My C-cups. Are they hot or not?
Klaas Bil
I haven’t spent much time on the Nimbus (I ride a Hunter), so I’ll bow to your judgement. As for the brake, I rode for several years without one. Originally, I had cantilever brakes, which caused me to crash rather than slow (largely due to my inexperience at the time). Now I’m running Maguras, and they’re like butter. I think they’re worth the $$ and hassle, especially if you get them off eBay. Of course, a brake is only useful if significant hills are part of your regular riding.Just my 2 cents.
The seatposts just broke to the repeated stress of me pulling on the handle from climbing and decending, not from any hardcore riding. Quite the opposite of you, I’ve never broken a seatpost on any of my other unis.
Good to know the new frames accept wider seatposts.
I was planning on buying the Nimbus 36er Deluxe unicycle from UDC, would this be a good choice to do what I am planning on doing? I just figured that since I had heard nothing bad about the nimbus, and I’d heard a lot about the standard coker frame having a lot of flex that shelling out the extra money would be a good idea.
Thanks to everyone for their help, I’m going to ride the San Juan Islands with my scout troop for a high adventure activity and was looking to get my coker before then so I could show them all up on one wheel 
I’d like to have it by next month so I can start training the san juan trip is 30 miles a day for 5 days with rest stops for ferry rides to the next island and for meals and sleep, I need to be able to ride that far though
pictured below is a map of the san juan Islands (up in washington) the highest point on the islands is Mount Constitution my troop will be riding up it, I want to be able to do it on my uni do you think that with enough training I can make it?
The San Juan’s are unicycle friendly. There is only so far you can go on those islands so the mileage isn’t going to be so much that you won’t be able to keep up reasonably. But on Orcas you’re going to be at a big disadvantage to the bikes in keeping up getting from the ferry terminal at the West side of the island to Moran State Park on the East side of the island. That’s a long ways on a rather flat road till you get to Moran St. Park, and then it gets some elevation.
You’ll also have to plan your ride and your timing to be able to catch the same ferry as the rest of the group. You’re going to be slower so you’ll have to leave earlier.
Going up Mt. Constitution is going to be tough. The grade has to be at least 12% in places. It’s a steep climb. I’ve gone up the road to the top on a MTB. It was a granny gear climb. I’ve also gone up to the top on the trails on the 24x3 muni. No way around it, it’s going to be a tough slog up due to the steepness. I haven’t tried the climb there on a Coker yet.
170mm cranks on the Coker should get you up though. If 170s are too long for you pick the longest length you can pedal well.
The trail around and near Mountain Lake on Mt. Constitution would be Cokerable. If you have time you should try some Coker muni on some of the trails. Some of the trails are well suited for some Coker muni, while others are too steep and switchbacked. And others will be too rocky. Get some advice on suitable sections of trail and dirt road there and you can have fun.
I think I’ll buy 150’s for Mount constitution (that’s as long as I can use) and some 125’s for flat. I think I have to follow certain roads and trails and stay with a group. I think with 125’s (if I get used to those I may buy some 110’s for the flat and use those instead) I should be able to keep up with a group of lazy boy scouts on mountain bikes. I might throw my DX in a chase car for when we get on the ferries and ride that around in the off time when I’m not cokering… I’m thinking I really want to get into distance riding there’s no better way to test that theory than to do a huge ride now is there?(I did a 7 mile round-trip on my 20 inch CX before I got my DX)
You’ll make it up to the top with 150s. I’m just a long crank kind of guy. I prefer being able to put less force into the pedals rather than muscling it with shorter cranks. I’d do the climb with 170s just because that’s how I am.
I don’t remember how the grades are in different parts of the climb. But the steep parts are in the switchbacks and once you make it around the switchback the grade settles down again. So there aren’t extended sections at ridiculous grades like 12-15%. It’s still a good tough climb at a healthy grade that is worth bragging rights.
Do put in some good practice time doing climbs. Portland has some good places to practice climbs in the West Hills so have fun with it. There is a certain technique to Coker climbing that you’ll need to get the swing of.
I live at the top of Canyon road in the West Hills which is a huge climb and I have a friend who is an avid biker who says he knows a hill near portland that has a similar grade and such as Mount Constitution as soon as I get my coker I’m seeing how far I can go in a certain time frame(tow and half hours) before I get tired then I’m going to eat and rest and turn around and go home I’m probably going to pick a very hilly ride as well, it’s almost impossible to NOT ride up and down a lot of hills where I live. The average grade is 10% on mount constitution
The rim is less wide than the airfoil rim, I havn’t had any trouble with it yet so I can’t say if that is a good or a bad thing, it might be a good thing for weight freaks 
even though the rim is 48h. My camera is broken but I’ll see what I can do about pictures. The width of the ISIS hub is the standard 100mm bearing to bearing size, I was a little sceptic about it at first but when riding it I actually found it a smoother ride than my 127mm UDC hub. I thought I was being a little biased about it so I sent Ken Looi an email, asking him what he thought. He said he preffered the narrow Q-factor hubs over the wide hubs. There is no problem with the wheel strength as it is, the flanges are wide enough for a very stable and strong wheel. The thing that surprised me most about the Qu-Ax 36" is the price, the old steel rim unicycle was 299 and so is the newer splined uni with an alloy rim.
That is a very good unicycle, I am a little surprised at how expensive it is though seeing as the handle etc. are not included in the price. You will only really need the Nimbus frame if you’re going to install brakes, I guess that is one of the main reasons why I never notice much flex, I don’t use a brake.
Actually, forget about what I said about price, it’s cheaper than my airfoil unicycle cost me, the dollar mustve dropped lol (1 U.S. dollar = 0.736105999 Euros amazing…)
One other thing, you might want to choose the KH freeride saddle, I’ve heard it’s a very comfortable saddle, more comfortable than the Nimbus gel. I havn’t experienced it myself yet but I might be changing saddles in the close future.
My penny worth…
The Nimbus frame is considerably more rigid than the standard frames. Vastly so. It also has machined bearing housings which will increase the life of the bearing considerably and make for smoother riding. Not sure if has been noted but the Nimbus can not fit the QuAx hub in it because it does have the precision machined bearing housings which are 40mm not 42mm.
A few comments about what Dustin was saying about the Nimbus frame. The one he rode at BUC was mine. It is not a production model and is not CrMo so yes of course it is less rigid than standard. It also had a loose seat post connection to the seat… how did you ride it like that Dustin?
I agree with Dustin and Ken about narrow hubs. I ride with a UDC wide flange hub which also has 100m bearing centres, lot better for speed. A note here as well, a standard UDC hub should be a lot more rigid than the QuAx hub which unfortunately is 25% narrower at the flanges! For riders like Dustin, Ken or me this is probably not a problem. For less experienced riders or ones that weigh a little bit more than us (we are all light weights) it can be a problem - the more rigid wheel is essential, this is why the 125mm version is sold on the Nimbus as standard.
A note on my hubs… when riding off road I switch the hub out and put in the wider hub. Not easy thing to do unless you enjoy building wheels like me.
Brakes, I am with Dustin here. I think Magura are silly on a 36" and have been quite vocal about this. But I give the customers what they want. Some people really like them on there so we have provided the fittings for them on the unicycle and providing handles for them to fit on. You can fit any type of brake you like on that frame with a little effort.
The final thing is cost… that frame is a big difference to the standard frame so of course you must pay for it.
As for rims… well I have said it before and will say it again. It will be history as soon I can make it. We have a couple of plans to get rid of it. It does ok for the moment, it gives the tyres a good profile and does not break, but I don’t like them or their cost.
Roger
Hi Roger,
Is there space for a calliper brake on the Nimbus frame? I was worried the tubing might not be wide enough to fit on on there…
Yep, I do prefer the narrower hubs. But as Roger said; Dustin, Roger and I are relatively light riders (I’m 58kg at the mo), and I don’t ride with a brake, so I don’t notice a lot of flex. I also have short legs and I angle my legs in a lot when riding, which is a bit harder on the wider Q-factor hubs. And my wheel tracks fairly straight so there’s less twisting force on the wheel from wiggling around as well.
For most people, I’m sure the wide Q-factor hubs would work fine.
Ken
The tubing for calliper should be ok as it is 25.4 seatpost. You can also fit vbrakes as the distance to the braking surface is pretty standard. So just with using a pair of the adaptors it should fit straight on.
Roger
Mmm, I never noticed anything about the seatpost, are you sure it was like that during the ride? Sam also had a short ride on it and he never noticed anything either. I guess I just have mad skills.
I don’t think the Nimbus frame is very expensive considering what you get, what I didn’t know is that Roger’s unicycle has a ‘different’ frame to the standard ones, I did notice a different paint job but that’s all. Also I will add to that that the tire pressure the unicycle was running was made for a person 10 kilo’s lighter than me so the tire can also pull a bit in turns. I don’t have enough experience on the Nimbus to say wether it is a better frame, I do have a lot of experience with my standard frames and have never had any problem there. The Nimbus frame is only 99 euro’s and it is easier to install brakes on, the bearings are better and it uses a higher quality metal. Even so I am pleased with my standard frame, I might switch in the future but we will see.
I’m thinking about buing new Qu-ax 36" and I’d like to ask is new Qu-ax 36" rim normal sized like steel rim or smaller like Airfoil, so I know can I use a bit higher pressure in tyre (maybe 40 psi).
Ok, the new Qu-Ax rim is an aluminium rim like the airfoil rim, it’s V shaped and a little narrower than the airfoil rim. You can run a high pressure because the outside diameter of the rim is actually a little bigger than the airfoil. My tire pressure on the 36" Qu-Ax is about 35-40 PSI.
ok I have a 29 inch inseam, and I ordered the Nimbus 36’er with a T7 handle, what would I have to do to ride it without difficulty… or can I ride it without difficulty, without modifying it?
Which cranks are you intending to use?
125mm and maybe 150mm for the tricky hilly bits… if I get into it enough I may by 89mm
I’m just switching from the Coker to the Nimbus frame, so took a minute to weigh both:
Coker: 864 grams
Nimbus: 1141 grams
Both measured without bearing holders or seat post clamps - just the frame. (Well, the Coker frame has two of Darren’s flame decals still on it, but that’s noise, not signal, eh?)
DF
thanks for the information, it’s greatly appreciated