Gage Sweeney is a passionate individual who is part of the Electric Unicycle (EUC) community. While Sweeney is relatively new to EUC culture, he’s deeply involved in it and open to share his views and enthusiasm about this captivating new form of transportation.
Ace Jakeman: Would you mind explaining to me what an EUC is?
Gage Sweeney: In the community, we actually get this a lot. An EUC is the abbreviated term for electric unicycle. Basically, it is a self-balancing wheel unicycle. I like to describe it as a unicycle with an electric motor.
Why do you personally like the EUC?
I like it because it’s kind of a new kind of hobby, a new world of transportation per se. It’s a new kind of way of getting around.
How would you describe EUC? Is it a big community, a growing community?
It’s definitely a newer thing. So it’s quite a small community, and it’s not a well-known thing. I just go on the trails around my house and I probably get 20, 30 heads looking at me every time I go out on it because it’s such a new thing and people are like, “What is that?” But of course, with the Internet, you can always find communities of people that have the same interests and liking to you.
What’s the recommended equipment that you would have for an EUC?
It’s technically just like a motorcycle. I would 100 per cent wear a helmet. I would wear gloves and wrist guards if you have them, like kneepads and elbow pads. A really smart person would go full-geared up because if you crash — some of these things can go 70 km/h, 80km/h. I heard of a guy who has even hit 100 on them!
Would you say an EUC should be considered safe on a sidewalk?
It’s a controversial thing because sidewalks you’re only supposed to go 20km/h on. And EUCs are kind of in that grey area — should you ride on the road, should you go on the sidewalk? It’s such a new thing. Personally, I think as long as you’re riding it safely, it’s fine because it’s just another method of transportation, of having fun, of getting around, just have a bell on you and be mindful of pedestrians.
Where can you get an EUC?
If you were to want to buy a brand new one, you could go online and there’s several stores that sell them. Or if you can find the odd second-hand on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji, that’s where I found mine.
Do you think there is any ability to ride an EUC year-round in Calgary?
The first thing that came to my mind was absolutely not and it’s probably still absolutely not. With the snow, ice, it’s one wheel and not nearly as stable as a bicycle. You could probably get away with it most of the year, but not year-round.
Let’s say somebody wants to start and wants to get one, are there any tools, tricks or certain models of an EUC you’d recommend to them to start out with?
We have a community called YYC Scootgang. In the summer, we do events every month or we do a learner event and it’s to bring some of the most basic EUCs you can get on the market and ones that don’t even go to 50 kilometres. Of course, there’s definitely learner models out there where you can start from ones that go less than 20 km/h to some bigger ones that go up to 35 km/h.
Are there any negative aspects to an EUC?
Oh yeah, 110 per cent It’s unfortunately, just like anything else, there’s got to be negative aspects. The very first one that’s probably the most obvious one, is crashing. It is such a different thing and it is such a learning curve compared to a car, a motorcycle, bikes or anything at one wheel. I love the community that is surrounding it. So I would say that technically and presumably you can look at positive aspects way more than the negative ones.
Do you think that a lot of people may get an EUC to join this growing community?
Yeah, I’m being honest. I was by the Peace Bridge a couple months ago and I saw a guy on this thing and I was like, “Yo, that’s so cool.” And I want to try it out. So I bought one. You don’t have to have a license, registration, insurance, anything, you can commute these things to and from work every day if you live in the city and that’s what a lot of people naturally do.
Editor’s note: This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.