Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
Only giraffes have chains, they are not usually considered suitable
for commuting

They can be. A practical commuting machine needs reasonable gearing.
There are 3 ways to increase the gearing on a unicycle:

1) Get a bigger wheel.

2) Get a unicycle with a hub gear.
e.g. URL:http://www.schlumpf.ch/uni_engl.htm

3) Build a geared up giraffe.
e.g. URL:http://abram.atypedigital.com/2005/photos/projects/giraffe/
(I believe this one is geared up from 20" to 40").

Big wheels are harder to control, particularly with a side wind.
Although I use the Coker (36") when I commute by unicycle, a geared up
26" or 29" would probably be better.

A hub geared yike is probably a better machine for commuting than a
giraffe, simply because it's lower, but a giraffe is easier to build.
It doesn't have to be a high giraffe, it only needs to be a few inches
higher than a standard unicycle.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine