Sad death of my trusty Nimbus.
So many happy miles ridden on my trusty Nimbus. It was the early model from around 5/6 years ago with the old-style rim (blue) lacking eyelets.
Not a machime build for hardcore muni; nevertheless, it lasted well with minimal need for repairs; I never thought the day would come when my trusty friend would give up the ghost.
Today was that day- riding into town I heard, softened by the fact that I was wearing my mp3 player, three successive explosions.
Assuming it was some wierd kind of inner tube problem, I looked down, and was surprised to see, where I expected rim to be, the blackness of bulging rubber.
The rim had split down the center, allowing the tube to loom through- the split, on being measured later, was around 10" long by 1" wide.
I never knew that rims could split in this way.
The Nimbus, in a fine display of resiliance, was still ridable; so I set off home. It went for about 5 minutes before there was another loud 'pop, and the wheel locked as both sides of the rim were pushed out to the point where they contacted the sides of the frames.
I must confess, wheeling home my Nimbus, I became somewhat sentimental as I reflected on what we’d been through together; from five years back when I was not in a good place, and riding the Nimbus was one of the things that helped me overcome a deep and long lasting depression- there had been other unicycles, but always I would go back to my reliable old blue-wheeled Nimbus; looking back I couldn’t even think of a time when I’d so much as had to fix a puncture on it (though I went through about 5 seats- that’s what insisting on fitting Reeder handles does for you 
)
And, as I wheeled it along, I reflected on the fact that this was the last time my crippled Nimbus would ever roll these streets- the famililiar landmarks, the steep hills that were good for a work-out, the parts of the pavement that were good for rolling up.
I knew that my Nimbus wouldn’t want me to mourn, that it would want me to be out on one-wheel as sson as possible, so, on arriving home, I set to work on getting my spare 24" new-style Nimbus wheel ready (black rim and eyeletted).
When it came to extracting the cranks from my poor twisted blue wheel, the tears started to flow as I continued to reflect on what a true friend my Nimbus had been.
Throughout it all though, as well as the sadness, I also thought of what a superb machine the Nimbus is- not a unicycle for hardcore drops and jumps admittedly, but, for general riding and mild muni, there really is nothing better for the price. My blue Nimbus was the old style, from 5/6 years ago, but, even with its less strong rim, it carried me reliably for thousands of miles of regular riding, and, though the rim has finally died, the axle/cranks etc are as good as new- I’ve not even had to change the bearings.
R.I.P my trusty blue Nimbus.
