Re: Uni in X-Games
unicycling is not a sport.
All right, Onetrack, tell us your definition of sport. It had better not include fishing or golf!
Our definition is a little more open, I think.
sport: an activity where large corporate sposorships, billion dollar contracts, gambiling, are involved. A sport will attract large groups of untalented and undedicated followers (see. poser). A sport will necessitate the use of illegal preformance enhansing drugs, and cheating to create an attractive outcome. participants of sporting will claim they continue in pain and frusteration due to emence “love of the game” though it is obvious that they are more worried about the pay(see. sellout).
unicycling is not a sport.
But hey, every sport has to start somewhere. We’re working our way there! 
I do a bit of both, and you might say they’re not sports, like a beginning unicyclist trying to freemount isn’t much of a sport. But once you get better at them and more involved, they are definitely sports. Maybe you haven’t had enough exposure yet and you’re still trying to learn how to freemount your fishing rod. 
David
what would probably happen is that people would tune in thinking “ha, this’ll be funny” then they’ll start watching and say “whoa, these people are seriouse…”
unicycling is pretty boring to watch if you dont ride. when ever i show someone a unicycling movie i have to explain to them which tricks are cool and which ones are not because they have no idea. after watching u2 one girl said her favorite thing in the whole movie was dan heaton doing the frame spin thingy while doing a crank grab (he does it on a picnic table after a bit of coasting), which is by far the easiest trick to perform in the movie, by my estimation.
whenever i watch a bike trials movie i always think that i should get into bike trials because it looks a thousand times cooler.
since everyone has ridden a bike or a skateboard, they can appreciate the skill it takes to do what people do in the x-games. since no one has ridden a unicycle, they cannot relate to the best riders. an onlooker would be just as impressed with a one foot sidehop as a three foot sidehop, because to them it is the same trick.
while I would like to see uniing in the x-games, i cannot imagine a non-rider wanting to watch it.
i really do not think that if it was in the x-games that many people would pick it up. more people might buy unicycles, which would be cool, but i would bet that very few would actually stick to it.
I agree with muniracer totally. Unicycling is not a spectator sport and I think people don’t see past the fact you’re ridng a ‘one wheeled bike’.
I have a friend whose dad owns a ramp company and has a team of 12 guys, mainly BMX, 2 inliners, one bike trials rider and the rest skateboarders. He says when he goes on demos, just going up and down the ramp with a few stalls impresses the Hell out of the lay person. And get some air and they’ll think you’re Gods. They’re not as impressed by flatland BMX that is much harder or trials riding.
People are impressed if I ride down a flight of stairs, but not too bothered if I wheelwalk which I find harder.
Unicycling only works for unicyclists as a viewers sport as we can relate to how hard things are.
I was also thinking that however many unicyclists you see at the circus or fair or even uni vids, very very few people actually think “You know what? I’m gonna try that!” but how many kids watch inliners, BMXers or skateboarders and beg their parents for a new bike, skates or skateboard?
Out of interest, after Bedford Trials demos do many people ask about getting into uniing or buy a unicycle? I think this is one of the few occassions when people may see unicycling as a sport rather than an entertainers’ routine.
Well basically we’re going through the same stage that the skateborders went through in the 70’s and 80’s. i’m quoting Tony Hawk when i say “i used to tell people ‘Hey! I’m a proffesional skateborder.’ and they would say ‘No such thing!’ Now i tell people that ans they say ‘Oh yeah weren’t you on the x-games?’”
i mean seriously if Kris Holm came up to someone and said “Hey I’m a professional unicyclist I’ve road down volcanoes. How are you today?” they would think he’s a nut-case but if evolution is the same in “sports” as in life then in 10 to 15 years every kid on the block will unicycle.
I think flatland unicycling would be good, but not any other style.
X-Games
I honestly think if a couple of us would just step up we could rip in a skatepark like the one they used, except modified alittle. Skills in a skatepark look really showy to anyone, and if a couple of us just learned it could easily be in an event. I could see a 180 ledge clear to a backwards grind, or a 360 into a crank stall. Granted unicyclists can’t use their stuff like bikes and boards can, but i think unicyclist could keep their anttention. COME’ON IT’S ONE WHEEL.
i think that flatland unicycling, ( or freestyle) and street would work very well in the X-games. This just isnt the right time to show the world what uniing is all about. We dont have enough shops and companys out there to help support our sport.
I m sure if we waited a couple more years then unicycling would not only become more open to the public but there may be more companys opening that are open to sponsorships.
Just look how long it took skateboarding and bmxing to take off. Plus they just added surfing to the X-games and frankley i dont find surfing to be much of a sport. I feel street unicycling is tied directly into bmx riding. You can do flatland on a bike and ride street, and do grinds ect… same with ya unicycle but theres not as much speed so we cant do vert.
Another thing is , have u seen how many skateboard movies and bicycling movies are out? we have a couple good movies out there right now( universe 2, and w/e other ppl are making) so our sport isnt going to be recognized as well as we want it to be.
i say wait a couple more years till uniing becomes more mainstream, then we’ll dig up this thread again and talk to the X-games ppl
well thats my 2 cents,
justin
hey there is some unicyclist games out there. some r just demo style ones you can see on the computer but the best to date is still Uniracer for the super nintendo system. that game rocks!
Yep, I remember that… so much fun 
JJuggle [I think it was] even made a program that automatically voted like every second, lol
I think unicycling has a much better chance in the olympics than the x-games. The x-games are all sports made for posers, as onetrack said, while unicycling isn’t. Unicycling is slower paced and such, and really more appreciable to riders than non-riders. Do non riders ever appreciate Kris Holm’s scene in U2 as much as Dylan Wallinger’s? No. Personally I think Kris’s scene shows way harder moves, but very few people understand that. The olympics have much larger prospects for unicycling. But then Canada would just win all the trials and muni, and Japan would win freestyle. It’d still be cool, though.
Yeah but there is still street which we would definately take that and racing which I guess would have to go to the Sweedes.
Though Australia has Andrew Carter who is killer at MUni.
By the time you finish reading this the Earth will have traveled almost 100 miles.
"running, jumping, climbing trees… "
short answer - stud your tires and get racing and freestyle into the winter olympics (on ice). They let in “skiing while shooting targets”, and freestyle on ice isn’t much different from icedancing or figure skating. Once we have a ‘legit version’ around, the x-games will have more cause to let in the ‘rebellious version’.
shorter answer - why do we need to be in the x-games? I ride because I enjoy it, and I feel no need to tell other people what they should or shouldn’t enjoy.
shortest answer - ride and be patient. If we belong there, we’ll get there eventually.
Asuming that Vert uni is possible what would be the ultimate vert uni?
Frame-Kris Holm
Seat-Kris Holm
Wheel size-25"
Wheel type-not sure
Canned goods were invented in 1811. Can openers were invented in 1855.
I guess you haven’t seen the results from Unicon 12.
-mg
Why Kh frame and why KH seat and which version of KH frame? Why 25" wheel? None of those seem to be ideal for vert riding. Also, as far as I know, they don’t even make 25" rims. If I were making a uni exclusive for vert riding, I’d use titanium, and I’d have a custom frame with bars that extend beyond the bearing holders to make a new part to use in moves, or just to make grinds easier. I’d use a blueshifted 24x3.0 slick, except the hub would be stronger, probably with 125mm cranks and a gearing so it rode like a coker, at least. Possibly larger. On vert you’d need to pedal like mad. I’d also put weights on the rim, as you’d want lots of rolling inertia, I imagine. That’d be the only way I can think of to get any air on a halfpipe/quarterpipe.
And no, I haven’t seen the uncon 12 results. Did Japan lose?