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#1 |
Unicyclist
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Summit County Coloradical
Age: 55
Posts: 809
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Historical 45' Giraffe; Photos
I was just in Grand Junction Colorado for a night this past weekend and was walking Main St. I walked into a bike shop I found because they had a bunch of funky bikes, tandems, and farthings.
I asked if they had unicycles. The sales clerk said "Wow, you're like the third person in two weeks to ask about unicycles, the only one we have is right above me." As she pointed up to the ceiling. I was confused as all I saw above her was (I thought) the fire sprinkler pipes. It wasn't a fire pipe, it was a 45 foot giraffe. It stretched from one end of the store to the other, hung by the ceiling. Turns out there was a semi-famous circus-unicycling family that lived in Grand Junction and they built this unicycle to break the world record. Here is a picture of that record setting ride: ![]() The record held for two months I was told. A museum in Grand Junction held onto the unicycle in peices for many years and was going to throw it out when the bike shop saved it from the landfill and put it on display. A cool piece of Unicycle history that I thought needed documenting here. Some details; The wheel assembly: (20" white wall!) ![]() Wire guides along the length: ![]() How 'bout this seat? Ouch! ![]() ![]() The shop was pretty busy and the guy was trying to find the newspaper articles, but I told him don't worry I would stop in some other day, and they should put it up on their wall. I gave him my email for when he had an electronic version available. I don't know the name of this family, or what year this may have happened. (Pic looks like 60-63?) I'd be curious to know if there is any other mention in any unicycle histories someone may have. ? |
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#2 |
just for exercise
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: NC
Age: 60
Posts: 484
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thanks for sharing. Looks great!
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#3 |
Trialstreet Rider
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 1,373
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thats cool. thanks for the info, very interesting!
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#4 |
Stupidity gets you 2 of these:
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OMFG that is a tall uni and ouch is right!
Anybody know what the record now is?
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Ride everywhere and never just ride anywhere. If you can ride where you are going within a hour, do it, and if you can do a trick 50-75% of the time do it along the way.- Bob Burnquist What's next? Learn2Ride&doTricks TrialsClasses&Building |
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#5 |
Robs World
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Roseville California
Posts: 732
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That seat looks about as comfortable as a Torker Lx seat
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#6 | |
Guinness Mojo
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
Posts: 12,424
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Quote:
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john_childs (att) hotmail (dott) com Team Never Wash Your Muni My Gallery :: Unicycling Bookmark List :: World Clock |
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#7 |
Tailgate at your own risk...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Issaquah, WA USA
Posts: 3,889
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Coolest new RSU thread in a while, and absolutely forum appropriate. Thanks Bondo! Great job on the pictures!
Now we just need our esteemed historians to jump in with some details around the history of the actual ride. I wonder when it happened, and whether T. Miller had anything to do with the construction of the giraffe.
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Tom Blackwood is like a shadowy figure behind a 36" tree... Last edited by tomblackwood; 2007-11-06 at 08:15 AM. |
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#8 | |
Stupid Asian tart riding that thing
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UK
Posts: 1,145
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Quote:
Interestingly the Seb Site lists his record progress, one of which was 45 feet. In 1976. Might it be possible that the shop has his old record breaking unicycle. Or was the record held jointly by him and another? Nao
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The dress in which I unicycled was not THAT short, but in retrospect, I think that maybe the blue one would have been more appropriate to the terrain. |
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#9 | |
Mainly XC Muni
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dartmoor, England
Age: 50
Posts: 2,886
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Quote:
Strange. Rob |
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#10 |
Too insane to be considered human.
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Sydney, Australia
Age: 36
Posts: 13,258
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I'm 1 weird and unusual Greek Cypriot Australian with a pienormous heart. ![]() ![]() |
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#11 | |
Guinness Mojo
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
Posts: 12,424
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Quote:
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john_childs (att) hotmail (dott) com Team Never Wash Your Muni My Gallery :: Unicycling Bookmark List :: World Clock |
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#12 |
Time To Ride
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Brier, WA USA
Age: 58
Posts: 4,240
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I agree, a good find on unicycle history.
One suggestion: Re-size the pics and attach them to a post(s) rather than hot-linking them from photobucket. If the photobucket pics ever go away we've lost the pics forever in RSU.
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Steve Hop Drop & Roll “If something is too hard to do, then it's not worth doing. You just stick that guitar in the closet next to your shortwave radio, your karate outfit and your unicycle and we'll go inside and watch TV.” – Homer |
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#13 |
Unicyclist
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: The skinny part of Idaho
Age: 30
Posts: 10,606
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So...is it for sale?
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#14 | |
North Shore ridin'
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: El Dorado Hills, CA
Age: 56
Posts: 16,900
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Quote:
That year he also had a 16-footer (blue) along. Both of these giraffes could be assembled at 16' or 22'. That 16-footer was the tallest unicycle I ever intend to ride. Later Tom made a third one, for Constance Cotter. She rode it in a big promotional event at the Mall of America to set the world record for the tallest unicycle ridden by a woman. I think this was part of a promotion for the release of the new Nintendo game, UniRacers, and I think this was in 1992. I never heard of the unicycle and record in the thread title, and it doesn't resemble any of Tom Miller's work (plus he never mentioned it). Sem rode his in 1976 or 77, at 45'. That unicycle is probably still in Suriname, where it was ridden. Brett Shockley, from Minnesota, rode a unicycle of around 50' in a similar timeframe, and I don't think there were any more attempts until Sem's next record, at 72' in 1980. The Guinness World Records museum that used to be in the Empire State Building in NY had Steve McPeak's 41' unicycle, also from the mid-70s. This one holds the record for highest unicycle ever ridden on a tightwire (40' up!).
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John Foss www.unicycling.com "The miracle is this: the more we share, the more we have." -- Leonard Nimoy |
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#15 | |
Guinness Mojo
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
Posts: 12,424
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Quote:
I have never, and will never, ride a tall tall giraffe. I also have never, and will never, ride any sort of unicycle on a tightwire. So I'm unaware of the actual challenges and issues involved. Would it have been easier for Sem to ride the 115' unicycle if it was on a tightwire just 1' off the ground?
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john_childs (att) hotmail (dott) com Team Never Wash Your Muni My Gallery :: Unicycling Bookmark List :: World Clock |
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