This has often been a fantasy of mine. I unicycle that fits into an average looking breifcase, My friend and I are currently thinking one up. We have thought about a wheel that folds in half, a telescoping seapt post, folding pedals and such. Currently we are thinking about having a smaller wheel, such as a 16 inch one with the fors already attached and possibly telescoping. The only think I am worried about is stability and the strength of the thing. I do believe that it would be an amazing thing to have, and I am sure you do too. It would be a unicycle that would be there when you need it, anytime.
Ill keep working on it and possibly post some pictures if the project ever gets off the ground.
I’ve thought about something along these lines too. I think a 20" wheel would be possible. The frame could maybe have a quickrelease seattube similar to aluminum crutches, with a spring-loaded pin. The pedals could snap in the same way, with a pin on the crank. Either that or snap-on cranks, but that might be a lot weaker. Depends on the type of riding. It’d also be pretty cool if you could figure out a way to gear it up without taking up too much space, so you could go faster.
Seems to me that it would be possible. With enought ingenuity, anything is. Problem would be that the foldable unicycle probably wouldn’t be much good for performance or extreme stuff, just easy riding.
When we went to Seattle in 2002, we disassembled and packed five unicycles in suitcases. We purchased another uni while we were there so had to buy an additional suitcase at a yardsale for the return home.
One of our long term projects that may be coming to fruition this summer is a 5 foot/7 foot CrMO duel chain giraffe… that dissassembles using quick releases to fit in a box that is only 2 foot x 2 foot x 9 inches. It takes about 5 minutes to dissassemble and about 10 to assemble.
We have had a couple of samples already and have not been satisfied with the design (there is a lot of design and testing needed in those joints). I am just about to autherise the production and with luck it will be available through Unicycle.com’s in the summer.
Wayne van Wijk has a unicycle which fits in a suitcase. I’m pretty sure its a mini-giraffe and has a 16" wheel. He uses folding pedals, but doesn’t ride it hard so they are OK for him.
A wheel that folds in half would be a very weak wheel. How would you secure it? Moreover how would you lace it? It would be 100 times easier just to use a standard 12" or a 16" wheel instead.
All very good ideas of course. The only thing is is that I don’t want to have an overly large briefcase. I’d like it to be an average size, not a huge one, although that seems like the only thing that could accomidate a wheel large enough with the fork still attached. As for the pedals, these look reletivly sturdy.
I am liking the idea with the seat as a telescping thing with the spring pins like a cruth. I can see that working. What I really want is for it to be very practical and for the assembly time to be at the minimal.
That sounds amazing. I really hope that goes into production, because I would most likly buy it. After putting more thought into our project, it seems that we would need more of a suit case than a breifcase for the unicycle to fit in, and that is no good. I also want it to be able to be assembled very quickly, like the speed of the quote there. I am now considering quick release pedals as well.
And a 12 or 16 inch wheel is not a very fun ride. If you had to sum up the ride in a noise, it would be like “EeErEeErEeErEeErEeErEeErEeEr” really fast, if you catch my drift. Very jekry and uncomfortable due to the short cranks.
well if that guy on the t.v. can fit a petrol driven go-kart big enuf for him to ride ina briefcase then maybe we shud wrk on getting a uni in there. ud only need a small wheel just with a 2:1 gear ratio like a mini graiife?
It sounds like nobody has done much measuring yet. The key problem area is width. Unicycle axles are probably twice as wide as a standard briefcase. So without re-engineering the whole axle & crank system, you might want to start off by thinking in terms of a giraffe wheel.
Alexander Frisch of the Moscow Circus used to enter the ring with a suitcase, from which he produced a little unicycle and rode it around. But this was a larger suitcase. The unicycle had something like a 12" wheel.
My assumption is that you want a “useful” unicycle when this is done. This means something bigger than 12", or even 16". Without gearing, this means a wheel taller than a briefcase. So, a geared-up mini-giraffe. It will be a bumpy ride, but you should be able to gear it to 20" or even larger. Just watch out for bumps!
