Trials Unicycling

Trails Unicycling takes it roots from bike trials and involves traversing over/between either natural or urban obstacles. In the urban environment obstacles often include, walls, ledges, railings and other street furniture are often used; in the rural environment rocks and boulders are used.

Unicycle trials competitions take place on specially constructed courses. Riders are given sections to clear and a penalised for not following the correct route or for touching the ground with any part of their body. The obstacles are often constructed from a mixture of natural and manmade materials. These are set in to distinct section often separated by several meters. The most common construction material is wooden pallets.

Trials unicycles are the toughest of all unicycles. They have 19" mod tyres, ISIS hubs, wide box section rims and strong frames. The unicycles often have longer cranks than are seen in flatland or street. The Impact Gravity is a good example of a trials unicycle with its pressure formed frame.

Street Unicycling

The aim of Street Unicycling is to use natural/urban structures or specially made obstacles to perform tricks on. When these are conducted as part of a competition it is restricted to set area and the scores are issued for technical proficiency, style and creativity. Skate parks are often used as the basis for competition spaces. Street unicycling draws inspiration from skateboarding and flatland bmx.

Although the most common unicycle used for Street Unicycling is the 19" trials unicycle you will see riders using 20" freestyle unicycles with light weight large tyres such as the Nimbus Equinox or 24/26" lightweight Muni unicycles.

Flatland Unicycling

Flatland Unicycling can be seen as a crossover between freestyle Unicycling and Street Unicycling. Tricks are always performed on a flat surface. The riders are encouraged to perform combinations of tricks on the unicycle without touching the ground. These do not always include the cranks or pedals but include the wheel.

Flatland has developed from a predominately static display of tricks in to a more flowing array of complex moves that flow in to each other smoothly. Tricks often include jumps and flips of the wheel.

Flatland Unicycling is performed on a unicycle that is similar to those used in Trials and Street Unicycling but with shorter cranks and made as light as possible.

When competitions take place they are often set up as battles with each rider being given 15 seconds to perform each trick.

For more information Unicycles for these disciplines check out: impactunicycles.com. All these events can be seen at Union events.