shone@neumann.une.edu.au (Scott Hone) wrote:
>That sounds cool and basically how I tried to mount a giraffe unicycle.
>However, I tried it on a DM 5-8 foot set on the 5 foot mode. I figure that if
>you were look at a 8 foot, the peddles are a long long long way away from the
>tire. This is just my theory. Can you still mount in the same way?
I have seen Tom Miller (the Unicycle Factory) freemount an 8' giraffe,
using a slight notch in the grass to hold the wheel in place. I have
read about Mel Hall, in the mid 1940's, running up a 9' unicycle, which
he then rode inverted, pedaling with his hands. Instead of a seat, it
had two shoulder rests. Sem Abrahams rides a standard unicycle with the
same arrangement (standard = pedaling directly on the axle).
Tom Miller built me an 8-1/2' giraffe with a special step for free
mounting. The step, when stepped on, presses against the tire to keep it
in place, so you can theoretically take your time mounting. My former
roomate Ken Fuchs and I never perfected mounting it, meaning we couldn't
do it a dozen times in a row, but it was definitely possible and not to
difficult to mount. When learning, the main problem is the weight of the
unicycle. Not only must you catch yourself every time you miss, you must
also catch the heavy unicycle. The higher you go, the harder it is on
your ankles, and the heavier the unicycle will get.
As for hopping your way up, as suggested by Alberto Ruiz, a different
type of wheel stopper would probably be necessary. With my design,
each hop would allow the wheel to move, which would make things very
sticky indeed!
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone unicycle@aol.com