September 04, 2007

Gone to join circus . It starts like this. Then you want to get tricky. You might go to the dump. (2 part story) Or buy one of these. You turn into this guy. Then you make a movie. Don't worry, you'll probably die in the bathtub.

There are websites with pretty pictures. And websites with good advice and like things not to do. You can get unicycles without seats or forks. Cycling without the unicycle. It starts with a desire to join the circus. And practice.

posted by BlueHorse 17 years ago
  • Unicycles are fun, and much better than a Segway, I think.
  • Interesting post BlueHorse!
  • Back in the day before the North Shore was world-recognized, and three foot drops were considered "sick"; well before "extreme" had trickled down to mass markets, some freinds had a bike shop on Tenth Avenue, just before the UBC gates. One day Chris showed up with his pal for the regular shop Sunday ride on his stock unicyle. He said he'd seen some videos of our secret trails, and wanted to try a bit of "off-road". We explained to him that the trails we rode were nothing like the ones in the forest of the UBC Endowment Lands, where he was studying geology, but he was game, so we took him along. We expected that he'd bail at the first stunt, but he ripped it, pointing out that he had an advantage over us, in that he always knew exactly where his center of gravity was. This was before the advent of Mammoth Rims, and 3.0 Gazzalodi tires. His first three downhill rides were with NO BRAKE or suspension. After almost losing his manhood a couple of times, we rigged up a shim-set from a beer can, and used an Allsop suspension-stem that we hacksawed off and welded a saddle to as the first crude attempt at providing some suspension. Chris went on to parlay his incredible balance and coordination into a full-time NORCO sponsorship, but those early days were completely trial and error. No one had ever done it before. The guy is unbelievably humble and helpful. You should see the looks on the kids faces when he pops out of a trail somewhwere in the backcountry on his unicyle, and shows them how to balance on one. I always liked the pun in his first real breakthrough video, One Tired Guy .
  • PB: You people are crazy! *kneels to bow in general direction of PB Here comes Unicycle GramMa: Mammoth Rims, 3.0 Gazzalodi tires, and training wheels. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! *thud
  • I remember the day my Dad took my training wheels off. About 10 seconds after he let go of the bike I went through a fence, over a cliff, and into somebody's boat. It was a long time before I sat comfortably again.
  • Hmm. Call me uptight, but I'd hesitate to get involved in a sport which requires me to keep one hand on my crotch all the time. Uh, well, oh, I mean a sport which would almost certainly result in a violent face plant or a realignment of my entire body, possibly both. But the pics are cool...
  • I'm a sportsman!
  • Cool. Death wish, but cool.
  • MonkeyFilter: Call me uptight, but I'd hesitate to get involved in a sport which requires me to keep one hand on my crotch all the time. K: Nevertheless, I'm thinking these fellas WON'T be reproducing.