I recently bought a 5’ giraffe. It is a cheap chinese brand, which is probably the reason for my frustration. I can ride it and idle it though.
QUESTION 1
The seat keeps slipping to the back under my crotch, so I soon tend to sit on the handlegrip. It also force me to keep weight on seat, which makes it very difficult to “rearrange” myself - as soon as I stand up, the uni pushes to the back.
Is it usual for a giraffe to slip to the back, and if not, any ideas of fixing it?
It doesn’t look bent.
I may be able to bend the seat post slightly to move the seat either to the front or back.
QUESTION 2
Freemounting and seat height: I want to freemount but battle to get my crotch over the seat. Only mounting I manage to do is by putting the seat under me, stand on something about 12’’ high, and then jump up with the seat already under me.
I cannot jump on the seat, unless I lower it too much.
What is an ideal seat height compared to a normal unicycle? I prefer riding with the seat high enough so my down leg will be almost completely straight.
It is hard to comment without seeing your giraffe and the seat. I ride one, and never had this kind of problem.
mounting - i rode a giraffe for over 15 years and for some strange reason never tried to free-mount it.
about a month ago i tried it, and i can do it in 1/5 tries now. i think the hight of the seat will make it harder for you to free-mount the giraffe - try to lower it to make it easier to quickly pull the seat under you after climbing up.
1: Sounds like the seat needs to tilt up more in the front. Change the angle if possible, or get a seat that can tilt. Also you probably aren’t sitting up straight. Sit straight and the seat won’t slip back as much.
2: Seat height should be same as any other unicycle. Look for videos of people doing freemounts. Step up on one pedal, get on the seat, THEN put foot on other pedal.
I’m privileged to have a uni guru like John Foss giving me pointers
I played again with my giraffe, and it seems that sitting up straight is part of my problem. - it is much harder sitting straight not looking down on a giraffe with everything way below.
I’ll try tilting my saddle backwards, but it seems counter intuitive - for now I’m suffering from soreness, and have to take a saddle break.
On mounting, it makes sense to get on the seat before putting the 2nd foot down. I’ll give it a try.
Thanks for the feedback.
Riding a giraffe is really fun, and so underrated on this forum.
As for freemounting, the biggest problem I had to overcome was bailing out too early when the mount would have been possible. I often mounted ok-ish but thought it wasn’t going to work so aborted too early. Once I got over this mental barrier, almost all mounts, even sloppy ones, were recoverable.
My seat is probably about an inch lower than I would choose for optimal distance riding… but then again, if you’re going for optimal distance riding, you’ve started off badly by choosing a giraffe
Giraffes DO tend to the back at the best of times and it will feel as if it’s slipping between your thighs.
You’ll get used to it over time and will teach yourself how to handle the giraffe to ensure it doesn’t scoot out from between your legs entirely.
Cheap chinese raffie?
That’s exactly what I’ve got.
Someone needs to talk you thru LOCTITE-ing your giraffe.
I’m trying to think who was the best at this, hopefully they’ll pop out of the woodwork by themselves.
Freemounting.
A marvellous skill to have and one well worth all the practise to learn and then to maintain.
Read this post for the most detailed write-up on the freemount.
The whole thread is pretty kewl and also carries a couple of links to other threads on the giraffe.
I’ve made a lot of money on my giraffe and really should dig it ot and ride it again sometime.
