what inspired you to star unicycling and what equipment got you started.??
I’ll start,
what inspired me to start was this one guy in a parade / festival thing
and my equipment was and is a 20" uni I got at a bike shop .
Nick
Well, back in 1966 when I started, I think it was just something that looked like it would be fun to learn, and I’ve always liked challenges. I seemed to learn pretty fast and in short order I was riding one-footed, backwards and down stairs.
Of course back then, unicycle technology was pretty ancient compared to today, and they weren’t made for any kind of hardcore use. Today they are…but now I’m ancient!
I’ve already answered this one in a few other threads with the exact same topic.
Question for MuniAddict: Do you remember what you saw that got you interested in unicycling? Did you see real unicycles/unicyclists or something in a book or on TV? I saw unicyclists in a parade (in 1967 or 68). But the Schwinns weren’t even out yet in '66. What did you start with?
I don’t remember seeing a unicyclist on TV or a book or anything like that. I seem to remember seeing one hanging in a LBS and after that I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I bugged my parents to get one for me. As to the brand, I don’t remember, but maybe you can identify it in my vintage video from 1966-67: The first one seen with the whitewall tire is a 24" I believe. Now that I’ve watched it again, it totally looks like the first part-up to :19 sec was from a later time, like maybe 1968, and from :20 on I look way younger so that’s prolly from '66.
Kinda like the fellows above I started in 1976 with a Schwinn 20". I was interested in juggling and mime at the time too, so I am sure I saw someone do it somewhere. My folks may have just bought it for me out of blue too…don’t know.
Just another way to mis-spend my childhood.
i was watching the tv show americas got talent and they had 2 unicyclist there jumping around and stuff and i thought it was cool cus they were doing tricks and stuff and i wanted one since then and 3 years later i had one
i got a torker lx
Well I started juggling so looked some stuff on youtube and naturally unicycling came up a little bit. It has sparked an interest I’ve had for just about as long as I can remember I actually almost bought a unicycle at a flea-market, but my father would not let me. Of course I looked more into it on youtube and came across trials and pretty much instantly knew I wanted to do it. It seemed so amazing what people could do, I was determined to be a part of it. I’ve always wanted to do an alternative sport, but never found the right one, this was it. Since that first kris holm video I’ve loved bicycling and will for a long time. About a year ago I got my first uncle, a torker dx. Know I have a custom uni and can do 30in hops, every once in a while I’m amazed that I can actually ride unicycle trials. It seemed so far out of reach only a year ago now I’m doing what I thought was amazing.
Juggling
Hard to tell. The 24" looks like it has a Messenger seat (same company that made the old Schwinn seats. Probably one of the brands coming out of Japan like Oxford, but doesn’t match any of my old frames from what I can see.
The 20" seat looks like it might be a Stelber. If so, your 24" was probably the better, sturdier cycle.
Cool, you were inspired by none other than Dan Heaton and Zack Baldwin. That primetime TV coverage sure has its uses!
Well, in the early 90’s, my bro and I were browsing the web and came across articles on george peck, that’s what got me started. At the time we had very little money, and were heavily into biking, so it got pushed to the side. It wasn’t until last year that I got really bored w/ my bike, and remembered george peck and all the trails my bro and I wanted to uni on that I finally got a torker lx.
My buddy had a unicycle up at a summer camp that I am now director of (5 years later) It looked like a fun challenge.
I learnt on his uni which was a UDC taper trials. It had a bent pedal spindle on the right and a chronically loose crank on the left. A few months later I bought myself a similar no-name unicycle, It didn’t take too long for it to be in simmilar shape, should have gone splined but didn’t know any better at the time.
i started to uni because i needed something to do at the trailhead while waiting for the group to arrive! fate.
I stumbled across the Universe2 trailer and decided that I needed to get a unicycle…