OFFICERS the Unicycling Society PRESIDENTS EMERirus 1988 - 89 Bernard Crandall PRESIDENI' Paul Fox of America, Inc. Aims: Brett Shockley John Foss Jan Layne VICE~ PRES IDEN!' To foster social and athletic interest in and promote the Tom Miller · Constance Schleck healthy, wholesome sport of unicycling among youth and Glenn Barnie( adults of the country by extablishing voluntary standards Jim Bursell Kenneth Fuchs SECREI'ARY of performance and sponsoring and overseeing local and Gordon Mitton Jan Layne national meets. Len Salverda TREASURER To disseminate knowledge and information on all phases of Seth Granberry Karen Messamer t~e sport to all interested parties throughout the country MEE!' DIRECTOR via a newsletter and information service CHARTER MEWlERS Seth Granberry Bernard Crandall Paul Fox SOCIEI'Y DIRECI'ORS Nancy Fox Floyd Crandall Peter Hangach James Green Patricia Herron Orland Reynolds Bill Jenack Gordon Kruse HISTORIAN Steve McPeak COVER: Fr. James Moran Charlotte Fox Rogers Dr. Miles S. Rogers O'.)VER The 1989 NUM ended on a high note with a demon­ Charlotte Fox Rogers David Brichford Andy Rubel stration by SEM and TERESA ABRAHAMS. The cover Dr. Claude Shannon EDITORIAL STAFF photo was taken by David Brichford during this Jim Smith Carol Brichford Dr. Jack Wiley Curt Morgan demonstration and illustrates just one of the Len Salverda many acrobatic maneuvers this young couple CIROJI..ATION incorporates in their routine. They perform Carol Brichford professionally around the world; and during their Karen Messamer leisure time they utilize their many other talents Connie Schleck to advance unicycling both in quality and quantity. !:JRITERS It is because of their diligence that U.S.A. is see O'.)N1'ENl'S now able to offer the Levels Video (see article, this issue) ACVERTISING INFORMATIO~ Cost for caTEra-rea::ly 'I I full page ...... $40 Send news about yourself or your club; articles about unicyclists, unicycling, half page ...... $25 or related arts; or previously published quarter page ... $15 material (with written consent for repro­ duction with credit) to: CONTENTS: R:iglts reservErl cy lEA, Ire. Unicycling Society of America, Inc. ON ONE WHEEL P.O. Box 40534 WHO WAS THE FIRST UNICYCLIST? Redford, MI 48240 by Charlotte Fox Rogers (U.S.A. Historian) ....... 3-4 Send all inquiries, membership renewals, CYCOLOGIST - Editor, CURT MORGAN merchandise orders, etc. to: COrifessioris of a Champion 'Spiller' by V. Tarrant Unicycling Society of America, Inc. '89 NUM: Goin' Mobile in 'Barna TREASURER Zen and the Art of Unicycle Maintenance P.O. Box 40534 1989 NUM in pictures - a collage Redford, MI 48240 From the Police Blotter - A-Maxes-ing Chris ney Don't Call England "Merrye' For Nothing! Official publication of the Unicycling Society of America, Inc. Membership Ride Well or Starve! by Ken Woods fee of $10.00 ($15.00 - foreign) includes Balmer, MD, Hosts Unicycling Jugglers four newsletters. Memberships run from Spokes Speak October 1 through September 30. LETI'ERS FROM OUR MEMBERS ............................. 13 We are not responsible for articles and pictures unless accompanied by a request THE 1989 NUM - an overview ........................... 14 for their return and a self-addressed, THE UNICYCLISTS' VIDEO BIBLE by Karen Messamer ....... 15 stamped envelope. Please include same CALENDAR and CLASSIFIED .......•...................... 16 with any inquiries requiring a reply. B&l.D'f ....................•............... separate page All views expressed in this newsletter are ORDER and MEMBERSHIP RENEW& FORM ......... outer wrapper those of the respective authors. They are not necessarily those of members or officers of the Unicycling Society of America, Inc. XVI , no. 1 - ON ONE WHEEL - will feature CLUBS! ! ! WOOD Reproduction or use of the material in this ONE WHEELERS and their class successes, various school newsletter without the express permission of .the Unicycling Society of America, Inc. clubs, Redford's MINI-MEET, SUPERCYCLES and their rebirth, is prohibited. and YOUR club if you send info and pictures to OOW Editor P.O. Box 40534, Redford, MI 48240 WHO WAS THE FIRST UNICYCLIST? and Margaret Stuart. by Charlotte Fox Rogers @1989 The first two-wheeled vehicle propelled by U.S.A., Inc. Historian its rider was probably the Hobby Horse demonstrated in Paris in ( Manuel Ojanguren, who joined the Unicycling 1791 by its builder, Society of America, Inc. in 1987, has written Count de Sivrac. A to me from the University of Lausaririe in Hobby Horse, or CelJrifere 1 Switzerland to ask whether my knowledge of had two equal-sized, the history of unicycling includes the name wooden-spoked, front and of the first unicyclist. hack wheels; a heavy, wooden frame which might be trimmed in I used to think it did. In 1965 a member of front with a carved horse' s head; and a WONDER.WHEELS brought me a tiny newspaper seat. There were no pedals, and the rider clipping announcing the death in Colorado of moved the Hobby Horse by pushing the ground Lou Lacher, a vaudeville performer who claimed to have invented the unicycle before 1900. with one foot and then the other. However, as Jack Wiley pointed out in the In 1817 Baron von Drais de Souerbrun, an "On One Wheel" chapter of his 1973 The Unicy­ educated and very creative German forest cle Book, Lacher was only one of several master, built an improved Hobby House men who considered himself the inventor of which he called a Draisienne. It included the unicycle or the first stage unicyclist. a padded seat and an arm Others mentioned in The Unicycle Book and/ rest, handlebars having or Wiley's 1984 The CoWJ?lete Book of Unicy­ not yet been invented. cling are John Hobby, a Californian named It could travel faster Ahrens," George M. Hendee, Sebastian Merrill than a walking man. Neuhausen, Nick R. Kauffman, William Dinwidle, Hobby Horses spread to Howard Seely, and "the father of Albert H. other European countries Minting." G. Strehly, whose 1903 book, and America, with a 60-pound lady's model L'Acrobatie et Les Acrobates was brought to produced in England in 1818. Interest in my attention by Mr. Ojanguren, thought that the clumsy machines had waned by 1839, the unicycle was invented. by an Italian, when a Scottish Engineer named Kirkpatrick Alfredo Scuri. Macmillan devised the first Push-Bike. Wiley concluded that several people might With Macmillan's bike, the rider's feet have discovered the technique of unicycle pushed treadles near the front wheel riding independently at different times, which operated levers most likely through accidents in riding the and cranks directly con­ Penny-Farthing, an early nected to the axle of the machine which bicycle his­ rear wheel. Macmillan torian David Gordon Wilson replaced the arm rest asserts was originally and with a straight handlebar. more properly called an The first person to attach pedals to the Ordinary. front wheel of a bicycle is thought to I think you will understand the evolution of have been a French mechanic, Pierre Michaux, the unicycle if I make a little detour to whose pedal-driven Velocipede had appeared describe the development of the bicycle, by 1861 and was displayed at the Paris summarizing information in books and articles Exposition of 1867. Quantity production_ by Wiley, Strehly, Wilson, Philip Sumner, of the new bicycle was- diverted to Coventry, ... FIRST UNICYCLIST? cont'd issue of On One Wheel. [Vol. XIV, No. 3] The early unicycles combined the Ordinary's England, when France went to large wheel with a short seat post, a war with Germany in 1870. configuration repeated in Wally Watts' <-----Michaux Bicycle vehicles for his long-distance rides a century later; but the 20 inch rear wheel Improvements such as rubber tires, wire spokes, of the Bayliss-Thomas Ordinary is now a ball bearings, and back wheel brakes were standard unicycle size. added during the next two decades. The first lightweight, all-metal bicycle with tension­ The monocycle, in which the spoked wheels was James Starley's Ariel in rider was seated inside rather 1870. than above the wheel, appears to have been invented by the The Ordinary (or Penny-Farthing, or High­ 1860s (see Wiley's books) but Wheeler) was invented by Monsieur Magee of never became very popular Paris in 1869 and rapidly became popular with though improved models continued to appear young, athletic men. Its novel design, with for a hundred years. a large front wheel and small rear wheel, presented a challenge to the rider and made Krupinsky credited "a Frenchman named higher speeds possible. A Bayliss-Thomas Aue Coucett" with the first stage act on Ordinary bicycle of 1879 had a front wheel one wheel in 1898. This seems too late, 55 inches in diameter and a rear wheel 20 however, since Strehly wrote about Alfredo inches in diameter, though other sizes were Scuri's performance in 1881, describing him made for riders of various heights. This as "the first acrobatic cyclist really wheel configuration has become associated in worthy of attention." Strehly concluded our minds with the concept "early bicycle," that even though it looked easy, it required though the Ordinary was preceded and followed several ,months for an accomplished bicyclist by models with more evenly sized wheels. to become a master of the unicycle. He mentioned a "large number of excellent A problem with the performers" on the unicycle whom he had Ordinary was that it had observed on the Parisian scene between 188{ a tendency to pitch forward and 1903. on uneven ground, when a large pebble was run over, Public curiosity demanded more complex .~: _ ___ when children thrust sticks entertainment, and troupes of several - ------· between the front wheel unicycling men, women, and children were '"- --· -=:- spokes, or when interference formed. The French Troupe, led by "The was caused by cows wandering onto rutted cycle Great Harry French," was performing roads.