I was looking on eBay, and noticed this old uni: Link
Does anyone know the history of that design? To me it seems to be an old custom unicycle… Where unicycles actually produced like that with solid aluminum frames?
Wow, that seat looks really uncomfortable!
See if you buy something like that you should only ride it maybe once or twice a year on special occasions. when its not being used it needs to be displayed somewhere in your house
Thirty bucks for shipping is too high. Will probably cost closer to $15 to ship, so you need to factor that cost into the price. (Unless you can negotiate with the seller - which you would have to do before close of auction.)
As you know, Ebay is caveat emptor: http://jeffreyhuffman.com/estoreauction.jsp
Plus see paypalsucks.com.
There are lots of claims about “vintage-ness” on ebay. I saw a “vintage” Stradivarius recently. (Which is, by definition, a copy.)
Good luck.
Re: Vintage Custom Uni?
On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 11:24:47 -0500, “munipsycho” wrote:
>There are lots of claims about “vintage-ness” on ebay. I saw a
>“vintage” Stradivarius recently. (Which is, by definition, a copy.)
So, what is your definition of a Stradivarius, then?
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
“When it comes to the family jewels, you won’t be having fun until they’re having fun. - Jake D”
you would be surprised how much it is to ship a unicycle when packed well. good packing adds weight. reinforcing the spots where the cranks tag the inside of the box takes time…but for the most part that uni is heavy. i can see 30 bucks spent on shipping easy.
funny that the seat with that embossed logo tag on the top of the leather may be worth more than the whole of its parts.
Bicycle saddle…
True.Bicycle seat on an uni is very uncomfortable proposition.I did try…yak! 
I’m just interested in the history of the design… I was not planning to buy the item…
Does anyone know the history of the frame? Is it actually aluminum?
I wonder how many people had access to aluminium casting facilities in the 1950s? Massive temperatures needed, and aluminium is an expensive material. So would they only make one as a private project? Sceptical.
The frame certainly looks aluminium. In my very unproffesional opinion I’d say it was a tad newer than 1950’s.
Mike - I’ve cast aluminium in my garden. You just need a saucepan (not aluminum 
), some charcoal or coal and hairdrier to give the fire plenty of air.
If you factor in the time and cost of boxing it up and packing (esp. if you have to make or customize a box), $30 sounds like a pretty fair deal. Just mentally add it to the $26 price the auction winner paid. Cheap!
The seat setup is very similar to what you got with a Loyd unicycle in the 60s (Loyd is where Schwinn got the design for their unicycles). Fortunately Schwinn improved on the seat! Before that, the bike-seat design was probably not uncommon.
I think I have seen one of those unicycles before, but I can’t remember where. Maybe Al Hemminger had one. The one I saw looked very similar to that one, and it was indeed aluminum, and indeed old. I would consider the guess of 1950s pretty accurate. Note the old-fashioned rim and tire.
I wonder if it could be one of the old Nissen unicycles? According to JeanPaul Jenack, that was the first commercially-made unicycle, starting in the 1940s. But why woudn’t it have any identification on it? I would only expect a lack of labeling on a custom job. Or maybe there was a sticker or nameplate at one time.
Mut Munipsycho is right about “claims” from eBay sellers. I’ve seen many a 80s cheapo for sale, being touted as a valuable antique.
I would have bought that one, to add to my collection of hardly-ever-ride-it’s…
brillilant! i was going to post the same thing…OH WAIT. i did already 
RAWK! RAWK!