mainstreaam unicycling yes or no?



it is awesome, the way skaters, i dunno, see uncycling. it's not like
they see us in the same light as the razor scooter kids, and the
rollerbladers. They do not seem annoyed by unicyclers in the skateparks.
but at the same time they see unicycling as something almost impossible.
the skaters that do want to try to ride my unicycle always start by
trying to step on the front pedal, then get immediately intimidated by
it.
I am confident that even if unicycling gets more popular unicyclers will
never be the "annoying razor scooter kids."
-mike


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onetrack:

are they truly that supportive? I can imagine going to a skatepark or
something and getting delt a bunch of **** from skaters "too cool" for
unicycles, or trying to defend their territory. How often does this
happen to you?

-grant


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I'm not sure about onetrack but the skate park near my house is fine
about unicyclists... we wait our turn for lines, they're conversational,
interested in what we do... I've yet to have a problem at a skate park.


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never had a problem at a skatepark, except mabey once off someone who
couldn't actualy skate,

skater are actualy the same kind of people as unicyclists, people
obbsesed with something fairly pointless, as such they apriciate the
stupidity of unicycling and recognise it as similar to their own
obsession.
they just happen to skate rather than unicycle.


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JJuggle wrote:
> *But not Lola. ;)*
I think you meant "Except for Lola." Though I am no expert, I do believe
the song is about the author's encounter once upon a time with a
transvestite.

I agree with Mikefeule on the possible "branding" of unicycles if they
were to go mainstream. People would pay for brand and not be
knowledgeable enough to know if the quality was commensurate.

But we would.

I think the area where we would see the biggest improvement is in the
mid-level unicycles. Today we have the cheap ones, some nicer cheap
ones, a pretty big gap, and some real expensive ones with the
small-production-run parts on them. Increased popularity would make
"better" unicycles a lot cheaper than they are now, and make room for
even cooler ones at the top of the line.

Out-of-shape non-experts, if they continue to buy products, continue to
fund the development of the better models. Just like mountain biking. We
need rich non-experts buying the high-end bikes to help pay for the
continued r&d into the new ones!


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johnfoss - Walkin' on the edge

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
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I think that unicycling would have a very very hard time going
mainstream. One of the big thing that makes a sport mainstream is all of
the posers that adopt the sport. It is not possible to be a unicycle
poser. The commitment it takes to learn to uni is much too great for
people who only want to do it for the image (whatever strage image that
may be).

At this point I love the way it is. I love having enough riders
to be able to talk to them on the forums about things, but still to have
so few riders that everybody you see is so surprised and impressed at
the fact that you can balance on one wheel. Then the people arent
impressed change their mind as soon as they try to ride once or twice. I
love this sport and its uniqueitude.

-Samus


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Ender wrote:
> * It is not possible to be a unicycle poser. The commitment it takes
> to learn to uni is much too great *

I suppose that's right. Pretty much anyone can get on a skateboard, go
forwards a few yards and call themselves a skater, without exhibiting
any skill, or any commitment. It's an entirely different matter for
someone to learn to do the same on a unicycle though, never mind all the
tricks that can be done on both.


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Luke Duller ([email protected])
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tennisgh22 wrote:
> *jjuggle:
>
> is lola a trans or what? i love the song and i've listened to it a
> million times but i dunno whether i just have a sick mind, or if thats
> really what the singer intended for me to think...
>
> -grant *
Well, let's see.

We have this lyric:

"Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man"

which certainly opens up the question.

Then we have this lyric:

"Well I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man
And so is Lola"*

which is actually ambiguous. Is Lola also glad he, the teller of the
tale, is a man, or is Lola a man himself?

So, I guess we'll never really know. ;)

Of course, this potentially raises the question of unicycling within the
transvestite/transgender community. Any statistics there?

Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ

*I've always thought the lyric was:

"Well I'm not the world's most masculine man
But I know what I am and what I am is a man
And so is Lola"

in which case it's not really ambiguous at all.


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Ender wrote:
> *
> ... but still to have so few riders that everybody you see is
> so surprised and impressed at the fact that you can balance on one
> wheel. Then the people arent impressed change their mind as soon as
> they try to ride once or twice. I love this sport and its
> uniqueitude.
>
> -Samus *


that applies for old ladies and little kids but unfortunately not for
the 16-30 age range, which are the people who are usually responsible
for "where's your other wheel" and other jokes. if unicycling grows
more, we might start getting respect from people like this. go to a
trials bike forum and search for unicycle. you will turn up pages
filled with comments like, "trials unicycling is gay" "boring" "stupid"
etc. while people respect the fact that we can ride ten feet on one
wheel, not that many can relate to, understand, or respect the fact that
we can hop around on picnic tables. people think that they cannot do it
because they cannot ride the first ten feet, but they are sure if they
could, they would have no trouble hopping 4 feet in the air or gapping 8
feet. if everyone knew how to unicycle, but didnt learn to do trials,
then they would respect us more. since everone knows how to ride a bike
but so few learn trials, trials riders are really respected for their
skill. people think, "wow! i know that is hard" while they see some
hopping on a uni and assume its hard but really have no idea. if
unicycling was mainstream, it would not mean every house would have a
trials unicycle parked out front. think of japan where almost every
child leans to uni. as soon as they reach a certain age they forget
their uni altogether. here we learn to bike but the second we get a car
we rarely ride our bikes again. we all know the dedication it takes to
learn each new trick. even if 100% of the population could uni, there
would still be few trials riders but then they would be respected.

edit:
i am friends with some Japanese exchange students at my school and they
do not know one person their age or older that still unicycles, but they
all leanred how when they were young.


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Ender wrote:
> *I love having enough riders to be able to talk to them on the forums
> about things, but still to have so few riders that everybody you see
> is so surprised and impressed at the fact that you can balance on one
> wheel.*
I hope for a world where people understand that unicycling is something
anyone can learn *if they want to and work at it.* Non-riders can still
be impressed with us, but if there are more riders out there, They will
have a better understanding that we're not kooks, not superhuman, but
just people who like doing our chosen activity, which is hard to
learn.

Imagine what it must be like in Japan, where unicycles are in the vast
majority of elementary schools and huge numbers of kids learn to ride
them. Their peers know they could have learned to ride if they wanted (I
hope). The general public probably looks at unicycling in a very
different way than most public does in the rest of the world.


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because they are easy, but because they are hard." -- John F. Kennedy,
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Do any of the people in Japan that learn, get REALLY good?

I know, and have seen some awesome freestyle stuff by them, but what %
of people carry it on do you think?

Also, is there any/many Japanese people do trials/muni?


Joe,


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MUni is pretty new in Japan. I think it's harder to get access to trails
in such a crowded country, but they do have tons of steep mountains.

How many riders stick with it after elementary school? Most of them
don't, but there are plenty of amazing adult riders over there. And moms
& dads too. Today I got the final list of age groups for the main racing
events at Unicon. Check this out:

(not counting the smaller wheels)
0-13, 14-15, 16-18, 19-29, 30-44, 45-65, 66+

I have my doubts about the number of 66 & older riders, but I know there
will be some. That's pretty cool!


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John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
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www.unicycling.com

"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not
because they are easy, but because they are hard." -- John F. Kennedy,
1961
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