i walked into a cycling shop in johannesburg with 5 X 20" and 2 X 5" in stock
in this country, this is unusual
i was amused to c the giraffe’s we’re marked as ‘long tom’ unicycles
anybody ever come across this name for them?
who decided on ‘giraffe’ in the first place?
Re: giraffe vs long tom
> “Faith: not wanting to know what is true.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Mine!
Dave,
There was a recent thread saying that the term “Giraffe” is originally a Schwinn name and refers specifically to the Schwinn chain driven uni. But similar to the “Band-Aid” term phenomenon, Giraffe has been adapted to universally refer to all or most chain driven unicycle. I like the Long Tom name. It would be interesting to have some insight on its orgin.
Bruce
RE: giraffe vs long tom
> There was a recent thread saying that the term “Giraffe” is
> originally a Schwinn name and refers specifically to the
> Schwinn chain driven uni.
I don’t think Schwinn came up with it. They just used the name because
nobody else had yet. But I’m not 100% sure about that. If anybody has “The
Unicycle Book” handy (the 1973 version), if they are called giraffes in
there, which I’m pretty sure they are, then that’s it. Schwinn didn’t
introduce theirs until 1977 (or 76?).
Then, Schwinn had to stop using the giraffe image on their stickers, because
their giraffe looked too much like Toys R Us’ Geoffry Giraffe. But this
didn’t affect the name.
I don’t know who started ‘giraffe’ as the common name for chain drive
unicycles.
> I like the Long Tom name. It would be interesting
> to have some insight on its orgin.
I never heard of it, but it sounds like something the distributor or
manufacturer came up with, like Sky Cycle for the Miyata giraffe.
Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com
IF IT DAMAGES PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PROPERTY,
SKATEBOARDING
AND UNICYCLING
IS A CRIME
(Mind where you grind)
RE: giraffe vs long tom
> I don’t think Schwinn came up with it.
Yes, Tim Bustos confirmed with his 1973 copy of The Unicycle Book.
So where does the term come from???
JF
Well then, let me say that I really like my 5’ savage Long-tom. Woohaahoo! That sounds pretty dirty. I am going to start referring to giraffes as Long-Toms, pure for the phalic sound.
I think this is also why I took up contact juggling… for all the sexual references that come from it. Contact juggling- I can palm spin four balls. DIRTY. Contact juggling- My balls are really smooth. DIRTY. Contact juggling- I polish my balls on a regular basis. DIRTY. And then there’s my personal fav. Contact juggling- My balls are 3" in diameter, hard as rock, and I like to play with them in public!
-David Kaplan
origin of ‘long tom’
in south african history, ‘long tom’ was a gun/cannon used by the english forces against the boer forces during one of the wars of independance round the turn of the previous century
in the eastern province of mpumalanga (close to the kruger natinal park) there is a mountain pass named after the weapon
the tragic bus accident that claimed the lives of about 30 english tourists about three years ago happened on the way down this mountain pass
south african breweries picked up on this a good coupe of years ago and released a limited edition beer can
normally beer cans r the ‘standard’(?) 340ml
this one was 450ml
the larger can was marketed under the name ‘long tom’ and the name stuck
even when the soft-drink companies came out with the 450ml cans, customers would walk into convenience shops and ask for a ‘long tom coke’
some backround on where the decision to mark the 5footer as a ‘long tom’ might have come from
thought i’d check for an international precedent first
it should be mine in about 19 days
no, the uni
