So, as I search for and save for my new ride after years away, I am wondering if getting a cheap, used unicycle to practice on is a bad idea…like getting a cheap guitar is a bad idea…or if a decent, used 24” for $40 is a at least something to practice on? I hate throwing good money after bad and that $40 can maybe get me some new cranks or shin guards.
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I think it’s a perfectly fine idea, if you can make it happen. What I mean is, do you have options like that for $40? For example, where I live is very rural and I’d have to drive a long long way to find a bargain like that. Long enough of a drive that I just ordered one. If you live in a city, you probably don’t have these troubles.
Things I’d consider:
- I’m a full grown adult man, with a full grown man body. I need a double-walled rim. Or at least I think I do.
- Save money for wrist guards, and consider shin guards. I wear shin guards for just practicing and muni (pedals beat me up once and that was the end of that).
- If the seat post was cut, make sure it still fits you.
If you find some offer links, you can share on here and folks will definitely help you decide if its a good deal or not.
I would definitely learn on a cheap uni rather than a more expensive one 
You don’t know if you’ll stick with it and it’s better to let a cheap uni fall and get scraped than an expensive one
PS. I knew a guy who decided to learn on expensive unis so he bought a brand new KH trials and a Nimbus Road 29er. Guess what, he soon quit, gave up! Never mastered riding. So after having them in his garage for a couple of years doing nothing he decided to sell them in basically new condition for a fraction of what they are actually worth.
If you can get your hands on one, a UDC Club is a great learners uni. Robust. UDC Trainer is also good. No worries for adult learners on those 2 unis. I would even hop or go down curbs on them both and not be concerned but I’m about 64kg so YMMV. Cheap noname (unknown brand) unis may quickly get crank/hub issues, some even breaking. A club or trainer shouldn’t. They can be kept, sold, given/lent to other people to learn too and hold value reasonably well.
I don’t love the stock saddles on either of those to UDC unicycles though and if it’s not comfortable, you may wish to use a different saddle. That’s no problem though as they use the standard 4 bolt configuration.
I would suggest wrist guards are really important (doesn’t matter how long you have been riding, wear them just in case) and covering your knees is recommended if you are learning to ride. Another tip. I always wear shoes that cover my ankles because if your ankles hits the cranks, that hurts! But I like to feel the pedals too so the shoes are not very thick soled.
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I keep hearing of UDC. Is it this site: https://www.unicycle.com/ ?
And, 64 kg is pretty light. I’d be curious of what weight becomes too much on that cycle/rim. I have heard good things about the Clubs, though. Most weights are probably perfectly fine. If you get to where you are bending rims, you probably have earned the graduation to something more expensive 
That’s the site (diffeent Unicycle.com stores depending on country) and yes, if you manage to break them doing a large hop or drop, definitely time to upgrade!!!
I don’t know of anybody who has actually broken one though.
Buying new, obviously you won’t pick one up for $40. But I will bet that they are very unlikely to break if you do standard unicycling activities with it whereas no name ones can fail very easily.
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How about a like new Torker Unistar LX 24” for $100. Reasonable deal and unicycle?
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I think it should be ok
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Sounds good, Torker is name brand and if I remember correctly LX is mid quality and pretty solid. About the Club durability, I’m about 65kg and have ridden my Club 24 off of a handful of picnic tables, about 3 ft drop. The rim is still within a couple mm of true.
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Thanks all. I hope to have a Nimbus 27.5 Oracle before I start doing significant drops and jumps. Even so, isn’t the worst case I destroy my hub and I get a new one that is more up to the task?
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Serious unexpected fall due to equipment failure is probably the main worst outcome to be concerned about.
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Destroying a hub is no fun, because you have to:
- rebuild your wheel (will probably include getting new spokes and depending on your willingness to do it yourself paying someone for it, or a few hours of your time)
- likely get new cranks if you are upgrading (square taper to isis)
- risk getting injured (although most of the time you come out lucky, but I’d rather not risk it)
If you are under 80 kg and stick to hopping up and down curbs, a decent square taper hub (and torker should have that) should work fine for quite a while.
Heavier than that and higher than that is probably pushing it, at least from what I’ve observed, but that’s just a generalization.
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