Middle kid has a couple unicycles -- he's the only one around, and rides often. (And he's pretty good, can jump mount, do 180 jumps, ride up and down stairs, and generally he's a comfortable as on a bike. He has played the Emperor's March on a trombone while riding as well. He insists that he's not practicing for the circus).
Most common comment by far: "Do a wheelie", second -- "Where's your other wheel/You've lost a wheel" (which is answered by the tshirt -- "My other wheel is on my other unicycle".
I mountain unicycle[0]. My favorite replies to "you're missing a wheel" variants are:
* It was a half off sale (to hikers)
* I took off the training wheel (to bikers, if they seem smarmy)
These days most of my responses are very positive, almost universally. 15 years ago this wasn't the case, especially on the street--lots of people yelling "FALL!" out their window to scare you, etc. I think a big part of the long term change has been "extreme sports" becoming a very broad umbrella.
Curious as to why people gravitate towards unis, are they more fun to ride? Is it just more of a challenge and therefore more rewarding? Better workout I'm assuming?
There does seem to be an unusual number of nerdy/engineer types that also unicycle!
I've done two organized long distance unicycling trips before: Vietnam, with ~20 riders, and Kenya to Tanzania with ~10 unicyclists (and a few bikers filling in the slots). There were a lot of programmers, and also a few people that collected other "body as puzzle" skills--juggling, circus arts, etc.
I think the commonality is more that the kind of brain that can push past the challenge of learning to unicycle is the kind of brain that can learn a lot of technical computer skills by applying the same tenacity.
My own history with unicycling is pretty happenstance. When I was 14 I said I wanted one for a birthday present, because I liked the challenge of riding a bike around with no hands.
And I got one! So I learned to ride it on the street, but skill-wise I basically got a free mount and stopped.
Much later, in my 20s, a friend pasted a unicycling video and said he wanted to try it (think "skate video", but unicycling). I said I actually had one in a closet, so we pulled it out and just kept at it after that. After a few weeks we were out trying a flat trail.
I'm 43 now, and my riding comes and goes as I remind myself it's an enjoyable way to get some exercise. I'm also a B- tier rider, if that.
This is my favorite general unicycling video with one of the pioneers, Kris Holm. This really gets into the "but why?" part of it too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nPc2phfMLU
Unis are small, slow and safe.
As a teenager I would go out for a ride, put it on my shoulder for hikes and then ride it back by bus.
So when you take the novelty off (and as a rider, it vanishes quickly) it's just a very fun and convenient bike
It's hard to use a unicycle brake as a true panic brake. It's essentially an ejection seat if you abruptly press a brake too hard.
But they are useful as drag brakes! I run a disc brake on my mountain unicycle, and really it's to make super-steep downhill segments feasible (at least without requiring a tremendous amount of back pedal pressure). I choose a brake used for trials biking with a long throw range.
I have a rim brake on my 36" unicycle. In that case it is helpful to reduce stopping distance, in part because the crank-to-wheel ratio is bonkers, but it's still primarily used as a drag brake on long downhills.
But yeah, on a mountain/street unicycle, your feet aren't that far off the ground, and you can't really go faster than sprinting speed. The big risk is getting tangled up in a weird way on the mountain.
36" distance unicycles can go faster than sprinting speed. Bailing unexpectedly on a fast 36" results in a few galloping steps and hopefully not a trip and slide...
Fun little unicycling factoid: "UPD" stands for Unplanned Dismount, and really is what tends to happen more than actual crashes. You realize your balance envelope is blown and there's no hope of making the line you're trying to hit, so might as well just dismount gracefully while you still can.
I know nothing about riding unicycles but I do ride EUC (Electric Unicycle). This thing is the most incredible sport related fun I've ever encountered. As for workout - when off road then yes, it is good core training and raises my HR sometimes to the max. Riding regular roads (except initial learning stage) is - meh. HR fluctuates between 60-70 (50 is my RHR).
That's awesome! My friend and long-ago business partner was a unicyclist, and did mountain unicycling for a while as well.
He recently switched to going around with free skates - I'm trying to learn them as well (I never did get around to picking up unicycling unfortunately).
Think a rollerblade turned sideways, so that when you are standing neutrally you are moving in-line with your shoulders (like a skateboard), and the wheels from each skate form a single straight line.
When I read this description, I assumed the skate was attached to the feet like a rollerblade, but after looking at YouTube, it’s more like each foot gets a little foot-sized skateboard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuR-uxPTGzI
I never had the athletic ability to do anything like this as a child but this definitely would have made your son 100x cooler to me as a (what I assume is) elementary/jr. high peer.
Most common comment by far: "Do a wheelie", second -- "Where's your other wheel/You've lost a wheel" (which is answered by the tshirt -- "My other wheel is on my other unicycle".