Although I know they can fare well off-road… You never need to worry about charging a pedal unicycle
As far as I’m concerned, electric unicycles and pedal unicycles are two different beasts. Neither one can necessarily replace the other. Looks pretty fun though!
Nope. The electric self balancing devices are a wholly different thing, and require nowhere near the level of practice & skill required for riding an actual unicycle.
However, the electric version definitely looks fun and challenging in its own right. It is obvious (to me) from the videos that, while the EUC is somewhat self-balancing, the effort to stay balanced on top of the EUC must take a lot of energy, effort, and skill from your legs and core. Off-road EUC looks like a good workout.
It also looks more dangerous than analog Muni, due to the speed. While the speed and associated danger would not have kept me from riding an EUC before my two spine surgeries, my titanium implant, and the 4-level cervical fusion, it certainly does now.
I am completely happy with my relatively tame style of analog Muni, but LOVE living vicariously through those of you that push your limits, EUC Muni included.
Thanks for sharing!
P.S. I think the following four videos do a good job of adding insight/context to my post above. By the way, if I could safely own an EUC in addition to my analog unis, I definitely would. The EUC is not the inherently dangerous (or boring/mundane/safe) part of the equation. In my opinion, it’s the rider.
This discussion has already happenned several times, and as @Uni2ONE2 said, the simple answer is no.
Basically, an EUC is to a unicycle as a motorbike is to a bicycle. It can be really fun, but it is easier (on similar roads of course) and more dangerous (due to speed and consequences of a loss of control).
Good workout? Definitely. Great workout? Not compared to riding the real thing! I’ll still consider ours the more healthy version. More effort (calories) expended, less risk of high speed crashes (HSUPDs).
What’s the “C” stand for? “Electric Unicycle Cycle” seems redundant. Okay, I guess they don’t want us to think they’re always discussing the European Union or something.
The power of the EUCs in the video make it possible to go up very steep stuff, fly through the air (right-side up or otherwise) and of course cover long distances with less wear & tear on the knees, let alone the crotch! The scary part is probably being separated from it if you’re going faster than you can run. You hit a big bump that bounces your feet off the footrests and you can get separated from your ride and hopefully land running…
Part of me wants to try a trail-worthy one. I do have a Segway Ninebot, capable of a blistering 12 mph (19.3 kph). Just when it starts getting interesting, the thing forces me to lower my heels (slow down). It is fun to try and do tiny circles, backspins and other flowey moves on, but not really to go anywhere far away. Also it can’t go up anything steep like in the videos.
Personally, I think the use of the word unicycle is incorrect. The only thing they have in common is the single wheel. Beyond that, there is nothing that makes them even distantly connected. The EUC is a self balancing device, the very antithesis of acoustic unicycling.
In my opinion, no. Offroad oriented EUCs may be more widespread than munis one day (my guess is, they possibly already are), but there will always be people who prefer non-assisted unicycles and people who ride both.
“Acoustic unicycle,” – now there’s an objectionable term if ever there was one (IMHO, and I think I’m being reasonably restrained with ‘objectionable’ ). I mean you don’t call a bike an “acoustic bike” to differentiate it from a motor bike, it’s just a bike… a “pedal cycle” if it was some legal term or whatever, but “acoustic”?
Maybe I’ve got the wrong end of the stick though and you get unicycles that you can play tunes on – in that case, is this classed as an electric unicycle?
Well, unicycle frames are kinda like really big tuning forks, aren’t they? The difference between an electric unicycle and an acoustic (manual) unicycle then is that an EUC can’t be used as a tuning fork… At least as far as I know
So yeah, it is just a joke in reference to electric and acoustic guitars. Does it make sense? No not really… but it is also (IMHO) amusing because it is silly.
P.S. This is not the first thread it has been mentioned in FWIW.
Well, yes, I know this is not the first thread to have referenced the term, (it wasn’t a dig at you), and yes, I know it is supposed to be amusing (even though I don’t personally like the term) – just like me linking a post with a photo of my Hatchet with a Stratocaster attached as an “electric unicycle” was supposed to be amusing…
No more than a One Wheel will replace a skateboard. I enjoy riding both my Me-muni and my E-muni. Both are lots of fun! It’s a different skillset. It takes a while to learn how to ride an EUC, but it’s not nearly as difficult as riding a regular unicycle.
I think it’s also important to mention that EUCs aren’t allowed in most places that regular unicycles are permitted. Certainly here in the UK you can only legally ride an EUC on land that you own, or where you’ve specifically been given permission by the landowner.
If I was riding an off-road cycling track and someone came up behind me on one of those I’d be pissed off and would be telling them to take it somewhere more suitable. Degradation of trails is bad enough just due to the use they get with regular cycles.
Ok what if we take an EUC remove the tire, still spoke holes in the rim and lace it up to a larger wheel. Then we attach the cranks to the stator and use a hollow bore slip ring to provide an electrical connection. Then we have an electric assist unicycle, the best of both worlds