halfwheelers

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Ken Fuchs wrote:
|> A 1/2 wheel is a unicycle axle, 1/2 rim welded or bolted to a straight bar
|> forming a half circle shape from the side. It also has a little more than 1/2
|> a tire, with the ends bolted down to the rim/bar ends. Add to this at least
|> 1/2 set of spokes (I don’t recall how it was spoked up - maybe as best as
|> possible) and 1/2 tube glued shut at both ends I presume. It can be used in a
|> 1/2, 1 1/2, 2 1/2 wheel unicycle as the top most wheel (half wheel).
|>
|> I personally think the 1 1/2 wheel would be the most fun to ride. It might be
|> fun to coast on it with the 1/2 wheel in the upper position, out of contact
|> with the bottom wheel!

Thank you, Ken, for answering this one (I am now absolutely flooded with email
and it helped). As the inventor of these silly contraptions, it is really my
responisibility to reply…As far as I know, the one I built is (was? I can’t
find the frame so now its a half-wheeler) is the oly model ever built.

How to devil are you going to get enough speed to start a coast, I wonder. But
with all the magic we’ve seen at Unicon VII, everything is possible, I guess.

Please stop calling my silly contraption by all kinds of names. As the inventor,
I have the right to call it what I want (-:. I call it the one-and-a-half
wheeler. Here are some synonyms that I have seen:

  1. 1.5 wheel unicycle
  2. The Halpern 150
  3. 1 1/2 wheeler
  4. one-and-half wheeled unicycle
  5. can’t remember the rest…

I will refer the whole matter to the Multiwheeled Terminology Commission, a
division of the Intergalactic Union for the Promotion of Multiwheeled Onewheeled
Vehicles, with headquarters in Nagoya, Japan on the planet Terra <-:…

Stay on top,

Jack Halpern IUF Vice President

Kanji Dictionary Publishing Society 1-3-502 3-Chome Niiza Niiza-shi, Saitama 352
JAPAN Voice: +81-048-481-3103 Fax: +81-048-479-1323

2

RE: halfwheelers

Jack Halpern wrote:
>Thank you, Ken, for answering this one (I am now absolutely flooded with email
>and it helped). As the inventor of these silly contraptions, it is really my
>responisibility to reply…As far as I know, the one I built is (was? I can’t
>find the frame so now its a half-wheeler) is the oly model ever built.

Today at Wal-Mart I saw a “no flat inner tube.” It’s a dense foam tire insert
that you use instead of a tube (and air). This would make the job of building a
half wheel much easier. This technology was not yet available back in '82 when
Jack’s was originally made. . .

>How to devil are you going to get enough speed to start a coast, I wonder. But
>with all the magic we’ve seen at Unicon VII, everything is possible, I guess.

As Sem has shown us, you don’t need any speed to coast; just balance! Enough
speed would be available on your old 1 1/2, for someone who really wanted to
coast badly enough.

>Please stop calling my silly contraption by all kinds of names. As the
>inventor, I have the right to call it what I want (-:. I call it the
>one-and-a-half wheeler. Here are some synonyms that I have seen:
>
>1. 1.5 wheel unicycle
>2. The Halpern 150
>3. 1 1/2 wheeler
>4. one-and-half wheeled unicycle
>5. can’t remember the rest…

  1. Another one of Halpern’s crazy contraptions

I think 1.5 wheeler is a lot easier to type . . .

>I will refer the whole matter to the Multiwheeled Terminology Commission,
>a division of the Intergalactic Union for the Promotion of Multiwheeled
>Onewheeled Vehicles, with headquarters in Nagoya, Japan on the planet
>Terra <-:…

I didn’t know Ken lived in Nagoya.

John Foss, President International Unicycling Federation unifoss@cerfnet.com