Highest Speed

Does anybody here know the highest speed reached on a unicycle?
(I assume it would have been on a Coker)

I’d also like to know this, particularly for just riding a unicycle and not downhill gliding. I think my best so far is 29km/hr on the coker with 150’s. I was trying for 30 but didn’t quite get there.

Has anybody broken 40km/hr on a non-geared uni on the flat? That would be very impressive.

Andrew

I have no concept of how fast cokers can go, but I thought it would have been high speed gliding that had the record.

I think Christian Hoverath ride his cooker with 50kmh.

Lutz

tim dropped my unicycle down a 20ft waterfall yesterday so it went preety fast, but as i wasnt on it it porbably didnt count

from what i’ve heard when Nathan Hoover was over here for the Moonride, Christian Hoverath did something like 49km/h downhill on his coker. if my memory is good, Nathan said that ‘it was the fastest hes ever been, and he’s scared of goin that fast again’ but dont quote me :wink:

I’ve heard of at least two different people who skydived (skydove?) with unicycles. Neither of them rode away from their landings, but the second guy, Harold Herzig of New Jersey, was hoping to do it again. Surely they were going pretty dang fast before they opened their canopies. Does that count?

Brett Bymaster has hit 25.6 mph in high speed gliding. I think Christian’s pedaling speeds were a little higher though. If anyone’s keeping track, of course pedaling speeds should be counted separately from non-pedaling speeds. Those are the highest speeds of each that I’m aware of.

And the Budweiser Rocket Car. In 1983, in a land speed record attempt, this rocket-powered vehicle went over 600 mph in a desert someplace. When trans-sonic shockwaves passed over the vehicle, the rear wheels lifted off the ground for 100 meters or so, making the Budweiser Rocket Car the fastest powered unicycle.

That’s a shade over 30 MPH! My mind registers that as impossible. You’d need a cadence of nearly 300 rpm.

You just need to see Christian ride to realize that it is possible. I heard from Christian that the downhill speed referred to was in the low 30’s somewhere. I don’t know if the bicycle he was overtaking on the downhill had a cyclometer and that was his speed reference or if the speed reference came from someone in a car. I can’t remember. What I do remember is watching him ride the uni.5 in a parking lot at about 20mph with no protective gear. The guy is unreal.

Back to the original question

Back to the original question. What’s the fastest anyone has attained on a flat stretch of road with a non-geared uni?

Also, What’s the fastest average speed anyone has maintained for a distance ride? I think I heard of someone crossing Minnesota on a Coker at about 13 mph.

That’s insane!! Somebody needs to put him on Kris’s coker and see what kind of unbreakable record he can set.

Re: Back to the original question

Now you’re getting more specific. This requires more specific answers. In other words, speed records for various distances. There aren’t that many, but as more and more people are getting into road riding, they may change frequently if anyone keeps track.

I have gone 17.5 mph peak speed on a 24" uni with 125mm cranks. A long time ago. Others have gone faster.

Hiroki Shigeno has gone 10k on a 24" uni with 125mm cranks in 28:22.52. Not sure if that’s the record, but it was friggin’ amazing. Second place was almost a minute and a half back, and there were several hundred riders in that race, the most I’ve ever seen in a single race.

Yuta Ando did the Unlimited 10k at Unicon 12 in 23:33.01. I believe this was on a 700c skinny wheel with cranks in the 65-70mm range.

Daiki Izumeda did the 1500m race on 700c wheel in 3:23.55. This is probably the world record for that wheel size, as it may have been the first race.

We did a 9 mile race at the USA convention in 1991 and 1996 (Chariton, Iowa). Winning times for that, on 24" wheels with 125mm cranks was just under one hour.

There’s less data on longer race distances, because we don’t do as much. They do longer races in Japan, including full marathon (42km) and up to 100 miles, but it’s hard to get the data.

I believe 15 miles and 25 km have been done in one hour on unlimited wheels. Not 100% sure but I know people who could do it if they tried.

Oh, and the 100 mile record, from way back in 1987, is still 6:44 and a few seconds. Record holder Takayuki Koike came up and said hi to me at Unicon but he wasn’t competing. His dad was one of the head officials though.

I was watching Real TV yesterday, and saw a video of someone skydiving while on a uni and he rode away as he landed it. Unfortunately, I was talking on the phone while watching the show and had the volume turned down, so I didn’t catch his name

Re: Re: Back to the original question

Which gives an average speed of 14.85 miles per hour (or 23.9 km per hour) for the 100 miles.

Re: Re: Re: Back to the original question

Whoaa! Google as a calculator… Whodathunkit?

I was slightly wrong in NZ when I said Christian rode 49km/hr. I believe is was more like 48km/hr. Yes that is an insane speed, but keep in mind that Olympic level bicyclists train at 300rpm on wind trainers so pedalling that fast is not impossible. Just hard and scary on a unicycle. My personal record is just over 20mph - but I am way past trying to ride for speed.

—Nathan

Anybody want to calculate what some of those Japanese riders did in the Unlimited 10k race on 24" wheels? That should be a fun calculation…

Anybody know what wheel size Daiki was using? Probably 700c because he track raced on one. The next fastest rider would be Tsujimura, Hajime at 25:47.22. Even if he wasn’t on a 24" wheel, someone in his range probably was.

Speeds

I am constantly amazed at the rapid and informative responses to my questions on this forum. Thanks to all of you who are broadening my knowledge of this nifty sport.

The speeds you quoted are impressive. I hit 11.8 mph briefly on my 28" recently and that was way too fast for this senior citizen. To maintain a higher average speed is mind boggling.

I’m heading out for a ride…

Ciao,

Pat

I’m pretty sure Daiki used a 700c wheel. Don’t know what length cranks though.

They should run the 100mile race again. It would be nice to have a longer distance for those of us who do that sort of thing :stuck_out_tongue:

Ken