I was just curious. I can’t see how anything over 8 feet would be possible to freemount!
John Foss has freemounted a custom made nine-footer with a “step.” Conceivably a similar giraffe with two steps and over ten feet tall could be freemounted, but it would takes lots of practice and broken bones.
Dr. Wolfgang Schaper has a series of pictures showing him freemounting a giraffe that looks to be around 8 feet or maybe taller. A very impressive series of pics.
The pics are in his fotos section. His site is all in frames. Here is the direct link to the pics, but you lose the frame navigation for the rest of the web site.
It is a series of 5 pictures in a funky image map. Click on the exposed areas to go to the next picture.
Anyone read German? Does he say how tall the giraffe is?
He doesn’t say how high the giraffe is, but he does note that he gets up in about half a second. The giraffe appears to be about eight feet tall.
I believe Wolfgang Schaper a.k.a Wolfgang Strößner, was mounting a 9 ft giraffe. Some useful info from Wolfgang, Javier and John Foss can be found in this old thread:
http://tinyurl.com/ajdte
The thread also includes a link to an easier to view version of Wolfgang’s mount
I’ve heard stories that Mel Hall could freemount a 10ft giraffe. John Foss will probably be able to confirm or deny that rumour.
There’s something funny about the Wolfgang Schaper series. In the first picture he’s starting with his right foot. In the second picture, he’s continuing with his right foot.
Does this mean that he can do it ambidextrously (or should I say ambipodiatrously)?
Or does he hop from the first position to the second?
Or did one of the images get flipped?
My friend has told me tales of a man with a 22-foot giraffe, but I can’t remember his name. Anyone know?
I notice I wrote that in the older thread that was linked above. I don’t remember the source of that. I do know that Mel Hall used to freemount a 9-footer that he rode inverted (hand pedaling with shoulder supports instead of seat). So freemounting a normal 10’ would not surprise me for him.
Wolfgang is a pretty tall guy, so the unicycle in the pictures would appear to be over 8’, but not necessarily 9’. The seat and look of the frame suggests it’s a DM, if that’s of any help. My 9’ is actually 8’-10" if anybody cares, but I’m “cheating” with my articulated step.
Don’t get the wrong idea that he’s using a step on the frame. In the 2nd picture his right foot is just in mid-air as his left foot is supporting his weight.
Chuck Marquette or Chaz Marquette. Same guy. He used to perform with his. There’s also Tom (Tommy, Tomi) Miller, who built it and kept a second one for himself. Also there’s Constance Cotter, who he built one for several years later, but she’s not a guy.
Here’s the web site for Chaz Marquette. His site is in the links section here at unicyclist.com under performers.
Yeah, that’s the guy I was thinking of. So, does he (or the other two) have the tallest giraffe?
Imagining some one free mounting a huge 10 foot girrafe is just halarious to me 
Not anywhere near. Sem Abrahams has ridden a 115’ giraffe.
Wow. That is hardcore.
Check out The World’s Tallest Unicycle for pictures, video and info about Sem riding the 115’ unicycle.
I’m assuming that one he kept for himself is this thread? Looks like Tomi doesn’t ride it as much as Chaz does his.
Re: What’s the tallest giraffe ever to be freemounted?
On Fri, 2 Dec 2005 17:40:03 -0600, jsm wrote:
>Not anywhere near. Sem Abrahams has ridden a 115’ giraffe.
But he didn’t freemount it 
Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
“erectile function trumps public image - David Stone, commenting on the importance of seat comfort”
I realize this is a really old post, but while searching for this information on my own, I found an even older post that can shed some light on the matter: