i hope the guy sponsors me… or at least gives me some new pants… i need new pants…
I really don’t think it’s likely that unicycling will EVER become mainstream…I think it’ll always be something a few superior human beings do and others gawk and laugh at.
yeah, pants are good.
i mean, i have pants, just all my pants are either getting worn out or too small… (i only have like 4 pairs that fit/aren’t ruined now…)
I think you can at least help get the sport more widely recognized. I think skaters are pretty accepting these days. They used to just flip me off and stuff like that, but now their all like “That kid has vicious skills.”
Go for some bike shops, or go for a certain brand of apperal or something…Ahhh…go for Coca Cola!!!
mr spleen, im going to have to agree with the second one fully. i have proved it many a time riding around with my Gravity Warehouse jersey on. also it helps to be good with talking to people because if you get sponsored by a shop then they usually give you discounts and free shwag for supporting them and promoting thier name when talking to people. being like “oh yeah i get all my stuff from “such n’ such shop” they got good stuff there.” then that person you were talking to is going to check out the shop and possibly buy stuff there. you are like a billboard because we attract attention and the bike shop likes that because that means your going to be talking to people alot and if you slip thier name in the conversation then your providing buisness to that shop. thats what it is like with me and Gravity. were pretty tight so i get good discounts and free stuff here and there. also once sponsored by them try not to ask for free stuff, usually it is the small things you get for free like a jersey here, stickers there, patch kit when you buy some pricy pedals. well ther’s my 2 cents
There is alot that goes into getting sponsored, but from what I’ve seen its really all about who you know. I was officially/now unofficially sponsored by my local bike shop, Bike line of Greensburgh, i didnt really go out and seek the sponsorship it more was offered to me by the shop owner after riding trials with him and a few of the guys at the shop.
I feel alot of sponsorship is like that, its not really how good you are, especially in unicycling as even basic street/trials/muni can be impressive to someone who’s never seen it before,rather its about who you konw. Where the real sponsorship deals get made are with a very few of the top riders who everyone in the industry already knows, this goes for skate/surf/bmx.
In unicycling you might be throwing down the biggest hardest tricks, but most of the bike/skate industry probably has know idea what that means and could care less. Now if you go out and ride with the guys filming a redbull event or big skate demos they will probably introduce you (eventually) to the people that have the power to throw some schwag/ and money in your direction.
I think this goes for a bit smaller scale too, if you can go out and ride and form personal relationships with people at your skateshop/clothingline/bike shop you stand a much larger chance of them wanting you to ride for them, at their demos, and with their threads in exchange for a store discount or whatever.
Go for the sponsorship, but dont just throw a video in their face and think they’ll be impressed, try to get out ride with other people who are involved with the company and get a good personal rep going within the people who can offer you a sponsorship. I hope this makes a bit of sense.
Cheers
and keep doing thoes crazy crank flips~
Mike
you know what? I just realized how unnoticed unicycling is at least around my town. Whenever someone sees me or my brother or my brother’s friend riding a uni, they always look amazed or walk over and say something like, “ive never seen anyone do THAT before. Good job!” Hardly anyone that sees us ever says, “yeah, ive seen about a hundred people do that. So what?”
of course, it may be different in other places, but that’s how it is here.
The fact of the matter is I have no chance of riding with anybody from the sponsorship. I’m basically doing what you say not too. Putting a video out there for them to see. If sliding huge rails, and coming completely off the unicycle, have it spin in more than one way, and coming back on it to finish the trick down a good size set, isn’t enough, i’ll give up. lol. But yeah. I don’t expect anything. But by trying this, it will give them an idea of what’s out there. No one else has really tried. I’m going for DC shoes. Haha, “going” key word. Let’s introduce the real side of things.
-Shaun Johanneson
theyll sponsor u if they see they can make money of you… you gotta tell em your in defect and htat your are a very popular unicyclist… then theyll think ppl will copy u n get dcshoes…if they dont see anyway of making money with u they wont sponsor you…
dude DC shoes would be killer.
i reckon it could happen… maybe get into some magazines or something as a novelty thing. or a really quick thing in a video. prob cant get pro, but shoes, etc would be cool.