bike technique as related to uni

i was watching one of the Echo TRA video's today of a guy on a mod doing
some huge ups. For the lift off, he would squat waaay down and then
push up. this is something i have never seen unicyclists do. even the
guys doing hops 90cm and above arent bending their legs much for the
takeoff. why not? will this not work for unis? is it harder to "snap"
the tire by doing this?


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I have also thought about this. I think it is because they really lift
the front tire up high, and then pivot around that point to pull the
back end up. since we only have one wheel, this doesn't really work, and
you want to keep your center of gravity as high as possible so that you
don't lose any height that you have. However, i think it might also be a
cause of progression, and next time i'm out riding, and doing a big up,
i'll have to try this.

well, peace out.

-Ryan


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m_extreme_uni

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Huge Ups??? I'm still trying to learn to hop up on a Match Box!
--chirokid--


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chirokid - Bug Killing Unicyclist

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I was trying to pedalgrab out of a fountain and thinking about this. I
ride with some bikers who do 3' sidehops very consistently, and they
were telling me to stop prehopping and just preload. I've considered it,
but I think that the way we have to hunch over and grab the seat makes
preloading hopping very difficult, beacuse balancing during the jump
quickly sucks the energy out of it. I agree withn Ryan, too, bikers jump
differently. Finally, unicycle high-jump is a lot like sidehopping on
normal feet. You can get onto higher objects with a prehop rather than
without.


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gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

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m_extreme_uni wrote:
*However, i think it might also be a cause of progression, and next
time i'm out riding, and doing a big up, i'll have to try this.

well, peace out.

-Ryan *


i was thinking this might be a factor too. tell us how it turns out
when you try. not that i am a big jumper or anything, but i have
noticed that a little more bending of the knees helps just a little bit
more, but i still have no idea if this is a technique that should be
pursued. You would think that we would be able to get just as high as
the bikes though...


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muniracer - Hell On Wheel

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I used to be a big jumper, so I guess I should weigh in here. In both
Track and Field high jumping and Volleyball I found that the most
powerful jumping position was with the knee bent at a 90 degree (or
slightly greater) angle (slightly straighter if you get what I mean). If
you just squat down to that angle you'll realize that it doesn't look
nearly as low as what a skilled trials rider will do. I think the
difference is that they use their upper body and handle bars a lot in
the process of jumping and as mentioned before shift their weight
forward.


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Jim_Rob wrote:
*If you just squat down to that angle you'll realize that it doesn't
look nearly as low as what a skilled trials rider will do. I think the
difference is that they use their upper body and handle bars a lot in
the process of jumping and as mentioned before shift their weight
forward. *
Trials bikers also are using the front half of their bike, something we
don't have. Have you noticed they can jump higher than unicycles, even
though the bikes weigh more?

I'm not an expert at either of these sports, but I remember the first
time I watched expert Trials bikers jumping. I could see how the mass of
the front part of the bike was used to aid the jump. Not sure exactly
how it works, but I think the front part of the bike is started in an
upward motion, then the back tire is preloaded, then the rider gives the
big jump. With the front part of the bike already going up, it's like
subtracting that weight from the whole, along with whatever extra
momentum the front of the bike can generate.

On the unicycle, since we don't have that front end to bob around, our
way of jumping is going to be different. But our sport is still very
new, and the best way of getting height is surely still developing.


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johnfoss - Home of the Garage Page

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