>As regards buying myself a Penguin, I had never heard of that make before you >mentioned it. Is it an American factory which builds this Penguin unicycle? Do >you know where they are based?
Mauricio,
I had never heard of a Penguin either. John Foss identified the uni as such as
soon as he saw it. This particular uni has been modified and repaited quite a
bit.The frame is made from rectangular tubing, not totally unlike the square
tubing Tom Miller uses for his custom giraffes. The bottom bracket (the part the
crank goes through) is just a couple inches above the top of the tire. The
distance from the center of the crank to the wheel axel is 15.5 inches (39.5cm)
where that distance on my Schwinn giraffe is 29.5 inches (75cm). It has enough
room for a 20 inch wheel and currently has a rather large tire on it. It has a
one piece crank and the chain ring is larger than the sprocket on the axel. The
net effect is that it travels about the same distance as a 24" wheel for each
crank. The tube above the bottom bracket (the one the seat post goes into) had
been replaced for some reason with a round tube. The old weld there might have
failed. It has a Schwinn seatpost and seat. This is the first giraffe that some
of the kids in our 4H club have ridden. If they have ridden 24" uni before they
find the Penguin easy to ride and not as intimidating as the Schwinn. If they
have only ridden 20" unis before the different gearing throws them off.
Perhaps John Foss can give you more information on Penguins.
As regards buying myself a Penguin, I had never heard of that make before you
mentioned it. Is it an American factory which builds this Penguin unicycle? Do
you know where they are based?
I have two different friends in the NY area, so I might be able to purchase
a giraffe and have it shipped to NY, where I would pick it up, before
returning to Rio.
Does anyone on the list know of a good bike shop which sells unicycles in the NY
area? Do shops ever let you try the unicycle first before buying it? If anyone
wishes to sell a second-hand giraffe, please let me know and I’ll try to work
out how to pick it. I will be in NY between next January 2nd-Jan.8th (in two
months time).
Does anyone know of e-mail addresses of shops which retail giraffes? Does anyone
know of shops which sell second-hand unicycles?
Thanks for any information / suggestions leading into the right direction!
>Does anyone on the list know of a good bike shop which sells unicycles in >the NY area?
The biggest bike shop on Long Island used to be Brands. They’re in Wantagh,
on the way to Jones Beach. Don’t know what they carry these days, but they
always had room for a unicycle somewhere, including in their ads and employee
group photos.
>Do shops ever let you try the unicycle first before buying it?
I think most would, because they’d just like to see it ridden. Of course you
have to pump it up and make sure all adjustments are tight, especially if it’s a
screwed-on sprocket at the hub…
>Does anyone know of e-mail addresses of shops which retail giraffes?
Most bike shops don’t have email addresses (these days).
>Does anyone know of shops which sell second-hand unicycles?
Very, very rare. A shop here in Sacramento had a unicycle collection that
someone was selling off. I mentioned the two giraffes they had on the newsgroup
and one was sold the next day. Both are gone already.