I promised myself that this year would be the year that I learn how to properly ride a unicycle. I’ve been crusing through ebay looking for inexpensive or used unicycles, and I’d like to ask for some opinions on the cycles I’ve seen advertised.
The first thing I noticed was a proliferation of inexpensive new unicycles being sold under the Torker brand name. Has anybody had an experience with these? Are they any good?
The next thing I noticed was an unusual unicycle with mag wheels. The durability of mag wheels appeals to me, but are they too heavy to pilot and steer effectively? It would be nice to own a unicycle whose construction allows biking around in adverse conditions (ie. the playa).
The last thing I saw advertised was an old, beaten-up Schwinn. If the tide of opinion turns against my first two options, this is probably what I will persue.
Hi! I bought my first unicycle off of e-bay. It was an old Schwinn. Personally, I got ripped off. But it wasn’t necessarily because of the unicycle but because of the person who sold it to me. He had a picture listed that wasn’t even the same unicycle. He said it “had a new tire and tube” but after I won it said the guy at the bicycle repair shop had died and his son didn’t know how to do it. He sent me the unicycle along with the new tire and tube not on the unicycle, and the tire was a 20 by 1.75 but the old Schwinns have to have an S-7 tire. Anyway, I think probably going with a Torker off of Unicycle.com would be better than going with one off of ebay because they cost about the same and I’d rather give Unicycle.com my business. My schwinn was good enough to learn on but not great. Now I have a United Muni because I’m poor and couldn’t afford a nice Muni. But it seems good to me.
Or better yet you could wait until November 15 (I think that’s when it says) and get a new Schwinn from Unicycle.com because they’re getting them back. But that would be about $150 and you probably don’t want to spend that much.
We have a club of about 40 kids ranging from 6 yrs. to Jr. High plus some adults thrown in. For the kids, we recommend the Torker 20". The uni has several good features, i.e., main cap bearings, flat crown. It does have a standard steel rim which isn’t good for more advanced riding but is fine for learning working on the skills. My son competed at UNICON this summer on a Torker and won a gold medal. He did have an upgrade to the seat and pedals, though. Some negatives on the Torker are the seat which is definitely children’s size, and secondly the pedals tend to split out at the outer bearing after a short while. But replacement pedals are inexpensive.
My advice is to stay away from the colored nylon rims. They look cool but most times the rim bead cannot hold onto the tire as a good steel rim can do and the nylon rim owner tends to go through quite a few inner tubes when the tire lets loose. If you really desire a nylon rimmed uni, may I suggest the Jugglebug over the others. They seem to be above the other nylon rimmed brands in quality and have one or two better options.
When you begin your unicycling journey, you will probably find that unicycling has come a long way since you last tried and you will find it quite an addiction as have the rest of us. In that, if you are like me and can’t afford to purchase cheap tools, I’d suggest that you look at either the Semcycle or the Miyata. If for some very odd reason you choose not to continue with unicycling, look at the prices unicycles are demanding on Ebay and you can most likely recover your initial costs, especially with a quality uni.
I highly second nikki in giving your business to Unicycle.com. You won’t find a better bunch of folks.