RE: Chain driven giraffe ultimate wheel?
> When I took a trip around the world back in 1980 preparing the ground for
> founding the IUF, I was in Sweden, where I was exchanging skills with a local
> unicyclist – his name slipped my mind now, but John Foss knows it.
It was Joakim Malm, from the Stockholm area. He used to work at a skate park, in
the “pro” shop. This skate park also sold unicycles, and this was during the era
when the Miyatas with plastic bumpers on the seats just came out. He learned to
ride, and applied his skills from surfing and skateboarding to the unicycle.
When he heard from a friend that this guy Jack Halpern would be in town to
promote an international unicycling organization, he went down to see. Among the
tricks he showed off was coasting, which he had not thought much about, and was
just getting the hang of. He did it with one foot on the fork and the other
hanging out to the side, wherever needed.
Of course Jack was blown away, because he had never seen or heard of it. I still
have not heard of any accounts of unicycle coasting from before this, though we
have to remember 100 years of history since vaudeville, and there may have been
performers who did it.
> Suddely, he says “Hey can you do this”? and starts coasting! This was just
> after a trip to NY where Bill Jenack and his son John Jenack were VEHEMENTLY
> arguing that coasting is “against the laws of physics” and they started
> lecturing me how poor my knowledge of physics is and presented absolute
> “proof” whay this is impossible.
That argument continued, even after I went to Sweden in 1983 and timed Joakim’s
friend Peter Holmgren, coasting around in circles in his gym. He kept it up for
16.3 seconds, without a touch to the tire. John Jenack still wasn’t convinced,
and insisted there was some foot contact with the tire, though it might have
been unintentional. Now we know otherwise.
Joakim Malm, Peter Holmgren, and Hakan Furuskar (sp?) developed several other
unicycling tricks, many taking advantage of the plastic seat bumpers. Though not
all were originals, these were some of the things they learned on their own:
- coasting
- gliding
- seat drag
- bounce seat on floor
- 540 unispin
There was another guy from a different part of Sweden (Koping), who emulated
these guys and wanted to learn all their tricks. But he was a few years younger
and they didn’t pay him much attention. His name was Peter Rosendahl, who did
learn all their tricks, and go on to become a professional performer. He was the
first world champion of Freestyle (UNICON
I), and now holds a vast number of Guinness world records.
> So as far as I know, the earliest coasters are form 1980.
Yes, I believe Joakim developed coasting not long before Jack’s visit to Sweden
in late 1980.
> Here is a little shock concerning coasting. The Hino uni club (remember, they
> took second place in group at UX) classify their skills in to three or four
> categories of difficulty. Coasting is listed under “beginners” :-)!
That’s pretty sick. I wonder how they define coasting? And what’s the rest of
their list? Could you share that with us?
Also, what was the name of the group those little basketball queens were from?
They looked like they had about the most fun of anybody at the convention. Add
to their “beginner skills” list Sumo Spinning!
Stay on top, John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com
“Dirt: it’s not just for breakfast anymore.” - MUni Weekend 2000 T-shirt (idea
by Jacquie)
