# Help identify
**URL:** https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876
**Category:** Introduce Yourself
**Created:** [May 6, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876 "2025-05-06T16:09:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Anika\_Downing](https://unicyclist.com/u/Anika_Downing)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/1 "2025-05-06T16:09:19Z")
What’s your name?
Anika is the name unicycling is not my game. LoL
Where do you come from?
Missouri is where i hale from
What is your experience of unicycling?
I dont have experience riding. Ive owned this unicycle for 10nyrs now and dont know anything about it.
Can i get help identifying my unicycle?
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://unicyclist.com/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/2 "2025-05-06T16:32:15Z")
> [@Anika\_Downing](#):
>
> 
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> 20250506\_1031001836×4080 211 KB
It has the vibe of an old computer mouse
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### Author:  [@Wheelou](https://unicyclist.com/u/Wheelou)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2025, 8:48pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/3 "2025-05-06T20:48:56Z")
Yeah, that saddle is pretty unique! I don’t expect it to be comfortable, but that blue métalisé sure is a sight to behold.
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### Author:  [@ManiusTerentiusPullus](https://unicyclist.com/u/ManiusTerentiusPullus)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2025, 10:02pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/4 "2025-05-06T22:02:24Z")
If you intend on learning, I strongly suggest you get a cheap new one. It would probably take experienced riders hours to learn that thing, and then they would need ice packs far their legs.
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### Author:  [@Anika\_Downing](https://unicyclist.com/u/Anika_Downing)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2025, 11:20pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/5 "2025-05-06T23:20:18Z")
I’m starting to think it’s a Frankenstein. Couple different unicycle put together.
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### Author:  [@Uni2ONE2](https://unicyclist.com/u/Uni2ONE2)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 2:30am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/6 "2025-05-07T02:30:49Z")
I’m going to bet that’s exactly how that unicycle was originally sold, and will wait for @johnfoss to chime in.
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### Author:  [@MrHydra](https://unicyclist.com/u/MrHydra)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/7 "2025-05-07T02:42:37Z")
I was browsing some online marketplaces earlier for unis (I check every now and then and see if any pop up in my local area) and I swear I saw a uni that had that style seat… I think the saddle looks kinda goofy 😅
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### Author:  [@Uni2ONE2](https://unicyclist.com/u/Uni2ONE2)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 2:48am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/8 "2025-05-07T02:48:44Z")
Knowing what I think I know now, it wouldn’t take much time on that saddle to love every single one of my current saddles. 😁. Not to take away from the vintage aspect of that unicycle, but they hadn’t yet delved into gel cushions, plastic bases, or air suspension systems. So back then, if you were a distance unicyclist you were committed and had earned some credibility. My hat’s off, to them.
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### Author:  [@Wheelou](https://unicyclist.com/u/Wheelou)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 7:51am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/9 "2025-05-07T07:51:34Z")
> [@Uni2ONE2](#):
>
> Not to take away from the vintage aspect of that unicycle, but they hadn’t yet delved into gel cushions, plastic bases, or air suspension systems.
…or radiused edges.
It‘s a very strange strange saddle, but I kinda like the look of it. Has a lot to do with the colour, too.
The fork does look like a Frankenstein, but there aren’t many tinkerers who would care to add those ornaments to the legs, so it might just be a stock uni from a distant past. Although they‘re nowhere nearly as sophisticated as their two wheeled relatives, unis have come a long way since the olden days.
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### Author:  [@harper](https://unicyclist.com/u/harper)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 12:25pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/10 "2025-05-07T12:25:45Z")
It has the appearance of the 60’s era Japanese Oxford unicycles, especially the saddle and paint job. It’s an interesting mix of cottered cranks and what appears to be main cap bearings. The Oxfords had lollipop bearings. How does the front emblem actually read? It looks like “Rollias,” or “Rolljas,” of some variation of that. The emblem is difficult to read in the photos.
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### Author:  [@Anika\_Downing](https://unicyclist.com/u/Anika_Downing)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 1:34pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/11 "2025-05-07T13:34:51Z")
It is Rollfast. The tires say Gillette ambassador. I’m down rabbit holes trying to find some history about it.
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### Author:  [@johnfoss](https://unicyclist.com/u/johnfoss)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/12 "2025-05-07T16:28:33Z")
Oh you youngsters (excluding Harper). I think I’ve seen that badge before, but don’t know anything about it. Thanks for the translation of the name; Rollfast sounds cool! I would guess 1960s to mid-70s. The build quality is above that of the Troxels and similar unis made by juvenile bicycle manufacturers, but looks flimsier than the Oxfords and other more robust unicycles of the era.
The saddle is from Messenger, made in Ohio. Common on lots of unicycles from that time period. Compared to what was available at the time, they were relatively comfortable. Their problem was the same as for most unicycles; a metal base inside a plastic or vinyl cover. Messenger saddles would usually end life looking like they were sticking their tongues out.
Here’s an example; just taken in my garage.
That saddle is on a custom-built 5-footer from Hamiltons Bicycles East in Wichita, Kansas. It was probably built in the late 70s. I got it from Tony Blanco, one of the authors of the book Creative Clowning. Jack Wiley was one of the other authors. Tony used to use it in shows, and it still has the very wide, yellow BMX-type he had on it, which is flat. I’ve never ridden it. 😮
Anyway, that was a very common saddle at the time, and Messenger went on to be the manufacturer of the Schwinn saddles from 1967 (original introduction of Schwinn unicycles) until 1983. The Schwinn saddles were a major improvement, with their curves and more human shape, but they apparently used the same materials for the base and covers. Drop the saddle more than a few times, and the metal starts cutting through the vinyl.
The weird thing about those rectangular Messenger saddles is that the covers seem to shrink over the years; there’s no way to get that metal base back inside of that cover! 🙂
Advice for Anika: You can probably use this uni to learn on, but you might not be able to set the seat to a comfortable height, and it may need a little work before using. Possibly a tire, spoke tightening, and seeing if the seat post can be moved. It was made to be ridden, and unless you want to be a collector, take it out and try it!
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### Author:  [@Bug72](https://unicyclist.com/u/Bug72)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/13 "2025-05-07T16:50:27Z")
That was the shape of seats for most brands excluding Schwinn and maybe Miata. In the early 1980s My Columbia unicycle had the same shape saddle minus the sparkles.
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### Author:  [@Bug72](https://unicyclist.com/u/Bug72)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 4:54pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/14 "2025-05-07T16:54:32Z")
I’m sorry I responded before I read the John foss reply.
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### Author:  [@Felgenbremse](https://unicyclist.com/u/Felgenbremse)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/15 "2025-05-07T19:02:24Z")
Can you also install a larger wheel in the fork?
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### Author:  [@Wheelou](https://unicyclist.com/u/Wheelou)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/16 "2025-05-07T19:23:48Z")
> [@johnfoss](#):
>
> Their problem was the same as for most unicycles; a metal base inside a plastic or vinyl cover. Messenger saddles would usually end life looking like they were sticking their tongues out.
And I thought „now that‘s a shallow handle“…
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### Author:  [@Anika\_Downing](https://unicyclist.com/u/Anika_Downing)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2025, 3:50pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/17 "2025-05-08T15:50:50Z")
I appreciate you for all of this information and advice.
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### Author:  [@harper](https://unicyclist.com/u/harper)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2025, 6:41pm UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/18 "2025-05-08T18:41:40Z")
Here’s something about the Rollfast Bicycle Company which had a long and varied past. I found nothing about the unicycles.
" Rollfast Bicycles were first manufactured in the 1890s by the **D. P.** **Harris Hardware and Manufacturing Co**. In 1900, they joined the H. P. Snyder Manufacturing Co., which took over the job of making the bicycles while Harris made parts. Snyder also manufactured Hawthorne bikes for Montgomery Ward through the 1930s."
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### Author:  [@system](https://unicyclist.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2025, 2:09am UTC](https://unicyclist.com/t/help-identify/290876/19 "2025-06-06T02:09:34Z")
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