Tutorials
Here are a few of my “Uni-Torials”. Hope they help. The most recent below is my all new 36er Free Mounting Tutorial, which uses a totally new approach to mounting:
And here is the more detailed text version:
Tutorial – How to free mount a 36er unicycle – Made EASY!
I recently devised a training technique that will teach you how to free mount a 36er – or ANY unicycle! And all you need is a step, a curb, a pallet, any kind of a flat, raised platform of about 5-10” high, that will be used to simulate the back-facing mounting pedal. The only other thing you’ll need is a common paper plate! No unicycle needed for this simple but effective mounting exercise!
On smaller wheels, especially the 20” size, the so-called roll back mount is commonly used. But it is still not very efficient because it requires you to reverse direction twice. Once when the wheel goes back, and again when you go forward.
But the larger and more massive the wheel, the further the wheel travels in each direction, and changing direction from backward to forward on a 36er is not only difficult, but extremely inefficient and impractical.
This is why the best way to free mount a 36er is with the static mount, where there is no backward movement of the wheel while mounting. The problem for most beginners is that the natural tendency is to push down on the first pedal while mounting, which immediately causes the wheel to move backward.
This almost always results in an unsuccessful mount. Think of the first foot on the pedal as a “place-holder”. It only needs to rest lightly on that first pedal and won’t have to apply pedaling pressure until the wheel has moved forward about ½ revolution.
So what I’ll teach you is how to overcome that tendency, and this training method will Teach you to launch yourself up onto the uni with your ground based foot, while putting little or no weight on the first pedal. This will keep the uni stationary while mounting, so that once you are in the upright position, you can immediately move forward, without having to reverse wheel direction. And that’s where this paper plate comes in. (see video)
A few things that will make free mounting easier when starting out, is to lower the saddle a bit more than where you would normally have it. If you run close to maximum air pressure, reduce the psi enough so the tire can compress a little more, which will help in the upward spring of the mount. And use longer cranks for more leverage and control. 150’s or 165’s would be ideal for learning.