The impossible wheel, also known as the BC wheel (after the comic strip B.C.), represents the most basic type of unicycle, consisting of a single, spoked wheel with pegs extending from the axle. The rider mounts the wheel by jumping onto it while in motion or by putting one foot onto one plate or peg and pushing along like a skateboard.
This device has no drivetrain, so when forward inertia runs out due to gravity and friction, the ride ends. Newer BC wheels use plates which hang below the axle instead of pegs in line with the axle. This makes them easier to ride since the center of gravity is lower.
The unicycling community favors the term BC wheel because the device is not actually impossible to ride; proficiency can be gained with a few hours of practice. Tricks, such as hopping, drops, grinds, and spins, are possible.
Famous quotes containing the words impossible and/or wheel:
“It is impossible to dissociate language from science or science from language, because every natural science always involves three things: the sequence of phenomena on which the science is based; the abstract concepts which call these phenomena to mind; and the words in which the concepts are expressed. To call forth a concept, a word is needed; to portray a phenomenon, a concept is needed. All three mirror one and the same reality.”
—Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794)
“A wheel that can be turned though nothing else moves with it, is not a part of the mechanism.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)