How do you coast?

[Obtusellama]

I'm not asking how to coast. Rather, how do you, yourself coast. I'm asking this because I see two techniques, the one I'm used to is having both legs on the crown, the other having one leg out to the side for balance.

I can see advantages and disadvantages for both techniques so I was wondering if anyone would like to share there opinions.

What do you do?

[UNILEGEDXD]

im a crown coaster but i have no idea why, its just natural to me. i think that the leg on the side is to act like a pendulam keeping the uni in motion so you continue to coast untill you fall out of balance.
whilst crown coasting is a fast and smoother coast untill your uni runs out of puff.
they are both good ways to coast but the real skill is coasting with both legs of the crown. lml

[DSchmitt]

i really wanna learn to coast. how should i start? just ride 1 footed, and take the other foot off and try to get it on the crown? i've never spent more than like 2 mins trying, but every time i do this its an absolute epic fail.

[Julia B]

I'm nearly positive it's best to coast with your leg extended, I don't think its possible to get this level of control with both feet on the crown.

http://vimeo.com/12411789

[Obtusellama]

DSchmitt, can you glide? I learned coasting from practicing 1fww/gliding. Learning how to bend to keep balance really helped me coast. Just ride along 1ft and when you feel like you aren't pushing too much/momentum is carrying you forward, just lift up your foot, bend back a little and go for it!

Julia, from watching that video I do believe you are correct...The level of control he has is incredible! However, I feel that having your leg extended is slightly harder to learn. Idk, it just doesn't feel as natural to me. This is just from personal experience though so don't let me speak for everyone!

Lol Jack xD don't tell me you've been trying that! Will we have video proof soon?

[UNILEGEDXD]

Ive been trying for quite some time. Hopefully within the holidays a new video with proof will pop up.

[EliB]

I coast with my leg to the side

[justtysen]

I'm not that good yet, but when I practice it's always with one foot off. It feels both safer and more natural to me. What's interesting is that I'm more comfortable riding one footed with my right foot extended but coast with my left foot extended.

I recently found that learning to ride one footed backwards has really helped my coasting ability. You learn another set of balance techniques for staying up.


As for the no foot coast, there are a few people who can coast a bit from sideways wheel walking. Their legs are extended for a couple seconds. I can't find a video with it right now though.

[Julia B]

Originally Posted by justtysen

As for the no foot coast, there are a few people who can coast a bit from sideways wheel walking. Their legs are extended for a couple seconds. I can't find a video with it right now though.

Ooh yeah, Raphael does backrollflip-1 rev sideways coast in one of his videos, it was sick! I'm too lazy to find it right now though.

[gohabsgo333]

Originally Posted by Julia B

I'm nearly positive it's best to coast with your leg extended, I don't think its possible to get this level of control with both feet on the crown.

http://vimeo.com/12411789

Ryan Atkins?

In one of his videos he coasts with both feet on the frame down this long hill. But then again that's Ryan Atkins.

[Danni]

I think that two foot coasting is easier because you can apply more pressure (and more evenly distributed force) to the frame to keep your balance. I tried learning how to coast with one foot off just because it was easier to bail that way. When I got to about 5-6 revs, then switched to using two feet. I can coast about two hundred feet with a slight decline on a good attempt. I can definitely say that it was easier to me for to coast two feet. Coasting one foot looks so much more bad-ass however.

Some tips for coasting:
-Riding one footed, concentrate on riding as smoothly as possible so there are no jerks. (Smoothness as in smooth, continuous pedal rotations) Once you feel the smoothness, release your foot from the pedal on the highest part of the rev. This is where you either transfer your foot out or onto the frame. I would experiment with both or go for the one you're most comfortable with.
-If you immediately fall off the back, concentrate on keeping the frame perpendicular to the ground and leaning forward.
-Keeping your balance comes from your foot contact with the frame. Press quite hard to maintain this pressure. Stay loose - don't tense up, (this helped so much, same thing for still stands).

[Rowan]

Originally Posted by Obtusellama

I'm not asking how to coast. Rather, how do you, yourself coast. I'm asking this because I see two techniques, the one I'm used to is having both legs on the crown, the other having one leg out to the side for balance.

I can see advantages and disadvantages for both techniques so I was wondering if anyone would like to share there opinions.

What do you do?

Either way. But with one foot on the crown I tend to use one hand on the handle too- probably learned from using one foot and wanting to save my unicycle from the spectacular falls it has with no hands. I tend to favour two footed, no hands these days and my one footed coasts are getting rustier. Felix and Ryan told me off at Unicon for holding the seat and said I should have both arms out but I stubbornly stuck to my method that worked for me.

Originally Posted by DSchmitt

I really wanna learn to coast. How should I start? Just ride 1 footed, and take the other foot off and try to get it on the crown? I've never spent more than like 2 mins trying, but every time I do this it's an absolute epic fail.

Don't worry about the crown for the second foot at first, as you will be spending such little "air time" at first that it will hang you up rather than help. Believe in yourself and your ability to do what seems impossible at first through perseverence. I think of it a bit like attaining a flying licence where you have to do so many training hours of actual flight before being allowed to fly free. So the objective is getting up there and landing safe. A bung landing where you catch your feet in the propeller (the whirling pedals) can delay your progress, so consciously land with a wide stance with straight ankles.

Riding one footed with minimal pressure (and decent speed) is how I started. Do very brief coasts for a fraction of a rotation, helping it up over the top part- letting go at the front of the stroke and catching it at the rear. It will kind of slap your foot and make your one footed riding a bit wobbly- think about pinning the unicycle down with your crown foot a bit and launching yourself into the space just on top and in front of the wheel. The more time spent on top and in control the better.

After making a few meters constantly you will be able to work on your balance techniques, just like when you started riding, just don't get stuck thinking you will always be grounded to the pedals. Two minutes here and there will add up- I used to just give up after one attempt and thought it was something only super-humans could do.

Originally Posted by Julia B

I'm nearly positive it's best to coast with your leg extended, I don't think its possible to get this level of control with both feet on the crown.

http://vimeo.com/12411789

Cool video! Best according to world champions for distance is both feet on the crown I think- flailing gives more control but the weight of your leg extended would require more corrections requiring more control.


I noticed a couple of things about that video- Arthur had his seat height set at the upper limit of his leg length. In my opinion this makes coasting for me slightly easier, and increasing the bend in my leg increases the difficulty on shorter unicycles. Also he uses a flat-top square crown like a Nimbus II or a Qu-ax, rather than the rounded style square crown like a Kris Holm or Nimbus X/equinox.

I learned coasting on the Qu-ax one and I liked how it had the big flat platform that hooked into my shoe. It would be interesting to make a coasting specific crown with a bigger platform -like a BC wheel footplates- to stand on.

Originally Posted by Danni

I think that two foot coasting is easier because you can apply more pressure (and more evenly distributed force) to the frame to keep your balance. I tried learning how to coast with one foot off just because it was easier to bail that way. When I got to about 5-6 revs, then switched to using two feet. I can coast about two hundred feet with a slight decline on a good attempt. I can definitely say that it was easier to me for to coast two feet. Coasting one foot looks so much more bad-ass however.

200 feet on the frame! I've only tried one or two. That sounds very similar to my experiences.

Originally Posted by Danni

-Keeping your balance comes from your foot contact with the frame. Press quite hard to maintain this pressure.

This was sort of the breaking point for me, once I understood that the wheel needed to be pinned underneath me by the frame foot. It becomes like a pendulum and you flail and lean and swing your foot to regain your balance. The times I failed early was from letting go of the frame foot from the fear of having no other foot connected, and the unknown force of how to stay up. Two footed coasting came after this realisation of where my weight needs to be in order to maintain momentum without constantly applying pedal force.

The other breaking point in getting motivation for me was seeing 11 year old Jack Helme giving it way better attempts than me when I was 29.

Just like most unicycle skills it just takes practise. Good luck, stick at it! Entering the coasting competition at Unicon was an amazing experience- it shows how anyone can do it if they want to enough.