Hello,
I am new to unicycling, in fact i havent quite started yet. I would like help on where to get strted. I want one that can take me about a half mile to school and back and up and down a few small hills. But i also need a unicycle that will be good for a newbie, and i am also a pretty big guy so i nee somthing that can support about 225 pounds. Does this sound like a realistic idea or not? And once i get somewhat decent will i have to ride with my arms out to balance myself or will this go away after awhile. Thanks, Brad
Hi! Go for it, you’ll love it!
You might get loads of conflicting advice. Everyone tends to think their own set up is the best.
As a beginner, it is easier to learn on a small wheel. For most people, that means 20 inches or possibly 24. Assuming your height is more or less in keeping with your weight (ahem!
) it sounds like a 24 would suit you better.
A bigger wheel goes faster for the same rpm. It’s a little bit harder to mount, but a fair bit easier to balance once it’s moving. My mate is around 180 pounds, 5 foot 8 ish and 50 yrs old and learned on a 24 last year.
Until you know (a) if you like unicycling, and (b) what type of riding suits you best, it’s perhaps unwise to specialise too much. Silly to by a top flight MUni, only to find you never go further off road than the river bank; silly to buy a top spec trials uni if you’re only going to ride to the shops and the gym.
A 24 makes a good general purpose ride. It will come as standard with sensible length cranks (150 mm). You can buy road tyres, off road tyres, and quite extreme tyres in this size. By swapping cranks (under 10 Pounds/ 15 Dollars) you can bias the uni for road, trials, off road, or whatever.
If you live in the UK, go to the Unicycle.uk.com website and browse a bit. If elsewhere, try unicycle.com.
Mike has given you excellent advice, an inexpensive 24" is a good place to start. The arm flapping goes away after awhile. That’s when you start juggling.
A half mile to school isn’t unreasonable, I’m about that far from my classes here at VCU. I agree that a 24" makes a great beginner’s and “all-around” uni, I usually switch off between my 24" muni and 700c semcycle for getting around on. The lower pressure muni tire is better for manuverablity here in the city(hopping curbs, climbing steps) and can travel over most terrain. The 700c is a little more delicate, but much faster, probably not good for learning on.
As far as if your gonna have to ride with your arms flailing about like a circus clown, yeah you might for a while, but it’s something you can quickly get over if you uni every day. Last year when lived on campus I unicycled everywhere I went and it got to where I was almost more balanced on my unicycle than I was walking.
It took me a week to learn, though a friend of mine learned in a day. some people like to use crutches or broom sticks to help themselves learn, but I think if you get too into that sort of thing, it’s just gonna take longer. Probably best to find a wall or fence, and hold onto it with one hand, and as you get better see how long you can let go of it, then try riding away from it. I’m sure unicycling.org has tips on learning.
Good luck man!
Hey Brad,
I just started riding uni’s also. My first uni was a generic 24" and I just purchased a 2003 Torker Unistar 20" yesterday on ebay for $69! Check out this thread, it has a lot of very useful information:
http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22861
thank you everyone for all your help. it ha sbeen very useful so far. any more suggestions or comments wilol be greatly appreciated. Thanks , Brad