I got it!!! I won the auction on Ebay thanks to Wayne and spent just $160 on a beautiful giraffe. This was the first time I’d used Ebay, and luckily the description was accurate…it’s in great condition.
I went out for my first ride this afternoon. I’d ridden about 10m on Simon’s giraffe a while ago so I knew what to do. I used a ladder and a tree to get on because it was the quickest way. I can’t wait to learn to freemount it.
For those of you who haven’t ever ridden a giraffe, it’s such an amazing experience. It felt so strange to have my head almost 2.5m above the ground and to be gently rolling along. I could see things from a whole new perspective…and pick berries from trees.
I was surprised at being able to do one foot idling (foot extended) just as well on the giraffe as on a 20" and being able to ride backwards.
As it’s been mentioned before, giraffes shift their balance point quite a bit slower than ‘normal’ unicycles. I tried some still stands which felt strange. After riding around for a while and getting the feel for giraffe riding, I went to the park. I rode through the mud (it was raining lightly) and over the bumpy grass and along the park boundary. Giraffe rail riding (ground level) is really fun. At one point I found myself in a tight spot and couldn’t idle out of it, so I did a little hop twist to the right. I was careful not to put too much pressure on the wheel, but should I avoid hopping completely?
Giraffe riding is unbelievably fun! Am I right in thinking that the ‘step up’ style of freemount is the easiest?
David, you’ll love your giraffe. When’s it supposed to arrive?
I’m Speechless. I’m Thrill with you, I’m in love with you, what else I could have to say. Ah Here ti’s. CONGRATULATIONS MATE.
My Uni’s hasn’t arrive yet as I am now more worried. He’s not back yet from the U.S. My mate told me he should be back in the next few weeks and I’ll let you know what is happening to my Uni’s. Stayed Tune Andrew and others. Get some pic’s on yourself
with the Giraffe one day. I’ll send some mine to on some of these threads too. What brand is it by the way. Am I right in the first place if it’s a Savage or what. Just curious. Good luck Andrew and don’t worry about my Uni’s, I’ll keep you posted.
One thing I forgot to mention was that I was surprised at how solid it is. For a cheaper giraffe it seems really well built.
David,
Here’s a poor quality photo (low light) of some one foot idling. I’m told that it’s probably one of the no-name mass-produced giraffes. One type of giraffe can be made and then sold to manufacturers who put their name on it and occasionally make small changes. I’m sure it would be very similar to your Savage.
Mine’s a Semcycle by the way. 5 to 6 foot in height.
I don’t care if it is a Savage or not by the way as long it hasn’t got that saddle what I got on my Juggleart back in 1993.
A viscount would be better. Great pic too by the way.
Have fun.
David.
P.S. I’m on my father’s Computer by the way. I just finish Installing a new Graphic’s Card and put in a new Modem in it. And a brand new 4 Bay Computer Tower Case goes with it. Going great guns now. I’m only testing it to see how it working properly and it’s holding well. Now I’m back on my other one tomorrow.
I’ve got a small chain tensioner (I think it’s what you’re talking about) on each side. By chain tensioner do you mean something that sits on the bottom of the fork legs that you can screw up to pull the wheel down? I’m worried about breaking them and doing general damage when hopping. The actual hopping seems quite easy. I’m planning to ride mine around the fire trails on Mt. Cootha and the singletracks that don’t have any drops on them (unless I get better and stronger chain tensioners). It’s a 5’ but with the seat up at the best height for me it’s about 5’6".
David,
I don’t know why I thought yours was a Savage. Can you please remind me how much it’ll cost you?
Nice work andrew…
Cant say I could bring myself to buying a giraffe … it probably wouldnt get used except for mucking around that much o I couldnt justify the price of it.
I’ll probably get a coker before I get a giraffe.
I’ll talley up on how much I spend on the Uni’s as soon as possible When I’m not busy building Computers. Lucky yesterday I was doing my Father’s Computer during the week and it finish this morning, loading some software for him. I think it was in total of $350 for all the uni’s & a free Muni but I think there’s more total than $350 to my mind. But I’ll let you Know.
And Samuel.
Giraffe Riding can be fun and have lot of Attention. I was watching some of those Old British Video Clips again. Now I lost it since I update the Media player 9 now. Now I have to Browse on the RSU to find it again to get it back, including the chimp on a Unicycle.
Today I rode to work about 3’ higher up than usual. I couldn’t ride the whole way because the tree branches were too low. After ducking my head under a ‘low’ branch I found some leaves stuck underneath my collar. I picked them out and dropped them but didn’t see them hit the ground. They just slowly floated past my feet. It was funny noticing such a small thing, but I found it really interesting.
When I got back from work, I went for a quick ride around my street in the dark. It’s a dead end street so there wasn’t any traffic and it was silent except for the tyre rolling along the wet road. It sounded really strange because the sound seemed so far away.
How nice to read about the actual experience of riding, the sound, the feel, the look, the perspective. So often we (I) get all tied up in the maths and the theory, and the equipment, and the specifications.
Riding is what it’s all about, which is one reason I always post my longer or more interesting rides.
I’ve been toying with the idea of a giraffe for a while. Would the cost be justified? Your posts on this thread have been a strong encouragement. thanks.
> I’ve been toying with the idea of a giraffe for a while. Would the cost
> be justified? Your posts on this thread have been a strong
> encouragement. thanks.
I bought one in '97. I rode it a few times. I sold it in '98.
I regretted it. I bought another one last month.
Basically, a Giraffe in my hands doesn’t get much use, but
it really is fun to be up there!
I guess I’m seeing this from the point of view of someone who just received his giraffe two days ago, but I find it hard to picture myself ever selling it. It’s just a totally different feeling being up that high. I want to eventually have a unicycle from each of the categories of ‘normal’, high, and big wheeled. I’d say go for it!
Could anyone out there give some pointers on different mounting techniques and diffulty in learning. We are thinking about buying a giraffe for the club and I’m curious about how to attack learning the art of mounting these beasts.
> Could anyone out there give some pointers on different mounting
> techniques and diffulty in learning. We are thinking about buying a
> giraffe for the club and I’m curious about how to attack learning the
> art of mounting these beasts.
My first mount was from a step-ladder, with 3 people
holding the giraffe up!
Then monkey bars. The only way to go.
(Well… that’s the stage I’m at, anyway)
Next we have assisted mount with a lamp-post.
Then one foot on the wheel, one on the pedal,
then sit on the seat and get the other foot in
place.
Then if you’re bendy and strong enough, how
about going straight off the lower pedal.
Then jump-mount from a standard uni to the
giraffe.
Buying a giraffe was totaly worth the cost for me. I ride it frequently and always enjoy riding it. When your comfortable enough, you’ll start getting more into freestyle, like 1 footed stuff, seat in front, seat in back, etc.
And just wait til’ you get into hand-pedaling the giraffe.
Or just casual riding around the block is very pleasant, if you dont mind the height factor, heh.
For mounts, I would have to say that the step up mount is definitly the easiest. And if you’de realy like to blow some minds, the frog mount will do just that, but it does take a bit longer to master the frog mount in my opinion. I have a 6 footer. I’de imagine mounts would be a little easier on a 5 footer, but i’ve never tried.
Would you say that learning the step up mount was as difficult as learning to mount a regular unicycle for the first time? Sorry for my ignorance. I’ve never ridden on a giraffe only seen from a distance and when some one does a step up mount or running mount it looks very difficult.
I had to laugh at Andrew’s comment about the tree branches and that made me think that I moved from my parent’s place back in 1999. With that massive Clothes Line in the back yard that I couln’t ride the Giraffe Unicycle if I had it long ago, but I glad I’d hold off buying it 'til then. I, too live in the dead end street Andrew. The neighbours here are proud of me as a Unicyclist and have support me since I showed them. Whatever you do Andrew with the tree branches. Get your dad’s Chainsaw and cut them, but besides, there’s a law about them. Cutting them legally so be careful. And don’t do what Marty Coffey does. Juggle the chainsaw with a bowling ball and a pussy cat. Get your arm cut off if your not to careful. I glad you haven’t got leaves in your mouth. Spit-Spit, Choke, Cough.
I had a fairly productive day today. I worked on freemounting for about 10 minutes and was surprised to be able to do the step-up mount. I didn’t succeed when going Ground > tyre > pedal > other pedal, but found it much easier (and had some success) starting one the pedal and leaving out the ‘top of the tyre’ stage. This is really useful thing to learn and I’m glad it didn’t take too long.
After that, I moved onto the rolling mount and did one successfully after about another 10 minutes of constant practise. Of course I couldn’t stop at one, so I tried again but had a rather scary fall. I was doing it on a slight downhill so it was easier to swing up to the top. It was on the road so the tyre would grip enough. I got the left foot on fine and popped up to almost riding position, but when I went to pedal backwards, my right foot missed the pedal. The right foot swung forwards and I fell backwards and landed on my tailbone (I think) and right elbow. It’s not like me to not wear pads when trying new things but of course this time I completely forgot about them. I didn’t do any serious damage or anything like that…I just got a fright. I hope I’m not too intimidated next time I try the rolling mount. The giraffe is fine and I did manage to execute one rolling mount and numerous step up mounts. I’m off for a social group ride tomorrow so I hope I stop limping soon. WEAR YOUR PADS!
Is ‘step up mount’ the right name or do I have it completely wrong?
Another thing I noticed is that when riding standing up on the giraffe, the seat wants to fall backwards. Is this normal? As I’ve mentioned was the case when first riding all of my unicycles, the giraffe used to lean to the left so I’d have to keep correcting for it by twisting my body to the right. It’s fine now though.
In response to the question, I definately found learning to freemount the giraffe easier than learn to freemount a normal unicycle.
I got some sad news for you and I’m upset now.
I didn’t get my Giraffe Unicycle and a free Muni. Reason for this…
He gave me a refund completely with a total of $750 in ALL.
He’s very sorry about it when he came to my front door and said
“I’m sorry, I decide to keep it for the moment to further my career in Entertainment. I’m Sorry about this Mate… He’s your Money back and spend something nice instead”.
I ended up in tears after I spend nearly $750 in total. I was right in the first place about that total than originally be than $350.
That’s about $400 I spend in all. So I’m not in a hurry about buying a Giraffe Unicycle just yet so I will collect my thoughts on my career at the moment. So buying a Giraffe Unicycle is off for me right now as we speak. I have seen the Uni’s but not the Muni. The Semcycle Giraffe’s are unreal. And I haven’t ridden them at all would you believe it. Just look at them before you buy not ride them. ( ? ) To me it stinks I reckon. To look not Ride. You have to try before you buy and that’s the way to go I reckon.
Feel free to fired back Andrew about this So call Guy. So I want to hit back to him on what he’s done to me.
Sniff–Sniff. I’m in tears now. Cheers Andrew.
Ive got some on my DM and it looks kool.
To me it stinks I reckon. To look not Ride. You have to try before you buy and that’s the way to go I reckon.