Talking with my friend Mike today, and discussing whether or not a giraffe can handle the abuse of stairs and such… In his case, he’s got the Torker, so I question whether the bolts holding the rim in place on the frame can keep it in place after a drop… Has anyone done anything extremish on a giraffe, say muni or some trials? I’m not expecting to see pedal-grabs-to-rubber, but it’d be cool to know 
Ya Scott Cooper Did muni on his Giraffe. I got to ride the muni giraffe on a group ride we did. Iv seen pic’s of Scott Riding logs and Going up and down steep hills on his 6 ft Giraffe. Its pretty cool!
Zack
I’ve seen Dustin Kelm hop up stairs on a 6’ Semcycle giraffe and then ride down the stairs.
I don’t know if Dustin had some stronger chain tensioners on the axle or not. I do know that he has mentioned that the dropouts (the flat slots where the axle bolts to the frame) on the giraffe frame can bend.
If you want a really stout giraffe frame it will have to be a custom frame. Strong machined dropouts with an integrated chain tensioner would be cool. Take some ideas from the good BMX bikes. They’ve got strong dropouts and some have integrated chain tensioners.
My friend Nick did some fun stuff on a giraffe, but he did indeed need to buy chain tensioners, since the wheel kept slipping up in the dropouts.
It’s probably still not a good idea though. I could see is frame visibly flex as he sprung up for each hop. Also, you want to make sure you are really sure about your ability to hop the stairs, since the giraffe is substantially heavier. Do not try seat out hopping. It is very hard (or was back when I tried it, I wasn’t nearly as good at seat out then) because of the amount of leverage you have working against you trying to pull the seat away from your body.
Simon Greenway of IOU fame built a Muni giraffe. For a description and some photos see:
A few people have done some wild stuff on giraffes. Like Scot Cooper as Zack said, and of course Dustin. Scot has hopped up and down stairs and done lots of Muni. He also once rode the Mount Diablo challenge without a dismount, 10.8 miles and 3300’ of climbing. But his Muni giraffe is NOT a stock one - it’s specially reinforced. As giraffes go, the Torker is NOT one of the strongest and I would be careful taking it on rough terrain. Bruce Bundy has had a couple of giraffe accidents, like the time his chain broke on a really steep hill - ouch.
—Nathan
My favorite photo of Muni giraffe action (Scot Cooper):
ha! that is awesome
Hi,
Paul from Germany trials with her giraffe.
Roland
Edit - Damn. Roland beat me to it.
don’t dis the ultimates!
“However, I confess that the ultimate wheel lacks the day to day practicality of the conventional unicycle” -Mikefule
Just hearing you say that makes me want to dispute it by doing just that -converting it to a mode of transportation, including hopping it by grasping it with my feet! Ultimates forever!
on the topic of ultimate giraffing, has anywone ever done a piruette on one? How do you do it? How do you do it on a normal unicycle?
http://unicyclist.org/cont/play.cfm?pi=r19214498-unicon&hoi=08:46.8&doei=12:48.0
Late in this video, Dustin Kelm does some spins and possibly pirrouettes on his giraffe, as well as some other impressive giraffe skills.
Hi Roland!
Do you know were are more pics of Paul??
Personal gallery, website…
Thanks!
PepeThat is some awsome trials stuff,with or with uot a giraffe.
Does this count as extreme ? It’s on a Tom Miller giraffe. I used to do this on an old Schwinn Giraffe, but I switched uni’s after I realized I could look down & see the Schwinn frame flex on each landing.
Mike
Toe-clips on a giraffe? That’s hyper-extreme.
Re: don’t dis the ultimates!
That got into my sig because that’s ecactly what people say when they compare commuter unicycles to bikes.
Good luck with the ultimate wheel. I’m working on the same thing you are wrt. ultimate wheels. I can hop now, but getting back to riding is still a problem.
Ultimates forever!
I have seen very little extreme action by anyone on a giraffe, the most extreme would on a video I watched of young Zyllan, riding a DX twin chain down a snow slope whilst dodging the sledgers. On a standard skinny tyre, virtually no useful tread to speak of.
Mind even getting on one is extreme by my standards
all those videos i cant watch them
i need to in stall like realplayer or soemthing
and i dont want to does anybody have kool videos on a like windows media player i think i have
plz i want soem kool videos!!!
uhhh anyoone with videos!!! plz i cant view any of them…