I was walking downtown today when the guy who owns a bike shop jumped out and asked if I wanted do a unicycle demo this friday at “midnight madness” (a big street party/sale on main street) i said I could, so now Im wondering what tricks I should learn/perfect that are real croud pleasers, I was thinking unispins, wheel walking, 1foot riding. but I know that what is really hard isn’t always amazing to a croud of non-unicyclists so any tips or tricks I should know are apreceated.
-Reed
P.S. I could probally bring some trials props as well
do you have sandwich boards or 2 by 4 skinny’s? people like those. also, do unispins, and leg wraps if you know them. people also like seat drops, 180’s, and of course, wheel walking. anything that looks really hard, but is actually not very hard. or something that looks like it shouldn’t be doable. also the trick where you are sif, grap the tire, and extend your legs behind you. people really like that.
When performing (juggling) I always find that the crowds respond better to a few OK tricks, done very well, rather than lots of badly done good tricks.
Me, my brother and a few other people rode a demo for about 100 people this wednesday, the big crowd pleasers seemed to be the big gaps, and the big hops (We got the biggest applause for a 90cm SIF sidehop, which actually failed twice. My brother got the crowd to cheer me on, then I landed it.) But we had a lot of trialsobstacles at our disposal, including a car, two huge concrete sewage pipes, pallets, and a 7 set stair. Not sure what your kind of riding is, but if you’re into trials, the big hops, the big drops, and the big gaps are ways to please a crowd. (They went wild for this guy’s 360 unispin too).
If it’s less than a week to showtime, don’t try to learn anything new. Instead, figure out what’s your best stuff, and put some polish on that. Things to think about (along with the other previous ideas):
kick-up mount
jumping rope
anything “large” (drops, big hops, gaps or side-hops)
anything fast, like even riding fast into a quick stop
i usually find that taking water/soda bottles/cans from audience members and jumping them is a crowd pleaser. you’re probably better than me, so try jumping a stack.
also, people seem to lack interest in technical skills, as they cant see what is going on. for example: a 90 unispin followed by hopping on the wheel is more impressive than a 180 or 360 unispin, because its more visible.
Most non uni folk are impressed by the mere fact that you can stay on the thing much less do tricks. Things that ive found to be good are.
Idling
Riding backwards
Doing drops on to foam cups or pop cans
Rolling hop over something(a small child maybe:P)
Try to find ways to incorporate the crowd aswell, they seem to like that.
Thats all i can think of that simple but good for show
What Trials_uni said. Easy tricks (like kick-up) often impress more than complicated stuff. A crankflip, for example, will be completely invisible to someone who isn’t used to watching unicyclists. Even a skateboarder might not notice. Same for coasting. People don’t get how hard it is. But jump rope on a unicycle and they’ll wet their pants.
