Looks like a White Widow to me…
OMG!
That blows my 80cm out the door! Holy SH*T!
I just watched this like 100 times…
omg
This comment really pissed me off. With the same kind of vain reasoning, I can quickly deduce that street is all spins, nothing very big, and no vertical hight to any tricks that look the same. So basically it’s just the mental aspect and how fast you can flip. Shaun J is good at it, but all he has is good flipping techniques. What is the difference between a double and a triple? They both look the same so why do it?
I’m not saying your shitting on trials (though you kind of are), but you should respect people.
+1 i totally agree with you
side hops in trials riding are really technical… and not only influenced by leg power
I still think he hopped in the 104- 107 range. But I sopose now if you asked him to do a 109cm high hop onto pallets he would probs be able to do it
This is also interesting as it applies to existing olympic events. Track and field events can all be measured. Swimming races can be measured. But there are olympic events (completely lame olympic events in my opinion) which rely on judges to determine “form” and evaluate the outcome. Diving, figure skating, and gymnastics are examples of these. Even team sports are questionable because they require officials. What kind of competition is it when some panel decides that your costume is prettiest, your hair looks the best, or they think your form has the attibutes required to make it more artistic? Was that really a foul?
If the result can be measured, it is a sport. If someone says Billy’s pants are cooler and his double flip is more aesthetically pleasing than Bobby’s triple flip, it is an art. How HIGH can you jump? How FAST can you cover 100m from a dead stop? How FAR can you throw a javelin? How FAST can you swim the backstroke 100m? These are olympic sports. Nice dive. Good rings performance. Great futbol game, glad we got that favorable call. Great skating routine, nice costumes. These are not olympic sports.
How do street and trials unicycling fit into this? You can have an opinion about the best street rider. You know damn well who can do the highest verticle sidehop.
+10
First of all… Amazing job by this guy. I couldn’t imagine hopping that high.
Secondly, I don’t think anyone said he was an amazing trials rider. Just that his hop was probably the current world’s best.
I think there is a tendency from the general public to look at one or two easily measured things in a discipline, compare riders based on those things, and declare a best. I kinda think thats what Shaun J. was talking about. It seems that most every discussion about who is great in trials quickly turns to who can jump the highest.
Several people have tried to compare unicycling to track and field in the olympics. How fast, how far, how high. Things that are easily measured. I think the only event that really compares to trials or street tho is the decathalon. Its not just about who jumps higher… A decathalete has to be very good at 10 different things… A great high jumper will probably not win the decathalon, and a great decathalete will probably not win the high jump.
I think most people in this thread agree… What a great high jump! Amazing…! Congratulations!
Now… I don’t know how good of a trials rider he is. I will go watch some of the other videos linked here and form my opinion on that. For me… one hop doesn’t vault him to the top of the trials world. BUT, if he can do lots of other stuff really well, I may personally rank him very high. I’ll form an opinion that probably hardly anyone else will share cuz its based on personal preference.
Maybe we should put more weight on NAUCC/BUC/FLUCK/etc rankings and Unicon rankings… At least at those competitions, the same (hopefully well trained) judges are using the same criteria on the same day at the same course to compare the riders, and declare the best. True, being a trials champion is about as subjective as being a figure skating champion, but at least there is a basis of comparison and guidelines for that honor.
Just my two cents worth… sorry if I rambled too much…
Keld
I don’t think so. Because at competitions like that it only compares the people who were able to go to the event.
For example, I won the street comp at last year’s NAUCC, but does that compare me to any other street riders? No way.
I agree with the first part of your post though. 
You hit it right on.
I’m guessing he is one of the best trials riders. I’ve found that out of the people I’ve ridden with, the ones who can hop the highest are also the best and most consistant trials riders.
Show me one example of a rider who can static hop over 95cm but ISN’T awesome at trials! Which riders can you think of who can hop high? Ryan Atkins? What a coincidence, he’s also mind hurtingly good at trials.
If you’re able to hop 109cm, your form has to be good down to the smallest detail. Therefore, you’re very likely to be good at other aspects of trials.
uhm
I suck at trials and I can SIF static hop something like 30" now. I couldn’t land on a 4x4 4 feet away if I tried like 10 times…I Might could get it once. I can sidehop about 6 feet without too much trouble too.
trials is about precision, I agree with that, and yes, once you get that high you can assume that the person is a good trials rider because you don’t just practice ups the whole time, you ride… and you ride, and you hop across/up/down things, and you ride(pedal) some more.
Who gives a crap if he can hop 3 cm higher than ryan atkins, that doesn’t make him any better. 3 cm is nothing. I bet if Ryan had 1/10 psi more or less in his tire it could easily affect his hopping hieght that much. Any of them could break the record, ryan, joe, or (forgot his name at the moment) They have massive ups, get over it, go show them up, or wait, YOU CAN’T, nor will you ever. SHUT UP ALREADY. This guy is freaking awesome at ups, just wait for a well edited video with him in it to judge the rest, for now, I am assuming he is good at all trials.
The whole thing ends up as this: a new guy comes up and breaks a record. People congratulate, a heated argument comes about, comment(s) is/are mad about the stupidity of what you guys are doing, you shut up, 10 more decent comments are made, then the argument happens again, thread dies, ressurected 3 months later, everyone is ashamed of what they said, booohooo!
Outstanding analogy.
I’m sure a lot of people could critisize street for similar things. “This is why I don’t like street. Too much is placed on just flip tricks.” And you know what? Both sentiments are partially true.
Sure, I love trials the most, but I love watching people unicycle and watching a good unicycling movie any day of the week, especially if people are creative about the movies they make. Unicycling is a very enjoyable thing to me. And I’m glad to see other members of the community who have open minds about the sport, those who push the limits, those who celebrate it. I’m psyched about this sport, because it is so diverse. There’s street, flatland, trials, cross-country, distance/marathon, MUni/Freeride/DH, freestyle, track, bc, ultimate wheel, eccentric, giraffe, multiple wheel, etc…
I know I’m partially thread-jacking, but this lack of tolerance to the diversity of unicycling bugs me. Is there anyone else out there who can respect the different genres and sub-genres of unicycling, even if you don’t participate in them all?
Anyway. That hop was pretty cool! I can’t hop that high (yet). It’s nice to see that we haven’t found the limit yet. I wonder what unicycle hops will top out at. No use in wondering. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, and some of us will be able to keep pushing.
I hope we’ll be seeing more of this fellow in the years to come, and that he continues to be an accomplished and active rider within the community.
I think people are forgeting a MAJOR part of trials here. Ups and gaps are not everything. A good trials rider can ride a rail. I bet there are plenty of people who can hop a good 90cm, but can’t ride a rail very well at all. Big moves are not all trials is, presision and technicality are a huge part of it and those fall under rail riding (granted you have to have presision to hop 90cm or gap 6 feet).
EDIT: To what TrialsUni said. I totally agree about the respecting other other parts of unicycling.
DOUBLEEDIT: Shaun, I hate to say it, and your still an awesome rider, but you’re a bit of a hippocrite. Lke TrialsUni said, your style of street (tech) is way too centered around flips. Sure, you can argue that tech street would pretty much be nothing without flips, but there are soo many other things that can be invented that are as tech or even more tech than flips. I couldn’t go a week without doing ups in my riding (trials) and I’m sure that you couldn’t go a week without doing flips in your riding. Do you know why that is? Because ups and flips are such a huge part of our different styles of riding. Accept that, and tolerate other styles of riding. Stop trying to push street so much.
While I agree with you over all, what happens when that 100 meter backstroker get disqualified (by an official) when he glides slightly too long after flipping on to his stomach at the wall? Or when the sprinter moves just slightly too far forward before the gun goes off, and gets thrown out of the race (by an official)? Seems like a ‘favourable call’ for the guy who placed behind them…
All good points. In short, all events are officiated.
I was so happy when I made 105 cma few weeks ago, cant imagine how somebody can jump so high.
OMFG. 11.5 to 14.5 is a huge step.
This dood is a machine!
WoW ! it’s amazing …
Sick!