Riding up Sidewalk Curbs

I'm rubbish at this, and I tend to just sidehop up them.

But the proper way to do it is to almost rolling hop but not quite.
Basically you unweight the pedals enough so that you go up smoothly. It
feels just like a rolling hop but the wheel doesn't actually leave the
ground, you just don't have any weight on the pedals or seat at the
point it hits the kerb.

I saw someone, maybe Leo White, do this on a massive step up, maybe a
foot tall, so it just looked like he was rolling it, and it looks way
cool when people do it on big stuff.

Joe

--
joemarshall

my pics http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albuq44
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thejdw said:

same, ridding them just puts a bump in your cource.

yeah.

I made it up a 2 set yesterday on my muni.

I just rode fast.

--
mornish

aim:kiloornish
email: mornish AT gmail DOT com

Corrie, Max, and Miles presents... Collab Video. coming soon to the
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I'm glad to read this tread about rolling up curbs. I had learned to
ride as a kid, then stopped until I was 49. It has bothered me since I
started again that I remember rolling up curbs as a kid, and it was
really easy. But now even though I have since learned to idle, hop and
go backwards, I do not have the nerve to roll up a curb like I remember
doing back then. The closest I come, is to ram the curb with speed to
go up which isn't the same.

One thing that stops me these days is that I worry about the pedals
being in the correct position to roll up the curb. I worry that the
pedals will be in the 12 and 6 positions, then I'll just stop at the
curb, and UPD. When I was a kid I don't remember even thinking about
pedal positions, just did it. I can remember thinking that it must
look like a trick, but that it is really easy.

What I remember, is it being like what Joemarsall described. Thinking
about it more, I think I may have recently used this technique in the
woods to get over tree roots, but I'd like to work back up to those
curbs.

--
Chrashing

Regards,
Ken ... I say it's a great exercise. They say it's a mid-life thing.
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Thanks for all the advice. I can hop up curbs easily but hopping uses up
a lot of energy. I was practicing again yesterday night and am
succeeding more often. It seems like the whole issue is to lean your
hips back right before you hit the curb. When I do succeed it just
feels so natural and easy. I am going to keep on practicing and will
update the forum when I have this skill mastered.

Unicorn

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Unicorn

Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the pedals, and you will
accomplish great feats!
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Keep note of the pedal position when you get up a curb really easily.
That's probably why you only get up every 1 in 10 tries.

--
one wheely

Why stroll...when you can roll?
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every moment of it!

BillyTheMountain said:

End Bike Supremacy! Refuse to be marginalized!!
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem!
*Power to the Unicyclists!! Right on!!*

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Obviously I am making sure to hit the curv only when my right pedal is
between 1 and 3 O'clock. The problem is that on most of the tries the
tire just doesn't catch and it spins.

If I see that my pedal position is not going to be good then I arc a
little to one side to add the correct amount of distance before I hit
the curb.

I am pretty sure that I just have to bring my hips further back so that
I get my center of gravity right over the Wheel. I have allready
increased my success rate and I am sure that it will continue to
increase with practice. As soon as I get a 100% success rate I will
start hitting the curb with my pedals in different positions. I know
that curbs can be mastered and I will do it! Then I will try them
backwards!

Unicorn

--
Unicorn

Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the pedals, and you will
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It's the pedal position that usually gets me. Up to about a 4" curb I
can usually count on momentum to help carry me through, even if I hit
it with the pedals at 12 and 6. But a 6" curb will stop me dead in my
tracks if the pedals aren't right. If I'm in doubt or a situation
where I'll be totally embarrased, I pull up to the curb and side hop
onto it. I still haven't figured out how to gain any height on a
rolling hop. Certainly not enough to clear a 6" curb anyway (you guys
who can rolling hop onto a picnic table amaze me). Being able to ride
up curbs seems like a good skill to develop. The natural progression of
things from there is to be able to ride up stairs.

--
underdog

'I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody
tell you different' - Kurt Vonnegut
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mornish said:

yeah.

I made it up a 2 set yesterday on my muni.

I just rode fast.

now try a 3 set, then 4... have fun 🙂

--
thejdw

dunawan said:

why are koxx one unicycles so costly???

forrestunifreak said:

They are expensive because they use only the finest soft drink cans.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

don't follow Jesus, follow me!<<

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I have a probably 80% success rate with this, and I use the momentum
method. I don't go all that fast (ever--if you've ridden with me, you
know the truth of that statement!), but put my hips back just before
hitting the curb, and let the curb stop me. When the momentum tosses me
forward, I just keep pedaling and pull up and forward with my hips (and
with the hand on the seat handle) and the uni just follows me up and
onto the sidewalk. I haven't had grip issues, but all I ride are munis
with pretty grippy knobs.

The times I don't succeed are generally when I have my pedals too close
to vertical, but I don't really think about it too much. Sometimes I'm
surprised by a UPD instead of success, so that keeps me on my toes!

--
pkittle

*==========================
Peter Kittle * Chico, CA
"The Revolution is just a t-shirt away."
--Billy Bragg
==========================*
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alot of it depends on rim. I switched from my alexdx32 26" to LM rim.
and can get up a curb easily every time. I can go up stairs and
everything now. it's sweeet!

--
musketman

MUSKETMAN
www.unicycle.com

For Sale: Parachute, only used once, never opened, small stain
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Well I had great success yesterday! A friend that I am teaching to ride
came over and I was showing him my newest challenge but it wasn't
really a challenge because I kept getting up every time and easily! I
actually measured the curb and it is between 6 1/4" to 7" in different
places. After riding up about 12 times with no UPDs and even with my
bad foot leading I decided to break out the beer. Before I officially
claim to having mastered a skill I always put it through the "Two Beer
Test". That is if I can do it after having two beers then I consider it
mastered. Well I still had about a 70% success rate.

The technique is like this. I ride toward the curb at an angle of about
60 to 90degrees in order to time my pedal as close as posible to the 2
O'clock position. I hit the curb at a cruising speed. Not to fast and
not to slow. My hips are back and my shoulders are forward. I curl the
saddle handle tightly.
Hip/shoulder position are important and curling, or pulling up on the
saddle cup is very important. I can also ride parallel to the curb at
about two feet distance and then sharply pull towards it when my pedal
position is correct.
I feel that the pedal position is not going to matter much after some
more practice.

I now just ride up the curb almost effortlessly. This is such an energy
saver compared to hopping up and is a great skill for urban riding. By
the way I am not able to rolling hop up sidewalks because If the pedals
are in the correct 3-9 O'clock position to far away I just don't make
it up. I am working on getting more distance and height so that I can
Rolling Hop up any curb.

The width of the rim is very important because the wider the rim the
more volume in the tire the more shock absorbing the tire tire becomes.
So yes with a large marge I guess that you could easily roll up any
curb.

I was quite surprised by how fast I mastered this skill. I have been
working on and off on pedaling one footed for almost two months now and
am just starting to get the hang of it. I also took me well over a
month to learn how to ride backwards and to learn how to change
directions from backwards to forwards. Curb climbing was not difficult
to learn.

Unicorn

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Unicorn

Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the pedals, and you will
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