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The sport trick cycling has this in a lot of tricks. You might find some advice there if you want.


A quick search yielded this as the top result [1], incredible! I'm going to blame you for breaking my neck when I attempt this later, haha.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUiiJI_tPVk


I used to do that as a kid (stopped before I could do all the tricks in the video). You want to have a suitable underground(1) and a friend to catch you the first few tries until you know where the bike goes when you fall. The main path to injury is falling onto the bike. If you avoid that it's way safer than football/soccer. Note that the bikes in the video have a different center of mass from normal bikes so it's easier to get the front up. Have fun!

(1) In Germany we do this in clubs and proper sports halls as seen in the video with elastic flooring. Don't attempt tarmac until you definitely know what you're doing.


I also recommend learning to ride a unicycle for people who want to get better bike skills. It's like riding a bike except with a brand new plane of movement.

It's also very safe to try out and do, which is counterintuitive to most people who haven't tried. Overwhelmingly the most common failure mode on a unicycle is that you just stop riding it, and then it either gets ahead of you or behind you, and you hop onto the ground.

Your body's also always approximately vertical no matter what they incline you're riding up/down is. So e.g. riding down stairs on a unicycle is much safer than on a bike, if you screw it up you just let it roll ahead of you and you're standing on the steps.

I'll do that without hesitation on a unicycle, but on a bicycle there's no way I'm doing that on on anything except a mountain bike I trust.


>It's also very safe to try out and do, which is counterintuitive to most people who haven't tried. Overwhelmingly the most common failure mode on a unicycle is that you just stop riding it, and then it either gets ahead of you or behind you, and you hop onto the ground.

Ha. My experience with a unicycle was the exact same as my experience with Segway and Hoverboard: flat on my back, knocked-out cold, with back-sprain that lasted months.


The biggest safety feature of a unicycle is that you don't even try to go fast.


At first you don't.

But then there are 36 inch unicycles, which can go quite fast. I started with a 24' (< 10 km/h), then I bought a 29' (< 18 km/h). The 29' does feel fast. One day, I'd like to buy a 36', which would be a bit slower than a bicycle, but still quite fast. Some people ride them around the world [42].

[42] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WrGJ8A0Y1o


Worth pointing out that while learning, failed mounts can result in the unicycle departing the vicinity at some speed (especially with smaller ones, e.g. 20").


If you like this, take a look at Radball (cycle ball): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0moQPqtmrTY

Maybe not as elegant as the artistic cyclists, but that almost incidental level of control is insane.




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