How does one lock up their unicycle–you know, like if you go to the store or something. It occurred to me that maybe a unicycle is easy to steal because it’s frame is not closed, as a bikes is. Do you just lock it up with a cable or chain and hope the bike thief (or uni theif in this case)does not have the tools to get the wheel off?
Or does the fact that most people can not uni discourage thievery of the one-wheels?
i take it into the store with me, theyve neva said ne thing to me bout it.
In may ways locking a unicycle is easier than a bike. A bike separates into three big bits, the frame and two wheels, any of which is a ripe target for stealing. A basic unicycle is a bit easier as it’s only in two bits, the wheel and the frame. Given a frame and seat is next to useless to anyone else, and pretty cheap to buy anyway, I can’t imagine anyone stealing that bit. The wheel, on the other hand, has more components that can be used on a bike, so has better resale value, and represents the vast majority of the value of the unicycle.
If you lock the wheel up, short of totally dismantling it to get the hub (which would be useless anyway), the most they can get is the frame, which would be of no use to a non-rider.
Of course, this is all from my perspective of stock KH seats on stock Nimbus 2 frames; other people with custom made posh seats and frames may want to protect their more valuable frames more.
Bike bits generally get nicked to be resold; only a really desperate thief is going to attempt to steal unicycle components for this purpose. If the unicycle is not removable in one piece there is bound to be a car stereo or something more worth the effort.
Another thought that comes to mind is the increased chance of having bits nicked as a prank rather than for a profit; in this case a thief is likely to go for whatever bits he can remove, but is more likely to be put off by something simple, such as seatpost clamps with bolts rather than quick-releases.
Phil
If you want to be able to lock up the frame then get a Hunter frame or similar frame. You can fit the lock through the frame and the wheel.
There have been cases of unicycles getting stolen while left outside by a store or pub. When I ride mine around the city I bring a cable lock and lock the unicycle to something secure. But I only run the lock through the wheel since none of my frames are lockable.
If I was in a high bike theft area I’d look at something like the Hunter style frame. Or else ride something with a cheap frame and cheap seat. Generally the wheel is the most expensive part of a unicycle and the wheel is easy to lock up.
I generally think that with unicycles the risk is more from drunk people/idiots thinking ‘hey, wouldn’t it be really funny to nick that!’ Rather than serious bike thiefs. I would expect that anyone who is organised enough to bring tools to seperate the frame from the wheel would know enough to realise that almost none of the bits can be used on a bike, and are therefore not worth stealing. The only bits which area any good (rim, tyre, and that’s about it) are locked uneasily enough.
Either way, a unicycle is probably better than a bike. One of the kind residents of Nottingham has just relieved me of a bike wheel and seat. One wheel may well be better than two, but it is nice to have the choice.
John
Actually, the first time I rode to the store I locked it through the spokes to a bike rack and leaning against the wall. When i came out a guy was trying to get the lock off. I just looked at him funny and he ran away.
Someone stole my practically new semcycle straight from outside one of the academic buildings in my college (I go to college in Claremont, CA). I left it unlocked assuming that no one who unicycles would steal it, and that it would be a waste of time for a bike theif. Big Mistake.
I suspect it was a group of up-to-no-good kids from the nearby highschool walking through campus who thought it would be funny to steal a unicycle (the local highschool kids often come to the college to steal stuff and are a big nusiance).
Apparently the same thing happened a year earlier to another member of the unicycle club, and about a month later his unicycle was found a few miles away in some bushes. I had no such luck.
Now I always either bring my uni inside wherever I’m going, or lock it through the wheel.
So yeah I imagine most unicycle-jackings are done more for the “it would be funny” aspect than for the actual unicycle value.
I’ve got an idea. You rap the lock through the tire and also through the space it the lift handle (if you have one). My second idea (If you want to go all out) Is take the seat out, rap the lock through the tire through the petals, up through the tube in the frame (where you put the seat post) and then through the lift handle.
I have never actually locked mine before, that’s just my ideas.
Edit:Spelling.
You’d have to lug around a Hell of a chain! It’s also have to be thin, so easy to cut etc etc.
I would have thought a chain through the spokes and up around the seat stem a couple of times and back down on the other side of the frame would suffice for most cases. Perhaps not in Nottingham tho, where they’d just shoot it off 
I once left my unicycle in front of a school building for a day as I went to school, and when I came out I found my unicycle about 30’ from where I’d left it. A friend of mine told me that the thief had told him that he planned on stealing it and riding it away, but couldn’t ride it and just left it in frustration. What an idiot. I locked it through the wheel for the rest of the session.
What is nick? Are you guys talking about stealing? Lastly, the safest thing is just to leave your unicycle out. It’s not like many people can ride it away. Just kidding, that’s not such a good idea.
When I go to bockbuster its mostly on my coker which would be hard to get through the doors so I leave it outside. I can see it through the window almost any where in the building so I can keep an eye on it.
I dont think most people would steal a coker that cant drive or ride it which rolls out most people who do it for kicks and its big so its hard to run with it with out it wobling back and forth and out of control.
But if its my summit or muni I just take it in the store
Harvey Mudd? Or any of those colleges?
This was something I also wanted to know. So I did the logical thing and I asked here on the forum. This was the thread that resulted:
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=21514
Everytime I need to lock up a unicycle, I just lock the wheel. I don’t think anyone would go through the trouble of un bolting everything for a unicycle frame and saddle.
Daniel
Yep, HMC.
Watch out Tim. Some people will steal things just because they aren’t bolted down. Though some places are much less crime-prone than others, that’s the world we live in.
Mostly I bring the unicycle inside. But sometimes this doesn’t work, such as with a Coker and a small store. I think you’re reasonably safe locking through the wheel. I think it much less likely that someone would undo the bearing bolts to steal a unicycle frame, that’s too much effort for something you can’t do much with.
If you live in a higher crime area, or have to leave your uni parked for long periods where you can’t check up on it, use a Schwinn or similar. A Schwinn or Semcycle Deluxe has a wheel that cannot be removed without a lot of work. So a lock through the wheel will protect it very well.
Make sure you don’t have any quick-release parts on there. Easy for you = easy for them.
if you have a seat handle you can loop the lock through that too, as long as you have a lock with a cord of some kind. this way the wheel and seat is secured.
Here’s one–
I rode my Yuni 26 inch to the video store. I locked it up with one of those lame wire b*ke locks with the 3 number combination lock. I went in and then totally forgot about whatever film I had spent too much time looking for because to my utter disbelief, through the plate glass window, was some guy riding off through the twilight parking lot on my Yuni!!
Luckily, he was slow. I caught up with him, pounced on him, and we started fighting–well, it was more like wrestling. The shopping center security guards showed up and when they asked us what the Hell we were fighting about, they started to laugh when I told him that this kid (he was bigger than me, but still a kid) had stolen my Yuni.
I don’t know why, but it seemed so ridicoulas. I starting laughing–I couldn’t help it. Even the thief started laughing–until he saw his chance and took off. He got away (the security guards were rather useless–and the cops didn’t arrive till it was way, way late)
Oddly enough, I was sort of glad that the Unicycle thief got away–not because I want him to go out and steal other Uni’s but because he could ride in the first place. I felt a pang of unicyclist solidarity for a fellow one-wheeler.
Then again, if he succeeded, I’d probebly be wanting to beat the crap out of him for taking away my Yuni!
An absurd story…
Sid
Glad to see the Hunter frame recommend made it into both threads…
I would love to get a Hunter Frame. I think they look like the coolest things–and certainly they do solve the locking issue quite well.
Unfortunetly, they are indeed quite expensive.
Yuni is at the height of my budget these days, but believe me, I dream of a MUni with a hunter frame.
–Sid