We’ve all seen this lady, because she’s apparently been performing with the same 7 footer for 30 years. Her trusted giraffe has been stolen. Please be on the lookout. As the article states, it was custom made and she is not doing well with a loaner. That’s understandable. If you have been performing a difficult act with the same custom giraffe for that long, anything else would feel wrong.
The theft is awful. Is that really a seven footer? It sure looks taller in the video linked to the article.
The original story had a link with more information and a pic of a person of interest:
Those of you in the San Francisco and surrounding areas, keep a sharp lookout.
Performing difficult tricks on an unfamiliar unicycle is tough. In that sense, a unicycle is a bit like some musical instruments.
I think it’s a pretty good bet that her giraffe was taken by mistake and will reappear, but if it doesn’t, the people who put up the reward money and/or generous NBA fans on the Internet could get her a Nimbus Performer delivered in a few days, which would probably be good enough once she got used to it. Either that or she’ll get used to the replacement one she’s already performing on.
Was her original giraffe made by Tom Miller? If she ordered one from him now, that might generate some publicity for him, but as far as I know, Tommi’s giraffes don’t disassemble for travel, and they seem to take a while to build.
Song - No, it was not a Tom Miller unicycle. I know that because she called him inquiring about a repair on her 7 footer a while back. Due to schedule logistics, nothing came of it. Tommi does make giraffes in multiple pieces when requested. That’s not a big deal. Many of his customers are traveling performers, so that is a common request.
I will keep my eyes open for talk of any 7’ unicycles, but I am not in the Bay Area. I think if that bag was taken by accident, it would have been reported the same day. In the linked article, they said the unicycle is valued at $25,000. It’s possible that it could be insured for that much, but surely didn’t cost that much to be built for her.
From what I can make out in photos, it looks like the unicycles I’ve seen other Chinese performers use, which means it was most likely handmade in China. It has a block halfway up the frame that looks like a take-apart addition, that was possibly not part of the original unicycle. I imagine it would need to split more than once to fit in a standard suitcase.
If the unicycle doesn’t get returned, she will probably have to struggle through with a stand-in uni until a new one can be made. High cost will probably be associated with that due to the time factor. I hope she knows the specs she needs to have it be the right fit for her. I can imagine trying to do something as precise as her bowl-kicking act with a different length frame, and probably different length cranks as well. That’s probably very disorienting!
Unicycles don’t have value in the world of pawn or resale, so why keep it? It’s a rare unicycle, so if someone from “the community” finds out about it, this could be bad for whoever is in possession of it. I hope if surfaces and gets returned to its rightful owner.
It’s not even “the community” at this point, I’m in the UK and even I heard about it, and not from my unicycling friends, so that’ll be a tough beast to pawn. I’m sure she’ll have it back soon!
$25k might sound insanely expensive to us normal folk (even if like John said it’s the insurance cost as opposed to the actual monetary value) but if she’s been touring for 30 years with it she’s obviously gotten her money’s worth. Having known classical musicians who had to re-mortgage their house for an instrument upgrade I can definitely appreciate the value in getting the perfect tool for your job, and how soul-destroying it can be to lose it 
The thief might try to sell or pawn the uni at a location much further away than the Bay area, so as to avoid getting caught, or because they can’t find a local buyer.
We had a thief who tried to sell some regular unicycles to somebody I knew who was 200 miles away from where they originally were stolen:
Her ride will be replaced.
Her ride will be replaced.
What a nice story! I’m sure it won’t cost $25,000 to replace, especially if being built in China. 
But not the Kings. 
Ours is a smaller market, and our team is not the best in the league (but as of recently also not the worst). For those of you not local to here:
Golden State Warriors - San Jose, CA
Clippers and Lakers - Los Angeles area, CA
Kings - Sacramento, CA