Proper mountain biking on a unicycle

This is a bit wierd but, hey whatever…

By the way if this has been posted already I apologise in advance!!!

Unicycling is pretty popular now, you can even get "touring unicycles" with brakes, gears, and handlebars.

Do you think these folk use spds? 😕

No, I think that would make it stupidly dangerous, as youd land on your face, and on the back of your head constantly.

I think I would land on face and back of head constantly anyway…

No, its actually much harder to fall off badly then you might think. You just always land on your feet, because the unicycle just rolls away from you. Out of a week of learning to ride one, the only bit of pain was when I fell off trying to do my first bunnyhop, and my leg got caught on the sharp edge of the quick release lever on the seat tube.

cripes, bunnyhopping after a week? It took me about a month before I could wobble down a 10m stretch of tarmac. I never hurt myself during that time though, as you say, no matter how you fall you always land on your feet.

Looks like fun anyway!

I'm glad Samuri said that, I was feeling quite inadequate. Bunny hopping in a week is impressive.

pain was when I fell off trying to do my first bunnyhop

Not bunny hopping in a week, failing to attempt a bunny hop after a week. But I've got to buy one of my own now.

This one looks pretty cool

http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=1023

Only £75, and cool colours..

A few links of interest:
http://www.unicycle.com/faq6.asp
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97apr/uni.htm

– check out youtube for one of the guys mentioned in the first link, Kris Holm – does northshore on a municycle.

http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=1062

Interesting that Schlumpf are doing geared hubs – their BB speeddrive/mountaindrive's have been around quite a while. Almost 900 quid tho 😮

Sadly my Pashley muni's languishing in the garage, the combination of snowboarding lessons in hard boots plus unicycling with tired legs came close to messing my knees up quite a few years back 🙁

Occasionally I see a what looks like a Coker (36 or 40" I think) locked up to a lamp-post in Kingston-On-Thames…

i wonder if the make them in a 29r for the nich lot on here.

Thread title FAIL
* how can you bike on a unicycle?
* that's not real mountain "biking"

^^?

they put me to shame at Mountain Mayhem, one of the unicyclists passed me on my night lap. Trouble was the rut he was in got deeper and deeper and then he fell off. I did check he was ok as I passed though.

Some good unicyle crash pics here, just scroll down about halfway.

they put me to shame at Mountain Mayhem, one of the unicyclists passed me on my night lap.
You should sell your bike. Seriously.

Proteus – is it possible that maybe, just maybe, you are splitting hairs a little? (Retires quickly before yet another STW post degenerates into a petty argument) 😆

Why should I sell my bike? I love riding them (got 4), I'm way fitter and lighter than I was a couple of years ago and feel much better for it. I'm no cycling god but I'm also a lot better than some other riders (who also presumably enjoy riding) based on my position in the results in a couple of local events in the last year or so. Just because an obviously better and fitter rider passes me I should quit. I think maybe you ought to keep your rather stupid comments to yourself in future.

Oh crikey – here we go!!!

Just because an obviously better and fitter rider passes me I should quit.
Better and fitter and on a unicycle…

😉

(& don't take things people type on the internet too serously…)

Phew – Proteus was joking when he said "seriously" 😉

Obvious ESP failure on my part then 😳

Panic not stumpyjon – I have been caught out on several occasions by the STW double bluff 😆

BTW I had a good snigger at you getting passed by a unicyclist, but only because it's the kind of thing that would happen to me too!!!

Realman I have that unicycle for using indoors, it is good value, and looks great. It isn't the strongest though, if you want to move on to a bit of off road later think about getting a unicycle with ISIS cranks, my Daughter has a 24" Nimbus, and it is a really nice unicycle.

I have a few unicycles, my Kris Holm 29" is my favourite:

Innes

Whitnessed a Uni doing Hidden Valley (Penhydd). Was pretty trick to be honest, even had some beer from MBUK for the photos – bonus! Big respect for these guys, super tallented.

Cheers innes, but I doubt if I'll be doing anything stupid enough to break it for a long time.

This may be stupid, but is there anything to stop a unicycle being fitted with suspension? Either a suspension seatpost, or suspension forks?

If you add suspension to a unicycle, you alter the distance between the pedals and the seat, this makes it quite strange to control. Some people have experimented with parallel suspension seat posts, but as with most mountain bike seat posts, they are designed for forces to work up and down, using them for a unicycle adds a lot of twisting motions and that causes problems. The way a lot of people get around this is normally to fit a large tyre on a strong rim, that way the tyre acts as your suspension.

If you need help RealMan,Unicyclist.com is a really good site, there a people posting from all over the world, and they are a good lot.

Innes