history of unicycling

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knew a semi detailed version of the
history of unicycling. I'm interested in how the actual unicycle was
created, and also how it has gainned popularity and evolved into the
form you see it today (ie. how it went from the circus to MUni and other
crazy forms). I'm a student, so unfortunately I don't have any money to
buy books--but i'd love to hear from you knowledgable uni folks out
there.

Thanks,

jen


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Sebastian Hoher's book- 'unicycling, from beginner to expert' has a nice
chapter on unicycle origins.

It confirms what many of us here know in our hearts, that unicycling did
not evolve from the circus.

The first unicycles were big wheeled and made from the old 'penny
farthing' or 'ordinary' bicycle.

Some penny farthing riders took to removing the small back wheel,
leaving a massive wheeled unicycle. Others also removed the handlebars.
Possible reasons were that the penny farthing could be lethal in a fall
as the bars trapped the riders legs resulting in a 6 foot drop to a face
plant.

There's some old photos in that chapter of althletes lined up to start
one wheeled races, also a photo of a German guy who's just ridden 200 km
on his uni.

All this was taking part well before the advent of the 20" uni and it's
use in entertainment/circus.

The recent rise in muni/big wheel/distance riding is actually way closer
to those early origins than to anything you'll see in a
circus/entertainment context; it's unicycling getting back to its true
roots.

One look at those photos in Hoher's book would be worth a thousand words
of description; maybe someone here can post a scan, or provide a link to
somewhere on the net that has them?


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onewheeldave - Semi Skilled Unicyclist

"He's also been known to indulge in a spot of flame juggling - but it's
the Muni that really fires him up."

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onewheeldave wrote:
*There's some old photos in that chapter of althletes lined up to
start one wheeled races, also a photo of a German guy who's just
ridden 200 km on his uni.

All this was taking part well before the advent of the 20" uni and
it's use in entertainment/circus.*
There are also illustrations of trick riding competitions from the early
1890s with performers doing classic entertainment/circus routines.

Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ


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That's true, as you may have realised by now from some of my previous
posts I feel a little unhappy that the unicycle is associated with
circus to an extent that bares little connection to reality.

However, in all fairness to my original reply, I would point out that
the images of the big one wheel racers and distance riders are
photographs (and therefore very accurate), whilst the trick riding
images are illustrations, and therefore not necessarily accurate.

Assuming that the illustrations are accurate though, I would question
that they are classic circus routines-

Firstly, the majority are of the bicycle stunts that were common at the
time.
Secondly, all but one of the genuine one wheelers are big wheels (i.e.
larger than Cokers) with only one of 20"/24" size as used in circuses.
Thirdly, the image they convey is far closer to a modern day indoor
trials set-up i.e. emphasis on skills rather than the pure entertainment
we generally see in circuses.

Lastly, as we are talking about the origins of unicycling, it's
important to ask which would have come first out of the two sets of
images- the big wheel racing photos, or the illustrated trick cycles.

My feeling is that, since penny farthings existed well before the
invention of the bicycle in modern form (i.e. two equal sized wheels
with a chain drive), and since the illustrations of the trick cycling
includes several modern bicycles, that the big wheel/distance photos
precede the illustrated trick event ones.

Not for certain, because the big wheel unis could have lingered after
the adoption of the modern bike; however, I notice that one of the big
wheel racing photos has the date 1886- nif the modern bicycle was
invented after this date, then it would be firm evidence that the
distance/racing use if the uni preceeded its entertainment use.

So, does anyone know when the modern two wheeler came into being?

JJuggle, thanks for your reply; deep in my heart I feel that unicycling
was born of heroes and atheletes, not clowns and entertainers, but, to
be able to declare this with certainty requires dealing with challenges
to this view and getting my facts straight.


--
onewheeldave - Semi Skilled Unicyclist

"He's also been known to indulge in a spot of flame juggling - but it's
the Muni that really fires him up."

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In article cyclist.com,
onewheeldave .com wrote:
)
)Not for certain, because the big wheel unis could have lingered after
)the adoption of the modern bike; however, I notice that one of the big
)wheel racing photos has the date 1886- nif the modern bicycle was
)invented after this date, then it would be firm evidence that the
)distance/racing use if the uni preceeded its entertainment use.
)
)So, does anyone know when the modern two wheeler came into being?

It's credited to George W. Marble (US), in 1884.
-Tom

onewheeldave wrote:
*JJuggle, thanks for your reply; deep in my heart I feel that
unicycling was born of heroes and atheletes, not clowns and
entertainers, but, to be able to declare this with certainty requires
dealing with challenges to this view and getting my facts straight. *
To be honest, and this is a bit off topic, I think here you have a much
too broad concept of hero and a much too narrow one of athlete.

I will think about the rest of your argument, though.

Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ


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onewheeldave wrote:
*Deep in my heart I feel that unicycling was born of heroes and
atheletes, not clowns and entertainers, but, to be able to declare
this with certainty requires dealing with challenges to this view and
getting my facts straight. *

I've spent several minutes trying to think of a nice way to say you're
full of ****, but it's eluding me right now. You paint the groups of
"heroes and atheletes" and "clowns and entertainers" as mutually
exclusive. What's the factual basis for that? Circus acrobats frequently
outperform world class gymnasts....are they not atheletes? I've seen a
Cirque du Soleil performer hold a one-handed handstand for over two
minutes. Was she simply "entertainment"? What's the source of your
obsession here? Is anyone REALLY trying to claim that a clown invented
unicycling? Show me that claim you're fighting against... I think the
acknowledged history of the unicycle would indicate the first riders
were not clowns, entertainers, OR heroes...possibly not even atheletes.
They were pioneers, yes, let's give them credit for that. But otherwise
Average Joes that connected the dots and tried something that hadn't
been tried before.....

On the grand time scale of both unicylcing and circus, how much time
have you invested in related activities?


--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

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hey mr tom blackwood, your getting slightly over emotional here, maybe
you should get of this guys back. He obvious just sick of randoms in the
street asking him if he wants to join the circus, just as I am. Fair
Enough, circus performers are good at what they do and they should be
given credit for it but the circus stigma gives unicycling a more
"humourous" feeling when really it could be classed in the same group as
Skating and BMXing.
Then again we all feel differently about unicyling, I wouldnt be
surprised if there were unicyclists out there that would rather be in
the circus than in the X-games. In the end we'll just have to agree that
unicycling is a sport adopted by the circus just as each and everyone of
us adopts unicycling to do whatever we feel with our skill.
OK guys, are we kool with that???


--
KlownLife - Unicycle Xtremist

Being A Clown Sux, You Get Kicked By Kidz, Bitten By Dogz And Admired By
The Elderly!
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I posted this over in Just Conversation, but I guess I'll repeat it here
as well.


Hi Jen,

I've held on to a few of John Foss' posts that outline some of the name
history in unicycling. It's by no means exhaustive but it's a start.
Here's one:

The original Mr. Pashley began building bicycles in England more than 60
years ago. The original Mr. Miyata began building bicycles in Japan over
110 years ago. Mr. Schwinn? He's long gone. Mr. United? I think that was
a made-up name. Same goes for Torker, Savage,Cycle Pro, and many others.
Mr. Jugglebug? That was Dave Finnegan, aka Professor Confidence but he
sold the company to SportTime, and I think they added the unicycles
after that. Mr. Coker? He specializes in tires. David Coker is our
contact when it comes to the Coker Tire company, but He doesn't
read/post here. Mr. Semcycle? That's Sem Abrahams. I think he was the
first unicycle "star"to have a unicycle with his name on it. He comes to
most of the unicycle conventions (and lots of juggling ones too) and is
an expert rider and professional performer. Former Guinness record
holder for tallest unicycle(twice), and original author of the 10 skill
levels and the IUF StandardSkill rules. But he doesn't post to the
newsgroup. Mr. Unicycle Factory? That's Tommi Miller. He's a custom
builder, and wasthe place everybody went to get special unicycles and
parts before the Internet made doing it online so much easier. Tommi
does not use email. Mr. DM is David Mariner. He's been building
unicycles himself, since the1970s. A great source of unicycles for
professional performers in the UK and all of Europe. Maker of the first
production unicycle with a splined axle (the ATU). I think he also made
the first production unicycle with a brake (the Vortex). Mr. Wyganowski
is Paul Wyganowski from Minnesota. He's a bike frame maker,who started
building custom unicycle frames for members of the Twin CitiesUnicycle
Club (TCUC). Now his market has expanded to all the customers of
Unicycle.com and beyond. Hunter is Rick Hunter (Hunter Cycles of Santa
Cruz), another frame builderlike Paul Wyganowski. Rick started out by
making a MUni frame for Bruce Bundy. Mr. Cordy is Charles Cordy, a deaf
man who came up with his own design and hand built almost the whole
cycle, not just the frame! (I have deaf relatives, so Mr. Cordy is extra
cool). Mr. Wilder? The unicycle is built by Scott Bridgeman of New
Jersey (www.muniac.com). He hasn't posted lately, but I think he reads
the group. His site is loaded with unicycle information. The cycle's
name comes from Wilder State Park (Wilder Ranch) in Santa Cruz, CA. It's
a great place to ride a Wilder! Kris Holm? I think we all know who he
is. He posts a lot. Profile? This is a bike-parts company. What they
make for us is the Poznanter hub. David Poznanter, from Santa Cruz, is a
hard-core MUni rider who helped Profile design the world's second
splined unicycle hub. That was all the names I came across while going
through the unicycles at Unicycle.com. Here are some others:Telford:
Geoffrey Telford Faraghan. A computer engineer (professor at Stanford)
from Redwood City, CA, designed his elegant frames based on the Rick
Hunter design. Bedford: Darren Bedford imports and resells unicycles in
Canada, and posts frequently to the newsgroup. Matthews: Bill Matthews
made/imported his own brand of unicycles from Southern CA until his
death about 10 years ago. Emory: This is a guy in Florida, also making
his own frames. Don't know much about him. Loyd: Loyd Wicker Smith came
up with the design that later became the Schwinn unicycle. Loyd started
making them in the late 50's, I think. There are lots of other older
brands out there, but I don't know much about them. Many are
distributors, (like Torker, Savage, Cycle Pro) and didn't actually make
the cycles they sold.
That was fun!
John Foss, the Uni-cyclone

www.unicycling.com


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KlownLife wrote:
*Fair Enough, circus performers are good at what they do and they
should be given credit for it but the circus stigma gives unicycling a
more "humourous" feeling when really it could be classed in the same
group as Skating and BMXing.
*

I personally don't want to be classified in the same category as
Skaters. There are some pretty good ones out there, but when I go to a
skate park, I have to laugh at all the posing and the way too serious
attitudes that I see.
I have more respect for a good unicycling entertainer who doesn't take
themself too seriously than for a skater who does. And the longer the
law considers us as "a bunch of harmless clowns," the longer it will be
before they start trying to regulate us.


--
paco - Proud owner of 2 opposable thumbs

"Not all cannibals are alike."
-Andy, my roommate
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