KH Schlumpf Muni Hub Review

[seriousslacker]

My review of the ridiculously expensive KH Schlumpf Muni hub after my first casual ride on my 2007 KH 24" rig.

When I first received the hub I was shocked. It was beautiful, but it was huge and felt very heavy. I was a little apprehensive about whether it would still be enjoyable for muni. My apprehension subsided once my wheel was built up with a Large Marge rim. It was hefty, but didn't feel like it weighed too much or would be too unwieldy for muni.

I fell off on my first several attempts at starting in high gear, but once I got the hang of it, I was cruising at coker speeds on my 24" 2007 KH Muni. What a rush! It was ludicrous to be going so fast on a 24" rim, and my large grin reflected the absurdity of it! Can you say FUN!!

Switching between gears on the fly is going to take a lot of practice, since it is hard to get your brain to adjust from going from 1:1 to 1:1.5 per revolution. After riding in high gear for a few minutes, I would UPD starting out in 1:1 mode because it was just so slow! Then my brain would switch gears and I would be fine, until I went back to high gear. Once I train my brain to switch gears at the same time I switch gears on the uni, this is going to be really awesome.

The hub works as advertised, feels solid on 3 foot drops, although there is just a little bit of play when riding in high gear. Nothing that you can't get used to.

Is it worth it? In my case - most definitely! You can really cover some ground when you are in high gear, and you can still gear down and enjoy the technical sections.

I hope they can get the hub costs down over time, so more people can experience the thrill, and it can make a 24" or 29" uni a viable commuting option.

[Kyle_Destroyer]

I definatly do't know much about GUni's, but I will say that the UPD's stemming from the gear shifts sound much like when I rode a 36"er for a whole day and then rode my DX 20" directly after, they have the same sized cranks but are completly different.

Time solves everything.

[MuniAddict]

I was at Sullivan Canyon yesterday and met up with Don and his new geared KH! I tried it and must say it felt really weird, but I could sense just how fast you could go with practice. I would say to Don get a brake! I wish they would make a THREE speed with and additional .5 low gear for steep climbing; that would be awesome.

[unicycle6869]

Sweet Don! Can't wait to see that beast.

[MuniAddict]

Well I thought I might see you there again today, or maybe Kelly or John. (Tell Kelly that Lori & Tod said hi!) I got there at 1:30 today and did another 8 miles; that's three days in a row at Sullivan and 24 miles total wOOt!

I guess I'll have to get a geared hub too if I want to keep up with you and John!

[vivalargo]

Here’s the preliminary dope on building a KH/Schlumpt 24” geared Muni.

The hub itself (as of 3-10-08), plus shipping, plus what the postal service/government touch you for, puts you out of pocket about $1,500 - just to get the hub in your hands.

Next, you have to buy a rim and get it laced up. Intending to do or to try and do hard core muni with my guni, I went with a Large Marge rim at $110. Lacing is a pain and required custom cut spokes (total lace job costing about $100).

That brings the total to $1,700, and now you’re ready to peddle – providing you have a set of 165 KH cranks on hand and a spare set of pedals. In other words, add at least another 100 bucks to the 1,700.

I was planning on using my back up muni frame, seat and brake; without that I figured I could add another 700 bucks at least (that includes a Scott Wallace CB seat) and an old Magura rig. But when I went to strap the new wheel build onto my frame I realized the bearing holders were too big (my KH 24 is a ’06 frame – have two of them) so I had to order a new ’08 frame from Bedford for another 200 clams.

I don’t want to scare myself by adding all of this up but I’m glad I spent the dough after watching Don cook down the street at about 15 MPH (in “high” gear). I’m thinking this should open up a whole new world of XC rides I never wanted to try owing to total mileage and the boredom of riding so slow on a regular 24 muni.

More once my knee is good (soon, I hope), I get the rig built and put some mileage in . . .

JL

[MuniAddict]

Originally Posted by vivalargo

Here’s the preliminary dope on building a KH/Schlumpt 24” geared Muni.

The hub itself (as of 3-10-08), plus shipping, plus what the postal service/government touch you for, puts you out of pocket about $1,500 - just to get the hub in your hands.

Next, you have to buy a rim and get it laced up. Intending to do or to try and do hard core muni with my guni, I went with a Large Marge rim at $110. Lacing is a pain and required custom cut spokes (total lace job costing about $100).

That brings the total to $1,700, and now you’re ready to peddle – providing you have a set of 165 KH cranks on hand and a spare set of pedals. In other words, add at least another 100 bucks to the 1,700.

I was planning on using my back up muni frame, seat and brake; without that I figured I could add another 700 bucks at least (that includes a Scott Wallace CB seat) and an old Magura rig. But when I went to strap the new wheel build onto my frame I realized the bearing holders were too big (my KH 24 is a ’06 frame – have two of them) so I had to order a new ’08 frame from Bedford for another 200 clams.

I don’t want to scare myself by adding all of this up but I’m glad I spent the dough after watching Don cook down the street at about 15 MPH (in “high” gear). I’m thinking this should open up a whole new world of XC rides I never wanted to try owing to total mileage and the boredom of riding so slow on a regular 24 muni.

More once my knee is good (soon, I hope), I get the rig built and put some mileage in . . .

JL

I can just see you and Don bombing Sullivan and those woops at Kenter! Awesome!

[feel the light]

It's good to see you are having a good time with it.

It's kind of flat where I live. I'm tempted to save my pennies and go the easy and slightly cheaper route. UDC lists the hub as a 1175 $ option on a KH 29. With 125/150 cranks. I would miss the large marge rim in the sand, but on the balance, I think the speed, and having it all assembled already, makes that setup look real cool to me.

Anyway, thanks for the report.

[steveyo]

Don and John,
Thanks for the reports. Keep them coming.

As Don said, I hope the price drops a little (or a lot), but someday I'd like to put one of these in my uni garage.

[Tjorning]

has anyone put made a GUni with a 36" wheel? or even a 700c. that would be fast.

[mscalisi]

Yep. I have 2, one based on the Harper hub, and the other a Schlumpf.

Yes, they ARE very fast, but not under all conditions. Under the right conditions, there's nothing like it.

Originally Posted by Tjorning

has anyone put made a GUni with a 36" wheel? or even a 700c. that would be fast.

[entropy]

Hey Don, you can go ahead and store that rig at my house. I'll take goooooood care of it.

[seriousslacker]

Originally Posted by feel the light

It's good to see you are having a good time with it.

It's kind of flat where I live. I'm tempted to save my pennies and go the easy and slightly cheaper route. UDC lists the hub as a 1175 $ option on a KH 29. With 125/150 cranks. I would miss the large marge rim in the sand, but on the balance, I think the speed, and having it all assembled already, makes that setup look real cool to me.

Anyway, thanks for the report.

Just to be clear, the $1175 price is added to the base cost of $599, so the actual price is higher by the price of the standard KH Hub, since you won't be getting that as part of the $599, so maybe $1,240. They are listing the hub by itself for $1,300 - which is about what we paid, although we got dinged for foreign exchange rates, speedy international shipping, and the import tax(it is not a tax, but a duty; whatever - it still costs a lot of money). If UDC has them in stock, then you will get it cheaper than going direct to Florian, but Florian might make a little less for his hard work. Good luck saving!

[412]

Originally Posted by seriousslacker

The hub works as advertised, feels solid on 3 foot drops, although there is just a little bit of play when riding in high gear. Nothing that you can't get used to.

Are you saying there is no play in low gear?

[osmundo]

I'm thinking of building up a 36er but presently there is no frame available. Guess I'll wait for the new KH frame.

Under the right conditions, there's nothing like it.

What do you mean the right conditions? Have you noticed the extra weight of the hub?