New to Coker--advice needed

You can use a wall to get used to the large moment of the wheel and
pedal around a bit like that, but I think you should just keep at it and
you shouldn't have much trouble riding it. Have fun! :0

--
Bob22b - MCL Tearer :d
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Hi Jethro. Have fun!
Yes, keep at it. A difference between a coker and a smaller uni:

You take a smaller uni for a ride: a coker takes you.

Don't fight the big wheel. Roll with it. If you argue, it will win; it
has too much inertia.

What surface are you riding on? make certain it's smooth and level.
Great that you;re freemounting already!

B

--
podzol - Bogophile
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podzol said:

What surface are you riding on?

I am riding on the street in front of my house.

--
Jethro - Pliny's Dolphin

[FONT=courier new]©¿©[/FONT] Bill Hugo
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Jethro, just never give up!!!!

I think I had the same experience. I was used to keeping my balance on
a 24, by pedaling back and forth. Once you get a Coker moving, you can
not exert enough pressure to balance by pedaling backwards. You can
slow down, but you can not continuously ride by making the pedals go
back and forth, or if you could you would not be able to for long. You
need to start off slowly and RESIST the temptation to go too fast. I
only rode a 24 for about 3 months. I was not really good. I could ride
4 or 5 miles, turn but that was all. Then I got my Coker. Within about
2 hours, I was riding around the block. I always wanted to speed up,
but that gets really scarry at first. Remember, Helmet, kneepads and
wristgaurds are mandatory for a Coker.

That was about March this year. Now I ride my Coker exclusively. I
have 850 miles on it so far this summer. I love it. I go anywhere from
15-40 miles in a day. I very rarely fall. When you do fall, remember,
you are going fast, and you need to RUN LIKE HE!!, otherwise you will be
doing a faceplant.

Good Luck
b

--
n9jcv
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You can't pedal slow when you start out. Get he pedals moving, and once
you have momentum, enjoy the ride.

--
bugman - Proud member of the UALW
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Thanks for all the encouragement and advice. I will be giving it another
try this afternoon.

--
Jethro - Pliny's Dolphin

[FONT=courier new]©¿©[/FONT] Bill Hugo
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On little unis you can jam some pressure on a pedal and get some
immediate and dramatic response from the machine. Not so with the Coker.
Jamming your foot on a Coker pedal and you'll walk right off the
thing.

The cruising speed is faster than on little unis.

Get up on the beast and get her going about 5 mph. Maintain steady
speed.

Changing speed is a gradual thing.

Build up speed gradually...come to a stop veeeery gradually. Turn
gradually.

Its a Mac Truck not a Spitfire.

Initially you have to persuade and coax the beast into doing what you
want. You shouldn't try to be the boss just yet. Today the beast is the
boss. You should be nice to the beast. Be thankfull for every ride that
the beast doesn't kill you. Be respectful of the brute.

With experience, the two of you should come to a mutually agreeable
understanding.

--
Memphis Mud - Student of GrandMaster 2T

"winter in peanut butter comes turquoise" -Greg Harper
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n9jcv said:

*Remember, Helmet, kneepads and wristgaurds are mandatory for a Coker.

*

Wise words.

Wise words indeed.

http://tinyurl.com/c683l

T.

--
DarkTom - fork riding a sugar unicycle

-\"just eat less pies, and then the loads on your seatpost will be
less.\" - johnhimsworth

\"i am a girl\" - amanda.gallacher
-
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Jethro said:

*Obviously, I need practice, but -*

No buts! You have answered your own question.

I guess what I experienced with my first rides on a Coker is that simply
rolling along the path is not a problem, but every maneuver requires
about four times as much muscle, space, and time as on a smaller uni.
The main problem that you have right now is that the control inputs that
you've become used to using to keep your little uni underneath you
aren't having much effect on the giant one. You just have to keep doing
it until your body figures out what it needs to do to manage the thing,
just like it did with the smaller one. It really is a quite different
ride. It took me a while to feel comfortable turning, but eventually I
got used to it, and I can maneuver pretty well now. I still need the 6"
cranks in order to idle confidently, though.

--
weeble - .

======================
To avoid danger of suffocation
keep away from babies
and small children
======================

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n9jcv said:

*You need to start off slowly and RESIST the temptation to go too
fast.
*

But not too slow! A coker is a lot harder to ride at very slow speeds.
I find my self far, far less stable on a coker when trying to keep a
slow pace (eg walking pace).

The original problem described sounds to me like you are not riding fast
enough. If you mount and don't build up enough speed it is much harder
to stay on then if you get a little momentum going. The initial few
metres before you pick up speed are the hardest.

--
peter.bier - Posting since 97

-Peter Bier

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I understand how it can "get out from under you" as you travel much
farther for a given movement in the pedals. My experience is that it's
much easier to keep a coker moving once you are up and moving than a 20"
or 24". Everything happens much slower.

I was amazed at first that if I started to fall foward or backward, I
had several crank cycles to get back in balance. On a 20", you have less
than one crank cycle to get back in balance.

Turning will come later. I've probably ridden a couple hundred miles on
my Coker, but I still can't always make a u-turn on a street.

A Coker is like driving a bus compared to a sports car.

--
kokomojuggler - Coker Rider

Kokomo Juggler
-All Glory to God
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The answer to all Coker questions is to get the miles in.

When you first have a Coker, it's a novelty. It's a challenge just to
ride it. It's exhilerating.

Then you start to cruise at a steady speed, and cover distances, but you
find that you fear dismounts, obstacles, hills, junctions and the
like.

After a while, it seems more trouble than it's worth. Is this all it
does? It won't idle, turn quickly, or stop.

If you get past this stage, you will find that it will do almost
everything that a 26 or 29 will do. It can be idled. It can be
mounted. It will stop. You can tiptoe across difficult ground. You can
stomp up hills. You can hold it back on long descents.

Riding a Coker is all about developing an intuitive understanding of
Newton.

--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling

Competing with yesterday to hold off tomorrow.
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The answer to all Coker questions is to get the miles in.

When you first have a Coker, it's a novelty. It's a challenge just to
ride it. It's exhilerating.

Then you start to cruise at a steady speed, and cover distances, but you
find that you fear dismounts, obstacles, hills, junctions and the
like.

After a while, it seems more trouble than it's worth. Is this all it
does? It won't idle, turn quickly, or stop.

If you get past this stage, you will find that it will do almost
everything that a 26 or 29 will do. It can be idled. It can be
mounted. It will stop. You can tiptoe across difficult ground. You can
stomp up hills. You can hold it back on long descents.

Riding a Coker is all about developing an intuitive understanding of
Newton.

--
Mikefule - Roland Hope School of Unicycling

Competing with yesterday to hold off tomorrow.
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Thanks for all the good advice. I am now able to ride somewhat and keep
the unicycle under me for at least a few hundred feet.

My mounting needs some work. I can't seem to do a running mount at all.
I do a stationary mount by grabbing the wheel and bringing it towards
me. This works between 5 and 10% of the time. Any hints?

Memphis Mud said:

*On little unis you can jam some pressure on a pedal and get some
immediate and dramatic response from the machine. Not so with the
Coker. Jamming your foot on a Coker pedal and you'll walk right off
the thing.

The cruising speed is faster than on little unis.

Get up on the beast and get her going about 5 mph. Maintain steady
speed.

Changing speed is a gradual thing.

Build up speed gradually...come to a stop veeeery gradually. Turn
gradually.

Its a Mac Truck not a Spitfire.

Initially you have to persuade and coax the beast into doing what you
want. You shouldn't try to be the boss just yet. Today the beast is
the boss. You should be nice to the beast. Be thankfull for every ride
that the beast doesn't kill you. Be respectful of the brute.

With experience, the two of you should come to a mutually agreeable
understanding. *

Not only is that exceedingly helpful, it was enjoyable to read. Ever
think about writing books instead of printing them?

--
Jethro - Pliny's Dolphin

[FONT=courier new]©¿©[/FONT] Bill Hugo
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I wasn't kidding.
😉

--
Memphis Mud - Student of GrandMaster 2T

"winter in peanut butter comes turquoise" -Greg Harper
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Here is what works for me. I put the left pedal just between 3 and 4
oclock. I then gently step up and forward. With luck your momentum
will take you to the balance sweet spot on top of the seat. Then make
sure your other foot hits the pedal and start to push. A few side to
side wobbles and pedal strokes, now you will be moving and it will
smooth out.

I have been riding my Coker since about March - 900 miles and I can
mount about 80-90% of the time. The 10% I can't is usually when someone
is watching me!!!

--
n9jcv
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Cokers are fun!! I rode a coker for the first time this monday night and
I just couldn't get off of it. I was able to only mount next to a wall,
and because I am kinda short, I used to tire to pull myself up. The
coker that I used had a brake on it, but I didn't dare use that because
it locks up the wheel, and I didn't really want to go flying off of it
the first time I was on it. Once I was able to ride pretty good I
started to pick up some speed. And boy was I moving, and with the nice
short cranks, I didn't have to pedal that much to go the distance I
wanted to. And when I tried turning it felt so good, turning on cokers
has an awesome feel, because you can lean pretty far, and it feels cool.
Well that was my first time experience on a Coker. When I had to leave
I wanted to bring the coker with me. I am probably going to order a
29er within the next year, or even maybe a coker.

Have fun

--
MERCYME - King without a crown

'Gallery' (gallery.unicyclist.com/danpics)
AIM-Mr Mercy3

"Your like water for my soul When it gets thirsty"-Matisyahu

oogen7543(att)yahoo(dot)com
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Jethro said:

*My mounting needs some work. I can't seem to do a running mount at
all. I do a stationary mount by grabbing the wheel and bringing it
towards me. This works between 5 and 10% of the time. Any hints?
*

The easiest mount for most people is the standard mount, you don't need
to mess around grabbing the wheel or anything, just step up onto the
unicycle and pedal off, just like a smaller unicycle. The step up bit
involves a bit more of a push off to get yourself higher but that's
all.

I learnt to mount using the rollback mount, I still find this a bit
easier, but most people seem to have difficulty with doing a rollback on
a coker. Again, just like a little unicycle, but do a bigger step up.

I did some videos of the coker mounts ages back, they're in the album
below.

http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albuq60

Joe

--
joemarshall - dumb blonde

my pics http://gallery.unicyclist.com/album483
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Memphis Mud said:

*Initially you have to persuade and coax the beast into doing what you
want. You shouldn't try to be the boss just yet. Today the beast is
the boss. You should be nice to the beast. Be thankfull for every ride
that the beast doesn't kill you. Be respectful of the brute.

With experience, the two of you should come to a mutually agreeable
understanding. *

-Initially!!?? - 😕 😕 I -know- who's the boss and it
ain't me! :eek: It's just that, sometimes, Marvin The Coker condescends
to let me -think- I -might- be the boss and that's the *only* "mutually
agreeable understanding" Marvin permits.

--
brian.slater - Nellfurtiti, the Wonder Cat

Brian C. Slater
AKA: Snoopy

Ok, I am now officially in my normal state of -advanced- confusion.
Don't try to confuse me, it won't make any difference.

"To not decide is to decide" - undecided
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