heckler

so I found a teeter totter on a trail I found and gave it a go.

I lost...

The first time i stopped at the pivot point just to get a feel fo how much would tilt it, and accidently took a pedal to the knee when i deided to stop (these suckers are steeper than i gae them credit for). Once I felt it out a little bit i tried it again with a lot of steam. WOW, while it was about 4 feet up I fell of the side. i give myself a "C- for bike balance/handling but a "B+" for falling (I rolled well, avoided getting clipped by the bike on the way down [I didn't manage this the last 2 falls I have had] and ended up with some scrapes on the right knee and elbow with a sore shoulder, but pretty good all in all) the bike was fine. I had to ride it out for about 1.5 miles, sore but easy enough.

When I got home I searched for some pictures and found that alot of these things seem to be about knee high in the middle and maybe 3-4 feet at end (off the ground). This one was a little over waist high at the pivot and I could just get under it scraping my head at the end (about 6 foot). I really wish i had a smaller one to practice my oberservations are the thing stared swinging down a LOT slower than i thought it would, and the whole thing takes a lot more timing and balance than I initialy thought it would ( I kinda thought i would just bound up it and it would magically be touching the ground by the time i got to the end) there seems to be a critical half a second where you need to stop and let it swing down then resume going.

anyway i will be going back to tackle it in a few weeks and wanted to hear if any one had any good advice on tackling one, or any stories about falling off

urban_rider64

well, you can always fool around with balance. If your riding through town, find a nice curb and try to stay on it. Even if there is a sidewalk on one side. You can also try track stands, just balancing the bike in one spot. At first it seems impossible to stay there, but soon your body will learn to unconciously balance itself. Good Luck!

heckler

hah yes I feel like I could balance ...I just didn't plan very well, and didn't think I would need to.

also as a seemingly cruel joke the very end is tappered in

streetlightpoet

https://youtube.com/watch?v=B2Ukexr3EOs
My one and only bad experience with a teeter. Sorry for the poor quality, was the first day playing around with the camera and it was starting to get dark by this point, also was playing around with cam position.

biknbrian

Hesitation causes 75% of all accidents. Stop thinking about it and go commit.

TheFlip

I heard that it was close to 83%, true fact

born2bahick

I rode a new one about a month ago, It had two teeters. One to get up on the ladder and a longer one that took you back to the ground. first attempt just after I transitioned from the first teeter to the ladder, I rode off it and just froze. did a cartwheel on to my back with my feet still in the pedals.

Second trip, just after the teeter dropped I rode off the other side but this time I pulled hard on the front
and accelerated off it so that I landed on both wheels.

Third attempt I was sucessful.

biknbrian

I read on the internet not that long ago that 82% of statistics were made up.

scrublover

once you get to the fulcrum point on *most* teeters, you can stop pedaling. but don't stop rolling (as in, don't brake.) let your mo keep you rolling. your weight will start the teeter moving, and then you'll roll on down. there comes a point where the teeter will feel as if it's almost throwing your forward, if it's a steep enough one. it's a weird/cool feeling. a long enough and steep enough one you can even sometimes launch or drop off the end, depending on what sort of landing or whatever is coming up next.

at least that has been my experience with them.

work on stopping at the midpoint and trackstanding after you get the basic teeter ride down.

urban_rider64

Really, last I heard it was 79%, must be all these people on here saying percentages that aren't true