Kinda makes you wish for snow.
4 Likes
It’s not in Germany. But a great ride.
Hey guys !
I dropped a new trial video
13 Likes
So good answers above but I’ll take a try:
In technical skill and big drops I think so, but he’s not likely to win many medals at Unicon this summer (not sure if he’s attending Unicon)[quote=“HardcoreCokerRider, post:141, topic:127510”]
2. Is he still riding?
[/quote]
As Finn said, yes, but not as active as in the past.[quote=“HardcoreCokerRider, post:141, topic:127510”]
3. Where would you place him in the top ten, if you had to take a swing at it?
[/quote]
Probably top 10 in drops and technical terrain but probably not in the top 10 for racing (XC, DH, uphill), mostly as he doesn’t seem to train specifically for racing.
I’m going to guess that it’s roughly the same. I think Western Europe has developed more of a “scene” and racing has improved a lot with increasing competition. Top European DH riders now mostly ride 29" with 110mm cranks for speed (sometimes 125mm). And more YouTube and social media has allowed more people to connect. I personally would guess that there hasn’t been huge improvement in the big drop crazy “Red Bull” riders but more in freewheel, racing speed.
For racing, you can look at the Unicon results. Or Villanders Muni Turnier also has a high number of top riders: AC Villanders Einrad | Südtirol / Italien - Turniere
Ben Soja trains very effectively and does well in all Unicon muni disciplines XC, uphill and all right in DH. Johannes Baumkircher from Austria is amazingly fast in DH! There are some very good South Tirol Italy muni riders (Jacomo, Michael Rabensteiner) , although 2 of the best riders have “retired” in the last few years (Florian and Anne-Marie Perkmann). Timo Hirschmann from Germany also places very well in all disciplines (note that he is also a road rider and holds a few current 36 Schlumpf world records too, so he’s very fit).
But there are also great technical or big feature/drop riders. I think North America has few top racers but quite a few big feature riders like Ryan. And I would include Finn from Germany from the forum who posted above in this category (high skill but not a top racer).
Switzerland has some strong technical riders and freewheel, France fewer (although also good freewheel). And Spain seems to have a less established but developing muni community.
I certainly want to learn these mounts now.
2 Likes
I’d like to seem him try the backwards mount on a 36". As for the suicide mount, I do wonder how often he failed. Surely that can result in nasty falls.
The side jump mount would not be for me. Im waay too old for that and no doubt would just jump against the seat instead of in front of it.
The kickup mount which I’ve seen in freestyle performances look really cool, but most of the time when he gets on he first rides backwards, which I can’t.
The caveman mount could be doable if you can jump mount. For the jump mount I’ve just been too chicken, but Im sure my body can succeed at that.
Nice vid @ManiusTerentiusPullus
1 Like
Thanks @MUCFreerider for your reply. That’s quite interesting! At one time in history, American motorcycle racers were quite competitive and today there are zero Americans racing in MotoGP, so I’m not too shocked that the Europeans are dominating unicycle racing, as well. Thanks, again, for your response. It’s great to hear forum members’ views on this topic.
I’m sure this video has been shared more than a few times 
Though I had a question that some here might have an answer to
Around 19:30 or so he mentions what hubs (axles) he uses for his unicycles, from Phil Wood and Bullseye. I was wondering if those were off-the-shelf parts or if they were a custom part? Perhaps combining a bottom bracket spindle to a bicycle hub to make a unicycle-type hub?
2 Likes
Perhaps a predecesser to the Cotterless Hub.
No, the Phil Wood hubs were square taper / cotterless. Since Phil wood produced really strong square taper axles for bottom brackets at that time and also made nice hubs, they should have had anything to build one.
1 Like