If you want to know how Huni Rex was born, please read my story:
I graduated in Győr Institute of Transportation and Telecommunication Technology (later Széchenyi István University) as mechanical engineer and teacher. Even at that time I already had a registered invention (an icosahedral game, that had unfortunately lived the protype phase only. At that time in Hungary no inventor could stand against Rubik’s Cube). So I vowed not deal with any inventions ever again.
But more than 20 years flew by and… Once I saw some youngsters riding unicycles at Hősök tere (Heroes square of Budapest). I was thinking that however it is a great sport, still, unicycling will never become mass sport. Not because of the extraordinary effort needed to learn how to ride it, but because of another practical point of view. It’s quite slow in comparison with other human driven vehicles like roller, bicycle or even roller skates or skateboard. I immediately started researching different types of unicycles and found some 32’’ and 36’’ wheel size ones what suggested to me that there is an existing need for distance unicycling.
I didn’t want to bother with this idea any more but for some reason I simply could not put the problem out of my mind: a 32’’, even a 36’’ unicycle is cumbersomely big, a real usable one must have transmission as bikes have and, naturally it must be under 26-28’’ wheel size. Most importantly, it must be chain-driven and must have gear. OK, but the wheel has spikes crossing the space between the spindle and the rim, and I simply could not incorporate the pedals with the solid powering of the vehicle.
I was dealing my daily tasks but the problem remained in my mind all the time. To avoid going crazy I tried to keep my brain occupied with other things.
But suddenly – I still remember that moment – the solution simply flashed in my mind. It’s crazy how simple this solution is – and how it could evade my mind earlier. The sense of freedom I felt, as my mind shook off the bands, left me speechless.
Then I was thinking a lot of what to do with this whole thing and finally – against my pledge of twenty years ago, I patented the invention. Finally there are as many as 47 different patents applied worldwide in connection with different parts of Huni Rex. We started the production with a Taiwanese bike company, and finally Huni Rex became a real product out of a dream.
Unfortunately it happened in one of the worst periods of world economy, and the small start-up company was not prepared for the economic crisis Hungary had to face with. By today, the company is a thing of the past.
But not Huni Rex itself. In spite that the company is closed, I refused the idea of destroying the remnant stock, so now anyone can buy from the remnant stock until it lasts.
This is my story. May you have any question regarding Huni Rex, don’t hesitate to address it to me.
Enjoy your rides with your Huni Rex!
Hriszto Dacsev
designer of Huni-Rex