Then there are lots of things to do on or with a unicycle that are not directly related to unicycling. Especially it's juggling, jumping rope or acrobatics (the most simple form is riding with someone else sitting on one's shoulder).
In any case, unicycling is nothing, you will achieve at your first try or within a short time. Especially in the beginning you will need some patience until first success will be achieved.
You should consider several hours of practicing until riding some distance without support.
For practicing you should use sports clothes, stable shoes with short laces (for not being caught in the wheel) and bike pants.
According to the kind and intensity of practicing you may think about safety equipment like helmet, knee and elbow pads and gloves.
When dismounting unintentional you will come to standing on your feet nearby every time as dismounting is being practiced implicitly when learning how to ride.
Most accidents are due to one of the following reasons: extensive speed, weariness, inattentiveness or practicing new skills. You are able to individually control each of these, so you can decide for your own what risks you are ready to face.
One most important decision concerns the size of the wheel. The larger the wheel, the faster is the unicycle, the smaller the wheel, the more maneuverable the unicycle will become. For artistic unicycling the standard wheel size is 20". When using the unicycle as means of transport or for cruising, you should get a larger wheel. A good choice is 26" or 28". As unicycles with larger wheels are harder to ride than smaller ones, you should learn to ride with a 20" or 24" unicycle. The wheel size doesn't depend on the rider's height.
Another criterion is the crank size. Short cranks mean high speed, long cranks provide better control. Standard crank sizes range from 100 to 125mm for 20" unicycles, from 110 to 150mm for 24" unicycles and 125mm and more for 26" and 28" unicycles. Beginners may prefer longer cranks, as little faults cause larger consequences with short cranks. If the cranks are too long, it may happen that the pedal touches the floor when riding in a small circle.
As known from any technical equipment, there are unicycles of different quality. A unicycle has to stand very high powers. That has impacts for the quality needed. One of the most important criterions for stability is the numbers of spokes. Sometimes there are unicycles with 28 or even less spokes. That doesn't provide enough stability, if the unicycle is not supposed to be used by little children only. I suggest unicycles with 36 spokes or 48 in case of extensive use or huge weight to be put on.
For good comfort you should choose a quality seat. Please note that the unicycle will drop very often when practicing. If that happens it will hit the floor with the seat first. Some seats are equipped with bumpers at both ends to avoid damages.
Black tires may cause marks on gym floors. So janitors don't like them. When intending to use your unicycle in gyms, you should get a bright non marking tire.
You can get a unicycle for less than 50 Euros, used ones even cheaper. Then you can get a unicycle as it is for up to about 300 Euros. When getting one build for your own you may spend as much money as you want to. You can get a good unicycle for beginners for about 100 to 120 Euros.
Many spare parts for unicycles are quite special ones and can only be obtained from unicycle manufacturers. Some parts like tires, tubes, rims or pedals may be obtained from bike or BMX shops as well.
Then there are unicycling shops or shops that consider unicycles as their major goods. In Germany there are among others
Pappnase & Co. GmbH
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Pichlerrad
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Siegmono-Cycle
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There's no part of a unicycle that can't be out of order. How often and what kind of maintenance is needed depends on the intensity and kind of using the unicycle. It may be obvious that an axle tends to breaking more often, when the unicycle is used to jump up and down stairs than when only riding straight forward in a gym.
Bjoern Dinklage and Bettina Bardell: Die Kunst des Einradfahrens [The Art Of Unicycling], Edition Aragon, Moers, 3. Auflage, 1994, ISBN 3-89535-405-8 |
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Sebastian Hoeher: Einradfahren [Unicycling], rororo, Reinbeck bei Hamburg, 1991, ISBN 3-499-18654-3 |
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Jack Wiley: The Complete Book of Unicycling, Solipaz Publishing Company, Lodi, California, 1984, ISBN 0-913999-05-9 |
There are several internet pages about unicycling. Here's a list of those pages that refer most of the others.
The Unicycling Page: www.unicycling.org
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Homepage der deutschen Einradfahrer [Home page of German unicyclists]: www.einradfahren.de
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International Unicycling Federation: www.unicycling.org/iuf
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