My old 24" S-7 tire just exploded. I wasn’t even riding. It was sitting in my office and, “pop.” This is my learning unicycle. I’ve ordered a replacement tire off of ebay but it will take about a week to get here. That leaves me with nothing to practice on for a week, which will probably set me back further than I want.
If I were to look at buying a 2d unicycle, knowing that I am still very much a beginner unable to free mount or even make it around the block without falling, although I have ridden over some speed bumps and am going longer all the time, what do you recommend I get and where is the best place to get it.
Two things:
Don’t worry about loosing ground because you can’t practice for a little while. Once you learn something it does not go away. I had a 50 year break from unicycles and was at essentially the same place when I started riding again.
I see a few unicycles for sale in the Mesa area on Phoenix craigslist if you want to pick up another one for training.
You already have a cheap learner unicycle. It is a 24," and you are clearly going to be riding more, so if you are going to buy another one, I recommend a 20." In my opinion, every unicyclist should have a 20" before anything else. It is the best size for learning at any level, from beginner to world champion. Any uni that comes with ISIS cranks should be sturdy enough that you don’t have to worry about it falling apart (this also depends a little bit on how much you weigh and whether or not you will one day want to do a lot of hopping). Nimbus or similar should be fine. Unicycles of this quality can sometimes be found second-hand at very low prices, but usually only after some diligent searching and/or waiting. If you want it right now, you will most likely have to try Unicycle dot com or Goudurix or something, and shell out a lot more money.
I agree with what SONG said, above. No offense, but if you haven’t mastered some basics on the 24" you better drop down to the 20". Learn free mounting, idling,…etc.
Heck I started out with a 24" amazon cheapie(50$) and I wasted a lot of time on that piece of crap(seat clamp kept loosening, cranks coming off,…etc.) . I was about to give up, and then I got the idea to shitcan the 24" and get a 20"(torker, $120). It was solid and the difference in size was a big deal. Much easier to free mount, because of lower height. Also, learning to idle and even hopping was something I could only learn on the smaller size with less fear and less severity when falling down.
I think your second unicycle should match what you want to do. It’s on you whether that’s going to be a Muni, a Trials unicycle, a 29" or 36" for long distance, a freestyle unicycle…Once you learn riding, the next step is to just do the discipline you want to do. Maybe I’m thinking on a much smaller budget than song and Slamdance, but I think the 24" will be good enough for a few basics like freemounting. I see the point of a 20" being great for practicing basics, but I’d say just go for whatever discipline you want to do.
I don’t agree completely with you on this. I took unicycle in my forties and it wasn’t until I could ride comfortably that each time I would stop, the level I had achieved regressed. Each riding session during the learning phase would have me spend 15 to 30 minutes regaining the level I had achieved before - 15mn being if I rode one or two days before.
And I agree with Song and the others: get a 20" in your stable. It’ll always be useful, to learn to ride, to learn new things (free mounting etc), and then to be able to lend it to friends who want to try.