So my job is getting these in and I’m honestly really excited because we never carry unicycles. It looks a lot like the smallest the ultimate wheel udc has, but it has leg rests that are supposed to make learning to ride this easier than learning to ride a traditional uni. When they come in I’m hoping my manager will let me build one for display and to test ride. If not I might just buy to try.
Any opinions on it? I doubt it’ll be easier to learn than a standard uni but I do like the leg saving, leg rests and the colour is pretty cool.
We discussed it on here when it was first released - first hit using the search on here:
I think the conclusion was that it’s possibly easier than learning a conventional uni but definitely a lot easier than a UW. However it’s a harder workout to ride any distance as you’re standing up the whole time.
Thanks for the link! I didn’t realize it had come out earlier lots of good info on it in there. A 36er would be fun if they ever came out with one I’d happily test it (or buy it)!
Good question! This is the definition in the rules, which I think is the same for USA and IUF Rulebooks:
“Ultimate wheel: A special unicycle consisting of only a wheel and pedals, with no frame or seat.”
My interpretation of this would be that the leg supports on the Lunacycle could be considered a frame, at least in terms of comparison with a “regular” ultimate wheel. In other words, the intent of the Ultimate Wheel race is to have “plain” UWs that don’t have leg supports. This will have to be addressed in the future.
The Racing Referee at each of those competitions should have the final say on how it will be handled under the existing rules. Were it up to me I would not allow the Lunacycle because it has a distinct advantage over a traditional UW. Then should follow an update of the rules for UW racing, to be more specific about “leg supports” or similar, and how they should be considered in the future.
EDIT:
I just read the older thread, to learn that the wheel on these things is not round. This would help with the learning process, and might actually make it easier to learn than a regular uni. But if you wanted to go fast on one, the non-round wheel would be a detriment. At typical UW race speeds, it could be a big problem. I still wouldn’t allow it to race, but it might not be that big of a difference at high speeds.
If I may dare to predict the future, as soon as you make one yourself.
I’m fascinated by this “improvement” on the basic Ultimate Wheel, and tempted to get one before they’re gone. It’s a novelty thing, that will appeal only to a pretty small market, and is unlikely to keep being produced unless they have strong sales. Get one while they last!
I saw that too, when I read the old thread. Then I remembered the idea of a non-round ultimate wheel. Funny that at the time I was more interested in the oval, and this time I’m struck by the leg supports. Now I really want to try one…
Do you think if you wanted to make a UW 36er with the leg supports that the wheel would be better off round rather than oval shaped? Making one for cruising the neighbourhood or the beach sounds like a fun project one summer.
I think you would absolutely want circular. The out-of-round is more important as the wheel gets smaller, and to “purists” like us, we might not want it in the first place. It would kind of limit you to a certain range of speeds. Go to fast, and it’ll start hopping on you.
If they wait until the competition to re-write the rule, the Lunacycle should be eligible. How many judges would be happy if they bought a unicycle frame, and instead ended up with simple leg supports??? :o [It does not fit the letter of the law as to how we generally define unicycle frame].
John, have i got a uni frame for you!!
Whoever decides to manufacture them in 29" or 36" should post here now. I’m shocked that you view this as a passing fad or novelty. I’ll bet they are here to stay. They might even find an official place in NAUCC/UNICON, if only at the kids level.
Why would you get heel pain from riding UW? I keep the pedal in the middle of my foot and the only thing that hurts are my leg muscles and sometimes the shins because of the rub, but that is much less now I can keep the wheel more in the middle.
Is there a UW race on Unicon??? I thought it was just a spin-off play thing from unicycling that is too cumbersome to ride.
Wonder how hard it would be to build this out of an ultimate wheel, other than the oval wheel part, it would just take rigging up the pedals, or maybe you can buy replacement pedals.
For $49, I’d be tempted to just buy one rather than making something likely inferior. I can’t seem to find out whether the leg supports mount with standard 9/16" pedal threads though as if they do it would also be trivial to swap them to a more standard (or possibly larger) ultimate wheel, and use standard pedals on the oval wheel.
The $49 is only for the mini version. The normal version costs $119. Not sure how small the mini version is. I find it difficult to see from the vidz if the normal is 24 or 20". Riding with an oval UW will be tricky I think. Every day I train, I get further and I ride more smoothly. With an additional bump I will surely loose balance. The pedals on the leg supports are also a bit further down it seems. So far I haven;t heard from them and was wondering if they actually still are in business. Their inventions might be for a very small target group, which Im not sure will sustain the company for long, but I could be wrong. I saw that Amazon once sold them, but they are out. Also I’d rather buy a new one than a used one.
Im aware you wrote this in 2016. I only just learned to ride uni back then. The 28" UW has very high PSI tires (125, though I ride with 100). Surely that won’t start bouncing when you ride fast. The 24" seems to have a thicker tire and might be more prone to it. Also with unicycle, you can more easily hang forwards and while holding the seat, make good speed. On a UW you would fall off. I can change the speed a little bit on the UW now, but I doubt I will go as fast as I do on a 24" unicycle.
On a non-round wheel the center of gravity of the entire contraption will be going up and down (in this case twice with every revolution). Obviously the heavier the wheel the more important this becomes. It would be interesting to see at which point this would become a problem, perhaps it is counter-balanced by your body’s vertical movement when riding an UW.
Man I wish I had more time to try out these kind of ideas.
It took some patience and persistence to get hold of Inventist.Inc, but I got through and I just sent payment for a Regular Lunicycle (which is the 20" version) Hopefully it really is easier to ride one than to ride unicycle, so I can let my daughter learn to ride it. She doesn’t currently have enough aspiration to learn to ride uni and as it took me 3 weeks to learn, she certainly doesn’t have patience for that, but he does like to tag along when I practice UW. The Lunicycle should arrive in a week. So still in my holidays, nice timing.
If the wheel isn’t round, the faster you go the more it will oscillate. I imagine it would be very difficult to keep your body from going up and down with each revolution, but I’ve never tried one, so not really sure. I can’t even ride a “regular” UW very fast. But the people that can, go 100rpm or more in a 30m race. At that speed, I think an oval wheel would be bouncing all over the place.
Unfortunately you can’t wait until competition time to make rule changes. Those need to happen before people do all their training, and especially before they decide what unicycles to bring to a competition. So far it hasn’t come up, but I’m not sure if there have been any UW races at the more recent Unicons. The “letter of the law” in existing rules is a wheel with just two pedals, and doesn’t mention any “additional support devices” (that wording is similar to what we use to define “regular” unicycle). So it would be rejected from racing until new rules could address it.
…And now they’re (nearly) gone. I’ve been watching this industry for 40 years now, and it’s not hard to guess what things will stick around, and what will pop up and disappear. In the case of these, somebody somewhere was able to fund the design and manufacture of a big batch of these things, but they didn’t sell out very fast (apparently) so there may or may not have been subsequent production runs. Which is too bad as I’m curious to try one. I built an Ultimate Wheel in 1986, but ended up selling it less than a month later (to Jack Halpern; the price was right). He ended up giving it back to me eight Unicons later, but then I was less interested in beating myself up on it, so my skill level remained at the “hope I can ride 30 meters” level. It’s still there today, but with more hope required.
Setonix, I hope you can come to Unicon next year, and bring that thing with you. Everyone will want to try it!
