The Wheelies will ride their way into the Chingay parade for the first time, the largest street performance and float parade in Asia. Illuminating the night, forty members from the Wheelies will be performing with their electric unicycles decorated with multi-coloured lights.

 

 

Established in 2013, the Wheelies is a congregation of individuals who share the same interest in wheeling. It is a group comprising of members of all ages, from children as young as 4 years old to seniors ageing as old as seventy-three years old. Priding themselves as specialists in the electric unicycle, the group meets up every weekend to wheel around national parks.

 

 

“Wheeling is about free spirit, where individuals come together for social bonding and to wheel together.” said Thomas Hoon, the founder of the group. The term “Wheeling” stands for riding on an electric unicycle.

 

 

The Wheelies previously participated in local events such as Singapore Night Festival, where they hoped to create awareness that the unicycle is a useful equipment for anyone.

 

 

"The electric unicycle is similar to other recreational wheel sports, like the skateboard and rollerblades," said Thomas. “A lot of us use wheelies as a first mile or last mile transportation.” He hopes that the group will gain exposure through large scale events, and he will be able to promote the electric unicycle not just as a personal transporter but also as something people can have fun with. “You can come up with tricks and test your endurance with this,” he said. Traveling to the MRT is made convenient with this wheeled vehicle, he added.

 

 

In conjunction with this year’s theme “Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore,” the Wheelies will be strapped with multi-coloured lights while performing through the night. Coincidental to the theme, the members of the Wheelies like to decorate their electronic unicycle with lights as part of their interest.

 

 

When asked about the preparation process, the members felt that it was tedious, long and tiring, but also exciting. “There're so many people coming together and each individual has different skill sets, so we need to think of moves and experiment to see if these guys can do the moves we require them to do,” Thomas said. “On top of that, we need to synchronize and make sure there’s a flow to the performance.”

 

 

The group hopes to gain exposure through recognised events like Chingay and expand their name to overseas events. As for local aspects, they will be participating in the upcoming Singapore Night Festival and National Day Parade.

 

 

The Chingay parade will be held on January 19th and 20th at the F1 pit building.