Can anyone guess how many unicyclists there are in the world? I’ll let you
figure out exactly who qualifies as a unicyclist but I would figure it would
be someone who is at about Level 1. And no, this is not like a bottle of
jelly beans, when it’s all over, I will not tell you the exact answer - I’m
just curious.
Alex
Well, there are about 30-40 unicyclists in Rochelle…so let’s see, Rochelle has about 9500 people so approximately .35% of the population ride unicycles. Assuming that Rochelle is slightly average for a hometown and there are quite a few hometowns in the world, .35% times lots of hometowns equals quite a few unicyclists.
Other than that, I have absolutely no idea!
B
Just think, next year when NAUCC is hosted in Rochelle (at least that is one rumor I’ve heard 
), there’ll be about 400 unicyclists there. That’s like 4% of the population.
Yikes! Baby steps! Baby steps! We need to start small. I just informed the parents last week that I want their help on a organizing committee for Regionals…and that’s only a day and a half long! We do want to host a national event here someday…emphasis on SOMEDAY by the way. I wonder if the downhill event could be run down the monstrous gentle slope on Lincoln Highway?
By the way, I tentitively secured the two gymnasiums at the Rochelle Jr. High for April 4&5, 2003 for Regionals. The Jr. High just built a new gym last year so we can use the old gym for warm up just like at Mt. Si H.S. Should be good. Plus there’s an Arby’s withing walking distance so roast beef all around! That April 4&5 weekend is at the end of Spring Break here. I checked and found that the Spring Break for Minneapolis area schools is the same, however not all districts around the Minneapolis area have the same Spring Break time. I’d like to do the same as you guys did last year, schedule the facilities for open gym on Friday night for practice then run the event all day on Saturday.
For those possibly interested in attending a Regionals event, Rochelle is in northern Illinois about 75 west of Chicago and a half hour south of Rockford. We’ll compete in Standard Skills and Artistic Freestyle, trials, and play around with other events like hockey and fun and games. All in preparation for next years Nationals at TCUC…
Bruce
You might want to check into the Arby’s Market Fresh sandwiches as oppose to their roast beef. I don’t think I’ll be able to attend, but Nationals might not be too unreasonable.
By using Yoopers reasoning applied to my town, there aren’t very many unicyclists. The population here is about 18,000 and as far as I can determine, I’m the only unicyclist, but I’m working on some people, including a minister I ran into last night while riding in his parking lot. I may have scored an air-conditioned gym to ride in if he is as interested as he sounded.
RE: Global Unicyclist Population
> Can anyone guess how many unicyclists there are in the world?
This is the hardest question that gets posed to me by reporters, and they
never seem to fail to ask it. More recently, they usually ask how many
mountain unicyclists there are. This makes the question more complicated,
because then you have to draw another line, as to what defines a mountain
unicyclist.
Nobody knows how many unicycle riders there are. If we had better sales
figures for unicycles, we’d have a much better idea. But there is no
industry organization that collects this information. If consumers ask
companies for sales figures, they usually aren’t willing to give them out.
Even knowing sales figures won’t tell us how many people can ride.
> I’ll let you figure out exactly who qualifies as a unicyclist
> but I would figure it would be someone who is at about Level 1.
I think the majority of unicycle riders in the world are not level 1. Most
people learn to ride, but don’t go much beyond that. I don’t know if that
means they don’t learn to freemount, but I would not want to exclude people
who can’t.
But you definitely have to have a criteria for determining who is a
unicyclist and who isn’t. Should it be:
Of course, each of those narrows the field. If you count people who have
learned to ride at some point in their lives, you should get a number over 1
million. In Japan, for example, there are unicycles in the vast majority of
the elementary schools. In some schools, they are just another piece of
playground equipment, and it seems like a large percentage of the kids learn
to ride them at some point. They may not do it after they move up to the
next school, but they will carry that skill through the rest of their lives.
Then for mountain unicyclists. How would you separate them out? For my
“educated guesses” that I’ve used with the press, I have assumed people who
have taken their unicycles off road (on purpose) at least a couple of times
per year. Most unicyclists (like must owners of sport-utility vehicles)
stick to the pavement or gym. But MUni is definitely still increasing in
popularity!
Stay on top,
John Foss
President, Unicycling Society of America
Director, International Unicycling Federation
jfoss@unicycling.com
There are about 6 billion potential unicyclists worldwide.
I don’t think the best method of building public relations is to run into them. Especially in parking lots. This activitiy may develop of fear of unicycles.
Whoops, now there are 5,999,999,999. We just had a boy join our club last night and was riding a good short distance by the end of the night. Although his distance isn’t all that great yet, we’ll consider him a unicyclist based on his intent shown by joining our club.
Bruce
Don’t worry, a sizeable chunk of the other 5,999,999,998 have no doubt added a good few thousand since you posted to replace him.
Have fun!
Graeme
I asked this question or something similar a while ago, from that study I got approximatly 68 people that ride Muni. I dont care what anyone else say’s I’m sticking to my initial reasearch. 
(you can allways be like me and just make things up, it works just swell when you dont know things)
Re: Global Unicyclist Population
> Nobody knows how many unicycle riders there are. If we had better sales
> figures for unicycles, we’d have a much better idea. But there is no
> industry organization that collects this information. If consumers ask
> companies for sales figures, they usually aren’t willing to give them out.
What if the IUF asked?
>
> Even knowing sales figures won’t tell us how many people can ride.
Good point.
>
> > I’ll let you figure out exactly who qualifies as a unicyclist
> > but I would figure it would be someone who is at about Level 1.
>
> I think the majority of unicycle riders in the world are not level 1. Most
> people learn to ride, but don’t go much beyond that. I don’t know if that
> means they don’t learn to freemount, but I would not want to exclude
people
> who can’t.
Really? It seems like a good mark to me. Where would you put it?
>
> But you definitely have to have a criterion for determining who is a
> unicyclist and who isn’t. Should it be:
>
> - People who have learned to ride (they can always ride again after a few
> minutes’ practice)?
> - People who ride at least twice a year (something other surveys use for
> casual activities)?
> - People who ride at least 6 or more times a year?
> - Only people who can freemount and ride?
>
> Of course, each of those narrows the field. If you count people who have
> learned to ride at some point in their lives, you should get a number over
1
> million. In Japan, for example, there are unicycles in the vast majority
of
> the elementary schools. In some schools, they are just another piece of
> playground equipment, and it seems like a large percentage of the kids
learn
> to ride them at some point. They may not do it after they move up to the
> next school, but they will carry that skill through the rest of their
lives.
>
> Then for mountain unicyclists. How would you separate them out? For my
> “educated guesses” that I’ve used with the press, I have assumed people
who
> have taken their unicycles off road (on purpose) at least a couple of
times
> per year. Most unicyclists (like must owners of sport-utility vehicles)
> stick to the pavement or gym. But MUni is definitely still increasing in
> popularity!
Is the Coker Deluxe sturdy enough for heavyweight off-road stuff?
Can anyone guess…
Sure we can all guess,
BUT…
It is a vague question (what is a rider), and the answer is probably not determinable.
I have never ridden my 4x4 (or SUV) in a gym.
I have ridden my all-wheel-drive ATU off-road, more times than my 4x4 has been off-road and more often than I’ve ridden any unicycle in a gym.
I live in Houston and am the only muni rider I know, so the statistics aren’t so good here. Remember, 98.2% of all statistics are made up on the spot to prove a point. (Including that one.) I’ve not bumped into any unicyclists in the parking lots, but know other “closet” unicyclists are around.
Still, it’s an interesting thought.
My guess is more than 10 (in any given numbering system).
Re: Global Unicyclist Population
> My guess is more than 10 (in any given numbering system).
ANY numbering system?!
I am such a nerd I still think that’s funny enough to post. Pitiful,
really.
Re: Global Unicyclist Population
On Tue, 20 Aug 2002 09:27:26 -0700, John Foss <john_foss@asinet.com>
wrote:
>> Can anyone guess how many unicyclists there are in the world?
<long snip>
>Then for mountain unicyclists. How would you separate them out? For my
>“educated guesses” that I’ve used with the press…
So John, what would your educated guess be?
Klaas Bil