Recreational & Family - Unicycles? Cool!

So I went to my LBS over the weekend to get some new gloves, and hanging from the ceiling were three different unicycles...

I never even pondered trying one but the idea intrigued me. Has anyone here tried them and how hard are they to ride?

IMO, impossible, but I think if you practised they would be okay. You need very good balance too.

My wife bought me a unicycle for Father's Day. I practiced every day for 15-20 minutes between rows of chairs. It took a long time, but each day I could feel improvement. At age 55 it certainly improved my balance. During July and August I didn't try riding it, but picked it up again in Sept. then in about a month I was riding across the room. I took it outside on the road and pedaled off for 200 feet right away! Since then I've worked on turns including figure 8's. You can Google "unicyle" and find many great sites to help you get started. As an Elementary Principal, my goal was to ride it on Halloween for the kids, and I made it. Pretty cool.

I was thinking of picking one up to ride in the winter. I thought it would definitely be fun to ride in the Chicago city streets in the snow. I was just talking to some women about where I could get one this morning.

I think if you can ride rollers, you could definitely ride a unicycle.

Koffee

Have you seen those Unicycle videos with the guys who travel across the world mountain unicycling? Its CRAZY!

Haven't seen it. Does he have SPD's?

Koffee

check this video outhttp://gprime.net/video.php/crazyunicycling

During the Salmon Days Parade here a couple of months ago, there was a unicycle team from one of the local schools.

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/20041002-salmon_days/pict0003.jpg

The most impressive thing was not them riding in the parade but the fact that they were balancing for a good half-hour without moving while waiting in the starting area.

check this video outhttp://gprime.net/video.php/crazyunicycling

Crazy video, man.

Koffee

That is nuts! I told my girlfriend to get me a beginner one for Xmas! they look sooooooo fun!

i bought one. i only ride it when i have time from school and work. (which is not much) i can only get about 5 or 6 feet before i fall on my ass. i think i can go far, but i just have to get over the intial fear of falling on my ass and the thought of me falling soon because i didnt fall 2 feet before. its a lot of fun. i still cant do any tricks yet, but my goal is to be able to ride around the block when summer comes. i got my on ebay last summer. its a 24" (probably the reason why its harder for me to ride on) and its made by a company called Gravity (http://www.gravitybikes.com/). my advice to you guys is that you shouldnt give up so easily. its hard as hell. when you first get it, you might be spending the first half hour just figuring out how to sit on the seat while holding on to the railing or chairs for dear life. and you WILL fall, so dont let it discourage you. and you also want to get a good one, cuz the cheap ones are harder to learn on, plus you want something to be there after you get past the learning stage. and i guess the only other thing left to say is when you're learning, put all your weight on your ass, not on one pedal, sit straight, look ahead and ride away. and pay attention to HOW you fall. if your bike flys off infront of you, you're pedaling too fast, you need to slow down a bit, if it goes off behind you, you're pedaling too slow. dont worry about it falling down to the side because that just means you're putting too much weight/leaning on that side. hope that helps! and yea.. just do a search on google for "unicycle" like Long Strider said and you'll be get tons of information on it.

get the Movie QuickSilver those guys didnt need a Unicycle they ride TenSpeeds like one

Go totally hardcore!

http://www.unicycle.com/images/catalog//UW/UW24.jpg

And if you really have the guts, try one of these with some downhill action!

http://www.unicycle.com/images/catalog/iw/IWY20.jpg

Go totally hardcore!

http://www.unicycle.com/images/catalog//UW/UW24.jpg

And if you really have the guts, try one of these with some downhill action!

http://www.unicycle.com/images/catalog/iw/IWY20.jpg


Khuon, I laughed so hard the liquid came out of my mouth!

That's pretty funny stuff. :lol:

Koffee

Hey look there is my tires...

If you ride rollers, would that make you a better unicyclist?

Koffee

If you ride rollers, would that make you a better unicyclist?

Only if you ride them handless... ;)

If you ride rollers, would that make you a better unicyclist?

Koffee
I ride unicycles and rollers (no handed too). Unicycling was much harder. I rode (tried) my uni each time my son worked on riding his two wheeler (he was 4 at the time). Now I can ride around the block - I've done a little dirt riding, but I have no intrest in learning it further.

How about riding rollers clipless on a unicycle?
;)

Ok, now I'm just being silly. :D

Koffee

Last month I was riding El Tour de Tucson and there were three or four people riding the event on mountain unicycles. They road 66 miles on those things. It was really cool seeing that group riding down the road.

Unicycle.com sells "Touring Unicycles"...I bet that would be fun on long trips! I wonder how you'd carry all your gear...maybe on a trailer with only one wheel...wait, that would make a bicycle. Scratch that.

As a kid there were three of us who rode unicycles all over the neighborhood. We'd ride a couple of miles down to the jr high school, goof around and ride home for supper.

I ride a fixed gear some and I see a kinship between it and the unicycle because there's no coasting and your legs are more fluidly involved in the workings. Both are a lot of fun.

How about riding rollers clipless on a unicycle?
;)

Ok, now I'm just being silly. :D

Koffee

alright, so my search for a video of "unicylcle on rollers" landed me here. anybody yet?

Riding a unicycle really is very intuitive. It takes about a month of practising against a wall and short distances before it 'clicks', and then it's pretty easy to do.

Took me about a month when I was in College over 40 years ago. I can't ride one now but I believe relearning to ride one should not take as long.