i was thinking about this today while i was out riding, and as every other person that i passed thought of some creative way to let me know that i was cool/weird/a circus act or whatever. many of these people may have never seen a unicyclist in person (unless they’ve seen me or my roommate around town) so when they see one, they are somewhat suprised. of course, the whole idea of riding around on one wheel is kinda strange, but i never found it all that difficult to learn to do. it took me more time to learn to ollie on a skate board. like every thing else, it just takes practice. so why is it so unusual? do you guys think it will ever reach the popularity of skateboarding, or mountain biking? it seems like everyone and their mom has a skateboard, a bmx bike or a mountain bike, but no one has ever seen a unicycle.
just curious to see if you guys ever think about this…
I think because of the whole unicycling is what circus clowns do. I’m not=a circus clown, I don’t juggle. I don’t want to unicycle, unicycling is stupid. I think most people just don’t understand that it’s actually a sport…
i was kinda thinking the same thing. i really want to stay as far away from the “clown” image as possible. thants kinda why i want a uni with a fat, knobby tire. so if people think i am a clown, i can be like, BAM, look at my fat tire, then they’ll go away.
I really believe that all it would take to make our sport explode into public conscienceness and OBLITERATE the “Clown” image once and for all, would be inclusion in the X-games! I mean, comon! It just such a logical progession. Maybe the skateboarders KNOW that the uni-trials would TOTALLY STEAL their thunder! :o
Unicycling may at some point be included in the X-games, but the X games which people really view as “cool” are the ones involving high speeds (verts, street luge, etc.) I’ve been to an X-games live, and wound up watching the flatland BMX because the stands were empty there, and you couldn’t get anywhere near the half-pipe.
If unicycles are going to make a big splash at the X-games, it would take more than trials; it would take doing trials stupid high, with lines at least 2 meters or more off the ground, so the crowd could see some good biffs.
^^^^being in the minority is fun. Also, I’ve realised that even when people see me doing 4 ft.+ drops, and go thats awesome, I want to learn, they forget about it in like 5 minutes.
I’m a total n00bster working on bunny hopping up and down curbs and I get the same result. Amazing, isn’t it? I think that unicycling won’t ever explode because of the large amount of practice required to start it up. It’s sort of like how many people play the bag pipes compared to how many people play guitar. DISCLAIMER I’m not bashing you if you play guitar END DISCLAIMER - Many people who pick up guitars have no idea what the HELL they are doing and that it’s actually an instrument, but they can strum out tunes on rock records and get away with being called a musician. Do you know how much work it takes to play one song on the bagpipes with your lungs? Same with a unicycle - anyone can learn to ride a skateboard 10 feet. Who the hell takes the time to learn to uni? It’s part of the reason I want to become more of a part of the growing community.
Unicycling expresses dedication, which most people don’t have, and which I have yet to demonstrate. I’d really like to, though.
But if it does get to the X games or something big like that, then there would be a lot more people willing to try. You see, now, when people see you jump off of stuff, they think wow, that’s cool, it’d be neat to do that, and then they walk away. They still have that clown image in thier head, they think that you’re one of a kind, and that nobody else does that type of stuff. Most people don’t even know that you can do tricks on unicycles, except for the high wire. A major competition with unicycles in it would destroy that image once and for all. People would be like, wow, these guys are seriouse about this, this is nothing like the circus. that would be a big step for unicycling, because the circus image is the single biggest thing that holds the sport down.
Im agreeing with Rabbithunter018 but i would like to have it not very people do it but like you would still see a few people riding around your town on it.
Unicycling will never get into the X games anytime soon. Heck, the idiots dropped out MTNbiking, BMX flatland, longboarding, and other sports. They’ve never even had bike trials, all of which are bigger sports than unicycling.
They only have the “showy” sports like BMX vert, skateboarding, and of course Moto cross.
It should at least get a shot because it IS so different anf unique; the general public would eat it up! For this SINGLE reason, it would help to bury the clown image and put a new cool face on what we do!
Come watch me then! I race motocross (no not in the X games). It comes before my other hobbies. (yes, even over unicycling, but that comes second). But you guys are probably thinking of freestyle motocross, where they do the tricks, right? or maybe supermoto, which is half road half dirt. they race on modified dirt bikes with slicks and bigger front brakes, ect.
Yes, freestyle motorcross, jumping up and doing repetative tricks which include: Backflip. Backflip onehanded. Backflip one footed. Backflip no footed. Backflip. Another backflip. Wow, look at that guys backflip.
i used to have a clown suit that i made one halloween that i wore when i would go ride stairs and street in my town it was all ripped up and it put a lasting impression in peoples mind that unicycleing wasnt all 8 foot giraffes with clowns jugling like 40 rings and it got a bunch of people into it
