Check out the pictures I took of Tom Miller and the unicycle factory at:
http://gallery.unicyclist.com/unicycle_factory/
The highlight is the “Go West” unicyle. When you face north, you go travel west (or east, depending on user setting)
Tom Miller and his 100 or so unicycles are very interesting.
Thanks for sharing the pics. Great stuff!
I’m a fellow Hoosier. I grew up in Evansville (not far from Unitik).
Who is that lady in the purple shirt in the pictures?
That’s Tom (Tommi) Miller, the Unicycle Factory himself. He built my 45" wheel, my 9 footer, the frames on my old Miyatas, the emblem on my old Uni Bus, the track uni that got stolen in China, and the 12" uni I’ll have at NAUCC.
Seeing all those cool cycles brought back some memories! I’ve seen most of them before (the 24 footer on the side of the garage doesn’t look like it’s moved since I was there in 1983). The Go West looks really challenging! I hope he’ll bring a bunch of those to NAUCC!
I know he’s planning to go to a unicycle convention in Ohio. Is that what you’re talking about?
kokomojuggler you need to come to evansville with your coker so we can ride:D
Chase
That would be the one. Next week as a matter of fact.
You want me to come to Evansville to ride with you? How about you come to Kokomo, and you can visit the unicycle factory and we can ride here. I’ve never ridden with anyone except my wife who rides a bicycle. I wanted to ride the hilly hundred last year but I realized I was never ready for it. I did ride the Polar Bear ride on New Years day with bicyclists. That was about 15 miles and about all I could take that day. There are some nice rides with rolling hills around my house. I have shorter cranks on my coker now, so it’s not so good on hills, but I’d like to be able to climb all the hills around here with short cranks. Some hills took several tries for me with the stock cranks last year.
thanks, great photos.
i wonder how the cranks stay on the axle in the Pic of the BC wheel.
There are threads on the insides of the cranks, so they screw on, and the hub freewheels independently so you can ride it.
yeah but if the axle is one peice, how would you get the arms to tighten in the same place on both sides so the pedals are even.
It looks to me like there is a nut behind the crank that tightens against the crank.
There is a drawing of how the BC wheel is put together…
http://www.tux.org/~bagleyd/unicycle_factory/breakdown.html#BC
I originally had the name skewnicycle for the Go West uni.
Tom made a lot of design improvements on my original idea. I cant wait to try it out.
Is the gallery down? I wanted to share these pictures with someone else, and they don’t seem to exist anymore?
Thanks
i just looked at all the pics…they should be there.
is tom willing to sell any of them id like to buy 2 of them( the one where u pedal but u move sideways i forget whats its called and that ity bitty tire one i think maybe a 5 inch-ish )
but yea…
i very much doubt he’ll sell any of them they’re his lifes work.
The “Go West” cycle was built for a client, and I think he delivered it at NAUCC last summer. He had it there, but I didn’t see it get ridden. I’m sure he could make you one if you’re interested. Expect to spend several hundred dollars.
If the other cycle you’re looking at has a tiny gray air tire, he did make those to sell, but might be keeping the last one. If he has more than one I’m sure he’ll sell you one. I think he wanted $800 for them back in the 80s when they were built, but the price may go down if he actually wants to move one (probably not).
Thanks for posting the pictures.
My first 9’ giraffe I got from Tom was bent in an escalator accident here in Toronto 3 months after getting it at the 1985 N.U.M. (National Unicycle Meet) at Eastern Michigan University.
(The meets changed names to NUC and are now called NAUCC.)
I rode in the Toronto Santa Claus parade and then had is crushed in the subway on my way home. It got jammed between the roof and the moving stairs and was destroyed. I made a mess of the subway too ripping the sheel metal ceiling as the unicycle was being pushed by the stairs.
The seat cover, base and foam were bent and ripped, the seat post and frame were bent big time and the wheel tacoed at a 45 degree angle.
I was able to reuse the crank set and chain.
I called Tom and told him the story. He got another unicycle ready and I drove to The Unicycle Factory to get it. He used the two parts I was able to salvage and I paid for the rest of the unicycle.
The whole point of mentioning this is because 1/2 of the first frame is still leaning up in his back yard after it being there for 21 years !!!
You can see it in the photo numbered DSC01067
It is the bent lower half of a blue 9’ giraffe upside down in the picture.
The whole frame was there for a long time until I went back years later and he cut off the top of the frame below the hub and gave it to me to keep. He wanted me to make another frame with the top but I never did.
Yes, I do still have the top piece he cut off and gave to me.
I have got many unicycles and other custom things made at The Unicycle Factory over the last 21 years and still ride and treasure them all.
Some include:
9’ giraffe - 5 wheeled stacked Penta wheel - 6’ giraffe - Tennis shoe wheeled Shoe-n-cycle - 36" and 40" big wheels - Off-Centre bicycle - Custom chopper bike - 8" mini wheel unicycle (like the chrome one pictured in the photos / John, they were 750.00 US in 1985) - and lots more.
I wore TUF T-shirts in all the colors available everyday for years.
They said… The Unicycle Factory - Where Dreams Become Ridable
That was the case for me and all the other unicyclists all over North America
for many, many years.
I’m proud to own the unicycles Tom hand made one at a time and recommend his work to anyone who wants a custom made unicycle. His giraffes are the best available and worth the price he charges.
If you want to contact Tom, call: 765-452-2692
I plan on stopping by for another long overdue visit to The Unicycle Factory this year.
Darren
You must have missed the sign:
No strollers (or unicycles) on escalator.
Oh, but this was Canada so maybe you don’t have those signs?
At the bottom it says (or else). I guess you know what the “or else” is… 