I am starting to try to learn how to do pedal grabs and such, and admittedly I don’t have the right pedals, but I’ve noticed how easy it is to mess objects up. How do you guys deal with trying to reduce your effect on the environment or public/peoples property?
Or do you even bother thinking about it?
you can use plastic pedals but your still going to destroy things
haha all the benches connected to the tables at my neighborhood park are all bent down from me grinding on them
Dane M, awesome question, as is evident by David’s response.
David, Wow, those benches are gonna be really awesome for people who actually want to use them.
Lot’s of uni riders need to be more conscious of how we are perceived. Don’t break stuff that isn’t yours. Just because it’s public doesn’t mean its there for you to abuse. I always cringe watching videos that involve people doing trials up onto public trash cans that are obviously dented in by them doing there runs.
I’ve thought of a modification to pedals that might alleviate some of this damage from pedal grabs and grinds. There was a thread a while back about grind plates to protect the pedals. If done right, they could protect surfaces too. I’ve got JC/PC pedals, with all the pins threaded. It would be really easy to fabricate grind plates out of 1/2" delrin plastic just by cutting it to side, drilling the holes and tapping them for the pins to thread into. You’d get a really secure flush fit to the pedal, and the grind surface would be a smooth soft plastic. It adds a little weight to the uni, but not much, and it makes your pedals one sided. They might automatically level out so the grind surface is down after spinning. Anyway, its just an idea.
If it has wax/grind marks from skaters or looks beat up and crappy then I don’t care.
If it looks nice I’ll maybe do a pedal grab (plastic pedals, they don’t leave a mark or any sign) or just find somewhere else, but definitely no crank.
If it looks really good I won’t touch it.
nothing is safe from anyone doing any extreme sports… i mean especially where ever Colby Danger Thomas goes as well. He broke a cement stair and went through it, quite a lil stud he is 
<3
i grind shit regardless because im an inconsiderate arsehole
A good way of going about things. I would guess that a lot of things in proximity to a skatepark would already be hit up by the skaters and be pretty fair game to mark up as well.
isaac wheres the like button when you need it!
I HATE IT WHEN PPL SAY THAT… honestly my skatepark is shit and has horrible rails (they are square and anyone that knows me knows how much i hate square rails). plus there isnt even a skatepark near me that has any good rails to hit 
I think he’s saying that most of the good spots anywhere near a skatepark are already torn up so you aren’t an inconsiderate arsehole if you destroy them as well 
haha my town was smart when it made its skatepark… well away from the rest of the town. But luckily for me i just hop in my lil ole truck and drive on down to the good parts of down and start going away at it.
I think the best ive ever done was when i had a lady come screeching up to me yelling at me to get off the 25,000 dollar pound. I was very unaware that a few rocks could cost sooo much money.
I nearly pooed myself 
Wait I didn’t quite understand this one, like a dog pound?
lolz i cant spell worth shit xD
it was a koi pond though, not a pound
Oh yeah, those can be crazy expensive, I don’t see the point when people don’t even sit by them and enjoy it, seems like a major waste of money.
Someones personal Koi Pond is a different story, I could see having a small one.
well the funny part was that there was noooo possible way that the thing was 25,000 dollars. I can understand a max of 5 grand. The best part of all is that the security guard that kicks me out is cool with me riding there cause he says i keep him busy outside re-painting the rails instead of having to deal with people inside
Oh boy, Dane, you have opened a can…
Destroying things is fine. Destroying things that aren’t yours, that weren’t made for destruction-by-unicycle, is not fine, not normal wear and tear.
Good for you! Can you say vandalism?
This makes it okay? I don’t agree. How about “If it’s already marked/scratched up and my use won’t make it any worse…”
It’s a choice, not some kind of accident or natural law.
Like
Your point is? Does any of that somehow make it okay?
Who’s money? Before you say taxpayers (who may have been robbed, but that’s another discussion), I’m pretty sure those taxpayers were not buying a skatepark.
If you leave no trace, you’re probably not doing any damage. But that only gets you to the next level, liability. People/places can be subject to massive lawsuits if accidents happen on their property. This is usually the main reason security guards chase you off, even if it’s not the one they use. You wouldn’t sue? If you are a minor, it’s not even up to you. If you had a major neck injury, for example, your family might not even have a choice if their insurance doesn’t cover it, or doesn’t cover enough. This should not be somebody else’s fault.
Skateboarding is not a crime.
Effing up public or private property, unless it was intended for that purpose, pretty much is.
That’s cool about the security guard. And I can believe a 25,000 koi pond, sometimes people import exotic rocks, rare plants, blah blah blah, and it all has to be dug up and sealed. But people do have a tendency overstate the worth of things. I would be the most un-interesting rich person, I am so stingy with my money, I always think about how money could be used in more useful ways, could be just a college mentality though, 1 dollar is like a weeks worth of ramen!
Yes I see that now, which I should have thought about previously. But my intentions were to simply find ways of minimizing my effect on the environment around me, whether it be urban, or outdoor. I did not intend to debate, just simply find small ways of lessening my effect.
I can always build stuff in my back yard I suppose, it’s just dirt and trees, I could make a little track and trials stuff and everything!
Rubber
When I first started doing pedal grabs I screwed some ruber from an old tire on to the bottom of my pedal. It grabed onto things great and prevented damage also it reduced about 2CM of pedal to rubber distance!
After I broke a bearing holder and saw how much crank/pedal grabs eat up the cranks and sided of rims and tires I stoped doing them. Maybe when I get a new KH20" I will return to them with my current Uni.
Unicorn
Screwing up benches and rails is the type of activity that will get all unicycles banned from an area. Fortunately, we do not have unicyclists in this area trashing things, so I can continue to ride where I want to go. Skateboards are banned from most areas around here because of all the damage that a few of them have done in the past.