Unicycles...anyone ride?

[Philpug]

I am not looking to join circus or any plans to juggle but I hear they are great for balance. Anyone ride or spend time on one? They are farely inexpensive on Ebay to pick up a starter one.

One video I found on "How to":

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I think it would br awesome to learn how to ride a unicycle. My guy rode up on that chair last season with a judge who loved to unicycle said it was great for balance. When i was in 6th grade we had a choice to learn to ride the unicycle or juggle. I picked juggling but wished i could have learned both.

 

[luliski]

I have my daughter's in the garage. She started at around age 10 and was pretty good. I've tried to learn, but just can't get it!

 

[Lauren]

I got one when I was young...asked my parents for one for my 12th-ish birthday. I got good enough to ride it up and down the street, but thats about it. Never excelled at it. I learned by using an old pair of crutches as training wheels, eventually only needing them to start off, then ditching them all together. It still hangs in my parents garage, maybe someday I'll take it out again.

 

[luliski]

When my daughter was learning, she would start at the kitchen counter and ride to the the living room, crashing into an armchair to dismount

 

[neonorchid]

I don't ride one, never have. However, at the park I live by, the Wissahickon Gorge aka Valley Green which has 50 miles of trail. I've come across two guys who ride off-road unicycles. They don't ride together but both ride knobby tire unicycles on the technical mountain bike/hiking trails in the woods flanking the Wissahickon Creek. There is a very old repurposed road, a flat'ish clay/gravel "bridal path", Forbidden Drive, which runs parallel to the creek where you'd expect them to ride, not in the rocky hills! Impressive sight!

 

[Philpug]

I don't ride one, never have. However, at the park I live by, the Wissahickon Gorge aka Valley Green which has 50 miles of trail. I've come across two guys who ride off-road unicycles. They don't ride together but both ride knobby tire unicycles on the technical mountain bike/hiking trails in the woods flanking the Wissahickon Creek. There is a very old repurposed road, a flat'ish clay/gravel "bridal path", Forbidden Drive, which runs parallel to the creek where you'd expect them to ride, not in the rocky hills! Impressive sight!

I think I saw those guys when I rode there back in the 90's.

 

[neonorchid]

I think I saw those guys when I rode there back in the 90's.

Good chance you did, the older, taller skinner guy is a doctor who's been at it for years. He lives in Germantown and usually rides between the Lincoln Drive trailhead (end closer to the city) and the Valley Green Inn so if that's the area, you probably saw him.
Back in the early 00's there were two younger guys who rode unicycles around Lloyd Hall (community rec center at the start of boathouse row), but those guys also juggled and spun fire ended batons, real circus performer types. Well, you know you lived here, in this city nothing is ever what it appears to be. LOL.

 

[Tom K.]

I've got one I still ride a few times a year. LIke @elemmac, I started around 12 (1971!).

For awhile, I rode it out to the irrigation pump every time I needed to mess with it, but now we're on a pressurized line, so no more pump, and I realize now that I didn't ride it all last year.

I put a knobby tire on it once and went on some mtb trails, but that was dumb, because, well, NO COASTING! Kinda sucked the fun out of that idea.

Unicycles will definitely improve your balance for unicycling, but I'm uncertain about much transfer to other activities.

 

[crgildart]

@patmoore !! Paging Pat Moore!

Guy I knew back NY had a 10 footer. He rode it in parades.

 

[Walks]

First post here, long timer on Epic. I learned as a kid as did many in our neighborhood since my friend had one. I still have my Schwinn 24" that I bought in 1980 which I polished up recently and take out once in awhile. We had a 6 footer we rode as well that I believe is hanging in my parent's garage. Needs work, though.

 

[Philpug]

So, 20" or 24" which is a better one to start with?

 

[Walks]

I'm far from an expert, but I learned on a 20" as a 12 year old. I'm not sure it would make much difference to learn. The 24" is definitely better for cruising around the neighborhood. I remember taking about a 5 mile ride with a buddy once. We were a bit sore in a certain area for awhile. His mom had to pick us up.

 

[Tricia]

Found this handy web site. http://www.unicycle.com/learning-to-ride/

 

[Chris Walker]

My friend Charlie had one when I was a kid. I never could get the hang of it. I didn't have any better luck with the pogo stick either. I was a pretty klutzy kid. Some things never change...

 

[Lorenzzo]

Up with licorice, he's gettin' a little scratchy
Slap him up and gag his ass, with a handful of taffy
Put him on a unicycle, and send him down a hill...

-Freestyle Fellowship

 

[Core2]

We have a guy here in Phoenix that does off-road unicycling. I've seen him up on the top of some of the mountains I hike hopping down rocks and stuff. Seems like a good way to end up in a cholla cactus but he is pretty damn good at it.