Learning a freecoaster

younggotti wrote:

35 year old rider..recently got a freecoaster for the first time

Tonight I went to the skatepark and understand the disengagement, I didn't engage during a fake at all but...

Does anyone have tips on how to prevent slack after doing normal tricks? For example a simple feeble to a 180 on a quarter (no fakie), I'd go to pedal and almost die because id be trying to get speed for the next rail or trick

Also any tips on coming out of fakie? I run brakes and use them to turn but never realized how much I use pedal pressure to push around...any suggestions on how to speed up the learning process?

My knees will thank you

When you say you did a feeble to 180, do you mean feeble stall? A feeble 180 means you land in fakie by default.

I'm gonna assume you mean the first, and in that case (and pretty much every other), you'll simply have to get used to the slack. It's a completely different hub compared to a cassette, and it rides completely different as well.

I rarely ride my coaster wheel, but I suggest getting into the habit of starting to slowly pedal forwards until you feel the hub engage, then give it "full force" pedaling. It's just another thing to get used to, and you'll get it eventually. You'll need to definitely plan your line better in terms of where you'll pedal and where you can't.

But hey, it's only your first ride, it won't feel so foreign after a while of riding the hub.

After my first month of riding a freecoaster I went back to cassette. The freecoaster made it almost impossible to fakie and do tire taps of any kind. I may get back into it later but right now I'm not into it.

To make sure you don’t get a surprise engagement, before a 180, instead of stop pedaling when you got your good foot forward, push it down and get it back to place by a quarter crank backward.

If you use pedal pressure to get back forward on a cassette, you’re doing it wrong, if you turn right, pull your left hand to initiate the carve, and then pull the other to get around with a slider or a cab.
Also if you get that dialed in a coaster, you’ll be a much better cassette rider if you switch back some day.

Francky wrote:

To make sure you don’t get a surprise engagement, before a 180, instead of stop pedaling when you got your good foot forward, push it down and get it back to place by a quarter crank backward.

If you use pedal pressure to get back forward on a cassette, you’re doing it wrong, if you turn right, pull your left hand to initiate the carve, and then pull the other to get around with a slider or a cab.
Also if you get that dialed in a coaster, you’ll be a much better cassette rider if you switch back some day.

I dont have problem disengaging it for fake tricks

The problem is it disengaging when doing other tricks and then when I go to hit the next trick the slack kills me

Or when coming out of faking and going to pedal away...blasted my knees..maybe too much slack but I'm not sure

younggotti wrote:

I dont have problem disengaging it for fake tricks

The problem is it disengaging when doing other tricks and then when I go to hit the next trick the slack kills me

Or when coming out of faking and going to pedal away...blasted my knees..maybe too much slack but I'm not sure

Everybody deals with this when switching over to a freecoaster for the first time.

The best advice I recieved was " put on some knee pads and go ride."

Knowing how and when to stage your slack will come naturally after riding for a few hours. You can read about it and watch videos for hours on end, but it will not click until you get out there and but in some pedal time anyways

younggotti wrote:

I dont have problem disengaging it for fake tricks

The problem is it disengaging when doing other tricks and then when I go to hit the next trick the slack kills me

Or when coming out of faking and going to pedal away...blasted my knees..maybe too much slack but I'm not sure

Just pedal back until nearly one foot up and the other down and crank forward it will engage a little before both feet on the same level and will crank with power.

Also I’ll add that even with a cassette, if you ride faster than 3 mph and try to crank forward while having your feet on the same level, it will engage when your front foot is down or nearly, and you’ll get zero power from this crank, it’s like coaster slack.
And if a full crank was a clock you got power from 1 to 5, the rest is just about keeping the flow, so if it engages at 5...

The one thing you need you get used to with a coaster is when you ride at turtle speed, as soon as you are at least a little decently fast, it’s no different than a cassette.

There is a certain pressure you will learn to apply so you don't almost die. Coaster takes a bit to get used to, try to remember to pedal calmly without all of your force.

younggotti wrote:

I dont have problem disengaging it for fake tricks

The problem is it disengaging when doing other tricks and then when I go to hit the next trick the slack kills me

Or when coming out of faking and going to pedal away...blasted my knees..maybe too much slack but I'm not sure

That's simply how it is riding a coaster, you'll need to adjust your riding to fit the hub. The slack needs to be there for the hub to work properly.

It’s all about time I’d say when I started to ride freecoaster my knees would always slam into the stem but as time goes by you will naturally pedal slowly to allow it to engage

_bmxican_ wrote:

It’s all about time I’d say when I started to ride freecoaster my knees would always slam into the stem but as time goes by you will naturally pedal slowly to allow it to engage

Pain is such a great teacher.. lol..

Learn fast, and forever through pain lol..

My experience has been freecoasters require you to focus a bit more on balancing and momentum. You have less drag with a freecoaster so it's a bit easier to retain speed but shifting your weight appropriately to roll out of a trick is more important with a coaster.

As you are finding out, you can't rely on pedaling out of certain tricks. My advice would be to work on pure balance tricks that require you to hold your bike upright while moving very slowly or not at all.

I used to do stationary parallel hops on and off parking curbs to help with balance. You will find it requires you to be precise and to hold your balance before you are able to do the next hop or to pedal away.

My practice method would be:
*all stationary

1. Regular hop parallel from ground to curb, then back to ground, regular side.
2. Hop up to curb regular side to hop off opposite side.
3. Hop up opposite, then back to the ground opposite side.
4. Hop up opposite to curb to hop off regular side.

Repeat.

You can throw 180's on and off in the mix to provide extra challenge. Brakes definitely help with all this practice but it can be done sans brakes.

The absolute most important thing to keep in mind when switching over to a coaster is this...be persistent and think of all the new things you can potentially do with a freecoaster. You will get used to it in time if you choose to.

Pedal pressure is really nice to have though, thats why I have gone from freecoaster to planetary freecoaster.
Check out the Freenight Planetary coaster if you feel the struggle of learning the coaster quirks are not worth the time spent.

Bulletpup wrote:

My experience has been freecoasters require you to focus a bit more on balancing and momentum. You have less drag with a freecoaster so it's a bit easier to retain speed but shifting your weight appropriately to roll out of a trick is more important with a coaster.

As you are finding out, you can't rely on pedaling out of certain tricks. My advice would be to work on pure balance tricks that require you to hold your bike upright while moving very slowly or not at all.

I used to do stationary parallel hops on and off parking curbs to help with balance. You will find it requires you to be precise and to hold your balance before you are able to do the next hop or to pedal away.

My practice method would be:
*all stationary

1. Regular hop parallel from ground to curb, then back to ground, regular side.
2. Hop up to curb regular side to hop off opposite side.
3. Hop up opposite, then back to the ground opposite side.
4. Hop up opposite to curb to hop off regular side.

Repeat.

You can throw 180's on and off in the mix to provide extra challenge. Brakes definitely help with all this practice but it can be done sans brakes.

The absolute most important thing to keep in mind when switching over to a coaster is this...be persistent and think of all the new things you can potentially do with a freecoaster. You will get used to it in time if you choose to.

Pedal pressure is really nice to have though, thats why I have gone from freecoaster to planetary freecoaster.
Check out the Freenight Planetary coaster if you feel the struggle of learning the coaster quirks are not worth the time spent.

Thank you, I'll try that next time its warm enough to ride street

I was hitting a grind box, turning around on a quarter and then pedaling to hit a rail to wedge but when I'd pedal towards the rail, the slack was killing me

Needless to say I have 2 black and blue knees..a black and blue elbow and a messed up wrist right now

Bulletpup wrote:

My experience has been freecoasters require you to focus a bit more on balancing and momentum. You have less drag with a freecoaster so it's a bit easier to retain speed but shifting your weight appropriately to roll out of a trick is more important with a coaster.

As you are finding out, you can't rely on pedaling out of certain tricks. My advice would be to work on pure balance tricks that require you to hold your bike upright while moving very slowly or not at all.

I used to do stationary parallel hops on and off parking curbs to help with balance. You will find it requires you to be precise and to hold your balance before you are able to do the next hop or to pedal away.

My practice method would be:
*all stationary

1. Regular hop parallel from ground to curb, then back to ground, regular side.
2. Hop up to curb regular side to hop off opposite side.
3. Hop up opposite, then back to the ground opposite side.
4. Hop up opposite to curb to hop off regular side.

Repeat.

You can throw 180's on and off in the mix to provide extra challenge. Brakes definitely help with all this practice but it can be done sans brakes.

The absolute most important thing to keep in mind when switching over to a coaster is this...be persistent and think of all the new things you can potentially do with a freecoaster. You will get used to it in time if you choose to.

Pedal pressure is really nice to have though, thats why I have gone from freecoaster to planetary freecoaster.
Check out the Freenight Planetary coaster if you feel the struggle of learning the coaster quirks are not worth the time spent.

younggotti wrote:

Thank you, I'll try that next time its warm enough to ride street

I was hitting a grind box, turning around on a quarter and then pedaling to hit a rail to wedge but when I'd pedal towards the rail, the slack was killing me

Needless to say I have 2 black and blue knees..a black and blue elbow and a messed up wrist right now

Freecoaster slack is definitely a knee killer at first. It's very hard to break cassette habits but once you do, cassettes feel alien. I personally feel limited when I ride a cassette now that I am so used to coasters. I can still hop on a cassette and do well fakie-wise but I dont think I will ever buy another cassette.

My favorite things about freecoasters is they allow the rider to increase fakie distances and speed.

One thing I am not fond of though...freecoasters and no brakes...that is a scary combo. Lol

Bulletpup wrote:

My experience has been freecoasters require you to focus a bit more on balancing and momentum. You have less drag with a freecoaster so it's a bit easier to retain speed but shifting your weight appropriately to roll out of a trick is more important with a coaster.

As you are finding out, you can't rely on pedaling out of certain tricks. My advice would be to work on pure balance tricks that require you to hold your bike upright while moving very slowly or not at all.

I used to do stationary parallel hops on and off parking curbs to help with balance. You will find it requires you to be precise and to hold your balance before you are able to do the next hop or to pedal away.

My practice method would be:
*all stationary

1. Regular hop parallel from ground to curb, then back to ground, regular side.
2. Hop up to curb regular side to hop off opposite side.
3. Hop up opposite, then back to the ground opposite side.
4. Hop up opposite to curb to hop off regular side.

Repeat.

You can throw 180's on and off in the mix to provide extra challenge. Brakes definitely help with all this practice but it can be done sans brakes.

The absolute most important thing to keep in mind when switching over to a coaster is this...be persistent and think of all the new things you can potentially do with a freecoaster. You will get used to it in time if you choose to.

Pedal pressure is really nice to have though, thats why I have gone from freecoaster to planetary freecoaster.
Check out the Freenight Planetary coaster if you feel the struggle of learning the coaster quirks are not worth the time spent.

younggotti wrote:

Thank you, I'll try that next time its warm enough to ride street

I was hitting a grind box, turning around on a quarter and then pedaling to hit a rail to wedge but when I'd pedal towards the rail, the slack was killing me

Needless to say I have 2 black and blue knees..a black and blue elbow and a messed up wrist right now

Bulletpup wrote:

Freecoaster slack is definitely a knee killer at first. It's very hard to break cassette habits but once you do, cassettes feel alien. I personally feel limited when I ride a cassette now that I am so used to coasters. I can still hop on a cassette and do well fakie-wise but I dont think I will ever buy another cassette.

My favorite things about freecoasters is they allow the rider to increase fakie distances and speed.

One thing I am not fond of though...freecoasters and no brakes...that is a scary combo. Lol

Haha yep, I grew up when everyone rode brakes except troy mcmurray, I cant picture not having brakes

I asked a question that I realized was stupid a few minutes later so I edited this my bad

You'll get used to it, just stick with it. I started out on one for my first time at 35 too. It's been almost a year now and I got it down pretty well. Lots of fun! Good luck, dude!

dead goon wrote:

You'll get used to it, just stick with it. I started out on one for my first time at 35 too. It's been almost a year now and I got it down pretty well. Lots of fun! Good luck, dude!

Thanks man, I need to put in some more hours....hopefully this northeast weather continues to be decent

Bulletpup wrote:

My experience has been freecoasters require you to focus a bit more on balancing and momentum. You have less drag with a freecoaster so it's a bit easier to retain speed but shifting your weight appropriately to roll out of a trick is more important with a coaster.

As you are finding out, you can't rely on pedaling out of certain tricks. My advice would be to work on pure balance tricks that require you to hold your bike upright while moving very slowly or not at all.

I used to do stationary parallel hops on and off parking curbs to help with balance. You will find it requires you to be precise and to hold your balance before you are able to do the next hop or to pedal away.

My practice method would be:
*all stationary

1. Regular hop parallel from ground to curb, then back to ground, regular side.
2. Hop up to curb regular side to hop off opposite side.
3. Hop up opposite, then back to the ground opposite side.
4. Hop up opposite to curb to hop off regular side.

Repeat.

You can throw 180's on and off in the mix to provide extra challenge. Brakes definitely help with all this practice but it can be done sans brakes.

The absolute most important thing to keep in mind when switching over to a coaster is this...be persistent and think of all the new things you can potentially do with a freecoaster. You will get used to it in time if you choose to.

Pedal pressure is really nice to have though, thats why I have gone from freecoaster to planetary freecoaster.
Check out the Freenight Planetary coaster if you feel the struggle of learning the coaster quirks are not worth the time spent.

am I understanding this right. If I’m coasting backwards I could use pedal pressure and not have to half cab out?

Bulletpup wrote:

My experience has been freecoasters require you to focus a bit more on balancing and momentum. You have less drag with a freecoaster so it's a bit easier to retain speed but shifting your weight appropriately to roll out of a trick is more important with a coaster.

As you are finding out, you can't rely on pedaling out of certain tricks. My advice would be to work on pure balance tricks that require you to hold your bike upright while moving very slowly or not at all.

I used to do stationary parallel hops on and off parking curbs to help with balance. You will find it requires you to be precise and to hold your balance before you are able to do the next hop or to pedal away.

My practice method would be:
*all stationary

1. Regular hop parallel from ground to curb, then back to ground, regular side.
2. Hop up to curb regular side to hop off opposite side.
3. Hop up opposite, then back to the ground opposite side.
4. Hop up opposite to curb to hop off regular side.

Repeat.

You can throw 180's on and off in the mix to provide extra challenge. Brakes definitely help with all this practice but it can be done sans brakes.

The absolute most important thing to keep in mind when switching over to a coaster is this...be persistent and think of all the new things you can potentially do with a freecoaster. You will get used to it in time if you choose to.

Pedal pressure is really nice to have though, thats why I have gone from freecoaster to planetary freecoaster.
Check out the Freenight Planetary coaster if you feel the struggle of learning the coaster quirks are not worth the time spent.

brettdotcom14 wrote:

am I understanding this right. If I’m coasting backwards I could use pedal pressure and not have to half cab out?

With the planetary freecoaster

brettdotcom14 wrote:

am I understanding this right. If I’m coasting backwards I could use pedal pressure and not have to half cab out?

You could if you had very little slack or if you were like halfway between engaged and not engaged, or you could just do a full pedal out but it's not something your gonna want to do.

brettdotcom14 wrote:

am I understanding this right. If I’m coasting backwards I could use pedal pressure and not have to half cab out?

you can, if you can push your front foot down far enough to engage the coaster. will feel awkward due to slack but u can.

Bulletpup wrote:

My experience has been freecoasters require you to focus a bit more on balancing and momentum. You have less drag with a freecoaster so it's a bit easier to retain speed but shifting your weight appropriately to roll out of a trick is more important with a coaster.

As you are finding out, you can't rely on pedaling out of certain tricks. My advice would be to work on pure balance tricks that require you to hold your bike upright while moving very slowly or not at all.

I used to do stationary parallel hops on and off parking curbs to help with balance. You will find it requires you to be precise and to hold your balance before you are able to do the next hop or to pedal away.

My practice method would be:
*all stationary

1. Regular hop parallel from ground to curb, then back to ground, regular side.
2. Hop up to curb regular side to hop off opposite side.
3. Hop up opposite, then back to the ground opposite side.
4. Hop up opposite to curb to hop off regular side.

Repeat.

You can throw 180's on and off in the mix to provide extra challenge. Brakes definitely help with all this practice but it can be done sans brakes.

The absolute most important thing to keep in mind when switching over to a coaster is this...be persistent and think of all the new things you can potentially do with a freecoaster. You will get used to it in time if you choose to.

Pedal pressure is really nice to have though, thats why I have gone from freecoaster to planetary freecoaster.
Check out the Freenight Planetary coaster if you feel the struggle of learning the coaster quirks are not worth the time spent.

brettdotcom14 wrote:

am I understanding this right. If I’m coasting backwards I could use pedal pressure and not have to half cab out?

Not with the planetary coaster but with a regular coaster you could ease into it. It would have to be very slow for it to not buck you and mess up your fakie.

Bulletpup wrote:

My experience has been freecoasters require you to focus a bit more on balancing and momentum. You have less drag with a freecoaster so it's a bit easier to retain speed but shifting your weight appropriately to roll out of a trick is more important with a coaster.

As you are finding out, you can't rely on pedaling out of certain tricks. My advice would be to work on pure balance tricks that require you to hold your bike upright while moving very slowly or not at all.

I used to do stationary parallel hops on and off parking curbs to help with balance. You will find it requires you to be precise and to hold your balance before you are able to do the next hop or to pedal away.

My practice method would be:
*all stationary

1. Regular hop parallel from ground to curb, then back to ground, regular side.
2. Hop up to curb regular side to hop off opposite side.
3. Hop up opposite, then back to the ground opposite side.
4. Hop up opposite to curb to hop off regular side.

Repeat.

You can throw 180's on and off in the mix to provide extra challenge. Brakes definitely help with all this practice but it can be done sans brakes.

The absolute most important thing to keep in mind when switching over to a coaster is this...be persistent and think of all the new things you can potentially do with a freecoaster. You will get used to it in time if you choose to.

Pedal pressure is really nice to have though, thats why I have gone from freecoaster to planetary freecoaster.
Check out the Freenight Planetary coaster if you feel the struggle of learning the coaster quirks are not worth the time spent.

brettdotcom14 wrote:

am I understanding this right. If I’m coasting backwards I could use pedal pressure and not have to half cab out?

HtownGetDown wrote:

With the planetary freecoaster

Actually it would just engage for a moment and then disengage shortly after. Once you are moving backwards the pawls kind of fold up. This only applies to the planetary coaster.

brettdotcom14 wrote:

am I understanding this right. If I’m coasting backwards I could use pedal pressure and not have to half cab out?

HtownGetDown wrote:

With the planetary freecoaster

Bulletpup wrote:

Actually it would just engage for a moment and then disengage shortly after. Once you are moving backwards the pawls kind of fold up. This only applies to the planetary coaster.

That hub is a true mind boggler