cheechee Wrote:
> > Danny Colyer Wrote:
> > I think I already know the answer to this, but it’s got to be worth
> > asking just in case. Does anyone know if there’s any smaller production
> > unicycle than the Dodger 12"? My daughter’s made it quite clear that
> > she wants to learn, but her inside leg is only 13". She’ll probably
> > make 14" by Christmas, and possibly 15" by her 3rd birthday in
> > February,
> > but that’s still well off the 19.5" minimum that Roger specifies for
> > the
> > Dodger. There may be some scope for cutting down the seatpost, but
> > certainly not by 6"…
> >
> > The only other 12" yikes I can find are the Sun (20" inside leg) and
> > the
> > “Trainer” (I presume this is a Taiwanese jobby)(19.5" inside leg
> > again).
> >
> > Of course, she’d really like a yellow unicycle, but I fear that means
> > waiting until her legs are long enough for a 16" Ringmaster.
> >
> > --Those 16in cyclepro,aviner,ralliegh unis on e-bay with the post cut
> > might work. Save the cut piece and have it welded when the child
> > grows.Also peddle blocks or wood and duct tape can raise peddles that
> > are just short.A regular bike saddle and post might buy you some
> > inches.> >
> If you got one second hand you could also cut the frame down.
cheechee wrote:[color=darkred]
>>>–Those 16in cyclepro,aviner,ralliegh unis on e-bay with the post cut
>>>might work. Save the cut piece and have it welded when the child
>>>grows.Also peddle blocks or wood and duct tape can raise peddles that
>>>are just short.A regular bike saddle and post might buy you some
>>>inches.> >
>>
>>If you got one second hand you could also cut the frame down.[/color]
Thanks for the suggestions, but there’s no way a frame with a 16" wheel
in it could be cut down far enough for 13" legs. If we have 8" from the
hub to the outside of the tyre, plus 4" for the cranks, that leaves only
1" for tyre/frame clearance, seatpost and seat!
It might work with a 12", though, when she’s had a few more months of
growth. And I like the idea of raising the pedals with blocks of wood.
I think, though, that she’ll still have to wait another couple of
years. I really hadn’t expected her to want to learn so soon.
It’s a long, long time since I’ve seen a 12" on sale second hand. I’ve
been keeping an eye out for the last few years, knowing that I was
likely to have kids who would want to learn some day.
–
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine
On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 23:20:22 +0100, Danny Colyer wrote:
> I think, though, that she’ll still have to wait another couple of
>years. I really hadn’t expected her to want to learn so soon.
That seems like a bad decision, daddy Colyer. There must be a better
solution than to keep an eager 2 yo waiting a few years before she can
ride. Maybe post your question directly on the forum now that the
gateway is so sketchy, it might yield more suggestions.
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
“The more you think, the less you have to do. - Leo Vandewoestijne”
The shipping from Holland probably wouldn’t be that much on such a small unicycle, although 160 euros is quite a lot for something that they’ll grow out of.
Looking at the rate the UK Unicycling mob are producing children I think you would be able to sell on an out grown tiny uni in a few years
quite easily. After all the BUC now has to have a chrech ( can’t spell it, you know, place for small kids to be kept while parents do something more interesting) , quite a change from the pub crawling debuchery of a few years ago.
I definitely agree with this. I really want my 6 year old to learn, and she’s a bit of ‘yeah, i suppose you can get me a unicycle’.
your huge sense of pride when she can ride will be worth the cost a billion times over! (sorry exaggeration - several million I should have said) I would quite happily sell my ex-wife into slavery if it meant Madeleine could ride with me
besides, Sarah’s right, you could easily sell it on, or get a massive seatpost for a novelty ride.
joemarshall wrote:
> you could splash out and order one new from sweden
>
> http://tinyurl.com/632l4
Hmm, 1000 kr works out as 74.69 GBP. Roger sells the same unicycle for
58 GBP:
<URL:http://tinyurl.com/7x4re>
I probably will buy one new if I don’t manage to find a decent second
hand one in the next few months.
–
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine
sarah.miller wrote:
> Looking at the rate the UK Unicycling mob are producing children I
> think you would be able to sell on an out grown tiny uni in a few
> years
> quite easily.
The problem is I’d find it difficult to part with - I’d want to keep it
for myself after the kids have outgrown it.
–
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine
Brian MacKenzie wrote:
> why not get one with an 8" wheel?
I don’t know of any standard unicycle with an 8" wheel. For that to
work, realistically you’d have to have 2" cranks. And although I have
seen a unicycle ridden with 2" cranks, that’s just silly.
Roger’s mini giraffe has an 8" wheel. I’ve been pondering whether to
get one of them, but it’s quite pricey and I’m not sure that learning to
ride on a giraffe is a great idea:
<URL:http://tinyurl.com/ydh8>
–
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine
Michael Grant modified a 16" for his pee-wees. Photos of the unicycle are posted here on his website. The same could probably be done with a 12" unicycle. I haven’t seen Michael post here for some time.
Should not be a problem getting it to fit. I will do some checking today and sort out the best way to do the modification to get it to work. I have a feeling that the dodger with a small frame mod in the legs and at the top should fit.
It is amazing what you can do with a bit of determination, I recently made a new unicycle for Tio Colligan. He now rides a 20" and is only 4! He even had to the seat up! I hope Steve will post a picture of it soon.
When Danny (aged 5) saw a picture of Tio riding it has made him a lot more determined to ride soon (they met at a Unimeet earlier this year), he now wants to practice a few times a week. Due to Universe 2 he also wants to drop off the garden bench!
Toni (aged 7) has much better balance, and wants to join in the Unimeet games, but does not have the best mindset / patience to learn or to let go of my hand as she is scared of hurting herself.
Currently they both are more interested in learning to bunny hop rather than ride unaided.
Definately Dodger is the best to go for, it is easiest to adapt. The Trainer has a larger frame and the Sem come with longer cranks as well.
Minium with seat cut down = 17.2" (you may need a bolt not Q/R to do this)
Cut down and redrill the holes at the bottom of the frame = 16.2"
Then you need to start cutting down the frame… but you only have 5" in total, I guess you could cut down 2" and still have a frame that works; but that only takes you down to 14".
Other option is get a dodger, weld the seatpost on to the frame in the position you want (I can do this if you want). If you go for the dodger I am sure you can get loads of replacement broken 20" frames from people who have broken them, then cut them down to fit when ever you need a bigger frame.
Another option is the DM 12"… they are very, very nice and I am sure Dave would make one exactly to fit your requirements, but you pay for what you get, so it will cost more than a Dodger or trainer 12", but may be worth it.
> FWIW, the unicycle in the above URL was too big for my two year old son
> to reach the pedals.
Shame. Having looked at the picture, I remember having seen it before.
The reason I remembered was that I could just see the edge of the
Coker tyre next to it, and I remembered the contrast.
> The new, smaller, 12" has a frame built by Steve Howard and can be seen
> at the far left (next to the 16" cut down) in ‘this’
> (http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albuv18/P0001842) picture.
I like that picture.
–
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine
rogeratunicycledotcom wrote:
> Definately Dodger is the best to go for, it is easiest to adapt. The
> Trainer has a larger frame and the Sem come with longer cranks as
> well.
>
> Minium with seat cut down = 17.2" (you may need a bolt not Q/R to do
> this)
> Cut down and redrill the holes at the bottom of the frame = 16.2"
> Then you need to start cutting down the frame… but you only have 5"
> in total, I guess you could cut down 2" and still have a frame that
> works; but that only takes you down to 14".
>
> Other option is get a dodger, weld the seatpost on to the frame in the
> position you want (I can do this if you want). If you go for the dodger
> I am sure you can get loads of replacement broken 20" frames from people
> who have broken them, then cut them down to fit when ever you need a
> bigger frame.
Thanks Roger. I’m reluctant to go in too much for welding and cutting
(too permanent), but OTOH if she’s ready to learn then it might be
worthwhile. I’ll start talking to DW about Christmas and birthday
presents (more likely birthday, which is in February).
–
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine
Gentlemen - please all bookmark this quote for the next time the “Does unicycling stop you having children” question comes up.
As a mom who will probably start teaching her 4YO to uni once she is allowed back on the wheel (her enthusiasm is directly proportional to how often she sees me out there on the uni), I’d like to suggest that you get some short people to help out. In the early days the little ones need a LOT of physical support (at least my little one does) and bending down low enough to hold them up can give your back a bit of grief. Next time I’m going to set up a course of chairs with an adult each end to get her the initial “feel” for it.
Danny Colyer Wrote:
> cheechee wrote:[color=darkred]
> >>>–Those 16in cyclepro,aviner,ralliegh unis on e-bay with the post
> cut
> >>>might work. Save the cut piece and have it welded when the child
> >>>grows.Also peddle blocks or wood and duct tape can raise peddles
> that
> >>>are just short.A regular bike saddle and post might buy you some
> >>>inches.> >
> >>
> >>If you got one second hand you could also cut the frame down.
>
> Thanks for the suggestions, but there’s no way a frame with a 16" wheel
> in it could be cut down far enough for 13" legs. If we have 8" from the
> hub to the outside of the tyre, plus 4" for the cranks, that leaves
> only
> 1" for tyre/frame clearance, seatpost and seat!
>
> It might work with a 12", though, when she’s had a few more months of
> growth. And I like the idea of raising the pedals with blocks of wood.
> I think, though, that she’ll still have to wait another couple of
> years. I really hadn’t expected her to want to learn so soon.
>
> It’s a long, long time since I’ve seen a 12" on sale second hand. I’ve
> been keeping an eye out for the last few years, knowing that I was
> likely to have kids who would want to learn some day.
>
> –
> Take the front wheel off of a small tricycle,(its basically a uni
> wheel} with a piece of seat tube cut from a junker to your local
> welder![/color]