Unicycling down staircases

[alvincrew]

Any tips on how to unicycle down staircases without smashing my shins?
I understand it usually just take courage and just several times of tryout.

But i have few questions to ask:
Do we try to slow down the pedalling when going down a long flag of stairs?
Do we lean back while going down?

[Jerrick]

My advice is to just ride them like your riding on pavement, with bumps.

Don't try to slow down, keep a constant speed on them, and hold onto the handle.

That's all I do and it works fine, on cases of 3 stairs up to 20.

[unisteez]

i agree with jerrick. just ride, and hang on.

[unicycle2280]

They're not stairs it's a hill with bumps.

[mornish]

start at 3 stairs and work your way up. dont do 2 stairs. you just skip the second one.

[alvincrew]

so far i tried 5 stairs and its quite alright, roughly got the idea of how it feels like.

but im thinking when going down long flag of stairs, the unicycle speed tend to go faster and faster (its like downhilling) and should i try to keep the pedalling at constant comfortable pace or just let it spin? or even try to slow down at some points?

[Jerrick]

Try to stay constant, by standing up by about an inch, you put a lot of weight onto the pedals so you can brake when you find yourself going to fast, but most of the time its just a constant speed down. Even when your starting to speed up, let yourself speed up, its pretty fun to just fly down sets like that, but once you get going too fast, you'll know when, that's the point that you don't wanna get to, cause your probably gonna fall off, or something else, or end up making it down, either way, its gonna be fun.

[maestro8]

I'm going to disagree with the above posts... perhaps for shorter (<10 stair) sets it's safe to "fly" down, but once you start gaining speed it's tough to keep under control and slow down at the same time.

You definitely want to put more weight on the pedals... you shouldn't completely come off the seat but you should come close. The seat is your stabilizer so keep a firm grip on it, pull up on the handle to keep pressure on the pedals, and pedal as smoothly as possible. Fight the tendency for the wheel to speed up... you may slip from stair to stair occasionally, especially if the stairs are narrow, but that's okay... just keep pedaling.

You want to avoid leaning... forward or backward, you're opening yourself up for a fall in either direction.

[litldude2]

If you are falling I think it would be less painfull to fall backward if you can. It would feel better to hit your butt on some stairs then to fly down the rest of them.

[tomtrevor]

when i do stairs i figure its good to be 1-2 inches above the seat. the faster u go the smoother the ride but if u go to fast u will come off. its also good to have long cranks for better leverage. try to keep most of ur weight on the pedals and i rekon its good to lean back just a little bit. grip the handle real well.:)

[iridemymuni]

funny Tom, you told me the other day that longer cranks are sh*t. i met a guy named wayne while i was out riding today. he told me the best advice about stairs.

"Just do it"

Don't think about what your doing and how to plan it out and whatsnot, just ride down them, if you fall off, try again.

[tomtrevor]

i recall saying they were shit for long distances not for going down stairs, i also dont c the funny side of it

[KrazyJeff]

I would just keep on going and dont stop.I really dont think you lean back I've always leaned forward and I'm pretty sure you'll fall on your back doing that.

[iridemymuni]

yeah i lean forward to do it, and tom i do recall you saying ther were shit for doing everything, and gave me some long talk about short cranks being better for everything. blah blah blah blah blah theres gotta be a million posts here about crank length

[tomtrevor]

well i rekon they are better for al round unless u have really weak leg mucles and u cant handle the stress. if u lean forward to much u can fall off, try to hold the handle firmly cause that will help alot, also dont get scared when ur at the top of a really high stair case becuase u will probably stack it and twist ur ankle on the edge of a stair.

keep it wheel.

[iridemymuni]

if u lean forward to much u can fall off

OMG seriously???

[tomtrevor]

yep, same when u lean back to much.

[alvincrew]

updates...tried a 8 steps staircase about 5 times and crashed 3 times...now my ass and shin hurts...

have a small problem here again, should i get speed and just speed down the stairs or i should slow down a little before giving a go?

[Jerrick]

on all stairs, doesnt depend how many, I go a little bit faster than a regular pace.

[tomtrevor]

yea the faster u go the smoother it is and u wont get bumped aronud as much.

[skilewis74]

Don't think about what your doing and how to plan it out and whatsnot, just ride down them, if you fall off, try again.

If all you've done so far is ride off curbs (not you, alvincrew), start with two stairs or more if they are spaced out. Practice riding down them both fast and slow (like George Peck in the extras of Universe 2). Faster is smoother but harder for a first timer, so go a comfortable speed. As you approach your speed limit the harder it will be to slow down, so keep your speed constant. This is especially important for long sets.

When two is comfortable, go on to three, four, then five stairs. As the # of stairs increases the less important it is to go in order, so feel free to skip or start with 3 or 4. Moving from 8-10 stairs isn't much harder than going from 4-5 stairs.

[NordicUni420]

here's a Q. about stairs. i'm having a hard time clearing them. do youse guys have any hints as to how this whole process could be made easier? in general, getting more distance when riding off objects.

[iridemymuni]

do you mean actually clear the whole staircase or just the first few steps?

[tomtrevor]

just practise your rolling hops (it also helps if you do them of drops if you can find one), and getting as far as you can. after that you try them on stairs and its pretty much the same thing except theres set of stairs below you.

[alvincrew]

here's a Q. about stairs. i'm having a hard time clearing them. do youse guys have any hints as to how this whole process could be made easier? in general, getting more distance when riding off objects.

Hey guys, i sort of learnt how to ride down staircases (tried 10 steps) w/o breaking any knees or ankles.

Basically what i've learnt from my practises are:
- Riding down with a constant and smooth pedalling is important
- The body/unicycle leaning angle should be decided based on the staircases' steepness. If a staircase is very steep, try not to lean too much forward, or you'll end up in a Superman Return's movie. And if its less steep, try to lean more to the front so you can ride down as though its a bumpy downhill, otherwise your unicycle will just slip off from your front and send you landing on your back.
- Wear shin/knee guards when learning, seriously.
- Try clearing 4 stairs as for a start because for 2 or 3, you'll simply drop off them w/o feeling anything
- Do not ride too quickly when approaching the stairs, you will end up dropping off a few steps and ur unicycle will slip off in front of you for the rest and send u landing on your back. Instead, ride at a comfortably stable and constant speed down the stairs.

[alvincrew]

here's a Q. about stairs. i'm having a hard time clearing them. do youse guys have any hints as to how this whole process could be made easier? in general, getting more distance when riding off objects.

Do you mean to drop off (rolling hop) and clearing the stairs or just simply riding down the stairs?

[picado]

near my home i got a set of 5 stairs and them other 5 stairs

i always ride on them .. and this week i tried the stairs and i dont know what happened... i just maked the first set and them my foot went of the pedal and i just flyed over the next set of stairs...
jah helped me... and iam alright

[picado]

any tip on backwards down stairs ??

[Andy912912]

Nope!But for REGULAR going down stairs, try those shallow stairs they sometimes put besides driveways that lead to the door(or sidewalk, depends wether you're going up or down from them) and work up.After you learn the normal stairs, you're ready to fool around in the mall(go around the mall riding just 'cause you've got nothing better to do) or any other place with stairs!Amaze non-riders with your X-treme(or semi-X-treme) skills!(ha ha, I've always wanted to type that x-treme...not really, just since a few seconds ago)

[torkerdx]

going down stairs is like going down a rough hill. stand up and go into it with a little speed (the faster you go it is smoother). the bigger the staircase, the harder it is to keep going slow.