rec.sport.unicycling · Public discussion

Unicycle History

Started by anam · · Last activity · 16 posts · 470 views

Thread navigation

Jump through the discussion

Go to the original post, the replies on this page, or the latest preserved contribution.

Thread details

What we know about this thread

Original section
rec.sport.unicycling
Published
18 May 2007
Last activity
30 August 2007
Original author
anam
Posts
16
Discussion status
Public discussion
Total views
470
Views / 30 days
0

The navigation and discussion metadata provide context. Posts remain in their original chronological order.

Showing posts 1–16 of 16
Posts remain in their original chronological order.

Text size
  1. The history part of the wikipedia unicycle entry has been nagging at me
    for a while, earlier this week I gained access to the full OED (Oxford
    English Dictionary) so I had a little look.

    The earliest cited reference to unicycle is April 1869 for hemmings
    unicycle velocipede (the yankee flyer), which is a design for something
    we'd call a monocycle. However this predates the penny-farthing (late
    1869 or early 1871 depending on source). Intresting it suggests that
    unicycling might not come from wheelie-ing penny-farthings/Ordinaries.

    So I asked a historian of my acquaintence where to go from here, this
    is a bit of a work in progress, but we now have an antedate for
    unicycle from 1860 (I need to check this) from a british magazine. More
    excitingly there is a much earlier sighting of something that may be a
    unicycle. A plate in the triumph of Maximillian apparently shows a
    one-wheeled convayance. The Date ? A stunning 1516 !

    I'll update this when more digging has been done & I know what I can
    share & what is still copyrighted

    --
    anam
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    anam's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/13336
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  2. anam said:

    ... A plate in the triumph of Maximillian apparently shows a one-wheeled
    convayance. The Date ? A stunning 1516 !

    Could be a wheelbarrow 😉

    --
    mattsmith
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    mattsmith's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/14586
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  3. any more progress?

    --
    zfreak220

    Nimbus ISIS street fund: $371.71/$417.23
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    zfreak220's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/11948
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  4. i wonder whos idea it was to put one weel on a bike

    --
    brendon557

    Santa Claus is lucky, he knows where all the naughty girls live 😉
    If we're not supposed to eat animals, how come they're made out of
    meat?
    If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there
    Check out my website www.OffRoadRuckus.com
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    brendon557's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/15228
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  5. anam said:

    A plate in the triumph of Maximillian apparently shows a one-wheeled
    convayance. The Date ? A stunning 1516 !

    I've seen the picture, with the caption, "Prithy sir, thou has lost thy
    othere wheel, forsooth." Possibly the earliest recorded example of
    this joke.

    --
    Mikefule

    I once had a bad experience with a bigot. Now I hate them all - even
    the ones I haven't met.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Mikefule's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/879
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  6. roflgasm

    --
    gabetheunicycleman

    i pm'ed my self😕
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    gabetheunicycleman's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/13054
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  7. gabetheunicycleman said:

    roflgasm

    Eyegasm.

    --
    Borgschulze

    http://borgschulze.deviantart.com/
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Borgschulze's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/13501
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  8. Check out issue 4* of Uni - The Unicycle Magazine when it comes out.
    We've something MUCH earlier than 1516!

    * yes we're still working hard on it - there are not enough hours in
    the day at the moment. I have asked the higher authorities for an extra
    eight hours, but no luck so far. I'll post when I have a definite date.

    --
    mikepenton

    Uni - The Unicycle Magazine
    'www.unicyclemagazine.com' (http://www.unicyclemagazine.com)
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    mikepenton's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7090
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  9. Mikefule said:

    I've seen the picture, with the caption, "Prithy sir, thou has lost thy
    othere wheel, forsooth." Possibly the earliest recorded example of
    this joke.

    Oh my Darwin, that was hysterical!

    And think, back in 1516, you wouldn't be hearing "Enter the Gladiator"
    for a few hundred years!

    Even if there is evidence of really early unis, I doubt that they were
    more than freakish examples -- I can't imagine that they'd achieve any
    sort of even remote popularity until the 1870s with the advent of penny
    farthings. It may be that the uni, like bird's feathers, was the sort
    of thing that got invented several times, indep'ly, due to the
    evolution of wheeled conveyances. That's my hunch.

    --
    David_Stone

    Dictator for Life,
    NYUC

    Check out my blog (or else):
    http://newyorkunicycle.blogspot.com/
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    David_Stone's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3834
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  10. Well this what 'UDC' (http://tinyurl.com/y29jne) thinks of it and click
    where it says Unicycle History. 😄

    --
    Hazmat

    I'M 1 WEIRD AND UNUSUAL GREEK
    CYPRIOT AUSTRALIAN WHO
    IS DESTINED TO BE DIFFERENT.

    **Please vote. *'The Hazmat Poll'
    (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59458)'
    Hazmats unicycle Design/Creation
    competition'
    (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62030)*
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hazmat's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/13828
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  11. Hahahaha, thats hilarious! I guess the primitives could make a good joke
    to.

    --
    unibuddy

    Hey, mom! Look! No hands!

    "I can create forest fires, but at the same time, I'm the only one who
    can prevent them? I MUST BE GOD!"-Me
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    unibuddy's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/14725
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  12. anam said:

    The earliest cited reference to unicycle is April 1869 for hemmings
    unicycle velocipede (the yankee flyer), which is a design for something
    we'd call a monocycle. However this predates the penny-farthing (late
    1869 or early 1871 depending on source). Intresting it suggests that
    unicycling might not come from wheelie-ing penny-farthings/Ordinaries.

    Actually it suggests that monocycles developed separately/before
    penny-farthings. In the Yankee Flyer does it show the rider completely
    off the ground, or using feet to "help" balance? Probably not, as it
    was probably very heavy so feet wouldn't be great at that. Were these
    things actually built, or are these patent drawings or similar?

    Quoted message said:

    ...we now have an antedate for unicycle from 1860 (I need to check this)
    from a british magazine. More excitingly there is a much earlier
    sighting of something that may be a unicycle. A plate in the triumph of
    Maximillian apparently shows a one-wheeled convayance. The Date ? A
    stunning 1516 !

    Keep up the research! We still don't have the "invention" of the
    unicycle nailed down, in part due to various claims by late nineteenth
    century entertainers all claiming to have invented the thing. Some even
    after the turn of the century!

    It will be interesting to see what you're able to uncover. Please note
    that many of the older designs you may find may or may not have been
    actually built. Your 1516 example is probably one of those. I've seen
    pictures of a much older piece of sculpture, of four funeral
    pall-bearers with wheels between their feet, from the year 1000 or
    earlier if I remember correctly. But I assume this is a fanciful
    design, not a depiction of something that actually happened.

    But there's no telling what people may have done way back in the past,
    we can only find out what was documented.

    --
    johnfoss

    John Foss
    Email: "jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com
    -----------------------------------------------

    "pretty much every trail that we've done on the California or Moab Muni
    weekends is an XC trail." -- Kris Holm, on XC from a North Shore point
    of view
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    johnfoss's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/832
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  13. mikepenton said:

    Check out issue 4* of Uni - The Unicycle Magazine when it comes out.
    We've something MUCH earlier than 1516!

    * yes we're still working hard on it - there are not enough hours in
    the day at the moment. I have asked the higher authorities for an extra
    eight hours, but no luck so far. I'll post when I have a definite date.

    Oh Mike, you're such a tease 🙄

    --
    cathwood

    Cathy
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    cathwood's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/9425
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  14. cathwood said:

    Oh Mike, you're such a tease 🙄

    yeah, we want it now 🙁

    --
    thejdw

    kington99 said:

    A hobnob is an oaty biscuit, the fact that they don't exist in america
    just goes to show that you have no culinary heritage 🙂


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    thejdw's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/13230
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  15. mikepenton said:

    We've something MUCH earlier than 1516!

    I'm thinking a caveman on a BC wheel... :p

    --
    johnfoss

    John Foss
    Email: "jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com
    -----------------------------------------------

    "pretty much every trail that we've done on the California or Moab Muni
    weekends is an XC trail." -- Kris Holm, on XC from a North Shore point
    of view
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    johnfoss's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/832
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

  16. johnfoss said:

    I'm thinking a caveman on a BC wheel... :p

    'Yeah me 2.' (http://tinyurl.com/2qcxkz) 😄 😄

    --
    Hazmat

    I'M 1 WEIRD AND UNUSUAL GREEK
    CYPRIOT AUSTRALIAN WHO
    IS DESTINED TO BE DIFFERENT.

    **Please vote: *'The Hazmat Poll'
    (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59458)'
    Hazmats unicycle Design/Creation
    competition'
    (http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62030)*
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Hazmat's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/13828
    View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/60999

    Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    ** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    http://www.usenet.com

Active in the last 60 minutes

Active in this thread

0 users · 0 guests ·0 bots ·0 total

No signed-in users are active right now.

No known search crawlers active right now.