I thought I remember somebody here saying they rode a unicycle.
Is it hard to do? I’m in talks about possibly buying a used one that a woman bought and never used for $35.
I’m just curious if it’s difficult…
Yes. It is a whole new level of balance.
Personally, I can’t do it because I don’t like to go splat, but 3 of my 4 children mastered it a few years ago by riding down a hallway using the walls on either side to prevent calamity.
A common mistake, or so I’m am told, is the feeling that you want to be upright, or even slightly leaning back, and apparently there has to be a bit of forward lean.
They say that it’s like bike riding, in that once you get it, you get it, but I think the balance thing remains trickier and more subject to pitfalls, and “getting it” usually has a bit more of a learning curve than just being brave, letting go, and believing as in bike riding.
When I was about ten years old I asked for a guitar but my parents knew buying me a guitar would also probably cost them guitar lessons and a lot of hauling me around to guitar lessons and stuff so they bought me a unicycle with the understanding that they’d buy me a guitar if I ever managed to learn how to ride that unicycle.
It took me one day to learn how to ride it.
I was able to jump up on to the thing to ride it (without holding onto anything for support) in about a week.
The hardest part about riding a unicycle is not the being being able to ride it. Its the fact that you can never coast on it.
You have to constantly be peddling, even down hill.
That, plus your “butt” can get really sore.
It’s quite difficulty, and can be more dangerous than learning to ride a bike.
You have the potential to fall backward very quickly and hit your head. Wear
a helmet! In college, I frequently saw a guy riding his unicycle to class. He
rode up and down stairs and all over the place, so it has potential to be quite
a useful vehicle…
Believe it or not they actually have such a thing as mountain unicycling. It’s somewhat popular in our area and we have world-class super-scary trails that they make dare-devil commercial mountain bike movies on. I have no idea how on earth they go down hill on those things. You cannot coast and our trails are at 45 degree angles in some spots with lots of rocks.
A friend of mine has a bunch of unicycles. Every year he rides a super tall one in the Summer Solstice Parade wearing a jester costume and juggling.
How hard could it be if you can ride one in the mountains or while juggling in a parade? 
I hear they are making them with more of a suspension system built in but even with the bare bones model I had 4+ decades back one could bounce a bit if you knew the trick.
What my parents forgot when they thought they could buy time with a unicycle (wanting to postpone a need to provide me with guitar lessons) was that the preceeding four years of dancing school I’d had included lessons on acrobatics.
(I’d wanted Ballet lessons but the teacher my parents found for me was an old Vaudeville trooper. Had I carried on with it I’d gone “on point” all right, but with tap dancing taps on the tips of my toe shoes.)
I was also a bit young yet to fear falling. Kids that age think nothing of swinging in the trees and jumping off garage roofs.
I was at a Corky Siegel “Chamber Blues” concert a few months back and his featured guest was Howard Levy.
After Mr. Levy did what it is he does with Corky’s sting section backing him,
Corky walked up to the microphone and mentioned that the night before “Howie” met with the string section at his house and they rehearsed.
While rehearsing the piece “Howie” had the printed music before him and he made notes on the score with his free hand while he was doing what it is he does on the harmonica.
Corky then commented that if one could do those two things at the same time, how difficult could it be?
Yeah, we all laughed.
I work with a a guy who does that, and another that used to. One of them, Nathan (one of my company’s founders), has been in a few movies. Here’s the trailer for one worth watching whether you’re into cycling or not:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6DMC8_0Xpg
This one’s fun too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho_NLPF1Dx0&NR=1
My wife got me a unicycle about ten years ago, and I learned to ride it, and even gave people lessons. I never managed to juggle while on the unicycle (although I can juggle).
Yes, it’s difficult. As Em says, you need something like a hallway or a disused corridor where you can practice with a minimum of horizontal impact.
But one of my “learn to ride a unicycle” books (well, I only got one) described a high-school class where they taught unicycle, and everyone learned how to ride one. Mutual support is good - if other people are learning with you.
I thought you were in a wheelchair, Cranberry. That would put a unicycle out of bounds.
I used to ride one to school every day in my younger years. I’d actually work on my homework while riding it down the bike path.
Been thinking of getting one again.
I agree with all of the above…tough to learn…brainlessly easy once mastered. One day it will just click. Your spine and the cycle need to form sort of a “C” or maybe a “V” sideways…anyway, you get the idea. Don’t try to sit straight up on the thing.
They’re fun and great exercise (no coasting).
Go to http://unicycle.com/Gateway.asp
Doc
Awesome video. Awesome locations. Just reminds me that cycling is a great excuse for seeing the world.
When my father and his brothers were young, they built a unicycle from old bicycle parts, and he learned to ride it.
-I learned to ride a cheap one with a solid rubber tire as a kid after thousands of graceless dismounts. It had a 16-inch wheel but 20-24-inchers are easier -likely from better gyroscopic stability and inflatable tires.
-Unicycles don’t seem to change much but seeing flaming baton jugglers atop the high-extension chain-drive types is a kick.
-Advances in Pogo-Sticking, OTOH, are incredible:
http://www.flybar.com/pages/flybar1200.html
maybe he wants to get a uniwheelchair..use your hands to do the pedaling..
don’t stop short…and if you do…wear a helmet!!
Nah, think I’ll stick with music…
Now, to be fair, Cranberry might have meant a Monocycle.
The French for unicycle is apparently “monocycle” although in English they are two different things. You sit ON a unicycle and IN a monocycle.
I used to ride a unicycle. I got my first one when I was 8 years old, so you can take that into consideration when I say no, it isn’t difficult – certainly no more difficult than learning to play the whistle, just different. 
In some ways unicycles are much easier to ride than bicycles: they are simpler (no gears or brakes; you go exactly as fast as you pedal). I think unicycle riding encourages good posture. And, of course, it’s fun! Like whistle, it takes some practice before you start to “get it,” and some people will catch on faster than others. I suspect that folks who are experienced in other things that require whole-body balance (skateboarding or snowboarding, skiing, gymnastics, etc.) would catch on faster. When I was in high school, I taught a unicycle-riding friend how to downhill ski, and she caught on REALLY fast due to the balance. I suspect the advantage might go the other way, too.
If you can juggle and can ride a unicycle, it isn’t hard to do both at the same time. Just separate the skills while you’re learning. I decided to teach myself to juggle when I was a freshman in college. I attempted to do this by riding my unicycle up and down the hallway of my dorm, tossing oranges I’d taken from the dining hall. The hall smelled really good (ok, it was a little sticky too ) but I didn’t really learn to juggle until I got some beanbags and stood facing a wall to practice.
When I was a teenager I purchased a Schwinn “Giraffe,” an approximately 6-foot-tall unicycle. (Great for making dunk shots at the basketball hoop in the driveway. 
) It had a small-diameter “circus” wheel so it was even easier to maneuver than my short unicycle with its large-diameter wheel. The large-diameter wheel is lots better for cruising around town, though, because of the lack of gears – you go a lot farther in one turn of a large wheel. One of the greatest things about the Giraffe was I got RESPECT when riding it. When I’d ride around town on my short unicycle, people would always say something like “Hey, you lost a wheel” and think they were really funny and original. When people saw me riding the Giraffe, towering over their heads, they were mostly speechless. That’s kind of silly because although it’s harder to get on the tall unicycle, it isn’t any harder to ride.
Last year I sold my Giraffe to someone who I hope will give it lots of use. He was excited to get a vintage Giraffe for very little money, and I was excited to think of it being ridden again. I’m too old and breakable now and I finally faced the fact that my Giraffe days are over. I found that what was fun at age 16 is kinda scary when you’re middle-aged 
. I do still have a shorter unicycle, though I haven’t ridden it for years either.
Sorry for going on and on. I appear to have reached the age of nostalgia.
I’m with you HiDef. Virtual beats broken bones, hands down. Go for it…
“is unicycle hard?”
Dunno. Couldn’t stay on long enough to find out…