I was curious if there are any data on the number of actual Muni riders in the the US/North America and Worldwide.
The freestyle and trials riders I would regard as separate.
Any projections based on unicycle sales, number of people showing up for events?
Advances in equipment seem to be exploding. Are these advances driven by the free market or simply from an inventive few pioneers pushing the boundaries?
Is anyone making any money selling unicycles/munis?
Just curious,
IK
Really? Where are all the Freestyle and Standard Skill posters?
But to ask how many unicyclists, one must first start off with a definition of who counts. You want people who ride trails, right? But not Freestyle or Trials. This would of course include people who do both. But how often must one ride on trails to be included? This is a key point in counting the number of bicyclists, for instance.
Beyond that, the manufacturers aren’t big on sharing their sales numbers. Neither are the bike makers, to my knowledge, though they’ll share them with bicycling industry organizations that turn them into useful statistics. So far we don’t have that.
But unicycle sales alone doesn’t tell how many riders. Many unicycle purchases are second, third or additional acquisitions for the same rider. Many more end up being tried a few times, then may get put away for years. Do they count?
interesting questions…
I am trying to get a feel for the number of regular riders – I guess we should define that arbitrarily as someone that actually rides on trails at least once per month or 10-15 times per year.
OR
With some assumptions, we can deduce a guess at the number based on the number of attendees at something like California Munifest… If we propose that x percent of muni riders from California attended, then based on the population of California and the US, an at least minimally educated guess can be offerred. Again, there is no way to test this. More sophisticated market research data and sales data can come up with a more accurate number although frought with inaccuracies.
Obviously, individuals drop out but I think we can agree that the number of new riders exceeds that of former riders.
In any case, I was curious to know if anyone had heard of such a statistic or analysis.
People who travel and talk to people around the country may be able to throw out a number that sounds reasonable.
Without really thinking about it, I would throw out a number of 2000 to 5000 in the US. I think 5K sounds like it’s on the high side.
Opinions?
Just because I ride my very regular Coker on trails, doesn’t make me a MUni.
Even if they are mild Mountain bike trails, with built in “root” bumps and a nice downhill slope.
To be a true MUni, you have to do drops and hop up rocks, and get bloody once in a while.
Using this definition, there are currently 316 MUni riders worldwide, taking into consideration the three ex-MUni riders who just dropped the sport.
There are 768 Muni ruders. At all times. It’s like a frat, but for you to get in, someone already in has to die.
That’s a very strict measure. Based on that, I think your estimate of 2000 is way high. Can’t be sure though. For the more generic surveys that say bicycling is practiced by more Americans than nearly any other sport, I think they base it on riding two or more times a year. Pretty weak, but that’s how you get the big numbers.
I used to guess maybe 10,000 offroad riders worldwide, but again it depends on how frequently they do it. And still it’s a pretty wild guess.
I think that would be less accurate than taking wild guesses. At the MUni Weekends the riders don’t all come from CA. And then, probably 95% of the unicyclists in the country don’t even know about the event.
But with people like Kris Holm and others making their way into TV and magazines, and then the advent of YouTube and other easy video sites, exposure to all forms of extreme unicycling are much more accessible. So the number of participants is not only growing, we know there are people learning to ride unicycles these days just so they can ride dirt, or do Trials, etc. It never used to work like that.
Billy keeps a never-ending supply of fresh statistics with easy reach. I think he stores them in his rectum, if you know what I mean. 
It’s a scientific estimate.
Of course, you have to agree with the definition. I uni on mild Mountain bike trails with built in “root” bumps and a nice downhill slope, but I do not do drops and hop up rocks, and get bloody once in a while. So I am NOT a MUni rider (even if my ride has 3" Gazz tire and ProFile crank/hub set).
John Foss’s estimate of 10,000 MUni riders is way high, as high as his head is up his *** 