My mother has pulled the plug on my unicycling wants, she says that ill fall and break somthing. i was just wondering if you guys could help me out by giving me somewhat truthful “safety” features of a uni. how much of a chance is there of breaking a bone when you are learning. thanks to all who respond
i have been riding 6 months and have only got peddle bitesand have only fallen and not landed on my feet 3 times.they are very safe as long as you step off when you feel it getting out of control.
How about this…
I’ve been riding for 2 years, and have only heard of one incedent. I forget who, but someone broke his leg while riding down stairs. While riding a unicycle down stairs.
The people who hurt themselves are already great riders looking for something better to do.
Let your mom know that it is such a safer sport than basically any other sport, and the incident level is ridiculously low.
On the other hand, it is a great cardio workout, a great abs and legs workout, a great self esteem workout (because c’mon, who doesn’t feel like they are king of the world when they pull of something they’ve been trying?)
There is really just no reason NOT to unicycle. Please check out the brokens bones poll I am about to start…poll here
Your lowest foot is never more than 8 inches or so off the ground, how dangerous can that be?
Re: getting mother convinced
Not that it makes any difference but how old are you. I’m over 40 and my mother also worries about me on a unicycle too. 
The fact is you could fall and break something. I haven’t seen actual statistics but I’d think the most likely fractures would be wrist or forearm. This is true for rollerblading or skateboarding. But I feel the overall chances of such a fracture are lower on a uni. So make that low risk even lower. Just wearing a set of wrist guards when learning will greatly reduce the chance of wrist injury. I’d wear a helmet too.
I know of kids that have started at a wide range of school ages. None have had any injuries to speak of.
-Cubby
Who’s mother suggested possibly that full body armor may be called for.
My mommy doesn’t worry about me 
Well not being a parent yet I’m not totally the right person to say too much, But I do know unicycling IS a safe sport.
I love football but would your mother rather you take it up so you can be pumelled by guys trying to hurt you?
I have never broken a bone unicycling, and don’t know of any people who have. All I have really injured have been my shins by hitting them on the pedals, which could have been prevented by me wearing my pads.
I love B*cycling but does your mother honestly think that at the speeds you do or may go on one, is safer then a Unicycle?
Come on oh mother of Jazzist, Let him grow a little and
learn an awesome new sport
Him being HIM OR HER
I learned how to unicycle just before I turned 50. If it’s safe enough for us old guys, there shoudn’t be any reason why a youngster such as yourself should have any threat of injury from learning to uni. Just keep yourself protected with a helmet and pads. Sure, you’re going to fall, but there will be very little speed involved, so if properly suited up, the chance for serious injuries are actually quite slim
When I was learning, I never fell off and broke anything. I always landed on my feet. When you start riding off-road or up and down steep hills, the chances of breaking bones goes up a little. But that’s why we wear safety gear.
If you want to unicycle, you just have to. It’s the best. My girlfriend’s 8 year old son is learning to ride. My girlfriend is very, very , very protective. She’s letting him learn. He just has to wear a helmet and wristguards.
Good luck, I bet she’ll be convinced.
-Eric
Now that I’ve posted on that other thread…Unicycling is safe!
I lost more skin as a kid from crashing on my bicycle than I ever have on a uni.
Basic unicycling is no more hazardous than jogging. I rode extensively through my teens and college years then frequently through my 30’s with no injuries.
Sure there is increased risk in Muni, Trials and some of the advanced skills. I have had enough tall giraffes though, nothing over six feet for me.
It’s tough to get much more than scraped if you pad up properly. Remember you can’t get the thing going much above 5-8 mph, which compared to a bicycle is nothing. When I was a kid my worst injuries were from wiping out on pavement at 15-20 mph on my bike. I’ve never approached this on a uni, and have never gotten as badly hurt.
I have a 9 year old son who learned to ride at 8, and has not had any injury more serious than a couple bumps/bruises and a little torn skin. Standard childhood stuff.
Please Mom? Can he come out and ride with us?
I’ve been riding for 16 months now and haven’t yet sprained or broken anything. I do a lot of muni and when I fall off I most often land on my feet and just come to a stop (still on my feet) about 10m down the hill. I’m also into mountain biking and I honestly reckon it’s much more dangerous than unicycling. The worst fall I’ve had was backwards from a 5’ giraffe onto my elbow and tailbone and that only resulted in a cut really. That was in an attempt to rolling mount (or whatever you call it when you’re doing it on a giraffe) it on a cement road. Unicycling’s definately safe. I guess I’m a pretty cautious rider but I still think there’s nothing to worry about. Sure, you can make it dangerous if you want to, but it doesn’t have to be and usually isn’t.
Andrew
danger sports
squash is very dangerous whith a small hard ball going around a small room at about 60mph and over.also if it hits you in the eye it can suck it out so i got some squash googles now i will keep my eyes.
rugby is dangerous my friend use to play for the county (american equivilan state) and he fell head first and damaged his back so bad he could not play for years.
bowls(the old peoples thing)is statistically the most dangerous sport in the world because a lot of old people play it and they are very injury prone + my grandmother has seen people die on the green!!!
Re: getting mother convinced
My wife was afraid I’d break something, too, so it took me a few weeks
to talk her into getting one for me. Since then, she’s seen firsthand
how safe they are. Now she wants to try!
Come on, mom! Everyone should have a uni!!
Jazzist <Jazzist.tdcho@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>
>My mother has pulled the plug on my unicycling wants, she says that ill
>fall and break somthing. i was just wondering if you guys could help me
>out by giving me somewhat truthful “safety” features of a uni. how much
>of a chance is there of breaking a bone when you are learning. thanks to
>all who respond
Convince her how much more dangerous a bike is. For example, I know someone who got her foot caught in the gears, which a unicycle has none of, and she had to get like a hundred stitches or something. Sure, she was riding barefoot, but that’s not hte point.
And also, a unicycle is direct drive, meaning the cranks are connected directly to the wheel, so you can only go as fast as you pedal. You can’t lose control going downhill this way (usually).
The scratches down my arms from a little incident this afternoon beg to differ, although for the purpose of the exercise I’ll keep quiet about them…
Main reasons I can think why they’re safer than bikes, which is probably a good start:
- Much slower (huge great wheels excluded, but I presume that’s not really an issue)
- Much less to get tangled in if you come off…
Phil
The broken ankle that Sofa referred to happened when Erin was hopping down some stairs, slipped up, and turned her ankle upon the landing. This sounded like a freak enough accident that it could have happened when she was hopping down the stairs WITHOUT the unicycle, but the uni probably increased the risk slightly.
Unicycle is a safe ride because:
- speed is low - easier to maintain control, falls can be less dramatic (unless you have a uni designed for speed)
- direct drive pedalling, so the uni won’t go faster than you can manage on downhills (like skateboards and inline skates might do)
- easy to bail from - just step or leap off the unicycle without getting tangled in a frame and handlebars
- most riders use a helmet and knee and wrist protection when they are doing dodgier stuff, or (like me) all the time
My mom was a bit freaky when I brought home the uni for the first time too, but she is totally comfortable with it now. I was told (numerous times) by bystanders that the learning-to-unicycle phase LOOKS really unsafe, but if you wear the safety gear and are able to land on your feet most of the time, you generally emerge with nothing more than bruises from riding on the painful seat that comes on the cheap learner unicycle one generally starts off with…
andrea
edit: Ooo, Phil, you beat me to the list format! Curses! 
(That’s what happens when you take forever to write anything! ) 
If you’re doing MUni, then there is an increased chance that you’ll lose control downhill because you can slide sometimes without pedalling. But down a street or something, then there’s a very low chance. Plus if you do lose control, then you can just jump off without hurting yourself, but you will hurt the Uni. I’d like to see a biker jump off of a bike and land completely safely.
All these concerned mothers…
What does it say about mine that she bought me my first one? 
Re: getting mother convinced
Hmmm… Either you were NOT mom’s favorite, or your mom was smarter
than most. Remembering what my mom taught me, I’ll go with the later.
Adrian <Adrian.teeeg@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
>
>All these concerned mothers…
>
>What does it say about mine that she bought me my first one?