Perhaps rubber or a plastic can be attached to the cranks. Don’t crank grab brick, it chips easily.
What are good surfaces for pedal grabs where I wouldn’t do as much damage?
dont stop at the fixtures, maybe an old man is sitting on the grass with a ham sandwhich, he looks a bit weathered, a bit worse for wear, no one will notice, grind his hat brim.
Sorry, that’s what I meant. In general I find skateboards are much more harmful that unicycles, so I’ve never seen something marked up by skateboards that could be worsened by a unicycle.
One thing we haven’t discussed, which was something I wanted to talk about, was destruction on trails outdoors
Sure, that rock formation over there is cool, and it looks fun to play on. But I’ve found just from light muni that I’ve done so far (muni beginner that I am) that I’ve made some nasty looking pedal scrapes on some cool sandstone rocks and such. Sure in time they fade, and some will say that if it’s next to a trail that it is fare game anyways, but what do you guys think? It’s so strange to love the outdoors and to want to protect it and appreciate all of its beauty, but to also want to ride my unicycle and my mountain bike on it.
The only thing that I really damage is rails. My destruction is minimized from using plastics over metals. Not that that’s the reason why I ride plastics, it’s just an added bonus.
Putting a scrape on a rock doesn’t do anything other than make it look aesthetically less appealing. I personally wouldn’t care if it was on/near a trail. If it was a rock meant to be aesthetically pleasing then that’s a different story.
Yes I am talking strictly about natural rocks, not ones that people have brought in and set somewhere to look nice.
oh jeez muni… i feel bad for going out and making marks downhills 
I dont mind the rocks because no one will notice really, when i went to moab muni fest in 2007 i went out to slick rock and the only wear and tear you can see are the rubber marks on rocks.
For the hills the way i look at is that in the summer the next big rainstorm is going to wash everything away so you arent gonna be able to tell that man kind was out there doing anything.
haha street… you guys already know what i think 
Plasic pedals or attaching rubber/plastic to the bottom sides of metals like others have said.
Pedal grabs - bare metal would be damage free, provided it can support your weight, or if most of the paint has already been scraped off. Concrete would be relatively damage free. Wood - easily damaged - only go to tire unless it’s junk.
Build yourself some stuff at home ie pallets, various obstacles (check my sig), and a rail or two.
If you really want to protect stuff only ride it if you think you can go to tire.
I have pedal protectors on my uni which protects surfaces from strikes in UPD’s (a lot quieter too).
On trails I wait a few days after it has rained (riding when the dirt is wet accelerates erotion of the trail). When you come up to puddles ride through them instead of around (better than effectively widening the trail).
A few skaters, etc. like you is a big reason why we get kicked out of places
When it comes to rock/trail damage, I think it’s mostly a matter of location.
This from a guy who marks up rails. Ever cut your hand on a railing that’s supposed to be smooth but isn’t? Ouch. It’s annoying.
But what you said about “meant to be aesthetically pleasing” hits home. The question that must follow that then, is “to whom?” Trails in national parks, for example are clearly meant to be enjoyed for their aesthetic qualities, by a very large number of people. That’s why they usually are also not bike-legal.
My favorite local trails are in a state recreation area. Not as famous, not as many visitors, but still meant to be preserved for various uses. To the ultimate of environmentalists, we’re already raping nature by making trails through it. But without trails, people can’t even go there in the numbers that they do, so the trails are considered necessary. Walking, riding and horses are permitted on them (depending on the specific trail), along with the wear & tear that goes with that.
But what of the rocks and other features along the way? A gray area. Some would say you should never stray from the trail. This is in the basic trail-user rules of IMBA (International Mountain Bicycling Association). Others would say that, within reason, it’s part of the general wear & tear that’s an acceptable part of trail use. That’s why I say consider the location, amount of traffic, and general aesthetic appeal of the area. If it’s a famous scenery or nature area, don’t do it. If it’s one rock among thousands, in an otherwise not special area, not such a big deal.
Moab is a great example of special areas that have been set aside for mountain bikes. The famous Slickrock Trail, is only marked by little squares of white paint. 99% if the trail is pure rock. But you can see where the trail goes by the black marks left by all the rubber that’s been laid down there. This is perfectly acceptable “use” of the park, as is riding on other rock formations around the trail. The whole area is set aside for use by bikers, unicyclists, hikers and offroad vehicles.
But at the same time, all users are warned to stay off areas of Cryptobiotic soil, which can be seen in most of the sandy areas. To ride or walk through any of that is a very big no-no in the Moab area.
I think it’s OK to use natural areas in any reasonable way which won’t diminish the future enjoyment of that area. Use marks on boulders, whether from climbers, hikers or bikes, are generally fair game. Off-trail activities which involve trampling vegetation, cutting new trail, or riding through sensitive soils (such as in Moab) are no good.
This last is totally wrong; trails in national parks are not bike-legal because of entrenched political interests, not because of any rational review of the impact of bikes. There are places in the national park system where it is legal to drive a jeep, but not to ride a bike. In Yellowstone in winter you can take a snowmobile on trails that you can’t bike on.
It is only very recently that the National Park Service, over the vociferous objections of reactionary groups, issued a statement that mountain biking is consistent with the purpose of the national parks. Very little action has followed from that statement, because of trail politics, so biking is still illegal on most national park trails. But don’t let them fool you into thinking there’s a good reason for it.
agreed: in the woods near Paris excessive outdoor practice (mostly by MTB) just erodes the soil.
I advocate to stay on paths: some paths are “official” some are single paths created by MTBers. But just having fun out of these is “fun” but is destroying the landscape 
(it’s not a theoretical position: in some places the soil under the trees is just bare “concrete” …)
already some tree-huggers are positionning branches and other MTB-traps along the paths … that’s bad: war in the woods 
It’s best to stick to the trail. But IMO doing trials on rocks, logs, etc. off trail is generally O.K.
And not do like FromTheWoods does a lot in his vids, doing lots of riding off trail (just as an example, I’m not pointing fingers) although if it were on snow, like he does in some vids I’d say thats OK.
I remember a few years ago when i use to ride my motorcycle all over the place, me and my friends would go everywhere on them. We then started to ride at the reservoir near us, the trails said no motor vehicles allowed but the trails would completely over run by weeds and bushes that grew there over time from people not using the trails. Over the years there were articles in the news paper about us illegally riding out there and how we were destroying the place. truth was that we made a few trails but not completely over running the place, haha and the worst part of it all is that after we cleared the trails and made a few new ones that looped around back to the main trail other people started to come out on there horses and mountain bikes to venture the trails. Most people were nice to us when we stopped and talked to them, some even said thanks for clearing the trail. We had a few people even cuss us out and tell us how horrible of kids we were for riding on “their” trails.
Soon we all got tickets from the cops and stopped riding the trails, there were no more articles in the newspapers about us as well. it seemed that everyone was finally happy…
I soon went out back to the trails to ride my unicycle and guess what!? the trails were then covered and over run with weeds 
I couldnt ride out there so i made my own trails again and no one says anything because no one ever goes out there to ride. I see the occasion biker but they are the hardcore guys that totally love riding, haha they are awesome to chat with.
I guess what im trying to say is that sometimes i guess you can get away with making your own trails and doing your own thing at your local park. The most important thing i have learned is to not step on anyones toes and make them mad. If you lived in a crowded place where rules are needed then maybe its good not to bend them for the pleasure of yourself so others dont think they can do the same. Just do what feels right to you 
Agreed. I guess what I meant was that they also happen to be closed to bikes. I did get to ride some dirt roads in Yellowstone (long as they were car roads). Some had gates closing them off, which made them very peaceful while still legal. At one point I came cruising around a corner and startled a very large elk!
The moral of the story (among others): Loud pipes get you in trouble. Nobody notices the unicycle unless they’re up close. 
Jacob also brings up the point about relative crowdedness of places. Urban parks get tons of traffic, and need to have lots of rules to keep the place from getting worn out. But in a place like New Zealand’s south island, with its very sparse population, the rules are a bit different.
