Christmas Present for my Daughter

General Unicycling Discussions
#10

Yes…she definitely wants one. When she was home at Thanksgiving she actually mentioned spending HER precious money on one. :slight_smile:

You can see just from these responses why I am so confused on 20" vs 24".

:astonished:

If I can get her a decent one for less than a Torker LX, that would be great. I don’t want her going back to college with a K-Mart special though.

Thanks,
-JN

#11

Since this is mostly a matter of preference, I can’t exactly tell you which one to get, but I’ll tell you my experiences:

I ride a 24" mountain-unicycle, and I love it.

My girlfriend, who is about equivalent to your daughter in height and weight, also wanted to learn to unicycle, so I bought her a 20" thinking that since she was smaller she would be better with the 20".

Turns out she likes riding my 24" much more!

In addition, I ride with some other college-aged friends. One bought a 24" while the other bought a 19" trials unicycle, and now he is contemplating getting the 24" because it is so much easier riding on the road.

Hope this helps!

#12

Ok…24"…now where?

Ok…I think I am going with a 24" unicycle, now the question comes down to where is the best (least expensive) place to get it?

Torker? Nimbus? Club?

Keep in mind that I don’t need to go with a Cadillac, but I don’t want a Kia either. :slight_smile:

Thanks again for all the help!

-JN

#13

Get a Nimbus if you can afford it, it’s a better uni, but the Torker LX is a great starter unicycle.

Right now there is a Torker LX 24" on Ebay for $119 with free shipping. Or you can buy one from Unicycle.com for $149.

I picked up a used 24 Torker LX from a Craigslist ad for $60 to replace my old Schwinn and I’ve been impressed with how sturdy it is. You might check your local Craigslist and see what you can find.

#17

If I were you I would absolutely make sure you buy her elbow,knee, wrist and shin guards…Helmet too. Tearing the flesh off the palms of your hands and knees can put a halt to unicycling real quick…I went to Dick’s and got all I needed for a very good price.

#18

Bicycle Source has the Torker 20" for $118 free shipping and sunrise cyclery has it with a stand and free shipping for $131.

#19

:)Torker lx 20 is a great choice, or maybe a unicycle.com club freestyle

#20

Thanks!

Thanks for all the help!

I pulled the trigger and ordered her a 24" Torker LX.

I figured it would probably have the best resale value for her down at school. :slight_smile:

Thanks again!

-JN

#21

Wrong choice…ugh!

Well, I just thought that I’d post a followup on how the Unicycle Christmas present turned out…

  • I ended up getting a 24" Torker LX for a great price.
  • My daughter was incredibly excited and totally surprised when she opened it.
  • We cut down the seat post to the right height and she went out to practice
  • After a week of practicing, she is incredibly frustrated. Apparently, the 24" wheel is just too big. She was able to ride a smaller one for short distances after messing around with it for just 3 hours.

While the 24" will definitely be the better fit once she learns to ride since she would be riding it around campus, I fear that her frustration in learning on the bigger wheel may prevent her from ever getting to the point where she will ride it around campus.

At least I got a good price on it. :frowning:

-JN

#22

Get her to start reading all the learning journals on this site. I learned on a cheap 24 and it took hours, days, weeks (:D) but reading about others really helped. Uni riding is just really difficult, but she can get the 24 if I could. Tell her that an old woman over forty years older than she is got it, so she should be able to too!

#23

It’s not the wheel size, if you can ride a 20" you can ride a 24", unicycling is more mental than physical.

Tell her that “we” said to stop being stubborn and learn to ride what she has, it’s just a wheel.

I ride all sizes and though it takes a couple minutes to adjust to a different sized wheel to ride at my best, all said it is still just a wheel, they all roll.

#24

I think a 20" is easer to learn on. You could get one as a starter unicycle (and a future loaner) for her to learn with. Once she gets the basics down, transitioning to a 24" is easy. Can you borrow a 20" for a week?

Scott

#25

I started on a 24 but i was getting frustrated & I was terrified of getting hurt in a UPD (UnPlanned Dismount). So I got a 16, it gave a big boost to my confidence. Then I got a free 20 and rode that before going back to the 24.

I have some paralysis in my legs (need AFO braces to walk, see avatar) so everything took longer. If I could learn, ANYBODY can learn.

Timeline, I averaged 1 hr/day, 5x a week.
Could ride the 16" 150 ft @ 2 months
Moved from 16" to 20 @ four months
And back to the 24 @ 6 months
Rode off my first curb @ 8 mo.
Did my first Muni @ one year.
Road SIF, SIB, & backwards @ 2.5 yrs

Each wheel took me about 30 min to adjust to the basics, and after I was comfortable on each it could take me up to 5 min to re-adjust to one of the other sizes.

I still can’t hop well enough to be any use, or free mount. :frowning:

#26

What is the cranks length?
I learned on 26" with 145 cranks - perfect.
May be you should try longer cranks? :roll_eyes:

#27

Cranks…

Uhhh…I have no idea what size the cranks are. :thinking:

It’s a stock 24" Torker LX.

-JN

#28

There are 150mm cranks. Must be good enough. Just keep on trying!!!
If interesting - here is my story of learning, may be some tips will be usefull.

Do not quit! :wink:

#29

That seems very long for a 24" wheel. I expect the OP’s daughter would do better with something a bit shorter.

#30

150’s are pretty much standard for a 24" (at least here in North America) and should be ok for learning on. If they get much shorter then there could be a control issue which might not be the best plan for someone learning to ride.

Shorter cranks for me have always been associated with less control until I get used to them.

#31

The OP mentioned that his daughter was able to ride “a smaller one” much more easily. Of course we don’t know the wheel size or the crank length, but I’d imagine a 20" with 114mm cranks. If she’s got on well with 114mm cranks in the past then moving up to 150mm cranks will make an enormous difference to the feel of the unicycle - probably a bigger difference than the change from a 20" to a 24" wheel. I honestly think shorter cranks would be worth a try.

Note: I’ve had a quick look at the 24" yikes at unicycle.uk.com and while the Munis have long cranks, the beginner unicycles have 127mm cranks, e.g. http://www.unicycle.uk.com/unicycles/freestyle/24-club-freestyle-unicycle-black.html

#32

Gonna try some new cranks

It’s a “spec” 24" Torker LX, and from what I see online, it looks like they come with 150mm cranks. Maybe I’ll order her up some shorter cranks and surprise her with them when I take her uni down to her next month. :slight_smile:

I’ll have to make sure to get the right tools for her to change them out later if she wants.

Thanks.

-JN