Cycling & bikes - My first unicycle

The recent thread "found on ebay" and John Foss's quote:

That looks like the P.O.S. I learned to ride on, only with some
homemade work to the seat.

Reminded me of my first unicycle.

I started riding unicycles after reading about George Peck in the
December '97 issue of Bicycling Magazine. In reality though, I owned
and almost rode a unicycle sometime around 1963.

Back then I had a friend, Chris Newberry, who lived two houses away in
our rural (at the time) neighborhood. He was three or four years older
so we didn't have much to do with each other but during summer break we
would buddy-up and play together. He had lots of cool things including
a *real* pin ball machine as well as a unicycle. However, even at the
tender age of 7 or 8 years old I was most impressed with his dad's white
'56 Ford Thunderbird with continental kit. Mr. Newberry had a rope and
pulley system in the roof of his garage to lift off and store the
Thunderbird's removable hard top ... soooo cool!

I don't have any idea what kind of unicycle Chris had ... it was chrome
... maybe a Schwinn? He would ride it around the neighborhood and even
in to town three miles away! One day I was quizzing him about the
unicycle and he offered me his "old" unicycle to take home and learn to
ride. It was *red* so naturally I accepted it right away.

Our basement was unfinished then, so that's where I started riding. I
would ride around holding on to the bare stud load bearing wall in the
center of the basement. Problem was that the unicycle was *very*
uncomforable! The seat was just a stamped piece of sheet metal with
nothing on it. It was just steel! I suppose at one time it had some
kind of padding but by the time I got it the padding was gone. Right
now, 40 years later, I can still remember what that seat felt like.

The other problem with the unicycle was mechanical. The bottom of the
tube fork legs were squashed flat with stamped steel bearing holders
screwed to the flattened out part. The screws *would not* stay tight.
I would tighten them and in a couple minutes the bearing holders would
be so loose that the hard rubber tire (the kind that doesn't need air)
was rubbing on the frame. No matter what I did the screws wouldn't stay
tight.

I think I got to the point that I could make a revolution or two without
holding on to the wall, but then the tire would drag on the frame and
I'd go down. I also remember the inside of my thighs hurting so bad
from the steel seat that I wanted to cry.

John Foss has said that cheap P.O.S. unicycles have turned off many
people to unicycling. That was certainly the case for me. Who knows
though - maybe it was the feeling of almost riding that red unicycle
that made me take it up again so many years later.

Steve Howard

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