If people felt like riding a unicycle was easy it would be as popular as snowboarding. The truth is that just simply riding a snowboard is easy, and that is not true for a unicycle. I think pierox gave a great account of the draw of the snowboard.
Why would we care if it became more popular? This is a good question, and I think it is easiest to compare it to Telemark skiing for me. When I started telemarking it was very fringe. The gear was essentially old tech: leather boots, 3 pin bindings (or old military cable bindings), and metal edged mountain touring skiis with double camber.
As it gained popularity the old trad skiiers resisted, but the change happened anyway. The result? New gear was developed at a rate that was unimaginable before. Gear that was very pricy became accessible for average budgets. And within no time at all a real used market for decent gear emerged.
So, if it did become more popular I would bet that we would see mass produced geared hubs, and maybe more than 2 speeds. We would be able to go to the LBS to purchase hubs, cranks, and frames without having to special order. The quality would go up, and the options would be many. We might see disc brakes that are designed with the unicycle in mind so that the offset of the cranks wouldn’t need to be so great. I would love to see a band brake for a uni. I think something like that could be ideal for what we need, and I don’t see it happening unless uni’s become a valid pull on the market.
In the end, we have what we have and we chose it for our own reasons. I am not wishing for the change, but I would welcome it if it happened.
Why wouldn’t you want it to get bigger?
Also, wouldn’t you want a geared hub that cost a fourth the price of a schlumpf?
If circus would cool, would that help unicycling become cool? One of the issues I personally have is that I participate in a circus. How am I suppossed to differentiate unicycling from circus, and therefore, clowns? Yes people will think it is cool, but people will lump unicycling in with circus, not with extreme sports. How can I convince people that they can learn by themselves, when I was taught in a circus that I had been in since kindergarten? It’s like the prodigy who says that you too can learn to play an instrument, when they were born holding a violin. Not that I’m a amazing unicyclist, but people tend to react the same way as they do to the violinst.
Also, you can go to many ski resorts and take a 30min snowboard lesson, but I feel like the same thing does not exist for unicyling.
Snowboarding’s growth, aside from the many other reasons mentioned, has a big other component, complementary sports. Snowboarding helps a surfer/wakeboarder/etc get to a full year vs 6 month season (or vice versa). Add in the growth of skateboarding, and you have three sports, with large crossover skills, easy entry, and allowing you to keep skills sharp/the similar sensation.
Unicycling and it’s growth (and potential) probably fits in closer to my preferred other hobby/sport, power kiting. You have a relatively small base of people, and while aspects of it are cool, the idea as a whole isn’t perceived that way, and with current involvement as small as it is, cost of entry (both in terms of skill and equipment) remains high. Bikes are seen as utilitarian far more than unicycles are (which is partially fair and partially nonsense).
Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going back to daydreaming about getting the right wind for my BC Wheel kiting to work out…
Of course it doesen’t matter. After watching 2 documentarys (Dan Heaton’s Revolution One and some snowbord documentary) I thought the two sports have a lot of similarities, so I started thinking about it. The people that were interviewed looked like the same type and both sports are at least a little challenging to pick up.
Was that wrong? Should I have not asked that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started posting here that that sort of thing was frowned upon, you know, cause I’ve been on a lot of forums and I tell you people ask that sort of questions all the time.
One cool thing about unicycling is that it’s self selecting. Because your average Joe can’t do it, you only see the fairly dedicated people on the trails that seem to be good people.
Mountain biking (which was also ‘fringe’ at one point) is totally different. Since anybody can do it, you see anybody on the trails. People that have no idea about anything are out there crowding the area.
If unicycling became popular, and a bunch of people started doing it, I’d consider putting it down.
Sure I unicycle for myself and because it’s a challenge, but riding a bike is faster and more efficient, and if I’m going to be like everybody else, what’s the point?
Also, I had a geared hub and didn’t care for it so leave your mass produced geared hubs somewhere else.
Yeah UniMyra … IMHO this thread is interesting. Maybe Harper is depressed from all the rain we’ve had lately. Or that’s just how he is online. He’s actually an ok guy when you meet him in person.
I worked for a snowboard company in the 90’s. I remember Terje well. Does he unicycle? He should! If I remember correctly he didn’t want to go the Olympic route. Back then freeriding in the backcountry was big. All the pros had epic videos of them riding huge mountains and Shaun White was just a grommet.
I once came across a video with Chris Martin from Coldplay unicycling. He was in some kind of animal suit. I suppose that video didn’t really help the sport much.
My response to Harper was sort of a joke (slightly rewritten Seinfeld quote), but thanks for the support anyway.
Terje Haakonsen is still an active snowboarder as far as I know. He still holds the record for the highest jump (9,8 meters). I don’t know if he can ride a unicycle but it wouldn’t surprise me.
I personally wouldn’t like to see my favourite trail busy with muni riders, I wouldn’t like to be pointed like “someone”, or like “one of” …
I prefer to be me, and me unlike others.
I know I’m not cool, and I don’t try to be cool.
I don’t use the uni in town for commuting or transportation, because i don’t find it fun.
But mostly because I don’t feel good when noticed.
I like muni because it is more introspective and reserved.
Also marketing can be very annoying, especially if pushing via TV.
The Italian bike trial champion, Brumotti, has changed the image of all the bicycle thing, not just launching trials to the mainstream. The annoying thing is now for people like me, always on bicycle for utilitarian purposes, we often are welcomed with a stupid “ciao Brumotti”.
The drawback of being so uncommon, is not having riding buddies and not much competitions to meet people.
Anyway, I don’t see any soon the risk of unicycling reaching much interest from the crowd…
Unicycling is similar to juggling, but much harder than snowboarding or skiing to learn the basics IMO.
Consequnces of falling on concrete are much more severe than snow.
Experience of biking is not really helpful. But skateboarding/surfing is for boarding, in-line skates skiing, and bicycles for motorcycles.
More exhausting than snowboarding or skiing. You can board/ski all day and there are regular forced breaks to ride the chairlift.
Marketing: there is more money to be made in snowboarding, skiing and motor vehicles and by a wider array of companies.
Not nearly as effective as a source of transportation, or as versatile as bikes (a basic mtb is a much better commuter than ANY unicycle).
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The perception that it’s 1. hard and 2. uncomfortable.
It is hard to learn but this is largely a marketing problem and that unicycling is not that common. I think there is much more openness to trying unicycling in Europe because its alread more common since its introduced in many schools.
The seat does look very uncomfortable, esp for guys, but I think this is also a marketing issue (a bike seat looks even more uncomfortable IMO) and lack of already being relatively common.
tell that to me 4 years ago when I nearly broke my pelvis on the sheer ice that you have to deal with in North Carolina ski areas. Learning to unicycle you may fall a handful of times before you’re proficient at just stepping off and knowing your limits. If you screw up on a snowboard, you’re going down hard. Your feet are tied and there’s nothing you can do about it.
For what it’s worth, I firmly believe the uniqueness of unicycling can cause it to translate well to things like fundraising organizations (currently setting up one). Saying “hey world, can you pledge X dollars for my hundred mile unicycle ride” and hyping it up is definitely going to raise more attention (and thus, money) than someone on a b***cle.
That could easily end up being cyclical. Start seeing enough cool unicycle events trending on the interwebs, start seeing more people interested in learning. The self-selectiveness will always be there; most of them will wash out. But it will in turn drive a greater demand for more unicycle coverage and the sport can grow.
As to the question that seems pervasive in this topic of why it should grow, that’s largely a personal thing. A lot of people seem to feel special because it’s something very uncommon that not everybody does, and that’s totally ok.
I treat it like a bizarre cultish religion. I’ve seen the light and it makes my life wonderful, so I want to share that with as many of the uninitiated and unenlightened as I can, to show people that no, this isn’t just a novelty, that it’s an infinitely challenging activity that can be expressed in so many different directions, and that it’s fun.
If you discover something fun, why not share it and raise the Universal Fun Quotient by a little bit?
I think unicycling is ultimately less accessible than other sports. Chances are you know someone who skis, snowboards or bikes. You can probably borrow kit, or buy their old stuff relatively cheap. Failing that, every ski area and popular bike area has a hire shop. With uni, most people haven’t got one and don’t know anyone who has. Either that or they know someone who bought one & says it was too hard to learn so it sat in the shed gathering dust for the last 6 years. A quick look around this forum will show how many riders learned after finding an old uni in the back of their uncles garage.
The combination of not having the equipment and being told how hard it is to learn make it seem unworthy of the time & effort.
Also, other sports are sociable. People go for group rides, the bar at the ski resort is full of folks recounting tales from their day on the slopes. With uni that doesn’t happen so much. I have never seen another unicyclist let alone ridden with one. I’m ok with that, as I’m sure most uni riders are. However lots of people aren’t.
I have to agree with other comments here too that I’m quite happy with it being a minority sport. I like the uniqueness of it. However, I think it will grow as it diversifies. With so many different aspects - trials, street, muni, freestyle etc there’s something for everyone!
This is so very true. Before I started, I didn’t even know that unicycling existed in the diverse, awesome sense that it is. I had always assumed that it was something only seen in a circus (no hate to the circus riders on here).
And then one day I saw someone trying to do a railgrind on a YouTube video and my mind was blown. That lead to me discovering unicycle.com, ordering one, and learning to ride.
Had I never seen that video, I would likely still have never tried unicycling because the idea - and the knowledge that it existed as a sport - would have never crossed my mind. The internet gives more exposure to otherwise fringe hobbies and ideas, and the very concept of viral exposure can quickly lead to something growing far more rapidly than it otherwise could. I’m positive that the more people who see unicycling in other contexts (muni, street, trials, etc), the more people will be attracted to it.
Again, I bring up the stupid exploding hoverboards because they would be a novelty product without the internet. Widespread exposure and leads to widespread interest.
So all it took was a little spark. It was like that for me too except it was a Coker. The guy riding was obviously not an athlete, and that inspired me even more. With snowboarding it was totally different. What eventually made me try after watching other for decades, was that my slalom boots were feeling increasingly more uncomfortable over the years.
For me the main difference is speed and show. I think people relate snowboarding with skiing, and they are indeed similar. Fast or slow with jumps and tricks. Big air or easy does it. Unfortunately unicycles get compared to bicycles. Racing, BMX, cruisers, touring. Uni’s can’t compete. With a few exceptions, most are slow, don’t blend in, and never will except around their own kind. I think speed is the uni’s biggest weakness in most peoples opinion, and what keeps it in the clown toy category.
Unicycles are too simple, too minimal… People is addicted to technology, for some of them, is part of the attraction.
Bikes are not as simple and therefore one could throw in the fetish part.
Snowboards are not simple at all, because of the lifting systems. Snowboarding would be very unpopular without the technology of skilifts.
Unicycles don’t allow you to pose while you’re riding, because loosing concentration would cause an upd.
Unicycles are not good to hook up with girls (or boys).
Unicycling is not a testosterone related activity, because it doesn’t recall (from outside) to adrenaline, power or other macho tracts.