Oh ok, I didn’t read the quote properly. Yep, that would be fast. I think it’s possible though. I know the Japanese record for a Marathon distance on a limited (ie 24"/125mm) unicycle is about 1hr 42min from memory. So not quite as fast as 20mph/hr, but I’m sure for a shortish distance like the 1/2mile he mentioned, 20mph would be possible.
Sounds like an escapee from Maine. 
Armadillos are so abundant here; our yard is full of holes from their nightly feasts of bugs. A week ago my dog (bless his ignorant heart) chased one down and grabbed it by the tail, dragging it around in circles. He can’t kill them, they can’t out run him, scuffles usually end with a deep hole in our backyard mostly dug by the armadillo.
Oh, we were talking about speed. hm… 
I can outride my old dog on a 29 (he’s running not riding)
My dog can outrun an armadillo
And I suppose the armadillo could outrun the lobster on land if they could get together.
Top speed… I’ve been clocked at 12mph on the 29 (Torker AX 152mm cranks). But I was wondering, when cycle computers record top speed is there usually a minumum distance or time that must be covered? I mean a top speed of 12mph for 2 seconds is different from sustaining that for even 30 seconds.
Theoretically one revolution is enough, just tried it with my cycle comp and that appears to be the case, more exspensive ones might average over a number of cycles. A 29" wheel goes round every 0.43 seconds at 12mph.
Some bike computers do need a few consistent revs to register a speed, which is quite useful on a unicycle to avoid ridiculous top speeds recorded due to idling or roll-back mounts (where the magnet passes the sensor twice very quickly).
Rob
I didn’t actually claim any such thing :)(170mm just to letcha know). I said that I can keep up with my dogs. I run very fast. I can set a treadmill to 10 and just lope along. I can set it to 15 and not have that hard of a time. I can’t keep up with my dogs on foot. That’s all I said.
I don’t know exactly how fast I go. But I KNOW it’s faster average and top than the wiki article. I would like to know how fast I go exactly, but that’s not my priority. Just wondering if I’m alone in thinking that the wiki article is slightly slow.
I know 20 sounds quite fast, and especially if that’s close to a record pace or whatever, but it’s gotta be close. I’ve also ridden next to my wife in her car, and that’s about what it reads, though I know that there’s lotsa error that slow. But anywho, I’m not lying, or boasting or anything, just chatting.
Wonder how a lobster vs an armadillo fight would go…Or perchance a lobster and an armadillo against either of our dogs.
I rode about four miles in half an hour (both numbers are approximations), so 8mph on my 29" with 125mm cranks. I live in a very hilly area though, so that includes time uphill and time downhill (both of which are slower than my speeds on flats). I was riding so that I was breathing hard but could have gone another 2-3 miles without slowing down; I think my top speed was over 12 mph (sustained as long as I was on flat), only because the hills are fairly long and steep.
Thanks Rob and Dave. So one revolution might be enough. I better read my manual so I don’t get a false sense of my top speed. There is a thread in here somewhere about how a wireless computer wouldn’t work on someone’s uni because it would have to be mounted vertically from the sensor and thus wouldn’t register.
My LBS and I worked that out. The display is kept in my right pants pocket. It works great there. (So far anyway) If I am curious about speed or distance I just slide it out and take a peek (being careful not to move it in front of the seat or farther away). The only disadvantage is remembering to put the display in my pocket before a long ride. It’s not useful without the display. 
Something tells me that a lobster and an armadillo wouldn’t cooperate to fight against your dogs.
Well i just went for another coker ride except this time i had my little cousin who brought his BMX and he said i was doing 30 - 40km/h 
Cause i kept up with him which i found weird and not possible. He must have went soft on me or something. Well anyway 2morrow, i intend on breaking that record. 
My top speed on a 24" was 17.5 mph. That was a long time ago, burst speed.
I know I’ve gone over 20 mph on my old 45" and my Coker. Anything over running speed is risky! Actual top speed unknown. I think I actually went faster on my Coker once than I ever did on the 45"; maybe 25 mph. Normally I’d be too chicken!
I managed 2:15 in the marathon last summer on a Coker with Schlumph hub, but not sure what average speed that works out to. Not nearly as fast as the leaders.
I’ve done 9 miles in about 55 minutes on a 24", again that was in a race. But 9 miles is pretty far. That’s around 11 mph or so.
I can’t remember my finishing times for 10k races on Coker or 29" but there are competition results posted online for NAUCCs and Unicons. Lots of numbers there, but presented in terms of times.
I’m definitely not very fast on my MUni. Though I now have 150s on my 24x3" Wilder, it’s still not built for speed and I don’t really try to go fast with such long cranks. Probably couldn’t hold it over 12 mph or so for long.
Yeah, the speed is slightly slow, because they’re probably thinking about a freestyle 24. A muni tyre is much bigger, more like 26" which means an average speed of 7 mph or so is pretty easy to keep up, and a max sustainable speed of around 12mph on the flat is pretty normal, your average speeds sound about average for a muni.
For the max speed, it really does help to stick a bike computer on, because it’s really easy to overestimate maximum speeds, especially if you only have unreliable things like treadmills, dogs, car speedometers etc. to compare against.
One thing you can do though, which is free and pretty simple, is use a stopwatch (or the second hand on an old fashioned watch), to time yourself doing 100 revolutions, counting each time the left pedal goes down, and see how long it takes you to do 280. If it takes more than a minute, then you’re going <20 mph. If you count how many left-pedals in a minute, you can use this calculator Vehicle Road Speed Calculator - 4QD - Electric Motor Control to work out what speed you are going.
Joe
I’m sorry, i guess I came on a little strong. The wiki speeds do indeed seem a bit low except for the 36".
As for amardillo vs. lobster, I think armadillo, they just seem more viscious.
Unibugg, it was probably me talking about wireless computers because i went down this route at one point and was dissapointed by their poor fuctionality. Your solution is pretty good tho. Incidentally you can test how your comp behaves by flicking the magnet pass the switch twice very quickly ( or indeed take the comp off the bracket and short out the two contatcs twice in quick succession) and see if you record a high max speed. Don’t expect it to be massive though, as i said before 0.4 second between passes will only give 12 mph, but it should give you a good indication if your comp averages for max speed or not.
i know my computer doesnt round off for max speed i rememebr testing it out before cant remember exactly how thou.
but yeah I love my comp its so handy I dont use it on my uni I only have a
20inch so Im not doing mach 1 or nothing but on my bike I love knowing my speed average etc
I don’t know how silly myths get perpetuated…
That pedal stroke calculation is pretty cool, I never thought about that before. I’ll have to see what I can do, though, as I keep stating, I’m not overly concerned with my speed, and only used rough examples to “prove” what I had said before.
Hey, on an unrelated note, anybody do spin classes. Cuz it occured to me the other day that uniing and spin classes go hand in hand. I took a couple after having this thought and think that I did a lot better than I would have before beginning unicycling.
I didn’t like using one not made for us, so I made my own.
Same thing, but hey, I’m trying to learn some html anywho.
http://savannascent.com/unicycle/
that’s our little side job’s website btw, feel free to browse around. I don’t update it as much as I should, but there’s some fun stuff about my daughter in there, and other stuff besides just our product.
I’m pretty sure it was you. When I read that a wireless wouldn’t work, I was really disappointed. But the salesman at my LBS wanted to test it out, we almost gave up when it was so unreliable especially when placed in front or under the seat.
I like the comp not for current speed so much but for average speed and especially daily distance. I forgot to bring the display for my ride yesterday. The odometer is not going to be accurate at all if I keep this up. 
Thanks for the advice about testing it. I’ll try it and see.
29 speed
On my morning ride on a KH-29 with a Big Apple, I ride 7 miles in an hour at a brisk but not sprinting pace. I believe I can sprint the 29 up to 10-11 mph, or faster than you can run-out if you fall off.
Carey
That’s pretty awesome my friend. 
See, that’s why I think that the wiki article is so low. Not to make assumption on your part, but just about anybody physically capable enough to ride a unicycle can easily run 11 mph. The threshold comes much higher 15 at least, I’d say higher for younger more athletic riders. So, since most people can ride at least as fast as they can run if not faster, I think that most people can go a lot faster than they think.
Well, you are not talking about me. I am not in good shape (but getting better), and I’m sure I can’t run as fast as I can ride. I can’t even sustain a run for a significant amount of time. Heck, sometimes I can’t even walk properly.
I run a bit. I can no way ‘comfortably’ run at 15mph, at least not on the ground.
Maybe on a treadmill though, treadmills are easier than normal running, plus if you’re at a gym, apparently you can often get lucky and get one that over-reports the speed.
If 10mph is easy on flat ground though, you should enter some running races, you’d probably come in the top 5% or so.
You do really need to find out how fast you go in some measured way, cos otherwise you can’t really go saying the maximum speeds are way higher than in that article.
Joe