Who Invented the Unicycle??

moe-mark · October 29, 2005, 6:54am

Hi Everyone,
My husband and I are school teachers and my husband use to be a huge unicycle rider in highschool and college. He is bringing his unicycle to school for his students to see and to watch him ride and he wants to give them some history about the unicycle. Does anyone know who is credited for inventing the modern unicycle?? I couldn’t find any info on line.
Thank you so much for your help,
Maureen and Mark:)

unicyclerpunk · October 29, 2005, 8:43am

Well the unicycle was not really invented but it all started when the penny farthing was riden and some people learned how to ride on just the front tire so (this was back then…) then someone (not sure who) took off the back end off a penny farthing and plopped a seat on one and therefore the unicycle was invented…a while afterwards a group of people created the 20’’ since the first ones were 36’’ and there ya go…

abbabibble · October 29, 2005, 8:47am

he pretty much has it down, except i’m not sure that someone/a group of people invented 20"s because the wheel on the original was too big…

I highly doubt that. It evolved bit by bit from the Penny Farthing B*ke.

yoopers · October 29, 2005, 8:56am

Actually, the idea of the unicycle evolved in the U.P. from old beater Yooper cars. Da Yoopers wrote a song about the phenomonen called Da Rusty Chevrolet:

Dashing through the snow
in my Rusty Chevrolet
Down the road I go
Sliding all the way
I need new piston rings
I need some new snow tires
My car is held together
By a piece of chicken wire

CHORUS:
Oh, rust and smoke, the heater’s broke
The door just blew away
I light a match to see the dash
And then I start to pray
The frame is bent, the muffler went
The radio, it’s okay
Oh what fun it is to drive
This Rusty Chevrolet

I went to the IGA
To get some Christmas cheer
I just passed up my left front tire
And it’s getting hard to steer
Speeding down the highway
Right past a county cop
I have to drag my swampers
Just to get the car to stop
(chorus)
(instrumental)
Bouncing through the snowdrifts
In a big blue cloud of smoke
People laugh as I drive by
And I wonder what’s the joke
Got to get to Wal-Mart
To pick up the lay-away
'Cause Santa Claus is coming soon
In his big old rusty sleigh
(chorus)

john_childs · October 29, 2005, 11:15pm

There is a little bit of info on the web about the history of the unicycle. You can find more info about the history of unicycling in books than you can online.

Complete Book of Unicycling (Spiral-bound)
by Jack Wiley

The Unicycle Book. (Hardcover)
by Jack. Wiley

Unicycling from Beginner to Expert (Paperback)
by Sebatian Hoher

All of them are out of print but you may be able to find them at a library.

Info on the web:
A Unicycle timeline in German
Unicycle (ca. 1882)
Can it be that the coming machine is to be a unicycle?

john_childs · October 29, 2005, 11:54pm

Here’s some info from the BBChttp://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A630514

History

There was a French device called a Pedocaetre, which had only one wheel and was made around 1853; but, this was for two riders sitting either side of a massive wheel, and was hand-driven. An Englishman named Hobby built a large, but more conventional looking, unicycle around 1870.

However, the most important precursor to the unicycle was undoubtedly the penny-farthing, or ‘ordinary bicycle’. This familiar contraption placed the rider high up, pushing pedals attached directly to a front wheel sometimes nearly two metres in diameter. Fatal accidents were common, as the slightest jolt of the front wheel would stop it, lift the small back wheel and send the rider over the handlebars. A few enterprising individuals tried doing this on purpose, and found they could continue riding for some distance with only the front wheel on the ground. It was only a short leap from there to cutting the back wheel off altogether, and the first common unicycles were born.

Catboy · October 30, 2005, 9:54am

I did.

.

podzol · October 30, 2005, 12:28pm

yoopers:

Actually, the idea of the unicycle evolved in the U.P. from old beater Yooper cars. Da Yoopers wrote a song about the phenomonen called Da Rusty Chevrolet:

Dashing through the snow
in my Rusty Chevrolet
Down the road I go
Sliding all the way
I need new piston rings
I need some new snow tires
My car is held together
By a piece of chicken wire

CHORUS:
Oh, rust and smoke, the heater’s broke
The door just blew away
I light a match to see the dash
And then I start to pray
The frame is bent, the muffler went
The radio, it’s okay
Oh what fun it is to drive
This Rusty Chevrolet

I went to the IGA
To get some Christmas cheer
I just passed up my left front tire
And it’s getting hard to steer
Speeding down the highway
Right past a county cop
I have to drag my swampers
Just to get the car to stop
(chorus)
(instrumental)
Bouncing through the snowdrifts
In a big blue cloud of smoke
People laugh as I drive by
And I wonder what’s the joke
Got to get to Wal-Mart
To pick up the lay-away
'Cause Santa Claus is coming soon
In his big old rusty sleigh
(chorus)

I’ve got that recording!!!
My Dad knows t he words my heart!