My 2c: get a $60 Avenir 20 inch uni online. It’s what I learned on and I still ride and practice on it. If you get good enough and don’t lose interest, decide later what direction you want to go - Muni, 36", Trials… Generally, it’s easier to learn on a smaller wheel (20"). When I started, I was convinced that Trials was for me. Once I became proficient on one wheel, I went the Nimbus 26" Muni and 36" Coker path and never looked back…I didn’t really know what I liked until I learned to ride. And expect to log many, many hours in the saddle before you can ride efficiently and with skill. It’s hard, very frustrating and sometimes painful, but well worth it if your really love it. The guys on Youtube make it look easy, but that comes from long time in the saddle. It takes a committment…I’d guess 10 - 20 times harder than learning to ride a bike.
Both companies are staffed by unicyclists and have excellent customer service.
As far as unis go, the Club series is a nice beginner series at a nice price point. It won’t hold up to hard core abuse, but it is fine for learning and freestyle tricks. The seats are fairly nice and the 20" is only $125. It sounds like a lot more, but a comfortable seat added to a cheap unicycle will run $30 extra. A Club uni is listed as a beginner uni, but some people find them just fine to use all the time.
You can always spend more, but $125 is about the least you can spend on a half ways decent unicycle. We keep several Club unis around for our beginners to learn on and they hold up well.
I’m in complete agreement with tstessney on this. Go cheap or go free. Borrow a learner if you possibly can. If not, buy a cheap uni and, after you learn and buy a better one, loan it to people who want to learn. I have a cheap uni that I have loaned to several different people for weeks at a time. It prevents them from buying a unicycle if they find they don’t actually like riding.
Too many people on this forum read that someone wants to learn how to ride and then try to steer them toward some high-end, task-specific unicycle as their first purchase. Unigoat is certainly not trying to do that and I’m not suggesting that he is. He has recommended a higher quality, inexpensive, general purpose unicycle which is fine. But a learner unicycle doesn’t really have to be durable the way a MUni or trials unicycle must be.
Please remember that learners don’t even know if they like to ride and are often people with very limited budgets. Always point them in the direction of a cheap new or used unicycle. The only requirements should be a pneumatic tire, ball bearings, and a real crank and pedal set.
I’m a noob myself, 3 weeks in and loving it!
I can ride about 50ft unassisted so far(maybe further, but i run out of pavement). Gonna take my Surly Conundrum out tomorrow on the paved trail and see what I can string together.
My only advice is to just get out there with any uni and try to learn. I went with my dream ride right off the bat, but I got offered a pretty good deal and I knew I was tenacious, so I wouldn’t be giving up or not liking it.
Look on your local CL? I nearly got one that route first.
Good luck!