an UW because there’s no fork. The rider appears to be held up by the chain alone… I guess it’s a really stiff one. The main modification I would make is to build it without the seatpost and saddle. Do you think those cranks are long enough?
Anyhow, once I get a prototype slapped together, I think we’ll need Jagur or John Foss to test-pilot it, since they’re the only admitted ones experienced with this riding style (see illustration and following posts). Maybe clothes weigh too much and cause the drive/support chain to collapse. I hope those guys aren’t lactose intolerant, given the amount of whipped cream that obviously is required for proper riding conditions for this UW giraffe.
So, how much would you pay for one of these, sans rider, of course?
Re: Ultimat Wheel & ski boots?
> If you just wheel-walk the UW, there’s no need for pedals or ski boots
> at all! An axle would be nice, in case you wanted to glide… but that
> would be an IW, wouldn’t it?
Right, if you just wheel-walked, you wouldn’t need an axle, or pedals… the
rank beyond impossible, a Yeah, Right Wheel.