How long does it take the average person to learn to ride a Unicycle and how easy are they to maintain and repair
>>927641
>how easy are they to maintain and repair
Its a fucking bike saddle on a wheel.
>>927661
So easier than a bike then
>>927663
The only problems are the expensive specific unicycle crank remover and Norwegian threaded diamond taper bottom brackets. Also if the Gyro goes you might as well replace the whole unicycle.
There's a real learning curve, most people take a while to get anywhere. It took me a few gruelling months to be able to confidently go more than a block.
They're pretty mechanically simple so barely anything. I bought cheap so I had some problems keeping the crank arms tight until I loctited them, that's about it.
Paid $30 for mine from Craigslist, the hardest thing is to learn how to idle, took me like two weeks to learn.
>>927672
This. Fucking gyros mang
>>927678
I've seen some for less than £35 which is why I feel like giving it a shot
>>927673
I hear protective gear is vital until you can ride with confidence other than a brain bucket what else do I need. I have some tough cold weather gloves which offer a little more wrist support than normal due to them being made for skiing
>>927692
It can't hurt but I never used any protective gear, you don't usually go very fast. I can probably count the times I've messed up and was unable to recover my self on one hand. Maybe it comes more naturally to me, dunno. While I was learning I got a lot of shin bites from the pedals and crank arms, that was the worst of it.
>>927692
Not so true about protective gear. When you fall off, easily 90% of the time you'll land right on your feet with one hand still on the saddle, stopping it from being flung away from under you.
The worst thing is having both feet slip of the pedals and having your body weight crush your balls on the saddle for a moment that seems to last forever.
>>927641
Also, the smaller the wheel size the easier it is to learn, but the trade off is your cruising speed will be slower than that of a 24", 26", 30" etc
>>927697
LOL I remember doing that shit once when I was learning and never fucking again. I had to lay down to recoup
>>927698
So should I get a 20" or a 24". I'm told the taller you are the bigger the wheel you should go for of the two
>>927700
I'm 6'2" and the 26" uni I started with feels small and the seatpost is maxed...
Another consideration is if you're looking to do tricks stick to the smaller sizes. If you want to move at more than a crawl 24" at minimum.
>>927704
24" it is then
The hardest bit about learning to ride is that for the first hour or two you will just fall (only onto your feet). Once you break that brief period of no progress you'll pick it up fairly quick. You can learn to at least travel in a straight line in a weekend.
>>927725
Will being a 100 or so kg negatively impact my ability to ride?
>>927744
So long as your legs are strong you'll be fine. Maybe consider getting a beefier tire than the one that comes with it. I replaced the tire on my shitty 20" to a 2.25" Maxxis Max Daddy. The thing is indestructible. MTB platform pedals helped too.
>>927755
I got a bit crazy pimping out my bike I think I'll ride the unicycle as it comes
>>927756
Good pedals are actually pretty important, losing a pedal while riding is a big deal. Plastic DMR V8s are cheap
All this talk of testicular distress makes me wonder if a softer/shock absorbing seat or seat cover can be gotten
>>927776
The pedals that come with it seem decent plus while I'm learning I don't want my shins ripped to shreds by the ultra ridged grippy pedals
>>927782
Same with as with a bicycle saddle, a really soft saddle would ride like shit. Once you've got the basics your balls will be fine.
You're more likely to rip your shins up by losing your non-grippy pedals really. Also, like I suggested, plastic.
>>927784
How's this
>>927786
pls no
>not going clipless
>>927787
I have some like this. Will they do
>>927697
Happened to me on a very steep short cyclepath, changed gear on the hill like an idiot CLUNK feet fly off the pedals and I nearly crush my bollocks.
>>927796
Pretty much just as bad. I mostly learned on stock pedals just like that but I'd do my self the favor of upgrading earlier.
>>927808
>Changed gear
>On a fixed unicycle
You seem lost, are you lost anon?
>>927858
He's slightly lost, but there are actually unicycles with IGHs. Granted shifting wouldn't cause a clunk unless you broke it but yeah.
>>927861
How do you actually go about sizing a uni anyway?
>>927862
I'm told the uni should be waist or belly button height. Like a bike there should be a slight kink in an otherwise straight leg when you have the pedals in a 6 o'clock position
>>927956
Talking about downhills I hear that unicycles find them harder but how? Since the wheel won't go anywhere without you pedalling how exactly do slopes affect them
4 days 31 minutes
I learned to ride one when I was about 15 because I was bored. It took me a month or 2 before I could ride around my block without stopping.
>>927991
Because you have to keep pedalling down the hill, and they're super low-geared even when you go for the bigger-wheeled road commuter unis. You either learn to spin fast enough to keep up with the wheel rolling down the hill, or slam down on your back pedal to stop the wheel taking off from between your legs.
I ride unicycles fairly primarily, they're awesome! Took me about 2-3 weeks to get to the point where I can ride to my friend's house to show off my mad skillz. They're easy to maintain, the bearing cups sometimes come loose, your pedals need replacing like on any 2-wheeler, and your cranks can sometimes come loose if you buy cheap shit... oh and you still get punctures, but apart from that there's nothing really that needs doing.
Pic related - my 36" wheeled work commuter and 29" off-roader behind it
I'm really torn I want to i learn to unicycle but if I do it'll be in public areas as I have no suitable backyard or sparsely populated/abandoned areas where I can practice or ride once I've learnt. Unicycling may be embarrassing but it's something I can shtug off but all the errors as I learn being on the public eye is a bit more troubling
Is this were all the fixie hipsters are taking it now that even uncool suburbans have tenspeed→fixie conversions?
>>928232
I found tennis courts to be great learning grounds if you have one nearby.
>>928247
If you want ultimate fixation then the ultimate wheel is more extreme than unicycling
So how's this for a unicycle to learn on:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331562337108?var=540793217549
