Does anybody know when the first Unicycle was manufactured? I’m writing a research paper on unicycling and need a source for at least the year when the first unicycle was commercially produced. 
I really need to find an authoritative source on this fast. Also and links on Unicycling (not the common ones) that are written by an accepted authority would be good.
Thanks:D
the first unicycle was a guy who took apart his pennyfarthing bike.
Ya I figured that much out but I mean like factory produced as a unicycle, cus I belive that for a long time they were custom made
That is one theory, there is another that the penny farthing broke, and while waiting for the new backbone he learned to ride the unicycle.
And that when trying to stop on a penny farthing you come up on just the front wheel, so people got good at that then just took it off.
But the first officially mass produced unicycle was by schiwnn, I think it was sometime in the 60’s.
And if you need a reliable source just tell them that you got your info from someone that juggles and rides a unicycle, and if they don’t accept that then there life must suck.
Where in Michigan are you?
It does. At least as far as sources for reasearch papers go.
Grand Rapids area.
O, do you know onewhellinweirdo?
I live about an hour and a half away.
Check out the links section here at unicyclist.com under Unicycling - History
Unfortunately there is not a lot of info about historic unicycles on the web. And even less that is authoritative.
The book Unicycling From Beginner to Expert by Sebastian Hoeher has a small section on the history of unicycling. I don’t have the book so I’m not exactly sure what it contains. The book is now out of print and will be hard to find. It was originally written in German then translated to English. I don’t know the publishing date or details.
About books. On amazon you can search books. So if they have it on amazon you can search it I think.
Yeah, I know onewheelinweirdo he is the one who got me in to this and I am learning on his unicycle when I am at his house cus I don’t have my own yet. Where do you live?
Thanks for the links.
That could be a difficult one. It should be easy to find the first unicycle manufactured for sale to the general public. But way before anyof the public thought they might be able to ride, unicycles must have been manufactured by or for circus acts. Finding that detail is not going to be easy.
Nao
I think unis were custom made for circuses etc. I mean first company started producing a standard mass produced uni.
In his article, One-Wheeled Wonders in the November 1995 issue of The Wheelmen (pages 2 - 10), Charles W. Meinert says:
“While we know the number and type of patented monocycles in the 1869-1912 period, we have little information on the manufacture and use of these machines. None of the patents indicated rights had been assigned to a company and there are no known sales brochures or catalogs from the period that advertise any type of monocycle. There are also only a handful of monocycles that have survived and are now in museums or private collections.”
This suggests, unfortunately, that much more than a casual inquiry will be required to uncover the information you’re looking for. Those of us here who have done any amount of serious research into the subject of the history of the unicycle can confirm this. Sebastian Hoeher’s book, Unicycling from beginner to expert, by the way, has nothing to say on the matter.
Also, do note that in Meinert’s article the word “monocycle” is used to refer to all one wheeled vehicles including center position, where the rider sits within the wheel, and top position, the type of unicycle we all commonly ride.
Good luck.
Millerir is my friend. he lives about 5 miles away from me.