Jumping High on a Unicycle

By Chris Taylor

Once you get good at unicycling, you may want to start specializing in certain types of unicycling. Trials and MUni (Mountain Unicycling) are two types of unicycling that it can be very useful to jump high with your unicycle. It is also very impressive if you can jump onto a park bench or onto a picnic table.

Photo by Matt Lovatt

Photo by Matt Lovatt

Improve the height on your jumps:

There are many things you can do to improve the height of your jumps, even if you don't do all of the following you can still improve your technique.

You should already know how to hop. (Click here for instructions on learning to hop.)

You should already know how to ride with your seat out front. (Click here for instructions on riding with your seat out front.)

Prepare your unicycle for jumping.

Tire pressure should be as soft as possible without pinching the tube against the rim on landing. You should test jumping at different pressures until you determine the appropriate pressure for your weight & jumping style.

If you are going to hop with the seat out front you should make sure to have some sort of padding on the side of the seat you will be holding. Usually your dominant side (right side for right handed people). You can do this using some tubing slit down the side and slid over the bottom edge of the unicycle seat.

Jumping with your seat out front.

Jumping with your seat out front will allow you to jump higher because you can pull the wheel up higher when you are not on the seat.

Approach the obstacle, pull the seat out, and do a "still stand" doing small hops for balance.

Hold the side of the seat with your dominant hand and hold the other hand out for balance.

It is useful to do a small to medium sized pre-hop in order to compress the tire.

When you land from the pre-hop bounce your upper body down in order to get the maximum pressure on the tire at one time.

Once you have the maximum pressure on the tire you will make your upper body spring back up.

Once your weight is off of the unicycle bend your knees up as far as possible, at the same time lifting the unicycle up so your feet stay firm on the pedals.

Then you land on the obstacle in a squatting position on your unicycle with the seat out front.

Now you are on the obstacle you can stand up on the unicycle and tuck the seat back in place.

How to approach the jump.

When hopping most people develop a preference as to which direction the pedals are. I prefer to have my right pedal in the front and my left pedal in the back.

If your right foot is forward you will approach the jump with the obstacle to your left. (See diagram.) This will keep your pedal from hitting the obstacle while you prepare for the jump.

As you jump you turn the unicycle wheel toward the obstacle (See diagram.)

Even if you don't jump quite high enough you will be able to grip the edge. This is because you turned toward the obstacle while jumping. After you grip the edge of the obstacle you can just pedal on. (See the diagram.)

What is the best type of unicycle?

You want to have a light unicycle, this will make it easier to jump high.

You should have a unicycle with a wide tire, this will allow you to use lower tire pressure and bounce higher.

Make sure your unicycle has a durable tire, wheel, axle and hub. This is more important for large drops.

There are many unicycles that fit this description, however the most popular tire for this type of riding is the "Monty". This is a tire made for bike trials, but it works just fine for unicycle trials.

If you have enough money I think the best unicycle for trials would be the Kris Holm 20-inch Trials Unicycle

However if you are on a more limited budget you may want to look at something like the United 20-inch Trials Unicycle

If you already have a unicycle and don't plan on upgrading don't despair, because the previous tips will still help you jump higher.

Happy Trials!

Chris Taylor

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Created on: Feb. 13, 2002
Last updated on: Aug. 18, 2003