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AirWheel electric unicycle review

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Re: AirWheel electric unicycle review

#5

Post by vitno »

The Chinese ones were made first. I had a lot of fun bonding with a guy riding one of these in 西宁. I found it to be a fair amount easier than the author described it. After 5 minutes or so a few friends and I managed to balance and move a little bit.

edit: now that I think about it, I had a sorta riding strap I could pull on that would help me balance at first. That probably helped way more than training wheels.

Re: AirWheel electric unicycle review

#6

Post by quickpost »

For comparison sake, I learned to ride a unicycle (level 2 ish) with about 8hrs of concerted practice spread over a couple weeks. A lot of the problems you encounter in the video (difficulty mounting, speed control, not falling on your face) are exactly the challenges with learning to ride a real unicycle.

I highly recommend trying it out sometime - it's a surprising amount of fun once you get the hang of it.

EDIT: Unicycling levels - I'm probably about a level 3 (on a good day). Neat sport with interesting progression - perfect for programmers that like to level up and get good at things (and stay active!):

http://www.unicyclist.org/cont/levels.cfm

Re: AirWheel electric unicycle review

#8

Post by lzybkr »

I tried a Solowheel a couple years ago with a group of other unicyclists. I thought we'd all have no troubles the first try, but it did take a couple minutes to get the hang of it. I thought the training wheels actually slowed down our learning.

After a bit, most of us had no troubles going up and down a very steep hill or going full speed on the flats.

It was fun to try, but I couldn't see buying one - too expensive. I also found my shin bones hurt after an hour of messing around.

Re: AirWheel electric unicycle review

#9

Post by zacinbusiness »

quickpost wrote: post #6

For comparison sake, I learned to ride a unicycle (level 2 ish) with about 8hrs of concerted practice spread over a couple weeks. A lot of the problems you encounter in the video (difficulty mounting, speed control, not falling on your face) are exactly the challenges with learning to ride a real unicycle. I highly recommend trying it out sometime - it's a surprising amount of fun once you get the hang of it. EDIT: U…

On my last trip to London I noticed several people riding unicycles around and I started wondering if it's a growing trend in urban environments (I'm intensely intrigued by the urban landscape and how people cope with the challenges there). I plan on purchasing one myself simply out of curiosity (and because it would be a boat load of fun). Any pointers on brand, technique?

Re: AirWheel electric unicycle review

#10

Post by quickpost »

zacinbusiness wrote: post #9
quickpost wrote: post #6

For comparison sake, I learned to ride a unicycle (level 2 ish) with about 8hrs of concerted practice spread over a couple weeks. A lot of the problems you encounter in the video (difficulty mounting, speed control, not falling on your face) are exactly the challenges with learning to ride a real unicycle. I highly recommend trying it out sometime - it's a surprising amount of fun once you get the hang of it. EDIT: U…

On my last trip to London I noticed several people riding unicycles around and I started wondering if it's a growing trend in urban environments (I'm intensely intrigued by the urban landscape and how people cope with the challenges there). I plan on purchasing one myself simply out of curiosity (and because it would be a boat load of fun). Any pointers on brand, technique?

I have a Torker Unistar with a 20" wheel and that's been perfect to learn on. Depending on your height, the seatpost usually comes pretty long, so you may have to cut it down with a hacksaw to get some flexibility on seat level.

As far as learning, I kept a little logbook of each time I went out. It honestly feels impossible at first (constantly falling in 360 degrees), but you just have to keep working on it. I did most of my learning at a school playground (lots of space to wobble around) and leaned against the school wall for support.

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