Contents

1. Preface
1.1 General Remarks
1.2 Terminology
2. Riding A Unicycle
2.1 What Can You Do With A Unicycle Except Of Riding?
2.2 How Long Does It Take For Learning How To Ride A Unicycle?
2.3 Clothes
2.4 Is Unicycling Dangerous?
3. Technical Aspects
3.1 What Unicycle To Buy?
3.2 Manufacturers
3.3 Traders
3.4 Maintenance
4. The Unicycle For All Day Use
4.1 German Traffic Law
4.2 Public Transportation
5. Further Information
5.1 Literature
5.2 Internet

1. Preface

1.1 General Remarks

Unicycling is a too extensive field for being treated on some few pages. Therefore this essay only provides a rough overview and doesn't intend to be complete. All opinions, valuations and the selection of topics and information are due to my own judgment. Most of the facts may change sometimes in the future. Please keep that in mind when reading this text.

1.2 Terminology

(Obsolete in the English version)

2. Riding A Unicycle

2.1 What Can You Do With A Unicycle Except Of Riding?

The list of skills that may be performed is long. It would be impossible to name all of them here. All the time new skills are developed. I only want to list some skills in the order, most beginners will learn them. Of course the first thing you will learn is riding. Then you turn to mounting (freemounting, it means without support, a wall or anything like that), idling (riding forth and back about 1/4 rotation for staying in one place), riding backwards, hopping and so on. There's a Standard Skills List as part of the competition rules that is used for some special kind of competition. It contains some hundred entries, but these are not all known skills by far.

Then there are lots of things to do on or with a unicycle that are not directly related to unicycling. Especially it's juggling, jumping rope or acrobatics (the most simple form is riding with someone else sitting on one's shoulder).

2.2 How Long Does It Take For Learning How To Ride A Unicycle?

That's a question that can't be answered that general. On one hand it depends on the understanding of being able to ride. Then it depends on several impacts, like frequency of practicing and talent.

In any case, unicycling is nothing, you will achieve at your first try or within a short time. Especially in the beginning you will need some patience until first success will be achieved.

You should consider several hours of practicing until riding some distance without support.

2.3 Clothes

You can ride with any kind of clothes.

For practicing you should use sports clothes, stable shoes with short laces (for not being caught in the wheel) and bike pants.

According to the kind and intensity of practicing you may think about safety equipment like helmet, knee and elbow pads and gloves.

2.4 Is Unicycling Dangerous?

Unicycling is as dangerous as you want it to be.

When dismounting unintentional you will come to standing on your feet nearby every time as dismounting is being practiced implicitly when learning how to ride.

Most accidents are due to one of the following reasons: extensive speed, weariness, inattentiveness or practicing new skills. You are able to individually control each of these, so you can decide for your own what risks you are ready to face.

3. Technical Aspects

There are not only standard unicycles but also special ones like giraffe unicycles (unicycles that are several meters high, driven by a chain), ultimate wheels (unicycles only consisting of a wheel with pedals, no fork, no seat) and many others. This paragraph only deals with standard unicycles.

3.1 What Unicycle To Buy?

When buying a unicycle you have to decide for what purpose you want to use it.

One most important decision concerns the size of the wheel. The larger the wheel, the faster is the unicycle, the smaller the wheel, the more maneuverable the unicycle will become. For artistic unicycling the standard wheel size is 20". When using the unicycle as means of transport or for cruising, you should get a larger wheel. A good choice is 26" or 28". As unicycles with larger wheels are harder to ride than smaller ones, you should learn to ride with a 20" or 24" unicycle. The wheel size doesn't depend on the rider's height.

Another criterion is the crank size. Short cranks mean high speed, long cranks provide better control. Standard crank sizes range from 100 to 125mm for 20" unicycles, from 110 to 150mm for 24" unicycles and 125mm and more for 26" and 28" unicycles. Beginners may prefer longer cranks, as little faults cause larger consequences with short cranks. If the cranks are too long, it may happen that the pedal touches the floor when riding in a small circle.

As known from any technical equipment, there are unicycles of different quality. A unicycle has to stand very high powers. That has impacts for the quality needed. One of the most important criterions for stability is the numbers of spokes. Sometimes there are unicycles with 28 or even less spokes. That doesn't provide enough stability, if the unicycle is not supposed to be used by little children only. I suggest unicycles with 36 spokes or 48 in case of extensive use or huge weight to be put on.

For good comfort you should choose a quality seat. Please note that the unicycle will drop very often when practicing. If that happens it will hit the floor with the seat first. Some seats are equipped with bumpers at both ends to avoid damages.

Black tires may cause marks on gym floors. So janitors don't like them. When intending to use your unicycle in gyms, you should get a bright non marking tire.

3.2 Manufacturers

Most of the unicycles sold are cheap imported ones from Far East. But there are some quality unicycle brands as well. The most common ones in Germany are Siegmono, Pichler (both Germany), Miyata (Japan), DM (UK) and Semcycle (Netherlands).

You can get a unicycle for less than 50 Euros, used ones even cheaper. Then you can get a unicycle as it is for up to about 300 Euros. When getting one build for your own you may spend as much money as you want to. You can get a good unicycle for beginners for about 100 to 120 Euros.

Many spare parts for unicycles are quite special ones and can only be obtained from unicycle manufacturers. Some parts like tires, tubes, rims or pedals may be obtained from bike or BMX shops as well.

3.3 Traders

Many bike and toy shops and most juggling shops sell unicycles. Sometimes you can get a bargain there. But often they sell you poor quality for a lot of money.

Then there are unicycling shops or shops that consider unicycles as their major goods. In Germany there are among others

	Pappnase & Co. GmbH Von-Essen-Strasse 76 22081 Hamburg Phone: +49-40-291297 Fax: +49-40-291290 e-mail: info@pappnase-co.de WWW: www.pappnase-co.de
	Pichlerrad Landgrafenstrasse 55 66996 Ludwigswinkel Phone: +49-6393-993057 Fax: +49-6393-993058 e-mail: pichlerrad@gmx.de WWW: www.pichlerrad.de
	Siegmono-Cycle Schreberweg 4 24119 Kronshagen bei Kiel Phone: +49-431-541441 Fax: +49-431-549099 e-mail: info@siegmono.de WWW: www.siegmono.de

3.4 Maintenance

Like any mechanical tool, a unicycle wears out when being used. So it needs maintenance. Tires wear out, spokes and bearings have to be fixed, bolts have to be fastened.

There's no part of a unicycle that can't be out of order. How often and what kind of maintenance is needed depends on the intensity and kind of using the unicycle. It may be obvious that an axle tends to breaking more often, when the unicycle is used to jump up and down stairs than when only riding straight forward in a gym.

4. The Unicycle For All Day Use

4.1 German Traffic Law

When using your unicycle as means of transport, you will be approached by police. According to German laws a unicycle is a toy and sports prop according to StVO art. 24. That means it may be ridden on sidewalks, at pedestrian areas and on roads with speed bumps and speed limits. When equipping the unicycle according to StVZO art. 63-67 (these articles regulate the obligatory lightning, reflectors, breaks and so on a bike has to be equipped with), it is considered as a bike and may be used accordingly.

4.2 Public Transportation

In most cases you are allowed to take your unicycle to trains, busses and planes without problems. Of course there are exceptions.

5. Further Information

5.1 Literature

There are very few books about unicycling. Sometimes books about juggling or circus skills contain a chapter about unicycling. But there are some unicycling books. I especially want to mention the following ones:

	Bjoern Dinklage and Bettina Bardell: Die Kunst des Einradfahrens [The Art Of Unicycling], Edition Aragon, Moers, 3. Auflage, 1994, ISBN 3-89535-405-8
	Sebastian Hoeher: Einradfahren [Unicycling], rororo, Reinbeck bei Hamburg, 1991, ISBN 3-499-18654-3
	Jack Wiley: The Complete Book of Unicycling, Solipaz Publishing Company, Lodi, California, 1984, ISBN 0-913999-05-9

5.2 Internet

There are several internet pages about unicycling. Here's a list of those pages that refer most of the others.

	The Unicycling Page: www.unicycling.org That's the main unicycling page in the internet. There you can find information about all aspects of unicycling like addresses, announcements, photos and links to lots of pages related to unicycling.
	Homepage der deutschen Einradfahrer [Home page of German unicyclists]: www.einradfahren.de That page covers a similar field like the Unicycling Page. But its focus is based on those information important for German unicyclists.
	International Unicycling Federation: www.unicycling.org/iuf The International Unicycling Federation (IUF) is the world's head organization of unicycling. You can get information about IUF itself as well as competition rules, results and announcements.