Hi folks, I’ve been lurking around here for a couple of weeks now getting caught up on the latest Uni-scene. I’m not new to uni as I started riding almost 25 years ago on a flea-market Schwinn (which I still have). Here’s my back story.
After starting out bouncing off of the walls of my parents house I finally managed to start riding my 20" pretty well. Some how I got my little sis to learn to ride too. We found out that a little bike shop in Golden (CO) (self propulsion) actually sold uni’s and had a club formed to goof off with and ride in Parades. So sis and I joined up and we ended up with a Schwinn 24" and for x-mas one year a Miyata giraffe (aka the long flamingo). We did shows and parades in Golden and Denver. We even got hired to entertain a wedding party by playing uni-polo. My skills back then were decent with a kick mount, hops, 1 foot, hops on the giraffe (which miyata’s don’t like much), juggling and so on.
Since we had a lot of indoor practice at my local elementary school we had to convert the schwinns to non-marking tires. Those sneaky schwinn designers should have been shot for the odd ball tire sizes on the s-5/s-7 rims. No problem, we got a new 20" bmx rim and relaced it on the uni and used a killer tioga comp slick (great tire for street/freestyle) and on the 24" we went to the local wheelchair shop and picked up a grey pnuematic wheelchair tire that happens to use the same oddball size as the Schwinn. Problem solved.
Fast forward and now I’ve got a son of my own who’s video game habit had both my wife and I worried we need to get him a new hobby. I mentioned to him about my uni’s at his grandparent’s house and bet him he couldn’t ride it. He had to see me do it first of course. I hadn’t got up on one wheel in 10 years or so, but figured the feeling will come back. Other than having to use a LOT more pressure in the tire (I’m a little heavier than I once was) I managed to hop on and putt around. Granted I could tell my center of gravity was slightly higher than it used to be so the ride was wobbly at best. Still I proved it to the boy and that was all the challenge he needed.
We brought the 20" home for him to learn on and he can already get 10 feet off of the back of a car. We even got the nieghbor kid iterested in it to the point he needed one of his own. He got a torker LX a week after we bought ours home. He’s a converted Skater who has drobbed the board completly for Uni. Quick lerner too as he can already ride around the block without any upd.
Found this site looking for info to help my boy learn and read up a bunch. I thought about it and couldn’t think of a better way to shed some poundage while getting back on one wheel. So I’ll be bringing back my 24" Schwinn and another 24" Cycle pro to get back into riding shape on before spending money on a new uni made in this century!
Once I get my 10yr old riding better we might even take on some of the trails near our house for some light x-country or muni…
Just wanted to poke my head in and say Hi as I don’t think I would have thought much further about riding again until I saw this place. Thanks for the insperation!