I don’t think anyone on this forum dislikes hearing of the exploits and bravery of everyone’s favorite Unicycle mascot “King Muni-Man!” [cue medieval trumpeting]
Anyway I was wondering is the muni-man himself could post a message or two, perhaps share an amusing anecdote about his unicycling or anything else for that matter.
We all thank Pops Muni-Man for the great updates but I was hoping that he could perhaps post a dictation in the king’s own words. I would really like to see that!
jason, dont u think it might be a good idea to start the king on his first cottage industry?
print some t-shirts of everybody’s (?) fav muni/uni mascot and help him save money for his next unicycle
I’ll register my son tonight and let him write a post about yesterdays ride. He’ll be happy to hear that he’s a “favorite mascot”. I like the t-shirt idea too, although his next uni is already waiting for him. It’s a Yuni/Monty trials uni that he should be grown into by next summer. It’s chrome so I might have it powder coated for him this winter. The only thing it needs is a saddle.
About the King:
He’s my six year old son. He is indeed very passionate about riding his uni and in particular he’s a muni fanatic! Like other young riders he gets a lot of inspiration from Kris Holm. We have UNiVERsE and ITTD. We also have a lot of clips and workshops featuring KH and others. He enjoys pics and downloaded movies of other kids who ride. Nathan Hoover’s son Beau is one of his favorites and he was very impressed by the boy in the photo that Andew Carter posted. He started calling himself “King Muni-Man” shortly after his first MUni ride when he was 5 and the name just stuck.
I guess he started getting noticed on the list after his ‘inches from injury’ moose experience… We were muni’ing on a downhill trail and he went down first. When he was about half way down I heard the sound of breaking branches, crunching and what I conider to be generally //bad// sounds. I thought it was a bear and yelled at him to stop, which he did. A moment later a moose came flying out of the woods and crossed directly in front of him. A second later two dogs who were chasing the moose came running out and darted in front and behind him. I ran down and asked if he was okay and he looked at me dazed and said, “yea, but it felt like I was in Jumanji”. That’s when we named that trail Jumanji trail and I guess that’s when he got his 15 minutes of fame (so to speak) on the rsu list.
That’s about it. Thanks for thinking about him. He and I both like to hear about other young kids who ride and muni. If anyone has any tales to tell, please share them. Now that I know Jagur’s son is learning, I’m looking forward to hearing about his little adventures too.
What a moose tale! Jason, you had to be sh*^ing bricks!
I think I missed the “cottage industry” opportunity with my son Miles…partly because UniBoy ain’t nearly as regal a moniker as King Muni Man. Like KMM, however, Uniboy is inspired by all things Kris Holm-sian, and also of course by Beau. He’s been riding just under a year (learned at 8, is now 9), and has really taken to the trail riding. We’ve been admiring the photos of your home-made trials setup, and I’m getting some pressure to build something similar at our place. The good news is, we live about a half hour from Gasworks Park in Seattle (featured in Universe), which has more trials challenges than either of us will ever be able to master. I’ve been able to mask my building/construction shortcomings by taking him to the park to ride.
Anyway, I think it’s cool that so many juniors are starting to ride…we need some kids to be nipping at Beau’s heels 10 years from now, just like those Utah boys are starting to nip at KH’s.
Here’s a shot of UB in action…there are some others in the gallery also:
It was one of those parenatal moments that’s truely unforgetable. It happened so fast that I didn’t have time to let any “bricks” fly. I was still evaluating the situation when suddenly it came, went and was over.
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Top billing isn’t all that important. What I like is that my son has a genuine love for the sport and it sounds like your son does too which is really cool!
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That’s also about how long my son has been riding. The only difference is the age; 5/6 instead of 8/9. KMM learned in August of last year and he rode some this winter but he didn’t really start taking off until the last couple of months. It makes me wish I were a kid again.
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You should go for it. The entire thing cost about $20.00 (USD) and took about one hour to put together. If UB is anything like my son (and I think he is) he’ll get quite a few hours of fun from it. It’s also a good way to bond as a father/son team.
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Those are nice shots. It looks like UB’s riding a 20" muni? I think KMM should be able to ride a 20" by next summer. He’s kind of a small kid though. I have a 20" Yuni/Monty waiting for him. Has Miles had an oppertunity to ride a trials uni yet? My guess is that he and my son will be hopping like mad after they get used to how it feels.
KMM still has no words of wisdom to share with the group. Maybe tomorrow…
The ride in those pictures is a 20" Pashley mountain uni. He started on a 16" Torker, and then moved to the 20" when we started getting into trail riding. Size-wise, it gave him some challenge at first, and he’s pretty tall for his age. That was six months ago, and he’s now at the point that the seat may need to come up a bit from “bottomed out” position.
I have a 20" Summit trials which he’s ridden briefly a couple times, but it feels “different” to him and he wasn’t too interested in spending the time to get it down. I think that will change as we start working on more trials. Have jerry-rigged a mini-teeter/totter setup and a ramp leading to an 8" drop, but will probably take on a larger build on one of these upcoming weekends. Pics if I do will follow… TB
You may be able to trim the frame enough on the trials uni to give KMM a closer-fitting ride. Just be sure to leave enough seatpost overlap. Then when he gets bigger, just replace the frame.
Essentially, you hacksaw off the top of the frame, then use a Dremel cutting disk and a drill to make a new slot. It doesn’t have to be perfectly executed to work perfectly well. Then clean up the metal with a couple of needle files so that nobody gets cut.
I just did this for a 29er customer.
You should be able to gain a couple of inches; perhaps the uni will be ridable this summer rather than next!
Tom,
Your son does look tall for his age. My sone on the other hand is small for his age. Be sure and post pictures of Miles’ new trials setup. I’d like to see it and I’m sure it’s better than what I built. Our teeter-totter consists of a board placed over a fire log (grin).
U-turn,
Thanks for the advice on cutting the post tube. It should be easy to do with a hack saw or a pipe cutter. Also at $40.00 (usd) for a replacement frame it makes it an economical option as well. I still think he’ll have to wait until next summer though. Like I said before, he’s just a little squirt.
Maybe tomorrow…