Daughter's first unicycle

"Danny Colyer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I picked up a 12" unicycle yesterday, which Jenny will be getting for her
4th birthday. She loves purple, so I've decorated it with purple
holographic tape. I think she'll love this:
<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/z-DSCF0005.JPG>

That is *excellent*. If she doesn't like it, can I have it, please?

Cheers, helen s

wafflycat said:

Quoted message said:

<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/z-DSCF0005.JPG>

That is *excellent*. If she doesn't like it, can I have it, please?

Oh, I don't think there's too much danger of that. It's a unicycle,
like Daddy's, and it's purple. What more could a little girl want[1]?

I can't even offer you first refusal when she grows out of it. A friend
of mine whose first baby is due in March commented back in September how
convenient it would be that she'd be looking for a first unicycle around
the time that Jenny would be growing out of hers...

[1] Apart from a dolls house, which she has been obsessed with since one
of her friends got one for her birthday just after Christmas. Grandma's
bought her a fairy castle, which will hopefully suffice.

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in message <[email hidden]>, Danny

Colyer (') said:

I picked up a 12" unicycle yesterday, which Jenny will be getting for
her 4th birthday. She loves purple, so I've decorated it with purple
holographic tape. I think she'll love this:
<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/z-DSCF0005.JPG>

I've never had a machine with a radial spoked wheel :-)

Frustratingly, according to the leg measurement that I took a few weeks
ago she's still got a fair bit of growing to do before her legs will be
long enough to ride it. But she wanted a unicycle, and at least now
she'll have one ready to learn on when her legs are long enough.

A little work with an anglegrinder on the seatpost might make it usable
sooner, Shirley?

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

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;; -- Minke Bouyed

Simon Brooke said:

A little work with an anglegrinder on the seatpost might make it usable
sooner, Shirley?

Or make it an ultimate wheel...

...d

Simon Brooke suggested:

Quoted message said:

A little work with an anglegrinder on the seatpost might make it usable
sooner, Shirley?

At present the bottom of the seatpost is protruding from the bottom of
the tube, just missing the tyre. There's about 2cm of seatpost sticking
out at the top of the tube. So, I could get it about 2cm lower if I cut
that much off the bottom of the seatpost. I should be able to do that
with a pipe cutter (which I have in my toolbox), so no need to acquire
an angle grinder. I was planning to do that anyway, but not until after
I've given the unicycle to Jenny.

I could get it lower still by shortening the main tube (in fact, Roger
at <URL:http://www.unicycle.uk.com/> offered to do that for me when I
asked him about it a year or so ago). But I decided I'd rather not.

FWIW, Jenny's inside leg measurement is about 14.5". Roger reckons this
unicycle needs a minimum 18" without major modification, and that he
could get it down to 14" by cutting the frame. So, a fair bit of
growing still to do!

I know it'll probably be over a year before she's grown enough to ride
it, but this birthday is a convenient one to buy a unicycle for. We'll
probably get her a bike next year (no point this year, she's barely tall
enough to ride her Lidl like-a-Like-a-Bike). And she /does/ want a
unicycle.

--
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"Danny Colyer" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

FWIW, Jenny's inside leg measurement is about 14.5". Roger reckons this
unicycle needs a minimum 18" without major modification, and that he could
get it down to 14" by cutting the frame. So, a fair bit of growing still
to do!

That time will fly by. Honest!

Cheers, helen s

Danny Colyer said:

Simon Brooke suggested:

Quoted message said:

A little work with an anglegrinder on the seatpost might make it usable
sooner, Shirley?

I should be able to do that with a pipe cutter

Personally, I just used a hacksaw last time I wanted to shorten a
unicycle seatpost. Less noise than an angle-grinder, less work than a
pipe-cutter (assuming it's what I think it is).

regards, Ian SMith
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Quoted message said:

Personally, I just used a hacksaw last time I wanted to shorten a
unicycle seatpost. Less noise than an angle-grinder, less work than a
pipe-cutter (assuming it's what I think it is).

We use a pipe cutter at work to shorten seat posts. A lot quicker and
less messy than the hacksaw. Get a neater, straighter line too. I
should mention it's not a plumbers pipe cutter but one designed for
harder steel pipes.

TR

PS. Love the unicycle.

Ian Smith said:

Personally, I just used a hacksaw last time I wanted to shorten a
unicycle seatpost. Less noise than an angle-grinder, less work than a
pipe-cutter (assuming it's what I think it is).

It probably isn't what you think it is, then :-P

I used it to shorten one of my Coker seatposts (it came with 3
seatposts, in different lengths, but after fitting shorter cranks I
discovered that the medium length seatpost was too short and the long
one was too long). Much less work than a hacksaw.

This is the sort of thing I mean:
<URL:http://www.ted-kyte.com/3D/Pictures/Pipe%20Cutter.jpg>

The shiny bit near the bottom left is a cutting disk, much like you'd
find on a can opener. The pipe goes between the rollers and the cutting
disk, then the screw is tightened until the cutting disk is just
pressing into the seatpost. Run the cutter round the seatpost once,
tighten slightly further and repeat. The result is a quick, neat cut.

--
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Danny Colyer said:

Ian Smith said:

Personally, I just used a hacksaw last time I wanted to shorten a
unicycle seatpost. Less noise than an angle-grinder, less work than a
pipe-cutter (assuming it's what I think it is).

It probably isn't what you think it is, then :-P

This is the sort of thing I mean:
<URL:http://www.ted-kyte.com/3D/Pictures/Pipe%20Cutter.jpg>

Yep, taht's exactly what I thought. And in teh same colour scheme as
mine. In fact, the modeller may well have sneaked into my garage and
copied mine to produce teh model (the only immediately apparent
difference being mine has less red paint left).

Quoted message said:

The shiny bit near the bottom left is a cutting disk, much like you'd
find on a can opener. The pipe goes between the rollers and the cutting
disk, then the screw is tightened until the cutting disk is just
pressing into the seatpost. Run the cutter round the seatpost once,
tighten slightly further and repeat. The result is a quick, neat cut.

I don't find it particularly quick or easy, except on very soft or
thin material (eg, copper pipe). I'd still prefer to stick the post
in the vice and hacksaw it. I agree that when it works happily it
gives a neat cut, but I'd not turn to it as my tool-of-choice on
fairly thick wall steel.

regards, Ian SMith
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|o o|
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Thats what ours looks like to except the paint job is dark blue and the
black knob replaced by a metal one.

TR

Ian Smith wrote on Tuesday 17 January 2006 22:25:

Quoted message said:

Danny Colyer said:

Ian Smith said:

Personally, I just used a hacksaw last time I wanted to shorten a
unicycle seatpost. Less noise than an angle-grinder, less work
than a pipe-cutter (assuming it's what I think it is).

It probably isn't what you think it is, then :-P

This is the sort of thing I mean:
<URL:http://www.ted-kyte.com/3D/Pictures/Pipe%20Cutter.jpg>

Yep, taht's exactly what I thought. And in teh same colour scheme as
mine. In fact, the modeller may well have sneaked into my garage and
copied mine to produce teh model (the only immediately apparent
difference being mine has less red paint left).

Quoted message said:

The shiny bit near the bottom left is a cutting disk, much like
you'd
find on a can opener. The pipe goes between the rollers and the
cutting disk, then the screw is tightened until the cutting disk is
just
pressing into the seatpost. Run the cutter round the seatpost once,
tighten slightly further and repeat. The result is a quick, neat
cut.

I don't find it particularly quick or easy, except on very soft or
thin material (eg, copper pipe). I'd still prefer to stick the post
in the vice and hacksaw it. I agree that when it works happily it
gives a neat cut, but I'd not turn to it as my tool-of-choice on
fairly thick wall steel.

regards, Ian SMith

They make them in much bigger sizes than that - I've cut 3" steel water
pipe with them, many, many times as a lad who got the horrible jobs.
--
Regards
Alex
The From address above is a spam-trap.
The Reply-To address is valid

Danny Colyer said:

I picked up a 12" unicycle yesterday, which Jenny will be getting for
her 4th birthday. She loves purple, so I've decorated it with purple
holographic tape. I think she'll love this:
<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/z-DSCF0005.JPG>

Quoted message said:

I've never had a machine with a radial spoked wheel :-)

Quoted message said:

Frustratingly, according to the leg measurement that I took a few weeks
ago she's still got a fair bit of growing to do before her legs will be
long enough to ride it.

My legs were at least an inch too short for my first bike, so my Dad
screwed thick blocks of wood across the pedals. It was highly
motivating when I was learning to ride, because I could only get on
the bike to start moving by standing on something like a park seat or
low garden wall, so when I fell off I had to keep walking until I
found a mounting place.

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IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Danny Colyer said:

I picked up a 12" unicycle yesterday, which Jenny will be getting for
her 4th birthday. She loves purple, so I've decorated it with purple
holographic tape. I think she'll love this:
<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/z-DSCF0005.JPG>

Oooooh, my mother bought be a SJS unicycle for Christmas. I'm up to
about 4 metres along the side of the house touching one wall, but have
dreams of the open road :-) I'm sure she'll be far more proficient than
me by year end.

And yes I can juggle...(PhD life skill)

regards,
daren
--
remove outer garment for reply

TrailRat said:

Thats what ours looks like to except the paint job is dark blue and the
black knob replaced by a metal one.

I don't own one, but if I were to buy one I'd defintely want it in
green.

-dan

wafflycat said:

That time will fly by. Honest!

You said it! Now looking up to Mark, and it seems like five minutes
since I was cradling him in my arms. Sigh!

--
Dave...

daren said:

Oooooh, my mother bought be a SJS unicycle for Christmas.

I think you need to provide a picture of it in your kitchen.

Quoted message said:

And yes I can juggle...(PhD life skill)

But not yet on the unicycle, I'm guessing ;-)

Tip: It's easier to juggle while bunnyhopping than while pedalling (IMO,
anyway).

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