My friend gave me a unicycle a few days ago that I found in his garage. I’ve been practing for 2-3 hours each night since and getting better. The seat on this unicycle is extremely hard, the wheel is bent pretty bad, and the wheel is a 16" wheel. I’m looking into spending about $150 for my first unicycle and was wondering what I should go for? I’m 5’11 and weight 150 lbs. I want something that will last for my begginer stages and into my next stages. I mainly plan on riding around in parking lots and on the road, no trail riding or hoping yet. 
What would be my best choice in a unicycle for just street riding, a 20" or 24" wheel? From reading around I think I need a 300mm seatpost, and I’d like something with 3 piece cranks. I’ve riden BMX for 7 years so I’m good at truing and re-spoking wheels, etc… maitenance won’t be a problem. Thanks for the help guys. And if anyone has a place to get a good deal or can get me a good deal on a NEW unicycle I’d love that. I’m determined and won’t let a small bent wheel and hard seat get in my way!
I think that a 24" wheel is easier to learn on and easier to ride long distances on. If your interests are more along the lines of developing skills go for the 20" wheel. This opinion is based on your expressed desire to do street riding.
Get off of that tiny wheel and hard seat as soon as you can. I’d say start having fun but from your photo it looks as if you’re most of the way there.
I’m getting pretty good, I can make it 20 feet or so after 2-3 days. I think I’ve decide to go with a 24" Uni for now to develop myself, and then once I get good at street riding I can bump down to a 20" and go between the two. Does anyone have any good suggestions on a 24" Uni?
Requirements:
24", 3 piece crank, comfy seat, 300mm seatpost, low matienance for regular street riding
(I’ve now removed the reply button from Outlook Express. That’s the second
time in as many days that I sent an e-mail instead of posting. Darnit.)
You already know this, and if you don’t lots of people will tell you, but
unicycle.com is the best place for USA and UK dwellers to buy new
unicycles and pretty much anything unicycling-related.
My first uni was a Bogglefingers 20" which is still my primary unicycle. I
bought it before I could ride so I didn’t really know what to look for:-
- Split bearing housings, because lolipops are less robust. (mine
has these) - An appropriately sized seatpost. (mine got this after somebody here saw
a video of me unicycling and suggested it, I think it may have been
Roger, before unicycle.uk.com came along.) - No capability of metal touching the floor - i.e. it can come
clattering to the ground (and it will) without damaging the floor if
you are inside. - A comfy seat (the Bogglefingers has this but I converted it very
successfully to an air-seat and now it’s really comfy). - A flat crown (Bogglefingers’ is round) - this comes in SO handy when
you’re 1-foot-idling, 1-foot-riding, coasting (in my dreams), or doing
anything that requires or is facilitated by a foot on the frame.
After using my 20" for a year or so as in-town transport I became slightly
miffed that I hadn’t bought a 24" wheel. Lately though I’ve discovered the
joy of doing skills (something, when I bought the uni, I didn’t imagine
ever doing) and I’m glad I have a 20" which is ideal for skills and handy
around town. (also fits in the boot of my Mini At a unicycling
convention recently 90% of the 100 or so unicycles there were 20".
Recently I bought a 28" Nimbus for travelling longer distances on.
I salute your determination on a bent wheel with a bad saddle and wish you
many happy years of unicycling (and as few bruised ankles as possible).
Andrew xADF
i dont know what you mean by three piece cranks pretty much all the unicycles at unicycle.com have three piece cranks but not qiute like the ones on bmx bikes but as far as i can tell what you want is a 24 inch torker from unicycle.com which is aboute 80 buck (us) and is just aboute the best beginer unicycle out there and also has a flat crown which is good for when you learn one footed which you will want to learn some time i would recomend that you upgrade the standard torker seat for a miyata which will add 30 bucks making it still 40 less than your spending limet i think this is by far your best choice hope this helps
joeyI started out on a Schwinn 24" and it’s held up pretty well. The screws
holding the bumpers to the seat came out, so I replaced them with bolts.
One of the pedals got slightly bent, but it hasn’t affected the ride.
I started out on the street, intending to stay there, but I have added
light trail and moderate distance riding. I like the 24" wheel size
because you can do some tricks/trails/Muni/distance riding on one
unicycle, so you can get a pretty good idea of what kind of stuff you’ll
want to do the most. However, it’s probably not optimal for any one of
these tasks.
I just ordered a 28" Pashley trail/tourer unicycle, because the 24" is
slow and I have to concentrate on staying up more than I like, but it’s
still fun. Eventually I’ll get a Muni and then a 20" for tricks.
“AccordNSX” <forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote in message
news:9vf78n$4d5$1@laurel.tc.umn.edu…
> My friend gave me a unicycle a few days ago that I found in his garage.
> I’ve been practing for 2-3 hours each night since and getting better.
> The seat on this unicycle is extremely hard, the wheel is bent pretty
> bad, and the wheel is a 16" wheel. I’m looking into spending about $150
> for my first unicycle and was wondering what I should go for? I’m 5’11
> and weight 150 lbs. I want something that will last for my begginer
> stages and into my next stages. I mainly plan on riding around in
> parking lots and on the road, no trail riding or hoping yet. What
> would be my best choice in a unicycle for just street riding, a 20" or
> 24" wheel? From reading around I think I need a 300mm seatpost, and I’d
> like something with 3 piece cranks. I’ve riden BMX for 7 years so I’m
> good at truing and re-spoking wheels, etc… maitenance won’t be a
> problem. Thanks for the help guys. And if anyone has a place to get a
> good deal or can get me a good deal on a NEW unicycle I’d love that. I’m
> determined and won’t let a small bent wheel and hard seat get in my way!
Congrats on your progress. I have no experience with the Torker that
unicyclejoe mentioned but it may be your best choice. I do have experience
with the Semcycle XL 24". A good unicycle, $165 direct from
www.semcycle.com (don’t know what www.unicycle.com asks for it), no need
to replace the seat though IMHO.
Klaas Bil
On Sat, 15 Dec 2001 18:05:08 +0000 (UTC), AccordNSX
<forum.member@unicyclist.com> wrote:
>I’m getting pretty good, I can make it 20 feet or so after 2-3 days. I
>think I’ve decide to go with a 24" Uni for now to develop myself, and
>then once I get good at street riding I can bump down to a 20" and go
>between the two. Does anyone have any good suggestions on a 24" Uni?
>Requirements: 24", 3 piece crank, comfy seat, 300mm seatpost, low
>matienance for regular street riding
>
>
>
>
>–
>AccordNSX Posted via the Unicyclist Community -
>http://unicyclist.com/forums
–
“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked
automagically from a database:” “+=, Donald Rumsfeld, SACLANTCEN”
> Requirements: 24", 3 piece crank, comfy seat, 300mm seatpost, low
What defines 3 piece cranks? Do you mean 2 cranks plus a standard hub, as
compared to the one single bent piece of metal, as used in childrens’
tricycles?
jl
Sent via the Unicyclist Community - http://Unicyclist.com
Yeah, a 3-piece crank is a the 2 cranks plus the standard hub. Hmm…the hard part is deciding between the Semcycle or Torker. I don’t mind shelling out the extra cash now if it’s going to be worth it in the future. I’m getting good at riding on that bent wheel hard seated 16" Uni.
Believe it or not I was sponsored by Schwinn when I rode BMX (#1 State and National Team). Maybe I’ll give them a ring and see if they’ll cut me a deal on a 24" Uni. I’m a fan of Schwinn and the seat looks comfy too. It’s cool to see some of the name that I’ve associated with before (Kovatchi, Sun) etc. in the product lists. Thanks for all the help guys… things are getting better. I can stay on the Uni for 20-30 seconds now, and I’m only getting better.
Concerning your future uni:
Make sure it has a standard number of spokes (32, 36) I made the mistake
of buying a uni with 28 spokes. I’ve bent the rim pretty badly, and can’t
find a replacement. (any tips welcome) You don’t need a super rim until
you start hopping, dropping and so on, but it’s good to be able to upgrade
if needed…
You’ll probably should get new pedals as well, pinned BMX-style pedals
made a huge diffence for me. Instead of slipping of the pedals as soon as
I was about to “fall”, I could pedal out of it. (And previosly the
slightest moisture made it impossble to ride)
From 16" to 24", almost like moving from 24" to a 36" coker. You’ll feel
like flying the first time you get some speed!
Happy unicycling! Staffan Palm, Sweden
On Mon, 17 Dec 2001 21:10:50 GMT, staffanpalm@hotmail.com (Staffan
Palm) wrote:
>Make sure it has a standard number of spokes (32, 36) I made the mistake
>of buying a uni with 28 spokes. I’ve bent the rim pretty badly, and can’t
>find a replacement.
What wheel-size?
For 24": Araya 20A 24 x 1-1/8" 28H
I just have had a friend build up new wheels for my folding roadbike
(www.airnimal.com), and he found them to be good rims.
I’ve riden on Arayas before, they make a nice wheel… although my Sun rims held up a lot better.
I didn’t even take into consideration the number of spokes on the wheel, I think the Schwinn had 36 spokes or so which is cool? I’ll probably order it sometime soon.
The local bike shop near me had someone order a 24" for there son but it was too big so the lady reordered a 20". I’m going to look at the 24" on Thursday and see what kind it is.
I’ve got a few sets of pedals laying around too that I might swap on, I think my GT platforms will work out nice.