Tom at Unicycle Factory

I spoke with Tommy today at the Unicycle Factory… it was a long conversation as most are for all you’ve people that ever have spoken with Tommy. What bothered me was that he’s been in the business for so long helping a lot of people out, but when I’m in search of a Miyata seat it took a week for him to get mentioned? It seemed like since unicycle.com was out of them that they didn’t exist, but yet Tommy had a few in stock for the same price. I just feel certain people should get a little more credit than they’re getting at the time. The seat should be here within a few days… Thanks Tommy and Unilady for suggesting him.

ya!

its gonna get hot in here now,hope you brought your marshmelos

There’s a very good reason why few people mention Tom Miller on this newsgroup.

I’ve heard from Darren Bedford that Tom Miller has been around unicycling for some time. Darren says he’s very skilled at making custom unicycles. In fact many of the really strong giraffes and other custom stuff Darren has is from Tom Miller, so he must do quality work.

But presence within the unicycle community is everything. Tom Miller has very little web presence. His simple web site, while better than before, still needs work. He doesn’t participate in the unicycle newsgroup. He doesn’t have a 1-800 number. He doesn’t have e-mail. It seems to me that it’s too hard to do business with him.

http://www.tux.org/~bagleyd/unicycle_factory/index.html

So as consumers who have a choice we tend to buy when it’s easy and convenient for us. Tom Miller’s name does not come top of mind when I think of purchasing a unicycle.

Don_TaiATyahooDOTcoDOTuk, Toronto, Canada

Well said.
-David Kaplan

In a message dated 1/12/02 2:52:17 AM, forum.member@unicyclist.com writes:

<< I spoke with Tommy today at the Unicycle Factory… it was a long
conversation as most are for all you’ve people that ever have spoken with
Tommy. What bothered me was that he’s been in the business for so long
helping a lot of people out, but when I’m in search of a Miyata seat it
took a week for him to get mentioned? It seemed like since unicycle.com
was out of them that they didn’t exist, but yet Tommy had a few in stock
for the same price. I just feel certain people should get a little more
credit than they’re getting at the time. The seat should be here within a
few days… Thanks Tommy and Unilady for suggesting him. >>

Hey, If you had known of Tom previous to Unilady ringing a bell to you via
Internet why did you not contact him? You should have been well aware that
Tom would be a source for unicycle seats. Have you ever seen his
collection of unicycle seats as they appeared on the various markets in
the States through various bicycle dealers, etc.? Perhaps it is again time
to support him. A good museum of unicycle articles could be possible
although only a selected few would be interested.

In a message dated 1/12/02 2:52:17 AM, forum.member@unicyclist.com writes:

<< I spoke with Tommy today at the Unicycle Factory… it was a long
conversation as most are for all you’ve people that ever have spoken with
Tommy. What bothered me was that he’s been in the business for so long
helping a lot of people out, but when I’m in search of a Miyata seat it
took a week for him to get mentioned? It seemed like since unicycle.com
was out of them that they didn’t exist, but yet Tommy had a few in stock
for the same price. I just feel certain people should get a little more
credit than they’re getting at the time. The seat should be here within a
few days… Thanks Tommy and Unilady for suggesting him. >>

Hey, If you had known of Tom previous to Unilady ringing a bell to you via
Internet why did you not contact him? You should have been well aware that
Tom would be a source for unicycle seats. Have you ever seen his
collection of unicycle seats as they appeared on the various markets in
the States through various bicycle dealers, etc.? Perhaps it is again time
to support him. A good museum of unicycle articles could be possible
although only a selected few would be interested.

As far as I was concerned Tommy didn’t exist. I’ve only been riding for a month or so, and was unaware of his presence or lack of.

Part of the reason Tom is not on the internet is because he does not have
a computer. He claims if he got on the internet he would be too busy to
build unicycles, which is TRUE knowing Tom. Besides, he would rather deal
with customers that he knows. He does not like the anonymity of the
internet. I’m sure if you ever go out to Kokomo, IN he’d be more than
happy to show you his “one-man factory”.

Tom is an “artist” not a business person but most of his income was from
sales of unicycles and parts were probably secondary which has since
dropped off major. At times Tom was so behind in custom orders that he
would feel guilty and send the uni without an invoice (I think there are
many a unicycles outstanding). That’s because he’d spend his time shipping
unicycles & parts because it was profitable & he need to eat. Now most of
his clients are professionals and repeat customers and those seeking
unusual requests so he has since had to raise his prices in this area.

It’s unfortunate that you didn’t have the opportunity to meet Tom when he
did travel with his school bus filled with his many “toys” for people to
ride. He is a very uni-que person and I hope those people who do think of
him will continue to support him as he is a very valued amongst the
unicycle community.

Uni-versally yours, Unicycle Lady http://users.aol.com/unilady/

In a message dated 1/12/2 9:22:27 AM, forum.member@unicyclist.com wrote:

>There’s a very good reason why few people mention Tom Miller on this
>newsgroup.
>
>I’ve heard from Darren Bedford that Tom Miller has been around unicycling
>for some time. Darren says he’s very skilled at making custom unicycles.
>In fact many of the really strong giraffes and other custom stuff Darren
>has is from Tom Miller, so he must do quality work.
>
>But presence within the unicycle community is everything. Tom Miller has
>very little web presence. His simple web site, while better than before,
>still needs work. He doesn’t participate in the unicycle newsgroup. He
>doesn’t have a 1-800 number. He doesn’t have e-mail. It seems to me that
>it’s too hard to do business with him.
>
> http://www.tux.org/%7Ebagleyd/unicycle_factory/index.html
>
>So as consumers who have a choice we tend to buy when it’s easy and
>convenient for us. Tom Miller’s name does not come top of mind when I
>think of purchasing a unicycle.

Re: Tom Miller / The Unicycle Factory

I have been buying unicycles and parts from Tom for over 16 years. The
fact that he is not online has not stopped me from ordering from him. It’s
just as easy to pick up the phone and give him a call. I like the phone
much better than the computer myself. I still call him every few months to
see what he’s up to and to order stuff from him.

Remember, not everyone is online, so there may be a lot you are missing.

Darren

Unilady@aol.com wrote:

> Part of the reason Tom is not on the internet is because he does not
> have a computer. He claims if he got on the internet he would be too
> busy to build unicycles, which is TRUE knowing Tom. Besides, he would
> rather deal with customers that he knows. He does not like the anonymity
> of the internet. I’m sure if you ever go out to Kokomo, IN he’d be more
> than happy to show you his “one-man factory”.
>
> Tom is an “artist” not a business person but most of his income was
> from sales of unicycles and parts were probably secondary which has
> since dropped off major. At times Tom was so behind in custom orders
> that he would feel guilty and send the uni without an invoice (I think
> there are many a unicycles outstanding). That’s because he’d spend his
> time shipping unicycles & parts because it was profitable & he need to
> eat. Now most of his clients are professionals and repeat customers and
> those seeking unusual requests so he has since had to raise his prices
> in this area.
>
> It’s unfortunate that you didn’t have the opportunity to meet Tom when
> he did travel with his school bus filled with his many “toys” for people
> to ride. He is a very uni-que person and I hope those people who do
> think of him will continue to support him as he is a very valued amongst
> the unicycle community.
>
> Uni-versally yours, Unicycle Lady http://users.aol.com/unilady/
>
> In a message dated 1/12/2 9:22:27 AM, forum.member@unicyclist.com wrote:
>
> >There’s a very good reason why few people mention Tom Miller on this
> >newsgroup.
> >
> >I’ve heard from Darren Bedford that Tom Miller has been around
> >unicycling for some time. Darren says he’s very skilled at making
> >custom unicycles. In fact many of the really strong giraffes and other
> >custom stuff Darren has is from Tom Miller, so he must do quality work.
> >
> >But presence within the unicycle community is everything. Tom Miller
> >has very little web presence. His simple web site, while better than
> >before, still needs work. He doesn’t participate in the unicycle
> >newsgroup. He doesn’t have a 1-800 number. He doesn’t have e-mail. It
> >seems to me that it’s too hard to do business with him.
> >
> > http://www.tux.org/%7Ebagleyd/unicycle_factory/index.html
> >
> >So as consumers who have a choice we tend to buy when it’s easy and
> >convenient for us. Tom Miller’s name does not come top of mind when I
> >think of purchasing a unicycle.