Need help with Wheel Walk

[Uni-D3]

Hi, just wondering if anyone could give me tipps on learning how to wheel walk. I can go maybe 2 steps wheel walking. I ride a 20" Quax muni.

I would appreciate any tipps, small coments,or videos of them self doing it.

[trials_uni]

20" qu-ax muni?? i think you mean trials but. with wheel walking its the same a s riding. lean forward and keep the wheel moving at all times.

[Brian O.]

Originally Posted by trials_uni

lean forward

While wheel walking you should be leaning backwards, not forwards, other than that trials_uni's advice is sound.

[john_childs]

Originally Posted by Brian O.

While wheel walking you should be leaning backwards, not forwards, other than that trials_uni's advice is sound.

No, you don't actually lean backwards when wheel walking. It only feels like you do.

Look at pictures and video of people wheel walking. Most people are bent slightly forward at the hips. Some people do a slight weight shift by slightly rolling the hips forward (in effect pushing your butt out). There is no actual physical leaning back.

Hold on to a fence or wall. Get in the wheel walking position with one foot in front of the other on the tire. Adjust your upper body position so you're stable. That's going to be approximately your body position for wheel walking. Note that you are NOT leaning backwards. If you lean backwards you will fall flat on your back.

When you wheel walk you have the weight of both of your lower legs out in front of the axle. That causes a slight weight distribution problem compared to regular riding. That weight out in front of the axle needs to be countered, but you do not counter it by leaning back. You counter it by slightly rolling your hips forward to push your butt out. You actually end up leaning slightly forwards at the hips. Once you learn to wheel walk you'll notice that the weight distribution change is fairly subtle and nothing dramatic. Certainly nothing that requires an actual leaning back.

Another tip is to go toe, heel, toe, heel, toe, heel... ... ... ...
Start with the toe on the tire next to the crown. Roll the foot forward till the back of the heel is in contact with the tire. At that point you put the toe of the other foot up by the crown and you'll have the heel of one foot and the toe of the other foot on the tire. At that point it is safe to take the heel off the tire and prepare to get that foot in position to take another push.

Toe, heel, toe, heel...

[Jerrick]

Originally Posted by john_childs

What John said

That's one of the best guides your gonna get so just follow that and practice, it may take months to learn, or you may get it in a few weeks. Wheel Walking is a difficult skill to learn but is worth the learning process.

Now we just need more people to reply like that instead of saying "use the search" lol, but remind them to search before they post their next thread =p

[zaro]

try 180° unispin to ww... thats cool too.

[john_childs]

Here's a guide to wheel walking taken from the skill levels list.

Unfortunately I don't think that it is an ideal guide for learning to wheel walk. Some of the suggestions and hints lead you to think you have to lean back farther than is necessary. It doesn't mention the trick about pushing your butt back. The picture of Dustin Kelm is impressive, but not a good example of proper wheel walking form. He's racing at high speed (high speed for wheel walking) and form is secondary to speed. It would be better to have a picture that demonstrates better form.

The seven steps for learning are good and some of the suggestions and hints are good. Just don't get hung up on the "Lean back more than you think you need to" hint. The goal is to stay balanced over the wheel and not lean back like it's a La-Z-Boy.

[john_childs]

Just for kicks today I tried wheel walking while bending as far forward as I could and stretching my arms out in front. Basically I was putting my chest down to my lap. No problem. You do NOT need to lean back to wheel walk. You just need to keep your weight (center of gravity) relatively centered over the axle which generally means keeping your bellybutton over the axle. If you can lean back and still keep your bellybutton over the axle then more power to ya.

[teachndad]

Lately, I have gone for the low impact workouts and am dabbling in WW taking 15 minutes here, or 10 minutes, there. Yep, that's usually my weekly workout these days. Trials is taking a back seat.

On a good try, I can go about 15 feet.

I concur on the move the hips thing. It really does work, though it's very subtle.

It's funny, I am back to using a wall or rail again, just like when I was first learning to ride 4 years ago. It's much the same "kick" when you lengthen the distance ridden and also work in some adjustments to your direction.

A definate crowd pleaser.

Cheers.

[freddy]

Originally Posted by zaro

try 180° unispin to ww... thats cool too.

I've got to try that!

[Uni-D3]

Thanks. With those tips I will be wheel walking in no time! Yea its the trials..... and I've also got a Luxus klasse from Municycle com with a white hall tire and a yellow seat.....and Miyata cross pedals. That was the uni that started it all! The site is german but there is a english flag for English ( DUH ) . Well thank you for all the tipps and I will try it when I have time!!!

[Bezoc]

lean back not forwards heel toe heel toe and start by holding onto a fence or deck or something like that im learning to mount a 5ft giraffe unicycle

[OutdoorJunkie]

Dude this threads 6 years old hahaha.