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A monowheel is a one-wheeled vehicle similar to a unicycle. However, instead of sitting above the wheel, the rider sits within it. The wheel is a ring driven by smaller wheels pressing against its inner rim. Pedal-powered monowheels were built in the late 1800s; most built in the 20th century have been motorized.

Monowheels have never caught on as a mode of transportation, mainly due to difficulties in handling. As there is only one wheel, the rider must lean towards his intended direction of travel to turn, and then recentralise his weight once the turn is complete. Another problem of the Monowheel is that if one accelerates or brakes too harshly, it is possible that the force applied overcomes the force of gravity keeping the rider at the bottom of the wheel, sending the rider rotating round the inside of the wheel. For example, if the rider brakes too harshly, he may lock the frame and wheel together, thus rotating with the wheel; this can be very dangerous. There are visibility issues too, the rider is always facing the inner rim of the wheel, which can obstruct oncoming hazards.

There were many proposals for variants or uses that were even more impractical than the basic vehicle, such as a horse-drawn monowheel or a monowheel tank.

Appearances in fiction

• Iain Banks' book Against a Dark Background contains a rare instance of a monowheel as an important feature of a fictional work.
• In the Steamboy Japanese anime movie, Ray Steam, the protagonist of the story uses a steam-powered monowheel early in the movie.
• Also, in the Gantz manga, one of the equipments provided by Gantz to the "players" (but introduced only later in the story) is a very fast kind of motorized monowheel (the Gantz Bike), used to evade the aliens in a mission.
• A monowheel was used briefly in a scene by General Grievous when battling Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
• The device referred to by the title of the South Park episode The Entity is a gyroscope-propelled monowheel with a rather uncomfortable user interface.
• In the Australian Reality TV show Push the Limit a monowheel challenge ended in tears when contestant Kate Siopis fractured her wrist.

External links

• Channel 4's Scrapheap Challenge page on the Monowheel
• History of the monowheel

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