Beginner unicycles

I am starting a unicycle club at my school, and I need to know what crank lengths for 20/24 are recommended for beginners.
Also at what height learning on a 24 is better than a 20.
(Keep in mind these are 11-14 year olds)
Thanks

1 Like

I would recommend 125mm for a 20”, and 150mm for a 24”, for beginners (however, I am 6ft tall)

Beginner unicyclists may not always have the luxury of choosing their crank lengths, and they may find a 20” uni with 114mm, and/or a 24” uni with 125mm. Those will work, also. As a matter of fact, those crank lengths look to be the standard offering on Club branded unicycles at Unicyle.com . That leads me to believe that those two options will be best for the general population.

Longer is normally better for beginners.

My 20” CyclePro came standard with 125mm cranks, which I agree would be good for beginner riders. I would be inclined to say 125mm is probably good for 24” as well, though I may be a little “short crank” biased there :slightly_smiling_face: On 150s the rider would sit lower, which may be more comfortable when starting out

I will say that I learned on a 16/102

First things first: watch the recent Hobo Dan videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9yEhj1gYrE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xZJRquFGgE, then read the comments there.
Second, and for everything else: crank length does not matter much as long as it is not too extreme. Anything between 100–145 mm is fine on a 19"/20", and 114–152 mm works well on a 24". Ideally, you should have both 20" and 24" options — both are good if the rider can reach the pedals.
Most 8+ kids can learn on a 24‑incher, although some may prefer to go smaller. Keep in mind that beginners will have different preferences, and there is no one‑size‑fits‑all option.

Do not forget about helmets and shin guards.

2 Likes

…and don’t forget to make everyone properly tie and tuck away their shoe laces.

2 Likes

How many kids are actually interested in participating?

I don’t know yet, but people think my unicycle is cool and always ask to ride, so I imagine a few

1 Like

and then they walk away, humming the circus tune :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

I think 125 is a bit long on a 20". 114 is probably perfect. I lent my 100mm to learners and they liked it. 79 would have been to short.

after my first year of unicycling i bought a new 20’’ uni, which had 100mm cranks instead of 117mm (maybe 114mm) cranks of the old one.

At that time i was able to freemount and ride distancnces of several kilometers in one go.

But with the 100mm cranks i was no longer able to freemount. I tried for 2 weeks or so and then changed cranks back to 117mm.

So for me uni with 117mm cranks was far easier to handle than 100mm cranks.

It was kind of funny, because at this time i had no idea that different crank length exist! I just realised that i can freemount the old,half broken uni, whereas i coudn’t do that with brand new one. It took me some time to figure out what the difference was.

So tomorrow is the clubs fair, and look what the Dean put at the top of the email

4 Likes

My nephew was learning from this video. But 24 inches was too big for him, so we got a smaller one. He is 12 years old.