Since flatland is new and emering does this mean that there will be comps that include strictly flatland.
Or will flatland just be part of street comps, or be part of freestyle comps.
Should they include a strict flatland at Naucc next year or this year?
At the moment there are no rules for a Flatland unicycle competition. Though having those is less important than petitioning competition hosts to add events, it might be fun to work on them. I’d recommend using the Street Freestyle rules to start, and work from there.
What exactly is the difference between Flatland and Freestyle?
A costume and music. 
KH.
And tricks. 
Freestyle is kinda more wheel walking-type moves, while flatland is more unispins, static tricks, stuff like that.
I dunno, flatland just has a different “attitude” then conventional freestyle. I kinda think of it as this: Flatland is doing cool tricks, freestyle is doing ‘skills’.
so what about the uni too…
if there were to be competition rules would the competitors have to use a uni with a 2.5 tire or sumthn like that…
you know though this reminds me of bmx because they have bmx flatland and bmx freestlye/dirt…
because the flatland/freestyle in unicycles is more like the flatland in bmx and the bmx street is like unicycle street, just without all the big jumps.
why don’t you just enter freestyle comps and see if you can win?
freestyle is the coolest stuff ever. I’ve never actually seen a decent string of ‘flatland’ tricks. It’s always like 8 wraparounds and a crankroll.
Did you see Spencer’s Flatland vid?
It’s prolly the best flatland video I’ve seen, ever.
theres alot of string of tricks you can do, we just dont know all of them yet. 
Haha thanks, have you seen that new koxx flat vid? They are way better than me. I am working on some crankroll stuff now, once I have some cool ideas to try once I get the basic rolls down.
I will make a new vid soon when I get a new camera that works.
Unknown. Until it gets put down on paper (or electrons) somewhere, we can only guess. Costume and music are most likely not going to be judged in Flatland. Also Flatland will probably be done outside only, or at least on surfaces where marking tires and metal pedals are allowed. But this remains to be seen.
If there’s a difference between tricks and skills, I haven’t seen it defined. To me, “skill” is a PC word for tricks, because some people don’t want us to be confused with magicians, for instance, who are “tricking” us when they do most of their tricks.
Different attitude, definitely. Freestyle is not about doing tricks/skills though, it’s about using them to put on a show. Just as Street is not about getting over obstacles (Trials), but about doing it with style and creativity. Flatland will probably be more about showing your best tricks/skills. As to which are cool, that’s very much a matter of taste. I can see being attracted to the new stuff, where you can invent things that may not have been done before. People still do that with Freestyle too though. Also Freestyle encompasses any form of riding, trick or unicycle. You have to supply your own though, so props (like ramps and platforms) are usually limited.
I would not want to see any limitations on the uniycles. There are none for Freestyle either, though there is usually a facility requirement of non-marking tires and plastic pedals, to protect expensive floors. For that reason I’d expect to see Flatland at least start off as an outdoor event. But any unicycles should be allowed.
He could, but that’s not what this thread is about. That would be like asking you to go enter a motocross competition. It still wouldn’t be a Flatland event. Maybe some people want to do tricks but don’t want to have to worry about music, costume and entertainment value?
When I think of freestyle I think of people doing stand-up coasts and piruouettes on a gym floor, like Kaori in Defect, while for flatland, I think of Dan Heaton’s mad skills.
At NAUCC I am doing a freestyle routine but it will mostly be flatland. I will attempt to choreograph it to the music and make it interesting in some way. I haven’t totally figured it out yet. I don’t really have any idea how it will turn out, I might use a bc wheel too if I feel like it.
At the moment I am signed up for expert but that will probably change because I have never done it before and I am not that good.:o
Oh and I am planning on riding my trials uni, I have a shaved tryall tire that will be on there so I don’t think it will mark up the floor. I don’t really understand the non-marking tire rule, its not like it will damage the floor at all like metal pedals. If it leaves a mark I could just clean it…
I like this idea a lot since it’s something I could really enjoy without being competitive at all, lol. I say just cut off an area (can’t go outside of it or else points lost) and have like three judges watching it. They know a bit of flatland, and for sure know the sport for it’s trials, street, flatland, part. Not a freestyle judge. And have the riders bust. That would be cool.
-SJ
do u think they would let us try and to make our own class at naucc this year for flatland, or would they not let us…
Just do alittle sideline thing anyway. Nothing wrong with getting a few people together that aren’t doing anything and bust a flatland comp. That’s what will go down at FLUCK this year with the street riders. Will be a good time.
-Shaun Johanneson
If you have cool moves you can do with it, I recommend it. You may be the only one with a BC in your division. As for entering Expert, it’s hard to say but it’ll still be tough in that division even without Ryan Woessner competing. At least I asume he’s not competing… (he’s now in college)
If the tire makes marks, shaving unfortunately won’t make any difference. Also unfortunately, it’s not up to us what the venue owners allow and won’t allow on their floors. If you let one person with a marking tire in, why not let others, and then there’s the potential for thousands of square feet of marks that need cleaning. If you can, try your tire on a nice gym floor somewhere and see what you get. Usually black tires are okay as long as they don’t make marks. Some places are even stricter, like in Japan, where they wanted white or non-black tires only.
If they have an open workshop schedule, meaning they want people to volunteer for various workshops, you can do it as one of those. That’s how we’ve done Sumo in the past. You’ll need rules though. No rules and there’s no way for the judges to know what to look for, or for the competitors to know what the judges need to see.
And BTW, your judges should know the material, not necessarily be Street/Flatland riders and not necessarily not Freestyle judges. Some of the Freestyle judges have the most experience, and also some of them are good Street judges as well.
Yeah I can do some cool things on a bc, it just depends on how consistant I can get it. I will probably stay with expert for now until I see how my routine is coming along, I might decide to do a lower one later if its not going too well.
I will try to test it out, I asked Darren about it and he told me trials tires only mark in a gym if you do really tight turns or try to pirouette. I could probably also use a luna and be safer because its a harder compound.
I saw a video from last year of Jonny Peacock doing freestyle in a gym on his trials uni. I guess I will see how it goes.
Oh and if I do ride a bc wheel then I think the bc plates could do more damage to the floor than any tire could. Do you think I would have to cover the edges of the plates or something?
Ryan Woessner pwns freestyle (in the USA) and if he threw in a few crank flips, did some more uni spins, and did some rolling jumps his freestyle routines would be a flatland routine. He does a lot of skills in his freestyle routines and very few spins and pirouettes.
Yes. Figure out something to cover the edges of the BC plates and also pad them. Vinyl tubing or car door guard molding might do it. But it would have to be something that would protect the floor from getting dented as well. A BC wheel out of control can slam in to the floor pretty hard and dent it. That would not be good at all. A dent is worse than a scratch. So something should pad the edges of the BC plates as well as just covering them up. Steel plates would be worse than aluminum plates since steel plates are heavier and more likely to dent the floor if the wheel gets out of control.
As for the marking tires. Bike tires often have more than just one hardness of rubber on the tire. Often the knobbies will be softer and more grippy (and more marking) than the rubber used for the sidewall and base layer. So if you are shaving off the knobbies you might be down to a harder layer of rubber that is less marking. You’ll have to go to a gym and see how your shaved tire behaves. Try as hard as you can to leave a mark on the floor by doing spins and such. If you leave marks then the tire is a no go.
But even colored tires might leave marks. It’s just that white marks and other colors are harder to see on the floor than black marks.
Another angle. I wonder of there is something that you could spray on the tire before the competition to keep it from marking. My first thought was hair spray but that wouldn’t be ideal because it would leave hair spray residue on the floor. But there might be something that could be sprayed on the shaved trials tire to keep it from marking during the competition. Maybe. You’ll have to experiment on a gym floor and then run it by the event organizers. Otherwise you’re going to have to figure out a different kind of tire to use for indoor competition.