So I’ve had my Pashley uni for over a year now (I’d also advise people to avoid
Pashley – they even put the cranks on the wrong sides of my uni), and I thought
it was about time to try something different.
Here’s the question: what do I look for in a giraffe? What’s a reasonable
price for a well-made 6’? I was looking at the More Balls Than Most catalogue,
and they’ve got a 6’ DM (“very high quality giraffe”) for 295lbs. Is this
about right?
MBTM also rekon that they’re easier than standard unis, but how do you get on
them? I always thought you had to climb, but when the “Junior Freestyle Mount”
was described here a week ago, we were told to “hold it out front, like a
giraffe”. Is this the start of the “official” giraffe mount?
>The more adventurous (stupid?) mount involves holding the uni out in front
of >you, saddle near groin, while you run along at an appropriate point jam
your >foot onto a pedal near bottom dead center. This should lock the wheel
(dosnt >work on slippery surfaces) which turns the mount into a form of pole vaulting, >taking your weight on the saddle. I dont really like to think
about >this too much, but it does feel as if it should work OK, and it looks
quite >impressive. Sem junior claims its easier, but he would.
A guy name of Carl on the Circus Kingdom (college troupe) from Illinois State
used to do this mount in shows on a very rickety Schwinn of yesteryear.
Sometimes took the poor bloke four tries, but he would doggedly try again.
Slippery floors were a problem, since on the tour everything changed daily.
Anybody know Brian Schlosser? He was on my first circus tour, with his
(beautiful) custom-built ten-foot uni, on which he would idle and juggle on a
portable 8’ x 8’ floor (this was a tent show).
> > I bought a 6’ sem three weeks ago at 250 squid. Its single chain vs. the > double of the DM, but the frame seems more rigily built and there is no > noticable flex in it. That was from the Mushy Pea stand at the Brum > convention, and was cheaper than you might otherwise get I think. I dont know > what the Sem stand was selling the same for. If you want a cheap sem, you > might consider waiting till the European juggling convention (September in > Leeds?) where Sem are likly to have a stand selling at good prices. (I got my > normal sem trainer at the Coventry convention for 95. I think that was a good > price a year ago.) I’d be surprised if MBTM were the cheapest around, and the > other outlets are more likly to give discounts for being a really nice person > (you are arnt you?). Besides, the small outlets rip people off less so need > the trade more. (Yes, I’m biased.) >
If you could review your sem Giraffe after you’ve had a chance to use it, I, for
one would love to hear your thoughts. I’m thinking of taking the plunge this
summer and getting a giraffe and would welcome any comments on any giraffes.
On a related note, how does one dismount a giraffe? It seems as though the
potential for injury would be quite high (no pun intended).
ObUniStuff: Someone asked about the hardiness of unicycles several weeks back.
I’ve a Semcycle, 20" wheel, that I’ve had for about two years. It’s received
lots of beginner abuse, getting dumped on concrete from a hasty dismount, and
has held up well. The seat cover needed to be replaced and I wish that I would
have put some sort of protector on the metal part of the saddle (It got good and
scractched from being dumped and did develop some nasty burrs that could take a
piece of skin or two out of my finger when I did catch the uni on dismounting)
other than that, its been great.
More ObUniStuff: The April, 1993, issue of Bicycling Magazine has a ‘review’ of
the Miyata Unicyle by Scott Martin. I’ll summarize it in a future post…
Someone wrote > > > > I bought a 6’ sem three weeks ago at 250 squid. Its single chain vs. the > > double of the DM, but the frame seems more rigily built and there is no > > noticable flex in it. That was from the Mushy Pea stand at the Brum
<stuff deleted!>
And someone else wrote… > If you could review your sem Giraffe after you’ve had a chance to use it, I, > for one would love to hear your thoughts. I’m thinking of taking the plunge > this summer and getting a giraffe and would welcome any comments on any > giraffes. > > On a related note, how does one dismount a giraffe? It seems as though the > potential for injury would be quite high (no pun intended). >
Ok here goes the first post on the uni-net(?).(By the way Terry are you some
sort of Circus-skills Electronic communication God or what??? Thanks!!)
I’ve had a 5’ sem for just about a year now and from what I can tell It’s
wonderful. Compared to the DM, it’s extremely light and therefore well
manouverable. The lightness though doesn’t seem to be too big a problem
vis-a-vis strength though. It’s built with box construction metal which gives
the strength without the weight. I’ve had no problems with it at all (except
learning to mount of course!!) Afreind of mine with a DM reckoned the extra
weight made it tough to ride long distances without being really knackered. I’ve
managed a 5 mile parade on my sem (with some nasty hills) and the biggest
problem was saddle soreness. I think this all counts as a recommendation!
To dismount i just stop peddaling and lean in the direction I want to dismount
in. Half way down I grab the saddle, take my feet off the pedals and make sure
that I BEND MY KNEES as I land. Otherwise things get very jarring! Hope this has
been of some help… Paul Selwood (Bristol Uni Circusoc)