Yesterday I met Guy Larson. He explained that he was the first to modify a
Coker bicycle wheel for use as a unicycle. I find it quite coincidental
that I asked (a while ago) when the Coker was first introduced and it turns
out that the very first Coker uni was built just a few miles from my home.
Guy demonstrated for me a skill that I’ve never seen before (or even heard
of). He hand pedaled his 24" uni. It was quite impressive. Also his 16yr
old son was with him and briefly showed me a good example of speed on a 24".
I’m convinced that my legs simply cannot move as fast as his were moving.
What was also interesting was the fact that Guy’s son (I’ve forgotten his
name) tried hand wheel walking for the first time was able to go several
feet. Very fast learner!
Every now and then I feel bad that there aren’t a lot of uni riders in my
area. I guess there are way more than I knew.
Further evidence that unicycling exists indepedantly of these forums
(fora?).
I met Guy Hansen a few months back as well. He spotted me preparing to ride home from campus in Provo, and he said, “Hey, are you really into unicycling?” I said yes, and he pointed out the license plate on his car, UNICYCL. I thought that was pretty cool, and so he said, “ever hear of the guy who pedals with his hands?” “Yeah!” “That’s me” “Awesome!” So, to my utter astonishment, he took my battered 20" cottered unicycle with a loose crank arm, shoved the seat into his stomach, grabbed the pedals, pushed off with his legs and rode a good 5 meters with a veryloosecrankarm. That actually rather ruined my day, because I thought I was a very accomplished unicyclist
I have heard John Foss call Guy’s hand crank unicycle the “spank me cycle” for obvious reasons once you see the riding position.
I saw Guy at the 99 convention in Snoqualmie (North Bend Washington). He demonstrated his hand crank unicycle. The back of his truck was filled with specialty and novelty unicycles. He makes some interesting unicycles. One that I remember was a giraffe with a really small wheel (the type of wheel that would be on a Razor scooter). I hope he’ll be at the convention this year.
There is small piece with photos of Guy Hansen (by Guy himself) doing his hand pedaling in the November 2001 (Vol 26, Iss 2, page 5) issue of On One Wheel. The back page of the June 2001 (Vol 26, Iss 1) issue has a photo of him as well.
I didn’t actually ask, but he said that it is difficult due to the close
distance between the riders face and the tire. This leads me to believe
that he’s at least tried it. I’ll have to check back with him to see if he
succeeded.
> All I know is that riding position looks very uncomfortable and painful in
the
> groinal region, slightly more than riding a viscount…
>
> -Dylan
Yeah, that’s what I thought too. When he demonstrated this for me he did so
with the seat backwards. I assume this is due to the fact the the back of
the seat is lower than the front.
> Guy demonstrated for me a skill that I’ve never seen
> before (or even heard of). He hand pedaled his 24"
> uni. It was quite impressive.
This is an example of an Internet-only unicycling education. Guy (Hanson)
was recently pictured in On One Wheel, the newsletter of the Unicycling
Society of America, doing this trick. That’s one of many things you’re
missing by not being a member.
> Further evidence that unicycling exists indepedantly
> of these forums (fora?).
