Wobbling

When I pedal my unicycle it wobbles from left to right really badly. This is sabotaging my progress. How do I make the wobbling stop?

1 Like

I shall invoke the well-named @wobbling_bear… :smile:
I can’t really help you on this, but some amount of wobbling is normal (and inevitable) when unicycling.

2 Likes

Sure, some is to be expected. This is way worse than some. It makes it impossible to stay upright.

A handlebar with the hand position as far forward as comfortable will help to control some wobble but you will never completely eliminate it. It is the nature of the beast.

2 Likes

Bummer. :frowning: Well, this unicycle is just for learning. Handlebars are too expensive to put on this unicycle. I thought it was going to be a hip out of alignment issue. So it can’t be resolved.

Focus on where your knees are pointed. Aim possibly for more inward.

Also actively try to manage how hard you are pushing down on the pedals. Over pushing can swivel you.

In the end, it all comes down to just more practice.

2 Likes

OH! My kness were pointing in all directions. No wonder there was a problem!

Yeah, I had trouble with shifting back and fourth with that. I have to constantly tell myself, “Weight in seat.”, over, and over, and over again. If I stop, or my mind wanders, the weight/force goes into the pedals. OK. The problems have been identified. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

At some point it was helpful for me to stop focusing on the downward pedal and more emphasize the upward portion. That helped me start to have a more gentile cycle; a bit more finesse.

Think about the lifting of the foot instead of the pressing down.

That sounds a little confusing, but I will try it anyway. :slightly_smiling_face: :+1:

1 Like

I’ve only logged around 11 hours total in the saddle so I’m definitely still a beginner too, but one thing that definitely helped me out of the wobbles was getting more weight into the saddle and off of my legs.

No clue if this is related to your problem, but might be worth thinking about next time you’re out.

2 Likes

Usually, that is a sign that you are riding with the saddle too low. Without going to the extremely high setup that forces you to ride tip-toeing, raising the saddle should limit how much you can not-sit :stuck_out_tongue:

As usual when beginning, changing the seat will feel like something is off but it will be sign that you are adapting :wink:

Increase by a small amount (like half an inch) and see how it goes. If you feel like you barely touch the pedals, then you went too far !

2 Likes

If it’s just the uni moving from side to side try using shorter cranks, they will help reduce the wobble, but as others have said, a certain amount of wobble is normal.

The wobble lessens over time. Then later on, it can come back, which tells me that I am not pedaling as efficiently as I should. When I get the wobbles, I now tell myself “slow down a bit, get back under control”.

What I tell myself now is completely different than what I told myself in the beginning. In the beginning, I didn’t have the ability to stop the wobbling during a ride, or a section of the ride. I just had to learn to “ride it out”.

But in the beginning, I think I realized that my wobbling was caused by trying to pedal too fast, because I wasn’t good enough (yet) to balance and stay in control while riding slow.

All that, to say “In time, or with time, the wobbles will lessen. And when they return, you will learn to adapt and change your riding style at that moment to become “more efficient”, which causes less “wobble”.”

1 Like

I think that power through the pedals does cause some wobbling, mostly on acceleration. Pushing hard on the inside pedal on a tight turn will help to make tight turns. However when just riding at a constant speed the main cause of wobbling is that the wheel/pedal/feet are simply out of balance. If you pick up a uni off the ground and spin the wheel, it will wobble due to the imbalance of the cranks/pedals. Then when you add the weight of the feet and lower legs it is even worse.