There’s this “Lunicycle” on Kickstarter.
Claimed to be “The Unicycle for Everyone”. 
maybe “The Ultimate Wheel for Everyone”?.. as if there could ever be.
I’m not an ultimate wheel owner so perhaps not a good judge, but the leg guards sound cool. But what about the oval wheel? It’s meant to help with the dead spot when the cranks are vertical. Perhaps true, but any opinions on this?
Some of it reads like an infomercial parody:
I’m sure it be fun to play with.
Basically an ultimate wheel. I like the leg guards but not sure about the oval wheel shape.
The oval wheel reminds me of the O centric chain ring which some road cyclists have experimented with.
But I think an oval shaped wheel would create two high spots on the wheel causing two interruptions per wheel revolution which would lead to a very staggered rolling movement.
I wonder about uneven tyre wear and increased stress on the knees.
I agree with Terry regarding the leg guards for general cycling. They look to be very effective but they might be a hindrance when it comes to doing some tricks.
It’s an interesting idea…
Are they running a hard rubber wheel or does a wire bead and tread actually handle going into an oval? Seems like it would oddly distort the wheel.
This looks like a great way to learn to ride an ultimate wheel but common dude that isn’t really a new unicycle type any more than the solowheel was. It’s like adding training wheels to a bike and claiming you invented the L-bicycle when all you did was invent training wheels. It doesn’t look like he even did enough research to know that he is making an ultimate wheel not a standard unicycle.
That being said, I liked the leg support idea quite a lot. I noticed that the way they are set up lowers the rider’s center of gravity similar to a bc wheel to make riding easier. I’m guessing the wheel being oval would be super annoying in the long run and I doubt it affects the learning process much in the short run. It’s definitely something I want to see some actual unicyclists review. I kind of want to build my own without the oval wheel if I ever find time.
My thoughts are the same, to be sure. Love the leg guards as an idea for dealing with that most central difficulty of riding an ultimate. Not so sure about the oval wheel.
But I figure a crazy idea is worth trying. So the best of luck to them!
It looks like a pretty standard tire to me. I imagine the tire would wear really uneven but it shouldn’t have much problem with a small bit of distortion.
Given that there is no seat or axle, the wheel doesn’t need to be perfectly round as it’s not going to throw you up and down. The intent of having the oval wheel is the opposite of what you’re saying you think the result is, and I think an oval wheel, if done right, could make the uni roll easier.
I do question whether the Lunicycle will make it easier to learn, as I think a seat is important. Without a seat, the learner will get worn out too quickly, just like if you were to ride seat in front for a long distance, though maybe it’s not much of a difference as most beginners have a problem with putting enough weight on the seat anyways.
So it looks to me like the leg guards make riding this basically the same as riding an ordinary unicycle standing up - the leg guards press against your legs, instead of the seat.
Is there anybody who thinks that riding a unicycle standing up is easier than riding seated? Are there classes anywhere that teach riding this way? Why does the inventor think that this thing is easier to learn to ride?
Maybe he’s aiming for the huge market of aspiring unicyclists with hemorrhoids?
Personally, I think that, potentially, this could be very good indeed.
If the inventors claims are accurate i.e. that complete beginners can ride this thing in a very short amount of practice; then it’s clearly going to remove the single biggest obstacle to unicycling- assuming, of course, that the skills acquired from riding it, translate well to riding stanard unicycles.
I don’t think any of us here, can necessarily offer much comment about the lunicycle based on our extensive experience on unicycles, simply because the lunicycle probably doesn’t handle anything like a seated unicycle- unless and until we actually try out a lunicycle.
It’s an easy assumption to make that a lunicycle will tire out legs, as we know what an effort riding an ultimate wheel or seat dragging a unicycle feels like- but, again, the lunicycle isn’t either of those things.
Riding an ultimate wheel or seat dragging a uni involves tremendous force to keep the wheel vertical- countering that force can only be done via the legs, which is probably a big factor in them getting tired.
On a seated unicycle, that force is countered by the seatpost/seat being held vertical. On a lunicycle it’s countered by the calf pads. I don’t know how that feels, having never tried a lunicycle, but it could well be that it works like the seatpost/seat on a standard uni? In which case, there may well be a lot less strain on the legs that you’d expect.
Certainly, when going up a appropriate incline on my seated unis, such that my weight is off the seat almost completely (but the post is still stabalized by the thighs), leg strain seems not much more than if I sit down on the same incline.
If the lunicycle is a goer, it’s quite exiting to think of it being scaled up to a usable commuting wheel (26/29) because then you’d have a usable device that is considerably more portable and light than a unicycle with a seat, and which lacks the necessity for the considerable amount of training required to master an ultimate wheel.
Hello Dave, you make some good points there, especially when you mention the possibility of the calves being used to stabilize the wheel.
You’re missing the point. All he has to do is convince other people that it’s easier to learn to ride.
Ignoring whether or not it’s easier than riding a normal uni the leg pads are quite a clever bit of thinking - presumably as claimed it makes riding an ultimate wheel a lot easier. Is it likely to help with learning to ride an UW with standard pedals, or would it still be completely different?
I’ve just posted an invitaion on the kickstarter page for the inventor to check this thread out, and, hopefully, get involved i.e.
[i]"Hi inventist,
I’m a long standing member of the unicyclist.com discussion board: I believe it’s the biggest and longest running unicycle forum in the world.
Your lunicycle is the subject of a discussion there, and I’m thinking that it would be good for you to check it out and contribute some facts, as, at the moment, people seem to be coming to, possibly incorrect, conclusions about the lunicycle based purely on their experience of riding seated unicycles.
I post there as ‘onewheeldave’ and the relevant thread is-
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116605#post1638370
I’ve got a few questions about the lunicycle and it would be great if you could get involved with the thread :)"[/i]
To me it looks more as though he has sufficient understanding of marketing to know that it if you want to market a product to a wide audience then you don’t use specialist terminology.
We all know that it’s a UW. To his target market, though, it’s a unicycle.
+1. I’m not interested enough to support the project financially, but if it goes into production and I meet someone at a convention with one then I’ll be very keen to have a go.
I wonder if the pedal mount is a standard 9/16"x20tpi. If so, the pedal/leg brace piece could be used on any UW. I like the concept, and from my experience on the UW I could see it making a huge difference. It would be cool to install the Lunicycle pedals on my 29" UW.
Looked back at the page and you are definitely correct, somehow I missed part of the article.
It looks to me like they would be able to do that, I certainly hope so. I noticed that there appears to be more than one hole for them to mount in. If this is true it would also that would mean you could switch to normal pedals after you got comfortable with the trainers.
It looks to me like there’s 2 holes so the effective crank length can be altered easily. In the video the pedals are in the outer pair of holes, which would make sense, as that gives a long ‘crank length’ and therefore greater control.
And, from the vids and info I’ve seen, I don’t think he’s regarding the calf supports as ‘trainers’. I think that as it is is pretty much how it’s intended to be i.e. a device in itself, neither standard unicycle nor ultimate wheel, but a new type of unicycle.
Which, if the claims the inventor makes are true (that it’s easier to ride than a unicycle) would be completely valid, as he’s basically invented something far lighter and simpler than a trad seated unicycle, but considerably more practical for travel/commuting, than the ultimate wheel.
And if, as seems to be implied, the thing is also way easier on the legs than an ultimate wheel, then I can’t see many people regarding the calf supports as ‘trainers’, because, much as it’s impressive to see ultimate wheels in action, I’ve not really seen anyone doing distance or commuting on them 
It will have standard threads