Since a couple weeks ago, there’s been a thought that was kicking around in my head…
I’ve been unicycling for a couple years now, and most of my seat time has been on ones from Unicycle.com. So far, they’ve been great! Outside of those, I’ve also had a cheap CyclePro I’ve gotten from a garage sale. Initially the seat was backwards, the pedals were loose, the seatpost was too short, the bearings were crusty, and there was a light layer of rust on the rim. After swapping out some parts and applying a healthy amount of elbow grease, the CyclePro became the uni I learned some valuable skills on 
Well worth the effort, I say!
The thing that got me thinking though came about after some digging on Amazon.com. Out of curiosity, I decided to check out the least expensive unicycles they had to offer. And oh boy…
Pages and pages of what appears to be practically the same unicycle, under dozens of different names… Also, sub-$40 unicycles??
Clearly, there is a market for cheap unicycles. I remember when I was buying my first unicycle, there was a big question of whether I really wanted to spend over a hundred dollars on something I might not even get much use out of. Thankfully I stuck with it, but I can understand not wanting to spend much money on a unicycle as a complete beginner. And that’s what I presume is the appeal of these inexpensive 16" unicycles found across Amazon, eBay, and other online commerce sites.
Despite the fact that these unicycles are probably circulating around quite a bit, it’s hard to find a lot of information about them. They don’t exactly have a brand, they’re probably not seriously ridden much, the reviews found on the websites they’re sold on probably can’t be trusted or provide much valuable information, etc. The information the seller provides sometimes can’t be trusted either, which left a burning curiosity in my mind as to what these unis were really like.
After some digging I came across this thread that had a video review of a similarly cheap unicycle, though as far as I can tell it’s the only thing I’ve found that comes closest to a real review. The author of the post also mentioned that they were considering doing a forum writeup of the unicycle, but they ended up doing a video instead.
After doing much debating over whether I should buy one and find out myself, I figured that it wouldn’t take much to get my money’s worth out of it. Plus depending on what the quality was actually like, it may or may not last that long anyways, so I went ahead and bought the cheapest one I could get my hands on (taking into consideration shipping costs).
Now here’s where the topic really starts! 
The Goal
I want to try and document as much as much as I can about this unicycle to provide some hard facts regarding parts compatibility, durability, and the kind of quality you can expect from a unicycle that costs less than a generous meal at your local restaurant.
When describing parts, I want to try and avoid simply using “cheap” as a sole descriptor. If something does seem “cheap”, I’ll try my best to explain why.
I’ll include a section dedicated to some technical specs I’ve tried to measure. It won’t be a complete list, but I’ll update it if I get around to doing more measurements. I can also measure the weight(s) of components too if desired.
Technical Specifications
Frame
- Seatpost Tube Metal Thickness: 1.1mm - 1.2mm
- Seatpost Tube Inner Diameter: ~22.5mm
- Seatpost Tube Outer Diameter: 25.0mm - 25.1mm
Seat Post
- Diameter: 22mm
- Seatpost Length: ~225mm
Hub
- Bearing Spacing: ~90mm
Rim
- Outer Rim Width: 30mm
- Inner Rim Width: ~25mm
- Well Width: ~14.4mm
- Rim Flange Depth: ~13.5mm - 13.6mm
Spokes
- Thickness: 2.2mm
- Type: J-Bend Round Steel
- Spoke Nipple Flats Thickness: ~3.57mm
The Advertisements
Going through a handful of different postings of this particular unicycle, you might find most of them are described more or less the same with some small variations. I’ll highlight a couple and talk about it a little.
The *thickened steel* frame can resist break, vibration, and corrosion.
Although I can’t yet speak about how tough the frame is, I don’t think I would call the tubing of the frame “thickened steel”.
In terms of the weight that the unicycle can support, it can range from 110lbs to 440.9lbs depending on what listing you view… I would lean on the lighter side.
36 Steel Spokes
Count carefully…
Oddly enough, I found one posting that correctly stated that the wheel had 28 spokes.
Non-slip patterns on the pedals
I think there’s more to worry about than my feet slipping off of the pedals…
On a more serious note, after riding for a while they’re average I’d say. They’re not particularly slippy or grippy.
The Parts
The first thing I did once I got the parts was go through the metal bits and inspect the welds.
There was one spot on the frame that didn’t look quite right, but other than that the rest of the welds were nothing to worry about.
However, when I got around to the hub…
A section of the hub that doesn’t have a complete weld isn’t something I would have hoped to see. I haven’t noticed other iffy welds on the frame or hub outside of those pictured.
Another important thing to cover is the seat post. The one provided isn’t quite tall enough for me, but I was lucky enough to have one on another unicycle that made things a little better. But considering not everyone will have immediate access to a taller seat post, that will be an extra cost to those that need it. In addition, the seat provided isn’t compatible with the mounts found on UDC seat posts (or other similar ones)
The seatpost on the right belongs to the 16" unicycle. The seatpost on the right came from my Club 26", which isn’t compatible with the 16". The longer seatpost on my 20" uni that was compatible had an identical mount to the left one
I won’t be able to say much regarding how comfortable the provided seat is being that I’ll be using a different seat along with the longer seat post, apologies for that.
The pedals provided utilize the same threads as found on most other unicycles/bikes, so if you choose to they can be swapped out. Before I installed the pedals I tried turning them to see how smooth they were, and they were… Almost the opposite. They were quite stiff out of the package, but after some turns they smoothed out somewhat. My old beat-up pedals on the 26" were still somehow smoother…
The rightmost pedal is from the 26" Club for size comparison.
Going for a Ride
This is the stage that I’m at… You can only stare at the handful of parts for so long before needing to know how it performs when it’s all put together 
Really the biggest thing that sticks out in terms of ride quality is how rough it is with the knobby tire. Maneuvering is hampered somewhat by the knobs on the edge of the tire. Leaning too much for turns can result in some pedal strikes on flat pavement, though for all I know that’s probably not unique to this 16" unicycle.
I’ve taken it out for some longer rides, though I can’t say riding 3 miles on a 16" unicycle is something I’d recommend. 
Again, that’s not the fault of this 16" unicycle in particular. I haven’t ran into any issues with the unicycle after doing 6 or 7 miles on it riding on pavement of varying degrees of quality, from relatively smooth to cracked and rough. I even threw in a bit of gravel riding for good measure. As a roughly 130lb (59kg) adult though, I’m probably not stressing it too much.
Now being that it’s such an inexpensive unicycle, I would be willing to push the uni a bit. I was considering riding it off of a curb repeatedly until something broke, though I figure some of y’all might have some ideas of “tests” I can try to put it through. 