North Texas

[The UniSLAB]

This thread is for anyone who's in the DFW area and want to ride. I'm slowly getting backn into riding again but it's really lame riding by yourself....so post in here if your down for a ride

Oh yeah almost forgot, I have a couple of 20's so if you need a uni while down here I can loan you one. I ride mostly street/trials type stuff

[unibabyguy]

Not sure if the Unipsychos are still active, but they've got some skills.

http://www.unipsychos.com/

[mcgary]

I live in the area. Feel free to PM me. I've seen a couple of very active 36"
riders in the area. One passes my house regularly. At least one commutes to work daily (riding to the Dart station and going downtown). It might be
nice to form a semi-regular get together behind Richardson Bike Mart. They
are very supportive of unicyclists.

[psbagumba]

I'm in Frisco - - a short hop from your neighborhood. I mostly cruise around on a 26.

I also have a DX20 and would love to see how I'm supposed to be riding it. I can hop down and ride one footed - but I've got a long way to go before anyone puts me on youtube.

[StephenH]

I'm in Garland. I and my son have been slowly learning on a couple of 20" unicycles. I'm mostly just riding around, have a 3 mile loop that I go on near the house. My son and I went around White Rock Lake the other day, taking turns riding unicycle and a 3-wheel cargo trike.

I think I've seen this guy out at WRL twice, although this picture is from the St. Patrick's Day Parade. I've seen one guy out there on a 29" as well (I ride a bike there quite a bit.)

[jason13]

I'm in the DFW area and have never ridden a unicycle. I'd like to give it a try, but not sure I want to spend a ton of money on a unicycle to try it out (in this economy, a ton of money is not that much).

Where in the area can one find used unicycles?

At 5' 10" and 205 lbs, what size unicycle would be best for me to start with?

Given that I could get a unicycle and practice on it, I would definitely be interested in meeting up with others.

Thanks,

Jason

[StephenH]

Jason, if you'll watch Craigslist, you'll see used unicycles pop up every once in a while. You can also find them used on Ebay, although there aren't that many used ones on there, and prices aren't always that cheap considering they're used.

Borrowing one isn't going to tell you much unless you have it for several weeks. I guess there are people that just hop on and take off, but for most of us, it's a learning process and takes a while. You can't really tell how you'll like it until you learn to ride some.

My suggestion for just general riding and learning is a Torker LX. You can get them new off Ebay. I've bought one of them and a CX (which is not recommended) from a seller called "I Sell Low" or something of the sort. They're sturdy enough for me (260 lbs) to do general riding. If you knew you were going to be doing jumps and stuff like that, you'd need to look at something beefier. I'm about 6'-1 1/2". There is a 400mm seatpost and a 300mm seatpost and the 400mm seatpost is just barely short enough for me to ride with. The 20" LX runs about $100 with shipping. Be aware that ALL the Torker models say "Unistar" and so when someone advertises a used Unistar, you don't know which one it is. There is an AX, which is similar to an LX but lighter weight. There is a DX which is a beefier version.

One of the Ebay mail-order places is actually in Plano, but they sell their model for the same price in the store as they do online with shipping, so you don't save a nickle by going up there. I went up and looked at them, and they weren't too impressive.

[psbagumba]

Originally Posted by jason13

Where in the area can one find used unicycles?

Jason - - if you live in Frisco, you can try sitting on top of my DX20. You'll be surprised how hard it is at first. It's a very tough little machine.

Also, I routinely go to star parties (with the Texas Astronomical Society) in Garland and in Richardson at UTD and could spend a half hour with you during one of those trips. I almost always carry a uni to the Garland party.

I've been watching craigslist for a while and it looks like there's not much action. There's a 24 inch DX for sale in Sherman right now but it's got a bent rim and I don't have any idea how bad it is.

That store that StephenH mentioned sells some cheapo Galaxys for about 70 bucks. I had a Galaxy for a while. They're sturdy -and very very easy to ride. Well worth 70 bucks IMHO.

[StephenH]

Hmmm...the place I'm thinking of, I believe it was Bike Island. Only, if you find the street address, it says Bike Island on the side or the back of the building, but then it was some other bicycle shop around on the front. Only now, I'm not finding any unicycles by them on ebay, and Yahoo yellow pages is not pulling up any other bicycle shop near that location. And I'm pretty sure the unicycles there were Gravity brand. Anyway, it's a moot point if they're not selling them any more.

[psbagumba]

Yes, I think it is Bike Island. It's on the SW corner of 75 and Park (I think it's park..might be parker...whichever one is close to Target)

[StephenH]

Yup, that's it. The retail store there is (or was?) Cycle Spectrum. Then around on the south side of the building it said "Bike Island". Their website:
http://cyclespectrum.com/

For some reason, this won't pull up on Yahoo yellow pages, even when you type the name itself it. I assume the store is still up and running.

They list the Gravity brand of bikes on the website, but don't really say if they sell unicycles any more or not.

[The UniSLAB]

Sweet! I didn't know their was actually more people who rode in my area. Well I'm not sure but last I checked the ft. worth Unipsychos still meet every friday night in downtown ft. worth at the court house. If you guys want to go let me know and I'll try and get in touch with everyone.

If anyone here is interested in riding street or trials stuff let me know. I have soooo many spots that I can take you to no matter how good or bad you are I have 2 friends in my neighborhood that have 20's aswell who are still learning but can jump a few stairs on occasion.

Like I said though let me know what you guys can do and if you want to go riding friday just post or PM me. Oh yeah, and feel free to organize a ride sometime....Texas is too big to not have a unicycle convention

[StephenH]

I sent an email to the unipsychos, so we'll see what we get from there.

One problem with getting together is that there's so many different ways to go. I'm basically just riding around right now. The guy on the 36" up there is riding around, too, only he's riding three times as fast as I am so it wouldn't do us much good to get together. And then some of y'all are jumping off picnic tables, some are going up rock piles, some are juggling, etc. So you could get a big group of unicyclists together, but you're liable to have 2 of each kind when it's done.

Anyway, I'm game for a get-together if there's interest- we'll see what else pops up.

[The UniSLAB]

Alright then sounds good. Let me know if you don't get a response from your email, because I can just call Ben and the rest of the guys and make sure their going.

As for the whole mixed unicycles thing, usually when we meet up on fridays theirs a 36er, a couple of 24's, some 20's, and of course gabe on the 16. What we generally do is just ride across town and stop and unicycle at some pretty cool spots. I will warn you though we don't usually meet up until 9:30ish and generally don't leave until 12 or 1 o'clock.

Man I really wish I could go this friday but I have a wedding to go to this weekend I'll help you guys try and get ahold of everyone though if your interested. I highly recommend you guys go as it's always a blast riding through ft. worth and hanging out with everyone of course. Don't forgtet to bring some money b/c the hotdogs at billy minor's aren't cheap! (but their soooo good)

[mcgary]

I'm sitting in my boring 11:30 meeting today and suddenly through
the window I see two
uni riders on Coker V2's come swooping through the parking lot
and out the other side. Nice.