unicycling trainer?!

[DanielW751]

Hi everybody, I was at my aunt's house this past weekend and ran across
something interesting. I was browsing through a toy catalog that she recently
got in the mail (looking for ideas for my 7mo. old nephew for those of you who
were wondering!). There was an unusual contraption pictured, and when I looked
at the description, it said it is used to train unicyclists! It consisted of two
10" wheels connected side-by-side, joined by a pedal assembly. In other words,
there was a pedal assembly (bent iron with pedals at the horizontal bends)
sandwiched between two 10" wheels (no seat, post, etc.). It was something new to
me, and I thought I'd share it with all of you. Has anyone ever seen such a
contraption or heard of it being used to train potential unicyclists? It seemed
overpriced (about $40) considering the obvious lack of quality in construction,
but I suppose someone might find it useful. The company's name and address is:
Back to Basics Toys 4315 Walney Rd. Chantilly, VA 22021-2103

Stay on
top,

Dan

[David Winston]

DanielW751 <danielw751@aol.com> writes:

>were wondering!). There was an unusual contraption pictured, and when I looked
>at the description, it said it is used to train unicyclists! It consisted of
>two 10" wheels connected side-by-side, joined by a pedal assembly. In other
>words, there was a pedal assembly (bent iron with pedals at the horizontal
>bends) sandwiched between two 10" wheels (no seat, post, etc.). It was
>something new to me, and I thought I'd share it with all of you. Has anyone
>ever seen such a contraption or heard of it being used to train potential
>unicyclists?

I remember such a contraption being ridden by some neighbor kids when I was
about 4 or 5 years old, which would have made the year 1970 or 71. I think it
was made out of plastic, kind of a mutant "Big Wheel" device. Have never seen
one since then, though I've been reading similar catalogs lately (20 month baby
boy), so who knows?

David Winston winstond@delphi.com

[Jack Halpern]

Mark Wiggins wrote:
|> DanielW751 wrote:
|> > There was an unusual contraption pictured, and when I looked at the
|> > description, it said it is used to train unicyclists! It
I believe that such cOntraptiOns are not very effective for learning how to
ride. The time-tested methods introduced by Bill Jenack, the father of modern
unicycling, Jack Wiley's books and my books are all based on using human
spotters. I often have people riding within 30 to an hour with this method,
which is described in detail in my book ANYONE CAN RIDE A UNICYCLE

Stay on top, Jack Halpern, IUF Vice President