Frequently Asked Unicycling Questions
vale.rocks
vale.rocks
At my best, I could ride forward with no problem, but never quite mastered how to remain in one spot by rocking back and forth.
The answer to the "Does it hurt?" question is very accurate. There's just no getting around the fact that the saddle is going to be mildly uncomfortable all the time, and more than mildly uncomfortable the longer you ride.
But I was surprised that one question does not appear among his FAQs, because it is one that comes readily to mind to me.
"Does it help with the ladies?"
The answer is a resounding no. It does not help with the ladies.
Learning that unicycles don’t have suspension has made that memory even more surprising. I want to understand the motivations, which were not addressed in this FAQ.
As well as this, it'd waste energy, which would tire the rider faster and eat hops. There is also the case that most suspension solutions aren't really designed to handle the sort of aggressive lateral torsional stresses of the entire weight of the rider and their movement in the way that unicycles dish it out.
As someone who goes along gravel paths with relative frequency on their unicycle, it isn't too bad. I'm not sure if the dirt bike-style unicycle you're referring to was an electric one, but most municycles (mountain unicycles) have decently thick tyres to handle some of the jolts. Take the model I have as an example: https://www.krisholm.com/en/gear/unicycle/kh27.5
Thanks for the comment. I'll make an update to provide a tad more information on suspension.
Perhaps I'm being dim, but I don't get why this would be bad; it just sounds like the definition of what suspension is!
Edit: I was briefly confused by the "relative ... to the pedals" bit here as well, but only 'cos I was thinking of the type where the pedals are directly attached to the wheel.
Those also exist? I was curious and checked your faq but it is not mentioned. You should add it!
(In the UK you are required by law to have working brakes on a bicycle. My unicycle had no brakes at all! Though slowing down was never a problem with the fixed wheel drive.)
The signs on the rim of a brake that has been used is frowned upon by o̶b̶s̶e̶s̶s̶e̶d̶ passionate fixie drivers.
In the UK a bike is required to have 2 brakes, and a fixed wheel counts a single brake, i.e. you can't ride a fixie with no extra brake but you can with a single brake
But are you required to have them on a unicycle?
I'm wary with this post that I've highlighted a flaw with my implementation, which is that items overlap on smaller screens when headings have small amounts of text. I was aware this could be an issue but hadn’t bothered to address it, as there were no sections with such minimal amounts of text.
If you're interested in the implementation, I've made notes here: https://vale.rocks/posts/the-implementation-of-this-site#scr...
Later in life I made a concerted effort to learn how to manual a bicycle, and after a couple seasons of regular practice I gave up, I never really got the knack for it.
I’ve learned to appreciate simplicity in machines. For a long time I thought of a skateboard as the simplest one for transport but this got me thinking.
Where I live you're even permitted to take them on the bus/train, assuming you're not being too much of a pain. Unicycles are specifically outlined in the terms.
Unfortunately it's just starting to be icy here so I probably won't be able to make much use of it for several months, but at least it's something to look forward to!
Well over a decade later I'm thinking I probably should have had more space to move around, and start with moving, not balancing. I did it in the garage because I was terrified to fall and I could grab the walls or rafters.
As searching for "luny cycle" doesn't bring up anything relevant.
However, there this, which looks like an interesting take on the unicycle concept:
https://www.municycle.com.au/catalogue/B-CIRCUS-HOPP20_item....
I have used the technique to teach other people, and it works surprisingly well.
Sex, aggression, and humour: responses to unicycling Sam Shuster compares men and women’s responses to the sight of a unicyclist
> Young men in old cars were very aggressive, acting as if to frighten me off the road—they lowered their windows and shouted abusively, waved their arms, and hooted. I did not see this with women drivers and older men in more expensive cars.
I've had so many slurs, usually of the homophobic variety, shouted at me from cars. Some have felt the need to swerve their vehicle erratically at me.
> They tried to put me off balance by suddenly shouting, jumping out of hiding, kicking a football, throwing stones, or riding a bicycle at me; a few asked for a ride in addition to aggressive behaviour.
I've experienced plenty of teens that are aggressive and then proceed to ask for a go.
The positive experiences far outnumber the negatives overall, though.
He was riding across country (US) and his setup was amazing, his wheel was maybe 700x35, his things were packed under his seat.
He had a WEB site but sadly I lost the link :(
When we ran into him, it was before 2005 or so. But the unicycle look like it. He was riding across the US.
If I find the site I will post it here.
You can overtake bicycles easily going uphill, but downhill is hard on your knees!
some of those slopes I would have problems just hiking down (the scree, the pain)!