I’m not saying that new unicycles should definately not be released every year, or even that there should only be new models when there is a huge change - if there are improvements that can be made, then they might as well be made. My issue was with the assumption that there would or should be a new model every year.
It was more of a hypothetical question - given that unicycling isn’t a mature sport, I don’t imagine that new versions for the sake of it will be a problem for a while. The other side of it is why not have new versions more frequently than every year? If someone finishes a design for a widgit a month after the design change, why not add it to the next batch? (I’m assuming there’s more than one batch made per year, I may be mistaken) Admittedly that opens a big can of retail strategy worms that I’d rather not go into, figuratively or otherwise.
As for changes I’d like to see - seats and posts without rail adapters, but because the rails are part of the seat, like bike seats. That removes some of the load from the seat base, so the bases won’t break (in the same way, at least) and can provide a bit of extra comfort. Try pressing down in the middle of a decent bike seat - there’s quite a lot of give just from the base bending.
The problem is that the rails would have to be either very, very strongly attached to cope with the extra loads from unicycling, or the seat would have to be marketed as a distance / light muni seat only, and the investment required might not be justified for a small section of a small market.
John
(riding a 3 years old and counting muni, and having great fun)
I understand what you were saying now. I too thought about going into the fact that maybe they should be released more often then once a year, but realized it would start to become my economics class and stopped. Kris has been doing a bit of that I think though. He removed the ridge from the rims to make them stronger and changed the seats padding a bit half way through this year’s model. I like that.
I think even if nothing else is changed, every year it needs to come in different colors. I personally dont like the blue and i dont think its practical with the small market to make them with different colors all at once but it would be cool to get a better choice of colors.
Correct me i i’m wrong but wasn’t there a Kh freestyle at one point? No longer on sale on UDC though, obviously it wasn’t a big seller, and although sure Kris will know some top freestyle riders, is it really a Kh uni if it was designed by someone else? We all buy Kh in the knowledge that Kris has personally designed and tested each major bit (ok he doesn’t design the pedals, tyre or tube but you know what i mean). Also i can’t really see where freestyle unis are going technology wise, I suppose you can always make the thing lighter but other than that, what performance criteria of a freestyle are there?
While I agree that it’s easier (and cheaper!) to construct a good freestyle uni, there are still a few performance criteria.
Low frame clearance, large crown area, longneck frames, short axles, and awesome-lookingness are all essential factors in making a good freestyle uni. General strength and quality of components is also good - need to make sure all those times you drop it don’t beat up your nice uni too much.
I guess a freestyle uni is more concentrated in the frame area of things. For stuff like street and muni, the wheel is usually the bigger issue. Sadly, an awesome hub is more expensive than an awesome frame. Oh well, go freestyle!
For the most part they are not actually performance criteria, making frame clearance low is not like making strong cranks, there is no compromise between two competing values, you can make as low as you damn well want easily, just make the frame legs slightly shorter. Once someone makes a frame with as low a clearance as you could want there’s nowhere you can go. The point about the Kh unis is that they have high strength but low weight for instance. I think what i’m trying to say is that no advance in technology could produce a uni with a lower crown, longer neck etc. Apart from weight and cost there isn’t really anywhere to go, and Kh unis are not reknowned for their rock-bottom prices.
so uh, is there gonna be an 06 KH frame? I’m still tryin to rub enough coins together for an 05 KH20… is there anything I should know about them, has anyone actually bent or broken this crank and hubset yet?
Good point. One of the best things about primarily selling online is that there is a lot more flexibility with changing things more quickly than just annually. In 2005 these somewhat subtle changes happened on the 2005 unis, from January to late September shipments:
-thickness of the crank tubing increased from 1.6 to 1.8mm (next shipment to unicycle.com arriving late fall)
-same weight but stronger seatpost clamp (changed late Sept)
-foam thickness reduced on rear of saddles by 10mm, plus dual density foam.
-increased saddle strength (early 2005)
-seatpost strength was improved, with double tubing thickness in the top 4"
-slightly rougher surface on the KH bike-type seatpost (for the KH24 and KH29) (upcoming late Fall shipment) to help it grip better in the seatpost tube.
So there will be improvements ongoing in 2006 but rather than have a “2006 unicycle” I would rather implement upgrades as soon as they are developed and properly tested.
