That is fantastic Ben! You know, a couple of us are meeting to ride at White Oak Mountain at 8am on Saturday the 13th (tomorrow). If you brought that along, I would be willing to do some testing for science. I doubt I could even ride it in the parking lot, but I am not afraid of sacrificing the body for the good of unicyclists everywhere.
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If I can ride it can I get a high 5
First let me start with congratulating Waalrus on his amazing skiils at coasting, those long coasts are awe inspiring ,esp after having spent the last hour trying to ride this contraption.
Now to reality: You guys are dreaming if you think you can ride this for muni.
Saying that riding a coasting uni is hard, is an understatment of the highest level.
It can be ridden, my son and I both rode it while pedaling for up to a 75’, small freewheeling moments while pedaling were fine, but then we tried to coast, and each time we were quickly ejected backwards to either land on our feet or on our backs.
Fortunately I had the foresight to start this practice on grass, because my first few rides laid me out flat on my back. After a while I was able to dismount and land on my feet, with the occassional hip or butt check.
Coasting is a not something that will come as easy as learning to ride a unicycle, this sucker is a level eleven in difficulty. I think it may be harder to have your feet on the pedals as Waalrus suggested, with your feet on the pedals you don’t have any leverage like you might if they were on the frame and it may even worsen any balancing you might have with your feet out to the sides.
We’ll keep working at it, but do try to temper those dreams…this is a fun diversion but not practical for any serious riding, it’s just too unstable, going fast would be really dangerous because coasting is so unpredictable, more so because recovery is not really possible once you start falling backwards.
My next step is to build a training wheel … something like a detachable penny farthing rear wheel.
Oh, and the brake, it works fine, but until we get a lot better it doesn’t really help much as falling backwards happens so quickly that braking is too little too late.
I did swap out the standard grab handle for one of my handle mounts, this makes it easier to hold on to the uni when falling 
It’s more fun and interesting than a UW 
@Waalrus, you are my hero!
I think you should go ahead and build one, the 24" wheel feels about right, not so big as to be cumbersome, not so small as to feel unstable, speed wise I felt like it did not gather too much speed. I suppose I could see using a bigger wheel like a 26-29", but I think it would make mounting and UPD’s a bit harder.
Do you tend to ride with a lower seat? I found that I was more comfortable riding while standing, though this may be because the seat was low. I am going to raise the seat for the next practice session.
In terms of set up, I started with 125’s, this feels like a good length, just enough leverage to pedal on grass up a slight hill, balance feels more centered, easy to dismount, I have 150’s, but I don’t see any advantage for balance, might even make balance worse…
This is an exciting project. I think that attaching a training wheel makes a lot of sense. Instinctively, I think a rim brake would be less acute due to the longer radius between axle and point of braking pressure and therefore less likely to throw you.
Also the point of braking pressure will be closer to your centre of balance thus creating more stability as you apply your brake.
I could be wrong and I know you prefer disc brakes but I thought that I would just mention it for consideration.
Since both types of brake slow down the wheel it doesn’t seem to me like it would make any difference unless the wheel or brake has some flex.
Compare pole vaulting with a 20’ pole to vaulting with a 10’ pole. The shorter axis using the 10’ pole would lead to a more abrupt action, whereas vaulting with the 20’ pole would be a lot smoother. Coasting with your feet on the pedals is such a delicate balancing act that every detail counts. Again, it’s just a thought. Maybe at some point Ben might put it to the test.
Hmm, what I was trying to say is this; Changing the point of braking pressure has nothing to do with your center of balance if both brakes are acting on the same wheel. Since rim brakes and disc brakes don’t seem to be created equal it might affect how fast you could stop but it shouldn’t change your center of balance.
dont knock it till ya try it!
Wow, the way the light shines on that pic is actually pretty impressive.
If you guys really want to get an idea of what a coaster uni feels like just ride a bc wheel. I rode a coaster uni at naucc 2011 and it honestly just felt like a bc wheel with a seat. That is my impression at least, so to the peeps that ride the coaster unis mega props. That shite is hard 
i started work on a training wheel of sorts, made from pvc, but it wasn’t strong enough, so I’ll probably have to weld one up which could be a while or I culd pay to have one made.
@Killian, dude I told you this was not going to be easy, but you went and got yourself all hot and bothered, so it serves you right
I’ll admit, it was kinda fun even if we sucked.
I’ll bring it to Nationals.
If you’re ever up around here and wanna bring it, I’d love to give 'er a whirl. That is, if you haven’t thrown it off a cliff by then.
Oh, and by the way, a training wheel is sooooooooo cheating.
I guess I can always dream right? The idea was just too damn cool!
I’ve got my sights set on a different uni now that I’m employed. In a month I’ll be able to afford the perfect uni.
Wow, what a gorgeous wheel! I’m jealous! After riding about 15 miles of bike paths today on the freewheel I’m ready to try a bigger wheel. I’d say I average around 6 mph on the 20" and can definitely boost that a bit with less use of the brake.
Sounds like you’re doing great! I was afraid that coasting was really key to getting good at the freewheel. I don’t think you have to be expert but just being able to coast 5-10 feet makes things easier.
At first I rode a lower seat and it may have helped learning but now I’ve raised the seat to more or less my normal position. In the beginning I balanced more by bending at the waist but now I tend to move the unicycle forward and back with my pelvis.
I want to try 114s because I already have 125s I can switch with.
I think it’s more fun than ultimate wheel, too. UW is what I practice for exercise when my crotch is sore from riding too much.
When you’re only coasting it’s a little like BC wheel but you have way more leverage to balance.
This is the key. It’s fun so that’s enough reason to keep practicing it. It may never be the same for certain types of riding in certain locations but it also opens opportunities for rides that would otherwise not be that fun.
You rode fifteen miles on your 20" Freewheel uni? 
Okay, now I’m going to go kill myself :o
Wrong, now you should go outside to learn to ride your unicycle 
I’ve had a month to practice and I started out with an advantage (coasting practice) so I’m sure you just need to keep plugging away at it. Since January I’ve been working on (1) double wheel, (2) gliding, and (3) backwards wheel walk. I can only go about a 100 yards on the double wheel at a time and am marginal at mounting. I can glide maybe 10-20 feet on flat ground. I can backwards wheel walk 10-12 pushes at best. Freewheel unicycling is more fun than all of those and I’ve made significant more progress than the rest combined in a faction of the time.
These are all impressive skills you are learning. I am impressed. It puts your accomplishments with a freewheeling unicycle in context.
Scott
Tonight’s practice was marginally better, I was able to sustain pedaling for up to seventy five feet before coming off backwards. As for coasting, I have not done any so far, at least not intentionally. I have had some freewheel “moments” as I pedal, but they’re a long way from coasting.
So far the brake is not all that helpful. I have tried gliding it from a standstill,
but it makes it hard to balance. The best rides have come from no brake, one hand on the handle, body forward, standing up and pedaling slowly up a slight incline.
You all in the peanut gallery have no idea how hard this thing is to ride. Waalrus makes it look easy, but it really is like starting over. I do expect some of you to build one, esp the more vocal folks (killian)
The plan is to practice daily, just like when I learned to uni.
I did build a nifty little outrigger, but it was too long, so I took it off. Tomorrow I’m going to make it adjustable in length, then I’ll try it again. It’s like a penny farthing rear leg without a wheel, I made it from 3/4" and 1/2" pipe, mounts to the seat post.
The hardest part about riding a freewheel uni is relearning the back foot, it must be kept neutral, which is unnatural for a unicyclist. Once you push with the backfoot, your cranks stall or spin backwards, then your weight goes back, and off the back you go.
It’s fun, but very frustrating, I wanted to throw the unicycle at one point; gee, just like the old days
This reminds me so much of my UW exprience, it’s not even funny. I actually broke one of my pedals off of the spindle on that thing, cause I got so mad I threw it across my lawn.
I can’t take another experience like that man. Just cain’t. 
I’m going to be getting an Oregon as soon as my first couple paychecks come through (sorta like a pat on the back for actually getting a job [if I haven’t been fired yet]), and then we’ll see if I’ll actually try a freewheel. My current 29er at that point will probably just be sitting around anyway, though it might get a Magic Mary and just be my I-don’t-feel-like-riding-my-other-muni muni.
After reading that Waalrus can coast and backwards ww, I’m not suprised he’s super human with the coasting. I’m only mortal.
Oh, and Ben, if you do kill yourself, can I get your uni’s?