sick, anyone else got some theyād liker to discuss?
Great thread, I was thinking about making one and if there was one. ANyway I got a standard giraffe 5ft and i busk on it. Im getting a multiwheeled unciycle soon (a few weeks)ā¦ill talk some more later im busyā¦
Havenāt been on the TX for over a year now, I used to love rolling it round town late at night. Should realy sell it but I doubt Iāll get much for it and itās a nice thing to have around.
Great idea for a thread. Iāve got a 5 foot Nimbus giraffe that I bought 3 years or so ago. The trouble is that it doesnāt really fit in to any of the riding categories I usually do (commuting, distance, muni or hockey), so Iāve not touched it since I learned to freemount it. Hopefully someone will post some cool giraffe stuff that will encourage me to dust mine off and get out and ride it again 
STM
u can do tricks and jump on girrafes1??? 
I heart my Giraffe
My 6ā Schwinn giraffe has been with me all over the world.
I have ridden it in every contiguous American state plus Hawaii and 11 other countries.
Itās like an old friend.
I learned most all my tricks on a giraffe.
Idling, juggling and passing while idling. One foot idling and riding,
backward riding, slamming hecklersā¦
It has been on TV commercials and bunches of newspaper pictures and now a sock catalog (see avatar).
My Giraffe has opened for Bill Hicks, Drew Carey, Roseanne, Paula Poundstone, Bobby Slayton, Pat Paulson, Tommy Chong, Kevin Nealon, and many others. It is a very talented Giraffe.
I have the serial # memorized.
I need to fix it up againā¦Itās been refurbished over and over again. I have worn through probably 6 tires, three chains and 2 seats. It has a bit of a curve to it now.
I just estimated that since 1983 I have spent probably close to 20000+ hours in the saddle, Thats just in shows and not counting time for the practice curve.
Makes my butt sore just thinking about itā¦
Someday I will write a sonnet for my Giraffe
I heart my giraffe.
That was beautiful. My eyes are watering.
Iām a Schwinn fan myself. I have Schwinn 20ā and 24ā freestyle Unis. I heart three piece cantilever frames!
The Schwinn Giraffes are really Semcycle now, I think. I donāt think Schwinn has rolled out a giraffe since they got back into unicycles.
Sorry about thatā¦I just took off my shoesā¦
Youāre right about the Schwinn Giraffeās, they havenāt been made in a long while. I just fixed up my little Schwinn 20" frame I had lying around with as close to as original type parts.
I tell you ā¦compared to the nimbus and other current unicycles, the little Schwinns are funky, heavy and kinda cheap. The giraffe has turned out to be bomber, though! Although I have seen a couple tubes break at the crank welds, but not mine thankfullyā¦ I think that would make me cry. I baby the giraffe as it is these daysā¦it has lived way past itās designed life, Iām sure.
I like the little Schwinns tooā¦maybe just for the nostalgiaā¦
If you ever decide to sell it Iād be interested.
I have only ridden a giraffe for about 5 minutes, but it was a fun 5 minutes! I just canāt afford a new one 
Well I have had a nimbus three wheeler for 7 months now, and I have still yet to find time to ride it! (I also need to find some gutsā¦ cos when I get up there I just lose faith and climb back down the ladder!).
That costs alot of money, you should put aside some time to ride if you can. Im getting one next week hopefully. And cant you just get up onto the 3 wheeler like you would get up onto a normal girrafe (assisted) where you put the seat between your legs and climb up a pole ontill your on it?
I rode a giraffe for the first time about a month ago and have a question: should it feel like the tire is right under you like a freestyle uni?
The reason I ask is that the giraffe I rode kept feeling like the tire wanted to roll too far forward, so I had to practically sit on the front of the seat to keep it under me. Also, I noticed on several of our club giraffes that the frame is bent somewhat toward the sprocket side (usually the right side). This all seemed strange to me but, as I say, Iām new to riding giraffes. The club giraffes take quite a lot of abuse so maybe thatās all it is?
BTW: In a gym with 50-70 riders one must have rules or a lot of people get hurt. I know a lot of people donāt like rules but our club director (http://pput.org/) insists for safety sake that before any rider can take on the giraffe they must be able to:
[LIST=1]
At that point he has a series of skills he walks the rider through on the giraffe (turning, dissmounting, figure 8, etc). If the rider completes these skills successfully they are then considered a giraffe rider and can ride the giraffe in parades and other club events.
We also have a 3-stack and a 5-stack, plus a 10ā giraffe!
Iām not sure that Iād ride much taller than a 10ā giraffe.
I have a nimbus performer (dual chan, modular) with extensions to run it up to a nine footer when I feel like it, which is not too often. Normally itās in 7-7.5ā mode for now since thatās the range I can freemount after a few tries.
Three wheelers are incredible as well. Theyāre awesome props and wheel walking one is just something else. So fun. People really get a kick out of them as well.
also blueharmony, Iād definitely agree with that club rule about giraffes. Itās possible to ride without knowing that stuff but makes it far more dangerous/annoying when you canāt idle or control yourself.
Ok, I have the 5ft Nimbus Giraffe, Iām very happy with it, very comfortable riding it, I can running mount it. I worked the Isle of Wight festival on it, so I now know it handles on grass quite well. Iām in this highlights clip, before the sugarbabes.
http://www.itvlocal.com/meridian/locallife/?&void=202312
I also have a pair of 2 wheel extensions, so I can have a 2 or 3 wheeled unicycle. The 3 wheeler is cool, but I have not been on it since april though. Itās cool to be sat on a unicycle and to be eye level with the passengers on top deck of a double decker bus.
The 2 wheeler, I have been spending some time on recently, I can ride forward a decent distance now, I have turning nailed, and I can running mount it. I am learning to idle on it, then backwards will follow.
F.
So Iām not the only one!
Mine has been to Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore.
Mine has also been pictured in newspapers and been in at least one TV commercial.
I do not have the serial # memorized, but I know Schwinnās model number for their Giraffes, U-72.
If you take it to a bike frame expert, he can probably do something about the curve without putting your frame at risk. If you have access to a custom chrome plating company, I recommend getting chrome on the following parts:
- Seat post
- Seat clamp
- Cranks
- Bottom bracket parts (the ones you can see)
- Sprockets
- Chain tighteners
- Axle nuts & washers
Then add a chrome chain if you can find one (you might need two). I had that done to mine many years ago, and it has always stood out from the crowd since.
I heart my giraffe too. It was the first unicycle I ever owned (I learned on borrowed ones). Iāll never part with it. I even have a āspare,ā another Schwinn Giraffe my wife bought me, to use if any parts of my original break or die.
I still have one remaining, unused Schwinn whitewall tire. But the one I have wears very slowly, for two reasons. First because it doesnāt get used much any more, and second because I have a one-tooth difference between the top and bottom sprockets. If you donāt have that setup, contact Tommy Miller (The Unicycle Factory) and see if he has any more of those. It makes your tire wear evenly all around! (765) 452-2692.
Schwinn halted unicycle production from 1983 to 1986. They came back with many redesigns on their regular unicycles (including what we now call the Viscount seat), but the Giraffe never came back. Liability, probably. But they were the most solid giraffes you could buy back then without having to go custom, and professional performers are still using them all over the world.
Semcycle bought the tooling for the old Schwinn seats (the pre-Viscount ones), so those are now Semcycle (with improvements). But the Semcycle giraffes are totally separate from the Schwinns. I know less about them, but they seem very sturdy and are much better than cheaper ones for professional use.
Eww. Why? For nostalgia and tire-changing I can understand. Schwinnās chrome plating, on those frames, was nearly indestructable. But for function, riding, strength and seat-height adjustability they really kinda suck. 
Short answer:
No because it isnāt. The main difference in riding a giraffe, other than psychological (of which Iām sure any 48-year-old is already well aware), is that the wheel is no longer between your feet. Now itās ādown there,ā moving back and forth in a way thatās very different from a non-chain unicycle.
If I had to guess, Iād say you werenāt sitting up straight. If you bend forward, youāre going to have to bring the wheel forward to even things out. This of course makes for an awkward riding position, and your butt sticks out and it doesnāt look that great either. Strive to sit up straight. Generally, you want your frame and your spine to be parallel. Also seat height is an important factor on a giraffe. If the seat was too low it can lead to what you described, or other feelings of insecurity up there.
Stick with it. Watch the kids. They learn faster because they donāt overthink things. If you try to think like them it can speed the learning process!
Itās a bit different because the seat is about 2 foot higher on a three wheeler! Another thing that stops me when I get up there is the fact that I donāt trust the tyre friction to hold me up, and if i pump the tyre up harder then there is so much friction it just doesnāt roll, which again puts me off!!! agh!
hahaha, so frustrated! Trust the wheel(s). Iād be willing to give it a try James!