I only have had a unicycle for about 2.5 weeks and i think that I have nearly got the basics of it. I can freemount usually about 3 times out of 5, the rest of the time I don’t lean forward enough, or I fall to the side. That is beside the point though.
When I first starting riding, I used to mount by having my left pedal pointing backwards at about 5:00 to the ground, i stepped on it with all my weight (which is a lot) and then quickly placed my right foot onto the other pedal. I thought that wasn’t a bad way to mount, but, many bruises and bashed shins later, I finally read the internet way to mount, and have progressed quite rapidly! yeah! i can now ride about 20 metres, of slightly controlled falling fowards, until i run out of space. which isn’t bad. I really need to find a quite secluded carpark where I am not seen (and therefore no chance of mockery can occur).
The question I therefore pose to the community of unicyclists out there is…
How bent can a rim be before it is time to fix it. I think due to the way I used to mount, my wheel rim is bent (only slightly). i.e. when I spin the wheel freely, whilst look down at it. it kicks a bit ot the left. it isn’t coming in contact with the frame yet. and how would I go about fixing it? do I just use some guessing coupled with some well placed force, or should I take it somewhere to be fixed. Knowing that this is only my first unicycle, and therefore I am quite prepared to be told that it is rubbish and I need a better one.
What kind of unicycle? From that we can figure out what kind of wheel it has.
Most likely you’ve got a wheel with a steel rim. That’s what most entry level unicycles come with. The steel rims aren’t the strongest rims and are more prone to bending.
It’s possible that your rim is just out of true and not actually bent. Can you see that it is obviously bent? If it’s bent there will be something like the start of a crease mark where it’s bending. If it’s just out of true there will just be a smooth gradual wobble. Is it still round (no flat spots)?
If the rim is bent it can be physically bent back in to shape. It does involve getting physical with the rim.
If it’s just out of true then fix is to tighten the spokes to remove the wobble.
Take the wheel to a bike shop. They’ll be able to tell you what’s wrong (is it actually bent or is it just out of true). If it’s just out of true then have them true it up and then tension up all of the spokes. Getting all the spokes tensioned up is important. Be sure to tell them to tension up all the spokes in addition to truing it. When the spokes are loose the wheel will be weak and the rim will go out of true easily and possibly even bend. You can figure that it will be about $15 for the bike shop to true the wheel and tension up all the spokes.
The stock wheel on most unicycles is not built very well. The spokes will be too loose. The wheel may not even be very true. It takes time to build a good wheel which means money. The factory built unicycles don’t get that kind of special treatment cause they don’t have the time and building a better wheel would make the unicycle cost more.
So, when you get a new unicycle it is a good idea to take that new wheel to a bike shop and have them tension up all the spokes and give it the TLC that it needs. Doing so will give you a better wheel.
If your rim is actually bent then it may make more sense to get a new wheel. You can get it bent back so that it is true and round again, but it will never be as strong. Once bent, it’s going to want to bend again.
Just a small point from a past life working in a bikeshop.
Tyres are very rarely the right shape, and it’s very easy to be fooled into thinking the wheel has a wobble when it is really an optical illusion caused by the slightly misshapen tyre.
Try, probably with the help of an assistant, spinning the wheel and using your finger against the rim, while bracing on the frame and see how much it is really wobbling.
John is right, should be an easy job for your lbs (local bike shop) to sort out should it have a problem.