I first saw (and tried) one in 1980, and actually learned to ride one in 1982. Back in those days we seemed to call them two-wheelers, but I don’t think we had any standarized spelling.
Two wheeler is not very accurate, even though it has two wheels. Two wheeled unicycle is kind of more accurate, unless your listener has never seen one. Then their brain goes to oxymoron land. Biverticycle seems to say it all in one word, but means nothing unless the listener really thinks about it, or has a picture. So I never really liked that name even though it might be the most accurate.
Adding the word ‘stack’ seems to help a lot. A two wheel stacked unicycle. That works better for me, and is easy to convert to other numbers of wheels. “I can ride a two wheel stack.” like that.
Still, two wheeler or three wheeler for short, among people who know what you’re talking about, is fine.
Yes, it’s definitely a unicycle. If the additional wheels never touch the ground, they don’t count in a name like Bicycle or tricycle.
Bruce: Yes, a lighter picture of your uni would be interesting. I never saw one either. It looks like a variant on the skatebike idea though, and I’m not sure that it would steer too well with the little wheels in back. Non-unicyclists seem to pick up on the skatebikes pretty quick.
Darren: Please scan your picture of the Monkees’ training-wheel cycles! I hear about them all the time, but only have dim memories of seeing them on the TV show.
Bruce, I wonder if it could be a prototype for something that was never manufactured? Assuming skatebikes became more popular, in some ways this looks like a higher-end version (though not in others, such as lolipop bearings). One gets the idea you could do some interesting stuff by standing on those platforms.
Is that a Viscount seat on there? If so, those seats weren’t introduced on the Schwinns until late 1986 so that might be a clue.
The seat has a black metal seat base with a form fit foam seat cover so it is not a molded foam or plastic seat. The top of the seat seems to have a little more squish to it. Looks like the form fit cover may have been manufactured around the seat base, not added later. It’s a pretty tight fit. You can see where they cut away underneath to attach the seat post.
Other than that, there are no markings, stampings, numbers, or other identifying features. Sure would love to know its origin.
That is exactly what I ment. The seat is molded foam around a metal base. Not removable. The top is smooth.
The letters may be under the seat post.
I will double check mine and let you know where
they should be.
It could be that the people who bought those
seats for those didn’t want the seat name stamped
on their version.
The seats are made in Taiwan for sure. I have seen a picture of them in a trade book a while back.
my old school just got one of these things… having ridden a normal unicycle for 6 years almost now, it is bloody hard to retrain your balance.
i for one, couldnt do it in the hour i spent trying, not even any sort of distance. which is unlike anything i have ever had to deal with in my goal setting experience…
anyways… i was wondering how many people here can actually ride 2 wheeled unicycles?
