Unicycle

The fat wheeled eniCycle, the stylish and graceful U3 from Honda or the slightly scary prospect of the UnoMoto have all shared more in common than being one-wheeled, self-balancing personal transport solutions. They've all had somewhere for the user to sit. Inventist's Solowheel is a little different – you ride this electric unicycle standing upright, like a Segway or skateboard. It has a useful carry handle and fold-away foot platforms, is gyro-stabilized and the Li-ion batteries offer a range of about 12 miles between charges. Read More

We’ve seen a few vehicle designs that have had a crack at bringing the unicycle out of the circus and onto the street, such as the self-balancing eniCycle, the UnoMoto, the EMBRIO and Honda’s U3-X. Here's a very different approach. Although it is a one wheeled motorized vehicle, there's nothing self-balancing about the FlyRad – the design requires the rider to wear a pair of inline skates while they sit, stand or simply get dragged along. Read More

Bombardier's concept for a one-wheeled self-balancing motorcycle-like vehicle called the EMBRIO has been a long time Gizmag favorite. It was envisioned as the type of personal transportation that people might be using 20 years from now. Well, if 21 year-old inventor Ben Gulak has his way, consumers will be able to buy a similar vehicle a lot sooner. His battery electric Uno may look like a regular motorbike at higher speeds, but when it slows down, the wheels realign themselves into a side-by-side configuration – seen in profile, it looks like a unicycle. We caught up with Ben to get the latest news on the project. Read More

A self-balancing unicycle experimental vehicle from Honda to be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show next month might just be history in the making. Weighing less than 10kg, the 24 by 12 by 6-inch U3-X experimental vehicle runs for an hour, is small enough to be carried onto an airplane as hand luggage, has a wheel which spins in two planes and is set to challenge, perhaps even change, society’s concept of personal mobility. Read More

The eniCycle is the latest entry in the increasingly crowded self-stabilizing electric unicycle market. Developed by Slovenian inventor Aleksander Polutnik, the eniCycle has Segway-like balancing capabilities but only a single wheel. With its three-hour battery and lean-to-go controls, this diminutive one-wheeler prototype brings Jetsons-type technology one step closer to reality. Read More

While the unicycle could never be accused of being the most practical form of transport, one or two designs that have emerged in recent years (like the Unomoto and Bombadier's Embrio concept) have identified the potential of combining self-balancing technology with a format that is, well, inherently unbalanced. Known as the electric self-balancing unicycle or SBU, this new incarnation from Focus Designs makes the challenge 50% easier by incorporating a system of accelerometers and gyroscopes to control the forward and backward balance, leaving the rider to concentrate mainly on sideways movement. The other big difference from the traditional design is that there are no pedals or crank arms, just footrests to help balance while you glide along at up to 8mph while controlling speed by leaning forward and backwards. Read More

This hydrogen fuel cell powered, gyroscopically balanced, one-wheeled recreational and commuting vehicle provides an extraordinary vision of the kind of personal transport we could be using 20 years from now. Read More