Clipless...

Klaas Bil said:

*Do you mean ride the uni then backflip off it onto the
ground? Someone on this board did it and filmed it. Vid
has been online somewhere under the title
backflip_standup.wmv. Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
You have to keep in mind that those of us who post on RSU
are not normal. - John Childs

*

I believe that was one of the Unirogue movies but I'm not
sure.

I also think that Murde means that the uni is attached to my
feet all the time, because we were talking about clipless.

--
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gerblefranklin said:

*Tom Holub did the MT Diablo challenge (climb MT diablo
8,000ft of climbing) on a pashley 29er with clipless.

I voted yes to using clipless on a uni, because one time
at unicycle basketball Tom let me try his 29er, with the
clipless pedals, but I had normal shoes on, so I was never
clipped in . *

I did, indeed, do this, and did some training leading up to
it with clipless pedals (SPDs) set extremely loosely.

I wound up having one fall that would not have been a fall
otherwise--trying to hold onto a post for a rest, rather
than clip out. Not a big deal.

You definitely will have fewer UPDs with SPDs; hitting
unexpected pavement irregularities at speed will throw you
off-balance the same way, but being locked in on the pedals
makes it much easier to correct, and you never lose your
foot on the pedal.

It's actually a lot harder to clip in than clip out.
Unicycling uses a much lighter touch on the pedals than
bicycling, and my initial foot position isn't very reliable
(especially when mounting my 29er), so I often would be
going off down the street with one or both feet unclipped,
trying to control the unicycle with little pedal contact,
while trying to put enough force into the downstroke to clip
in. I had a couple UPDs and a fall trying to get going.

Riding with clipless pedals is not *at all* like riding with
metal-pegged platforms.

Generally, I found myself nervous enough when riding
clipless that I probably won't try to repeat the experiment.
I do think they save you a lot of energy on rides like Mt.
Diablo, and it should be possible to ride them fairly safely
on decent pavement, given sufficient practice. There's no
way I'd ride them off-road.

--
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tholub said:

*You definitely will have fewer UPDs with SPDs; hitting
unexpected pavement irregularities at speed will throw you
off-balance the same way, but being locked in on the
pedals makes it much easier to correct, and you never lose
your foot on the pedal.*

When hopeful told me about fewer UPD's I thought he meant
that I will remain mounted, even when my face is buried in
to the ground😄

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Klaas Bil said:

*A girl in the Cicque du Soleil video Saltimbanco rides
(stillstands) a giraffe on a tightwire, then backflips
onto her feet on the tightwire while the giraffe drops. *

RRRRGH! I saw this show, many years ago when it was new
(maybe it was a different performer then, around 1990). I
saw the wire act, and I saw the unicycle backstage after the
show. BUT THE UNICYCLE WAS NOT USED IN THE SHOW!! Boo hoo.

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hopeful said:

*However, I suppouse an upside is that you would NEVER UPD
AGAIN!!! *

I think it still counts as a dismount if your body is prone
and your face is scraped into the dirt. 🙂

Tom Holub's description of using clipless for the Mt. Diablo
Challenge was very interesting. That might be a reasonable
venue for clipless, because it's basically uphill all the
way. You climb about 3400 feet in
10.3 miles. Speeds should be slow enough to not be so scary.

--
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John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com"
www.unicycling.com

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That girl from saltimbanco also does the death walk at least
once (if you're not familiar with tightroping, that's a wire
with an incline (going up it))

Joona, I did mean what you thought I meant, but Tom brings
up a good point as well, the dismounts are fewer and
clipping in is a HUGE problem.

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a sawzall...!? why not just use an axe. -- Jagur

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Murde Mental said:

backflip off the ground on a uni and film the action.
Looking foward to seeing that!😄

Do you mean ride the uni then backflip off it onto the
ground? Someone on this board did it and filmed it. Vid has
been online somewhere under the title backflip_standup.wmv.

A girl in the Cicque du Soleil video Saltimbanco rides
(stillstands) a giraffe on a tightwire, then backflips
onto her feet on the tightwire while the giraffe drops. We
have the tape.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
You have to keep in mind that those of us who post on RSU
are not normal. - John Childs

johnfoss said:

BUT THE UNICYCLE WAS NOT USED IN THE SHOW!! Boo hoo.

Same here. We saw the show a few years ago and while it was
the same show overall as on the tape (which we bought on
that occasion), many things were slightly different. The
tape is generally more spectacular. Maybe the unicycle
backflip on highwire was too difficult to perform live on a
regular basis?

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
I have a feeling you might need two points of contact with
the ground for such a thing to work? Or at least training
wheels on the front and rear. - John Foss commenting on a
picture of a one-wheeled vehicle he saw on RSU.