AmaOneTya

When I took up Uni about 1.5 years ago, I thought it is the NEXT BIG THING.
For me it was, but I don't get it why it has not attracted more interest. Maybe not the right word. There is much interest, but few participants.

Here is no unicyclists where I stay, not that I did not offer to teach friends and strangers.
I might as well try to start a scientology chapter in Orania. No takers.

Great that we are up to 10000 hits on this site, but considering that each regular on this site clocked at least a 1000 each, it is still a small community.

So my questions are:
1. Why have it not yet taken off BIG TIME?
2. Would you prefer it to remain as is, or see it become mainstream?

Just curious to hear other's thoughts on this.

Interesting point which I agree with. We see a lot of MTB'ers on a regular basis in Tokai and we're always enthusiastic about Uni trying to convince them that it really is awesome, and still most of them look at us as strange. Even most of my friends think I'm odd and that unicycling is just a circus thing. I suppose I can't really blame them given my circus family and background.... but still....

I think that one of the main reasons people don't try or want to unicycle is because they believe that it's to difficult. I always get comments on how good my balance must be, and when I reply that it's not really ... it's just practice ... I get strange unbelieving looks Like I'm lying to them ??

As for the progression of unicycling .... of course I'd like to see it become more mainstream. More people riding uni will allow us to be more recognised within sports allowing us to have our own categories of races with more than 5 participants. On the other hand, I like being different. I like the fact that I'm one of a handful of people that ride downhill mountain uni.

I just wrote an awesome response, it timed out and I lost it. Bugger.
Here goes attempt #2

1. Why hasnt it taken off BIG TIME?

We all belong to an elite group of freaks, nice freaks with good balance Its got to do with mindset and generation. Like most people, with the exception of Brent, we were all taught to ride a bicycle because it was a stable cycle. IMO the sport is growing, no longer is it people from a performance back round buying. The scope has widened, which means it's evolving. Face it, South Africa has always been on the back end of trends, we do catch up it just takes a bit longer.

2. Would you prefer it to remain as is, or see it become mainstream?

Ive always had an affinity to the edgy, underground, artistic life. I dont do well with mainstream and Johnny can vouch for that (Waka Waka). I do want unicycling to grow in SA, the world. Bearing witness to the expansion of unicycling into what bicycling is today, would be awesome Rewarding comes to mind. With advancements in technology, food and water it could happen in a lifetime and lifetimes may become longer. Kids ... 10, 11, 12, 13 ... are really interested and they are the ones that will aid the growth, make it a larger scale professional sport. Have more Kris Holm's who get taken seriously.

Change the perception, I'm not a clown, I do juggle very very well but I'm not a clown. BTW I have lots of clown friends who I love dearly.

Not as fantastic as my first attempt

... over

I asked a similar question after having managed to get zero response after introducing muni to my MTB club and doing a couple of rides with them. Nothing has changed after doing rides with them, including a club race, over at least 6 months. I think I understand why.

Learning to uni is like starting at square 1. It takes oodles of perseverance and healthy (my opinion - non-uni-ionised may differ)dose of sheer bloody mindedness and thick skin to learn in public. Most people prefer to take the path of least resistance - ie get back on the bike or recognise hard work and avoid it altogether. Fear of failure is definitely a factor. I still get very frustrated when I cannot ride something on a muni that is a breeze on a bike.

The ones that we have taught have all been skateboarders(4 of my sons friends) - they typically have the abovementioned traits and dont care what others think.

We had a fantastic experience at Boys Town today (I will put up more in a separate post). I reckon we doubled the number of Gauteng unicyclicts in 1 go! About 3 guys had tried and could ride a few metres when we got there. We had at least 12 unis and I am sure that most of the 32 guys had a go. At the end of the day we had at least 10 of the guys riding, quite a few able to freemount (29ers too)and most of the others to at least ride a few revolutions. They were also starting to teach each other, ride dropoffs and bumps, etc.

What was fantastic was the infectious enthusiasm that spurred them all on - guys on the sidelines edged closer until they were also trying. I think that the collective spirit really pushed them to try and learn very quickly - I am sure that they arent all superstars. My point - youngsters are usually more keen to try something difficult and success breeds success.

I think that unicycling will remain a curiosity to most adults and bike-riders and will only really expand as teenagers try it and influence others. Like skateboarding, it aint for everyone. If it became so, we would probably look for the next offbeat thing...

I think it is the lack of unis around. I know of three in Grahamstown (two of which are in my flat, one nigh unridable) and this is a place known for having oddballs in high percentage.

So when someone wants to learn, they need to buy one (which is a fair outlay if you are not sure about continuing it), or be lucky enough to know someone who has one.

I do think people think of it as something too difficult. I got similar responses to trying to start a circus club (really a juggling club that got out of hand...) in that people are interested, try once or twice, realise that this is not something they will learn in an hour and give up.

I hope it becomes more popular though.

Love the responses so far

I think the personality trait mentioned already has a lot to do with it. Like Julian said it takes perseverance and a good dose of sheer bloody mindedness I found the same thing with juggling, which is what lead me to try unicycling. Juggling takes a lot of perseverance especially when you move onto 5 balls. There is a lot of picking balls up of the ground after failed attempts, one of the reasons I got pretty damn good at picking balls up with my toes and tossing them back into my hands. I've tried to teach a number of people how to juggle and they have mostly given up after 5 minutes. Also as MTB has experienced, myself and Justin tried to start a juggling club in Cape Town which we had going for almost a year with mostly the 2 of us only showing up and the odd occasion having around 10 people. The juggling club thing stopped though when we both discovered Unicycling