|
Riding Styles
Neighborhood
For basic unicycling, this is the place to be. Not too long ago, all mass-produced unicycles were in this category. Basic, cheap unicycles such as the Torker CX are used.
Freestyle unicycling
Freestyle means to do skills, stunts, or tricks. Not only is freestyle a well-known term in BMX bicycling, it is also the name for a competition event in unicycling.
Trials unicycling
Trials unicycling is specifically aimed at hopping and riding over obstacles. Because of the constant pounding a trials unicycle endures, it must have a very strong axle and crankset.
Street unicycling
Street unicycling (or simply "street" as it's known within the sport) is a style of unicycling where riders use combinations of objects found in urbanized
settings, such as curbs, ledges, handrails, stairs as well as flat areas to perform a wide variety of tricks.
Alex Toms of Sydney, Australia demonstrates Street unicycling (March, 2006).
Off-Road - Mountain Unicycling (MUni)
Rough Terrain unicycling is attracting a lot of attention and has been the swiftest growing form of unicycling in recent years. Any place a mountain bike
can go, a mountain unicycle can go as well (and sometimes better)
Touring or Commuting
This style is meant for distance riding. With a 29-inch or 36-inch wheel
cruising speeds of 10 to 15 mph can easily be reached. However, the smallest wheel diameter to fit within the Touring category is 26 inches.
Racing
100 meter, 400 meter, 1600 meter races and more.
Novelty
This category includes any unusual cycles not covered by our other categories
. Examples include tall giraffe unicycles, multi-wheelers (wheels stacked), kangaroo and others.
 Extreme Unicycling
Jess Riegel shows an example of grinding, a street unicycling skill
Recently, unicycling has gained popularity as a sport, and as a general means of transport.
In the last 10 years, unicyclists have taken unicycles out of the traditional parade, gym, or circus setting and have created new areas of unicycling. These areas can be described as:
Unicycle trials
Trials involves riding over obstacles of any sort, either in natural terrain or in
an urban environment. The challenge relates to technical difficulty over short distances, and the objective is to use any riding techniques necessary to ride
up, over, or down an obstacle without falling.
Mountain unicycling (Muni)
Combines cross-country and trials challenges, where the objective is to ride
technically difficult terrain over some distance. Extreme sport videos and films typically show Muni as primarily descents of difficult terrain, but the term also
includes difficult uphill riding. The other purpose of this venture is to practice leaps using the wheel pressure to propel oneself up to a rock, or up a slope.
Flatland
The purpose of flatland (also known as freestyle) is to ride a unicycle in
different ways, collectively referred to as “freestyle tricks”. There are thousands of different ways to ride a unicycle, but the most popular tricks have been
categorized in a skill measurement system called the “IUF Achievement Skill Levels”. Flatland is typically done indoors in a gymnasium or outside on
pavement where the terrain is smooth and predictable.
Street unicycling
Combines Trials and Freestyle techniques, and is typically done in urban
areas. The objective is to perform freestyle tricks on obstacles. The overall difficulty relates not only to the difficulty of the obstacles but also to the
difficulty of the tricks. This is different from pure trials because just riding over obstacles is not the ultimate objective; rather, the obstacles are used as props to set up the tricks.
Article Source: Wikipedia
|
