after enjoying being a silent user of this group since it started I finally
feel as though I might have some useful input. Recently on rec.juggling
there has been some talk of ultimate and BC wheels. Being a user of both I
thought I might put in my two bobs worth.
Firstly, ultimate wheels: I beleive the easiest type to ride are the ones
made for the job. ie. those which have a solid wheel (in place of spokes)
and have the peddals screwed directly onto the solid plane a little way in
from the rim. I however, use my unicycle wheel (20"). I don't believe that
anyone would make a unicycle that cannot have the wheel easily removed from
the frame. I may be wrong here. Being from Tasmania (that's the little
island sitting just off the southern coast of Australia) I haven't come
into contact with many unicycles. But if the wheel doesn't come off how
would you change a tyre?. Anyway, on my uni it takes me under a minute to
convert it to an ultimate wheel (you can imagine therefore how I almost
cried when Christopher Majka wrote on rec.juggling "As for cost, why don't
you just get a hacksaw and cut the forks off your unicycle ...") I hope he
was joking. Anyway again, since the pedals are attached some way from the
plane of the wheel riding is a little more difficult. If you want to learn
just bare with me while I tell the story of how I learned. It has all the
major ingredients neccessary.
I first thought of trying it a few years ago (before I had heard of anyone
doing it. This is a good start. Makes you feel inventive and breaking new
ground. Too late for anyone reading this I guess). It was before I had
heard of skill levels and such and I was running out of tricks to try on my
unicycle. So getting desperate I pulled off the wheel and toyed with that
for a while. My flat mate at the time (and here is another factor
contributing to my learning of the wheel) told me that it would be
impossible to ride. That was it! I was determined to learn! We made a bet
right there on the spot. He gave me a month from that day, after which, if
I could convince him that I could ride it (rather subjective I thought but
went along with it never-the-less) he would give me ten dollars (not a lot
but i'd have done it simply for the pleasure of proving him wrong, and
riding the wheel). If I was not convincing enough I would have to give him
ten dollars (a standard bet). I was lucky enough to live in a house with a
narrow coridoor (another factor in my favour) so I started out in the
coridoor hanging onto the walls on either side and trying to balance on the
wheel at avery stage of its rotation. I would often just let fly and go for
it but all this gained was bruised shins. The next useful step in my quest
for $10 was to put the wheel back on my uni and try riding down the hall
with the seat dragging on the floor behind. I figured this would offer some
extra stability in one plane thus leaving me with less to work on. Now of
course I find that this skill is listed in the skill levels (a few levels
past the one I could claim to be at) Once I could do this for a few meters
I went back to the wheel alone and just plugged away at it. After a month I
took the ultimate whell and my flat mate (and a few others) down to the
university tenis courts and convinced everyone that I could ride it. I
managed a full circle around half the court. That was the hardest $10 I
have ever earned.
Major Hint: use almost equal weight on both pedals at all times.
BC wheel: At a circus festival in the north of the state (Tasmania) I saw a
group of BMX trick bikers. One of them had a BC wheel. The festival was
held on a cricket ground out in the bush so the only flat smooth surface
around was the cricket pitch. This guy could ride the BC wheel the full
length of the pitch and look in good control the whole way. I had a few
goes at it and also managed to get the full length, sometimes. Well once or
twice. When I got home I looked into getting one built. Mine is a little
different to the one described by gcohen@mailer.acns.fsu.edu (Gregory
Cohen) who writes:
> On the thread of Ultimate wheels, has anyone seen a BC wheel. I believe
> Steven Mills had one in Baltimore. It was just a wheel with in place of
> pedals, spinning shafts, hung just below the center of the axle. The wheel
> was reved up by hand and thrown in front of the rider. As it rolled away
> the rider ran after it, jumped and landed on the pedals. He was able to
> coast for several hundred feet, crouched in a position just like seen in a
> BC comic.
Mine is just an ordinary 20" bicycle back wheel with the cluster taken off
and pegs screwed onto the axle. This would be a little harder to ride than
having the pegs (pedals) just below the axle, but possible all the same.
This cost me $50 (Australian) from an ordinary every day local bicycle
shop. So if you are willing to put in a little extra work to learning the
BC wheel this is somewhat cheaper than the $80 (American) quoted by Tom
Miller.
I haven't had my BC wheel for very long but can cruise around in circles on
a flat smooth surface. As yet I haven't tried anything to keep the momentum
going but ski poles sound like a decent enough idea. It would be good to
just bend down and push with the hands. I always ride very upright though.
I must experiment. My mounting method is (and always has been) to rev the
wheel up and let it loose in front of me. Take a few steps to catch up and
jump on. This is prety scary to begin with (you have to be good at
dismounting at just the right time, not only for your own personal health
but also to prevent the wheel from shooting off on its own. That means long
chases and danger for anyone or anything else around), but you get used it
quickly enough.
Hints: Try starting the wheel off fairly slowly at first, until you get
used to jumping on and staying on for more than a fraction of a second.
Then gradually build up your starting speed for longer runs.
Make sure you land on the wheel with both feet at the same time and as
evenly spaced as possible.
Try to land while you are moving at the same speed as the wheel. That means
that relative to the wheel you should hit the pegs from directly above.
Wear long, thick socks. The insides of your calves are likely to get skid
marks and tyre burns. And wear shoes to save your toes from getting caught
up in the spokes.
Sorry if I ramble. That's all.
Happy riding everone!
Mark Sands E-mail M.R.Sands@iasos.utas.edu.au o
IASOS/CRC Ph: +61 20 2941 Fax: +61 20 2973 o
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Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies o
CRC for Antarctic and Southern Ocean Environment o
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