Why isn’t unicycling in x-games or gravity games or stuff like that because if they would let unicycling be in the games then more people would relize that unicycling is a real sport and it takes lots of skill…plus it would just be cool watching people freestyle on unicycle on tv
feel free to post your thoughts on this topic
Perhaps because the organizers themselves don’t understand the skill or don’t see the potential for it. I don’t suppose they’d want to include it in the games unless they’re 99.9% sure people will watch and that the sport is watchable. It would be important for unicycling not to be portrayed as a serious sport, not a funny little sideshow thing.
Much of unicycling is very subtle and often people don’t see past the fact that a guy/gal is riding a one wheeled bike. Where as BMX, skateboard and inline skate comps can utilise huge vert ramps and street sections in relativly small amounts of time, unicycles would look even slower in comparison and not be able to use ramps etc to achieve the WOW! factor in height and speeds that other sports can. I don’t really think it’s an ideal spectator sport. Some tricks and moves are only really appreciated by those who ride. Whereas a guy doing double backflips on a BMX is going to get WOWs from everyone.
I’ve always thought of unicycling as a doers sport, not really a viewers. Still would be nice to see it happen.
I think that would be amazing, but the X games are pretty large scale. Right now unicycling is to obscure. Not enough people do it yet and I don’t think there would be enough interest. I mean if all of sudden uni’ing was in the X games, the unicycling population would go up huge. But first it has to become more mainstream. X game execs. won’t just welcome unicycling cuz we say too. There has to be more people to launch it out of obscurity.
David
Damn it he beat me too it.
David
i think it’s because all other events can do both vert and street, and, to the best of my knowledge, unicycles can’t do vert.
yea freestyle and vert would be pretty tricky to do…but i think trials would probaly work the best and it would keep everyones attention but thats just me
k, not to be down on unitrials, but there’s not even bike trials in the x-games or gravity so why would they put uni trials in it??
wait 5 years after it’s added to see uni trials.
Logan
I think DH migh be another really cool event to add. Along with freestyle and trials DH would provide another aspect that many athletes could assosiate themselves with (thus making uni’ing more accepted). I think if marketed the right way you could convince X Games/ Gravity Games to include uni’ing in their competitions but maybe start out with limited T.V. coverage. Then from there the popularity among spectators could determine what else they do with uni’ing. The X-Games was creted to give athletes that competed in “obscure” (extreme) sports a chance to compete, so I don’t think that the size of the sport would be the final word. If you couldn’t ride a unicycle wouldn’t you at least check out the Unicycling Trials Competition?
If unicycling were shown at such a major event as the x-games, every “extreme” guy (wearing eye-liner, usually, at least in these parts) would want to ride too. It would be as big as bike riding. I like it how it is. Nice and small.
People who were here about a year ago will remember the discussion we had when the Gravity Games people were actually considering having unicycling. There was a poll people could vote on for the newest sport, and everyone here voted about a hundred times a day. The GG team found out, and unicycling was disqualified.
Oh well! 
Yes for those who haven’t already tried vert is real hard to uni. I know. I’ve tried. Though I don’t think freestyle would really keep the people’s atention. As for trials. Hey give it a shot but I think One wheeled Stalion is right. People that don’t uni can’t appreciate it. I wish it wasn’t that way though.
On the contrary, I think freestyle would hold people’s attention very well indeed. All of the non-unicyclists I have shown Universe and Universe 2 were totally wowed by the freestyle section ovre most of the others. I think as trials is quick slow paced, some people would lose interest after a while. A street section would be cool if it was combined with a bit of freestyle- I think that would be popular.
I think the problem with the major disciplines of unicycling (trials, rough terrain and freestyle) is that none of them really fit well ito the X-Games/ Gravity Games’ type of…idk…style. If you watch the X-games, almost everything is some form of fast-paced, backflip filled competition against the other riders. There is nothing really slow paced. Trials doesn’t fit because it is more of a competition against yourself (for me anyways). Also, there is no bike trials comp, which would certainly be a more marketable sport ("hey, I ride a bike, wow, i can’t do that. cool lemme watch)Muni isn’t marketable for many of the same reasons. Freestyle would seem to be the most X-Gamesesque, but most FS is too slow paced to keep the attention of an audience. Also, the perception I have of non-unicycist’s perceptions of unicyclists (tee hee), is that riding a unicycle is amazing enough, and anything after that isn’t respected for what it is. I mean sure, they realize it is difficult, but does a viewer really know the amount of practice involved to go from a 360 unispin to a 540? Because of this, all FS competitors would seem to be doing things of about the same difficulty, thus boring the viewer. Bored viewers are bad.
Fell free to debate my thoughts or attack my personally. A good starting point is my weight.
yeah it dose have to be more main stream, and that would be nice cuz then there would be more places to get uni stuff BESIDES unicycle.com, i wanted to buy a uni and before i had had 3 days to save up it was sold out til later this year.but if it was more mainstream it wouldent be as cool and you would start see’ing little unicycles on those no bike,skateboard,rollerblade signs and that ould stink for all the street unicyclists. but i dont think it will be mainstream for a long time, prettymuch nobody wants to spend weeks just to be able to go in a straight line without falling off. like bikes, who dosent know how to ride a bike? roller blades are so easy i dident have to lern them i just put them one and went. and a skateboard is as easy or hard as you want it to be. wow i went on and on.
Jedd
If bike trials cant cut it in the xgames uni trials is never going to either. A buddy of mine competed in the bike trials event in the first ever X games riding bike trials. Even then it got little TV coverage because its simply too slow.
Take a look at the new events added and the ones that espn has keept arround. They all involve “going big” in flashy moves at high speeds. Even Inline Street doesnt cut it anymore how is unicycle street going to say that we deserve a street comp when thousands more kids strap on skates.
I was watching Gravity Games the other day on Extreme channel, and I love Flatland BMX. Its so cool. I think that freestyle in the gravity games would work, as it is along the lines of Flatland.
Joe,
I think Checkernuts summed it up pretty accurately in the above post. Unicycling will not “stick” people to the screen like those big air or more spectacular/speedy events.
The other big reason unicycling is not in the X-Games is money. This is not a money sport. To some degree, those other events are there because there are huge marketing opportunities to sell bikes, boards, blades, or whatever equipment is being used. The market for unicycles just isn’t there.
At least not yet.
i agree but I just want to make the observation that their are just way to manny bikes in the market. Now I’m sure bikests (did i just say that? I think I did) could dog on me saying that there are way to many unicycles. Of course now I’m on the bikers case.
One of my friends was giving me a hard time (jokingly) around about how unicycling is a circus thing etc. I showed them the trailer for Universe 2 and it changed his opinion. Now he sees it as more of an extreme sport. He even tried to learn for a while, but gave up after realizing how much practice it would take. Anyways I think that the top unicyclers doing their best tricks would hold almost any audience.
screw the x-games when’ s unicycling gonna be in the olympics