Thought I would say a few words to introduce myself to this community, but then decided it would be more productive to type them here instead.
My name is Jeff, I’m living in Geelong, VIC at the present time and I am about to purchase my first unicycle.
Hopefully with practice and as few bruises as possible, I will get the hang of riding. I’m most interested in flatland freestyle, but gotta get my balance in check before I can start learning tricks.
At the point of writing, I am working on picking out a good unicycle that I can learn on, but one that is good enough to not need replacing once I become a competent rider (All advice is welcome)
I look forward to being a part of this community and hope to get to know you all soon.
hi jeff i carnt realy advise you but have noticed alot of people saying get a nimbuss with kh cranks i would say get one where you can replace bits on the seat the seat seems to take all the stick good luck
Jeff hi, welcome to the forum.
I’m sure people who know what they’re talking about will be around shortly to give you some advice.
I just popped in to say hi.
Welcome. Where’s VIC? Short for Victoria? She really got around. Her name is plastered all over the former British Empire…
If you want one unicycle to learn on and then use for Flatland, shop for a top Flatland unicycle. Not sure what’s available in VIC. Search “flatland unicycle” here in the forums for endless discussion on which ones people like. Flatland unicycles are also very similar to Trials and Street unicycles.
@ JohnFoss: VIC is the state of Victoria in Australia.
Cheers for the advice. I had been so far looking at the 20" Nimbus II, I’m making the purchase next week so there is plenty of time for me to research the parts and whatnot. I will probably replace the pedals with metal ones (and cranks with kh ones now) but for learning I will leave it stock.
Well, there are a lot of reviews to start chewing through, so I’m gonna make a start on it.
Well, I ended up crossbreeding a Nimbus II with a Nimbus street.
A black Nimbus II frame, KH fusion freeride saddle, and all the other parts of a Nimbus street. I think it will be a good midpoint between the two. Had I the money, I would have just gone for the Nimbus street, but this is still gonna be a sweet uni.
It arrives tomorrow, then I can start learning for real. Wish me luck!
So far I am only a firetwirler about to add uni to my list. After I master uni, I’m going to get some Skyrunners or something similar. I figure firetwirling on the stilts cant be too hard, but on the uni will be interesting
Yay another firespinning unicyclist Fire fans are my weapon of choice!
Heya! Kelly here, I only started unicycling a few months ago myself, you’ll pick it up pretty quickly once you stop falling off, if you get what I mean lol
You’ll also get addicted pretty quickly but hey, it’s a healthy addiction, it’s certainly a damn good workout!
Good luck
I have nothing to add on the purchasing front, I’m on a cheap beginner’s 20" unicycle because I’m god awful at getting into something then forgetting about it, fire spinning is probably my longest running hobby and that’s only because I’m friends with all the circus nutters at university!
Oh, and firespinning on stilts isn’t too hard, a few of our circus members do it, I picked up the fans and was spinning them quite happily (though not alight) on my first time on stilts. We even have a specially made double length staff that one of our more insane members uses when stiltwalking.
Someone posted a video of unicycling and fire spinning together a while back. It was very cool. Now that there are 2 more fire spinning unicyclists on this forum, I’d like to see more videos
Unboxed and assembled the uni today. SEXY. white tyre on black rim, black nimbus frame, KH fusion freeride saddle with red highlights.
After pumping up the tyre to 32 (I was aiming for 55psi but my compressor doesn’t pump that hard) i took it to my hallway and clung tightly to the door frame. quickly thrusted the saddle under my legs. bad move. On second attempt, I made the wise choice of moving my junk up n out of the way.
Feet on the peddles, supporting myself on the wall, I make it up. wierd feeling. When I move my feet, the shift in balance feels very off putting. That was enough for today. I’m too sick to concentrate atm, so will try again when I feel more up to it. Also need to get some wrist guards of some sort, as I forsee injury in my future
Next time you try n get on the uni. place the wheel in front of you, angle the uni back until you can get the seat between your legs.
Arrange your junk.
Now make sure that one pedal is closest to the ground, and closer to you than to the front of the wheel.
Step (carefully) on this pedal.
This will roll the wheel backwards and in under you.
Find your balance (while your knuckles turn white where they’re grabbing the doorframe).
Get both feet on the pedals, keep the pedals level (parallel to the ground), and slowly sink your weight onto the seat.
Sit there a while, it’s kind nice.
You’re going to want to move slowly forward, while rotating the pedals and focussing on keeping your weight on the seat.
As soon as you take your weight off the seat, you’ll put it on one of the pedals.
This will cause the wheel to roll, possibly rather quickly, and the wrist-guards might come in handy.
Thanks GILD, thats better advice than I had previously found. Even inspires confidence. Really looking forward to round two. While we’re mentioning wrist guards, any recommendations? or will the tacky roller-blade ones be sufficient?
I’ve only ever used tacky roler-blade ones, but then again, playing unihoki was about the top end of my uni-exploration.
They did save my bacon a couple of times cause I’m still nursing a dodgy wrist from climbing (years ago, but that seems to be the way with dodgy wrists).
I’ll let people with more experience of different kinds of wrist-guards weigh in here.
The tacky ones worked for me.
Fire fans are my weapon of choice!