Post a picture of your unicycle and Review it

[saskatchewanian]

Custom Triton with fat 29 and skinny 32" wheels
Top to bottom:
Saddle: KH Fusion Freeride foam on a UDC Carbon Fibre base, fitted with T-nuts and custom handle mount.
Handle: Pieced together from a brake mount, KH seatpost, postclamp, back T from a T7, bar ends.
Clamp: Woodman quick release.
Frame: Custom titanium frame built by Triton. Used the design of the triple mount frame, added 20mm in height, lost the 24" Magura mounts and added disk mounts for MountainUni disk brake system.

29" wheel
Hub: Nimbus 48h ISIS hub
Cranks: Qu-Ax 145mm cranks
Pedals: Snafu pedals
Spokes: 32 Wheelsmith 14g with alloy nipples
Rim: Umma II 29x50mm 32h drilled
Tire: "frankenler" two WTB Prowler 29x2.1s sewn together = 29x3.2
Tube: generic 26" DH tube.

32" wheel
Hub: Nimbus 48h ISIS hub
Cranks: Qu-Ax 114mm cranks
Pedals: Magnesium "Jim Cielencki" Trail Mix with extra long pins
Spokes: 32 2-piece spokes made from regular short spokes joined by 12mm brass nipples to double threaded spoke sections. DT Champion 14g
Rim: 36" Nimbus SE rim drilled and "shrunk" to 700mm BSD
Tire: 2x generic 24x1.75" tires cut and spliced together
Tube: Generic 700C

Everything has accumulated over time. I don't think I got more than two things in the same place. UDC, municycle.ca, Bedford Unicycles, various bike shops (special props to City Park Cycle and Bike Universe in Saskatoon and Speedway Cycles in Anchorage), online shops, Canadian tire, various trades and buys from a few forum members, and stuff I just found laying around.

Review:

In both configurations the unicycle is surprisingly light. 5.89 kg in 32" mode and 6.35 kg as a fat 29. The frame is the backbone of this unicycle and is awesome. Very stiff and fairly light.

This thing is hand welded and custom built. I was a bit worried about having such a wide crown so high up but it has not been a issue. I can feel it a bit when spinning away on small cranks with my legs almost strait but never when riding MUni. The only minor gripe I have is that you need to put the bearing caps back on exactly the way they came off since the bolt holders are welded on and if you put the wrong one on the wrong side it binds a bit.

Fat 29

As a fat 29 it is absolutely awesome on semi-harpack snow and loose gravel. Floats over mud and has surprisingly good road manners. I think that this is going to be a great XC machine come summer time and is going to be a lot of fun. I have had the wheel for over a year and it has held up amazingly well. I have banged the rim into the ground a few times and it is still perfectly true and round.

A fat 29 does put you pretty high and gives you a pretty tall gear so it is not ideal for really technical stuff and branches can get in the way. I started out with 165/137 cranks with the big tire this winter and it was the first time that 165s didn't feel just that little bit too long. 137 is great for cruising around or smooth trails but not that good for off-road riding. Switched to 145s since I wasn't riding in deep snow much and they are a nice in-between size.

I have been thinking about adding a reinforcing strip of fabric around the inside of the tire but don't want to wreck the awesome feel it currently has.

There is an almost-clone to this thing in Germany or Russia somewhere...

32" wheel

This is something that I have been wanting to make since the rim got broken in a car accident before I could even build it into a wheel. I never expected it to turn out this good so didn't do as good of a job on a few things as I should have.

In short this wheel just feels classy. I sort of feel I should be wearing a top hat and a coat with tails riding this thing. It is incredibly light, smooth, and responsive. It climbed incredibly well and did much better than anticipated on gravel and sliced through loose slush very well. The 1.75 tire at a fairly low 30 PSI seemed like it was enough tire to keep the ride nice and smooth both on the pavement and the gravel while staying really fast rolling and moderately light.

The 114s feel a bit long on this wheel. I am going to try some 100s and see how they feel. I had one spoke connection slip on my last ride leaving me with one loose spoke and a slightly off wheel. I am going to get some 16mm brass nipples to replace the 12mm ones used as connectors and re-build the wheel. I used really cheep 24" tires to make the tire and made a couple little mistakes splicing them together. I will keep riding it for now but will probably build up a much nicer road tire this summer.


I am also eventually going to build my geared hub into a 26" version of the rim I have on the 29 (but with 36h) which I think will be perfectly adequate to hold a 26x3.8" Larry tire or any "regular" MUni tire. All the wheels will be fitted with MountainUni disk brakes on SINZ cranks in the near future and I will be able to use that calliper mount on the frame.

I am looking forward to being able to change wheels without having to move the brake, and having a brake that I don't need the tire to be deflated to get past the pads.


I am extremely happy about this unicycle. There is always something that needs tweaking but that is the nature of custom and hand-made equipment. Getting these things together how you want them is almost as fun as riding them. They are truly functional pieces of art.

[tstessney]

love that 29er tire.

[knoxuni]

eric you have the most amazing rides!

[raymanh]

Eric, you should put a schlumpf on one of them!

[saskatchewanian]

Originally Posted by raymanh

Eric, you should put a schlumpf on one of them!

I am going to move my Schlumpf hub into a 26" wheel that be able to use a Larry tire in this frame but will mostly stay in a smaller frame. I am excited about trying out a Larry and do enjoy my Schlumpf!

EDIT: both the 29 and 32" rims have 32 spoke holes making them unschlumpfable

[raymanh]

Originally Posted by saskatchewanian

EDIT: both the 29 and 32" rims have 32 spoke holes making them unschlumpfable

How is the 32 config' compared to 36. Have you had any issues with it? I've noticed more and more are switching to 32h.

Does any one know the consensus when it comes to the suitability (ultimately strength) of 32h for trials?

[Tirving]

Originally Posted by saskatchewanian

I am going to move my Schlumpf hub into a 26" wheel that be able to use a Larry tire in this frame but will mostly stay in a smaller frame. I am excited about trying out a Larry and do enjoy my Schlumpf!

EDIT: both the 29 and 32" rims have 32 spoke holes making them unschlumpfable

I was thinking about building a lightweight 26" wheel that was wide enough for a 3.0 tire witha schlumpf hub. Have you found any lightweight wheels that are wide enough for Larry?

I think the 26" guni would be a great off-road/ tech XC machine.

[saskatchewanian]

Originally Posted by raymanh

How is the 32 config' compared to 36. Have you had any issues with it? I've noticed more and more are switching to 32h.

Does any one know the consensus when it comes to the suitability (ultimately strength) of 32h for trials?

My 29" wheel is still round and true. I have not had any issues with it. If I had an option for a 36h rim I would have gone for it. Compatibility with other equipment is more important to me than the very slight weight loss of 4 less spokes.

Where I think that 32h makes sense though is trials wheels, especially when using drillouts on double walled rims. The bridges on the inner walls of the rims are just too small and they brake. Using less spokes allows more room for those bridges resulting in a stronger rim.

Originally Posted by Tirving

I was thinking about building a lightweight 26" wheel that was wide enough for a 3.0 tire witha schlumpf hub. Have you found any lightweight wheels that are wide enough for Larry?

I think the 26" guni would be a great off-road/ tech XC machine.

Some people have used Larrys on 47mm rims and said it was OK. I am going to try a 50mm Umma II assuming Speedway gets back to me about that. I can't remember weights but I thought that my 29" rim was about 200g lighter than the KH equivalent.

[knoxuni]

sacsk: is your 29er rim a single wall?