Hey, i’m looking into buying a giraffe and i was wondering if anyone has some suggestions about the best height (i’ve never ridden one before), brand and price i should be paying for it? Obviously i’m not planning on taking it off any huge drops (it’s a giraffe for f***'s sake) but i’d like something decently sturdy for a decent price as it’s not exactly going to be my main focus. Any help would be appreciated.
i think the torker tx is pretty cheap.
Any links?
i would get the tx if i were you.
dunno where you can find it though, maybe check ebay.
I vote the tx too, i got one from the US from www.juggglingstore.com for about £125 including shipping. A friend of mine got one off american ebay for £100 all in, the shipping was more than the unicycle! This might be an option for you, I don’t know what the supply of torkers is like in Oz but we don’t get them atall over here. Mine’s stoood up well but his has a bent frame and axle, mainly due to him hopping on it, dropping it off curbs and dropping it then falling on the frame. Still rideable though. I used to use mine to cruise around the city centre at night, it’s alot of fun. The only real complaint i have is that the saddle is torturous, and as torker use a differnt bolt pattern and post size to everyone one else to change it you need to buy a new saddle, post and shims, so i never bothered.
It is best to start with a 5 foot Giraffe as they are much easier to mount than the taller ones.
The Nimbus Performer Giraffe is good, as you can change the height to 7 foot once you are comfortable riding giraffes, 7 foot looks more impressive but does feel a bit far from the ground at times
jim
iI have the TX, I got it from UDC. My friend has the Nimbus Performer (mentioned above). Both great giraffes. The Nimbus is pricy though.
you can get both a TX and the Nimbus performer that Jim was talking about from UDC
the TX is only 129 bucks though, and it has an lx saddle, i think you should go with it
I got a Torker Unistar Tx this autumn and it is a great unicycle for the price.
I bought it off of Ebay for $130US total. Its 5 feet tall but when your sitting on it your at like 9 feet. Its really cool and it is the best price for a giraffe
My 2cents is comparing the Nimbus and the Torker both are very good unis and almost identical
They both have plastic pedals.
Both 5’
Both have 25.4mm seatposts
Both have good rim’s
Both look totally awsome 
.
Where the torker has a major disavantage is the screw on sproket which is a bad design(I say this from personal experince) IT COMES LOOSE! The nimbus has the superior bolt on design which I have not had any troubles with.
The torker seat is also EXTREAMLY uncomfortable.
I took pictures comparing them.
God i’d forgotten that, i had problems with the sporket coming loose and throwing me off unexpectedly, i couldn’t work out what it was at the time and it stopped without me doing anything. The nimbus hub looks like a great deisgn.
^^^^^^^^^^
And it’s so shinny:D
Screw-on sprocket = bad. And dangerous. Go for bolt-on. For height, I recommend going straight to 6’. The reason to ride a giraffe is to be tall, so get the tall one! A 5’ is definitely easier to freemount, but they ride almost the same.
The only giraffe UDC Aus has is the Nimbus 5 foot for 370 (AU) plus shipping. I figure probably the best option would be the Nimbus as 1) easier availability and 2) it apparently doesn’t have a hideously uncomfortable seat. I was wondering about the cranks, they’re just your standard tapered uni cranks yeah? What sort of strength do they provide for the giraffe? I remember when my little brother got his unicycle (he got his first so i learnt on it) i managed to bend his cranks within a couple of days of learning to hop. Obviously giraffes are pretty limted in their hopping capacity but i don’t want to go and spend 400$ on something that i’m gonna need to replace in a couple of weeks soft riding. Any thoughts?
theyre bike cranks because of the chain, im not aware of any splined giraffe, youd need a splined bottom bracket and cranks and new chainring and stuff to go splined.
UDC australia also has the nimbus performer, which has dual-chains. this is a much, muhc better feature to have and you can adjust it’s height later on if you want. all over a better uni really,
they are normal square tapers, but the right one has fixings for the sprocket, so you can’t just replace them with ordinary unicycle cranks. Giraffes just aren’t made for hopping, except for a couple of trials giraffes i’ve seen.
I realize it’s a better uni, having two chains and all but is it 300$ better? That’s a pretty big monetary jump for someone who’s never ridden one of the things before and who only plans to ride to it secondary to my other one. Also, how the hell do you freemount onto them?
The whole giraffe is not really intended for hopping. You have to start from the frame and work outward from there. Basically, don’t beat on your giraffe, that’s what Trials unis and MUnis are for. Or go custom, of course.
Is the “cooler” Nimbus worth the extra $300? If you want more than one height, or double chains, yes. Actually it’s very cheap for an adjustable-height giraffe, especially for AUS! If you just want a giraffe and don’t need anything fancy, then no.
Okay, thanks for all the help guys. I think i’ll go with the Nimbus 5 foot. Umm, how do i get on it (when i get it)?