I want to get a new unicycle to start riding some single track with.
Right now I have a 20" Torker DX and am looking at getting either the HK 24 or 26. Sinc I’m pretty new to this, I’m not sure which one I should be getting. I guess 26 is the wave of the future?
I want to be able to ride it to the trails - about a mile away - so I’d like to be able to go quicker than I can on the 20". Also, there are a lot of hills here in eastern PA so I’m not sure if the standard 150 cranks are the way to go.
I would normally recommend the classic 24" MUni size, but unless you’re planning on doing really extreme technical riding, biggish drops and want the fastest maneuverability, a 26er would probably be the most practical. It will be a little faster, but still be strong enough for most off road riding.
Crank size is really personal preference, but you can’t really go wrong with 150’s for all-around use. Long enough for most climbing and not too short for maintaining good control on dh. You can always opt for dual-hole cranks as well. The 26er size will give you more tire choice as that is the mtb standard. I would definitely go with an isis hub though, for optimum strength and durability.
without more information it is sort of a crap-shoot as to which one is better for you.
Most people prefer a 24 for really knaraly trails (things a lot of people would not be comfortable walking on) but 26ers are better if you want a slightly faster smoother ride with lots of shock absorbency. If you are going more for XC type rides a 29 might be the ticket.
Riding moderate terrain I like 150s on a 24x3 and 160s on a 26x3 I will drop down to 150s on the 26 if I put a lighter tire on.
Crank length and wheel size preferences are all quite subjective and what works for some may not be good for others.
I am considering a muni to go with my recently purchased 20 and 29. And my .02 is landing on the Nimbus 26" setup. While I have little dirt riding experience, what I do have leads me to lean towards the 26 for handling the bumps and roots, etc. I will never be a super technical ride but to ride on some hiking trails does appeal to me, especially given where I live.
Right now for me I would go with 150’s for off-road. Like said above preference has a lot to do with it. I find I need the extra leverage to enjoy riding.
what about a 24 with 125 cranks? I heard that some people were using that for singletrack now. I thought I could run a 24 with the double holes, and have 150s for the rough stuff.
do you think 125s on a 24 is faster or slower than a 26 with 150s?
137s on a 24 may work well too
I’m pretty set on a 24 nimbus, it’s already heavy enough : P and I want to do some tricks as well, but I thought the thoughts may be helpful.
Guess I’ll go for the 26 with the 150s on it - sounds like that will be fine for the type of riding I want to do right now. Once my skills improve I guess I can either get a 24" for the more technical stuff, improve my skills more so I can ride it on the 26" OR ride it on my mountain bike.
Something maybe interesting fwiw, is that a 26" MUni fitted with a 3.0 tire isn’t that much smaller effectively vs a 29’er, see pic below. The 26’er with the 3.0 tire feels like a heavier but stronger 29’er to ride imo.
But ditch the 3.0 tire on the 26’er and put a smaller tire on to make a lighter ride you could end up with not one thing or the other. Maybe it would’ve been better to get a faster and lighter 29’er MUni, or a stronger and lighter 24" MUni with the nice fat 3.0 tire.
I never ended up buying the 26 - went to UDC & the sale was over on the KH I was wanted to get. Guess I should have just bought one when it was on sale.
Next time they go on sale - anyone know if UDC regularly has a sale? - I’ll get my new uni.
What lunicycle said what my thoughts on the 26 have been. I like the speed and lightness of my 29, and I like the control and fat tire ride of the 24. It seems like the 26 with a 3in tire would be too heavy and with a 2.3 would be slower than the 29 and not have the cushion of the 24x3. A guess the 26 is a compromise if you don’t want both, but I like having the 29 and 24 that are uniquely suited to tech x-country and extreme dh, respectively. (disclaimer: I have never ridden a 26)
Yeah, that stinks. I ordered a KH26 last Friday (my 9th unicycle–what is wrong with me?) and had no idea the sale was about done. Watch carefully around April Fools. Last year they had some good deals but you had to move fast. I hemmed and hawed and missed out on a KH29 at nearly half price . I ended buying one a few months later at full price. It was worth it anyway:).
Having ridden(and having) both… set ups (24 (with 3 inch) and 26( 2.65 and 3.0)) I found myself always going fro my 26. The ride was smoother for me, and things seemed to flow better. I ride the rooty rocky eroded trails in VA, and that little added daimeter i found helps to roll over things (roots)…
albeit while is was in Oregon doing more rocky trails, i was always on my 24. …
One thing I meant to say above - I think if you could only have one single speed MUni then a 26" is definitely worth considering. However if you have already have a 24 or 29 for example, maybe not as clear.
Fwiw for my own riding the 24 GUni has pretty much replaced riding the single speed 29 and 26 MUni. The 36’er also gets a lot less use. Point being even though a GUni is expensive, rather than having multiple uni’s you could get the one GUni and be happy with that
Thanks for posting that picture lunicycle, it’s very informative.
I have a 29er with a road tire that I started to use to commute to work, mainly on the road but sometime on an easy trail / bike path for part of the way. There are options for more difficult trails on my way to work but I would need a different setup. I’m not sure what would be the best compromise for a commute with nearly 50% road and 50% trails.
I really don’t know why everyone thinks a 24" is the way to go for technical terrain. I rode about a year with my 24" and now ride a 26" GUni. I like to ride downhill through the woods where not even trails exist and my first trys on my 26" yesterday showed that even if it gets steep there is not much difference between the two BUT the 26" really rolls easier over small stumps, roots and such. With that first experience in mind (others will follow when the snow is gone) I claim that the 26" is not inferior compared to the 24" wheel even on rough terrain. I agree that there is an advantage to the 24" wheel if there are lots of extremely sharp turns (like 90° and more) BUT on the trails I rode there were just a few of them (nothing worth mentioning) and I don’t even see them in the most extreme downhill videos often. Something I forgot to mention is that I ride with 165mm cranks on my 26" and with 150" on my 24". Indeed the bigger wheel (with the geared hub) is heavier than the 24" BUT as long as you don’t jump up things quite often it is nothing you will have to deal with. I am riding uphill as well as downhill but the additional weight doesn’t bother me. I often also jump over small things on the ground which is a tad more difficult with the bigger wheel but I still can do it without much problems and especially when there are drops on downhills most of the time you don’t have to jump up a lot (to stay in control; because if you jump off I think you have more control than if you just let you fall down the drop).
Since I am new to riding a 26" wheel I may change my mind about some things I said here but for now these are my experiences which I assume to be at least right for me.
I like 26x2.6" tyre, seems like a nice fast unicycle (like the 29er that I have but never bother riding), but still has loads of boing in the tyre, like a 24"x3" (the volume is pretty much the same, even if the cross section is very slightly smaller - it is still nothing like a 29er tyre). I actually sold my first muni 29er, just because I found it to be not much faster than the 26", and way more effort to ride over anything technical (I have a schlumpf road / muni 29er now - although I haven’t bothered riding it for over a year now).
Although having said that about the 26x2.6, Kris Holm is recommending some smaller, lighter than the gazz 26" tyres, which I might have a play with when I wear out my current gazz.
There are several trails within riding distance from my house. I am a beginner but I can ride the easiest trails on my current setup (Nimbus 29" with a road tire). Today I tried for the first time to go on the more difficult trails but it didn’t work too well. Those trails were primarily hard packed but with lot of rocks and roots sticking out by maybe 3 or 4 inches, too many to avoid them. What would be the best setup (wheel size and tire width) for that kind of trail?
Joebike
If you want, we can get together and you can take my new 29 up and down the trail a few times… Atleast you’ll know wether to rule that size out right away or not…
Some people seem to just not like the feel of a 29r… A rock climbing buddy of mine said he felt unsteady on it…
Although he only rode it for a few minutes tops.
You could even stop by my garage and play with it in the parking lot or meet me there and we’ll head to that trail nearby
Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to find out what a 29 is like as I just ordered one.
Figured I’d get a 29 for now so that I can ride it to the easy trails around here then when I get my skills up I’ll get a 24 and drive it in my vehicle to the tough trails.
. I ended buying one a few months later at full price. It was worth it anyway:).
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