let me introduce myself… 53y living in the netherlands, teacher biology and did quite a bit of juggling some 30 years ago… In that time I had a 24 inch semcycle which i rode a little…
My youngest son (9) just started to be intrested in unicyling… I found on “marktplaats/ second hand site” a nice secondhand unicycle for him 20 inch qu-ax-luxus. He is enjoying himself… But of course, I wanted also…
He is 140 cm high, I’m 190 cm… so that was not so easy as I remembered… So today i found a cheap second hand unicycle for myself… OK had a flat tire, so I cound not try it but… reasonbly OK on first sight.
Bought a new tire, oiled every thing… Mounted… but the hub was “with a little bit more pressure” not connected to the pedals… So my feed spin but the rim doen not… bummer, right for the bin the thing…
Ok it was cheap I will look for an other one… phoned the seller… he promesed to send me half of the money…
Welcome to the forum, Robin. Sorry about the bad luck with your first unicycle. I am also 190cm tall. For me, some “stock” unicycle seat posts aren’t long enough. I started on a 24" (no problem with the seat post), but when I bought a second-hand 20" (Torker LX), the seat post was too short (even at its original, manufactured length), and I had to settle for the seat lower than I wanted. There are some differing opinions about seat height for beginners. I tend to agree with OneTrackMind (who will probably be posting to this thread shortly) that it’s okay, for safety sake, to start with the seat too low. I suggest you keep looking for another second-hand unicycle. Learn to ride it 200 meters, then treat yourself to a nicer unicycle.
Riding the unicycle of my son is reasonable OK… Most of the time 10 to 20 meters is no problem… so in a few days I will be used te cycling again (hopefuly…;-). The “knees in my armpit” feeling is a bit stange though…
And with mounthing I have a big problem… I found it hard to put enough weight on the saddle, but I put to much pressure on the back padel… Well hopefully with a bigger bike that will be easier.
Found today a Qu-ax 20 inch nearby on a second hand site… probably that hub wil be better… Stripped the old unicycle and saved what can be used…
It is really nice to see my son enjoying himself so much on his unicycle… A few weeks ago I already asked him if he would like a unicycle… than he tought it was “more for girls” (?? sorry his reference…) some of the youtube things we then watched together did get him very intrested… We did not talk further about it at that moment… and than after 2/3 weeks he started asking for one… I’m glad he likes it so much!!!
That’s how unicycling is perceived in Japan, but not anywhere else, as far as I know!
Anyway, you already know how to ride, you are a juggler and you will probably be teaching your son new unicycling skills and/or learning new skills from him, so you will probably be riding a lot. If you are 190cm tall, any sort of cheap unicycle will fall apart pretty quickly. On cheaper unicycles the seatposts are also way too short most of the time, even for me, and I am much shorter than you! Spend some money and get something solid. Good unicycles last a long time and have few moving parts, so it will be a one-time expense, unless you are one of those guys who has to have one of every wheel size. I just have a 20 that I use for most of my riding, and a 29 for occasional long-distance trips.
