NAUCC is coming to memphis. Ive got a 24" with cottered cranks that I would like to upgrade to racing standards.
What are the rules? What are you using?
Will a super thin tire really make that much difference. I’m thinking, for me at least, I’d be better served to concentrate on technique.
But for the sake of optimization…please describe your racing 24s.
Re: 24" for Racing. Please describe.
Oh really? What a great excuse to see you guys again.
-Eric
That’s weird - I always imagined people racing on “normal” 24" unicycles, but it seems from that link that a nominal 26" rim with a very skinny tyre fits within the spec.
I suppose it makes sense… the two common “26 inch” rims are the MTB size and the “small road bike” 650C. MTB is 559mm diameter, or 22", 650C is 571mm or 22 1/2"
So, assuming a 25mm road tyre, and assuming that bike tyres are pretty much the same depth as width, the tyre would add about 2" to the diameter, giving almost exactly 24" overall diameter on a MTB type 26" rim. Cool.
Links to the rulebooks below. Racing specs as per the rulebooks are the same in either one. I don’t remember the actual wheel size limit offhand, but I think it’s 24.333".
A skinny tire is not necessarily an improvement if your technique is sloppy. Also the lower friction benefit starts going away if your track has a soft surface. Many tracks have various consistencies of tartan or other rubberized surfaces.
Use very high pressure to minimize friction.
Mostly practice technique. Fast starts, going around the turns without moving your arms, maintaining max. speed. Practice each race to get a feel for them.
Has anyone out there ever actually measured their “normal” 24-inch unicyle wheel to see if it meets the 24.333 inch specifications for racing at NAUCC?
I need to come up with a unicycle suitable for racing but don’t really want to buy UDC’s NAUCC racer with the skinny tire. Would something like a 24" Torker LX be suitable?
Wheel size is a footnote compared to fitness level and technique. In other words, the best equipment available will be toasted down the track again and again by a more fit rider on a heavy piece of junk with an out-of-true 23 3/8" tire.
That said, most “conventional” 24" tires are under 24" actual diameter.
I will take that as a “yes”. I am going to look into it.
Thanks, John. Hope to see you in Michigan.
For more detail than you probably ever wanted to know, check out this:
http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/committee/rulebook/2007/proposal.php?id=22
The discussion led to a big disagreement about 2mm in tire diameter. Read the comments. This proposal was replaced by the current Proposal 30, back to 618mm, which is well on its way to passing.
im new to unicycling (in fact ive never ridden one) but im wondering how fast can you actually go on a unicycle. Im guessing its slower then a bike
well…not necessarily slower than a bike.
what i consider “typical” speeds:
20": 6-10 mph
24": 8-12 mph
29": 10-14 mph
36": 12-18 mph
However, the fastest I’ve heard of is 29 mph…which is completely insane, though apparently 24mph on a coker isn’t too out of the question.
Agreed.
All I want is an economical unicycle I can race on. 
I like this one (except for the non-matching blue sticker, but really you can choose from pretty much any 24" unicycles. Some tires are a little bigger than others, but again that’s not the deciding factor on the track.
Why didn’t you just say so? I can see how the UDC track unicycle leaves some confusion on wheel size. It seems to imply that other 24" models might be too big. On the contrary, that one has a 26" wheel that’s small enough to fit the tire size limit.
I have an inquiry out to UDC about wheel size on the 24" Torker LX. That with some shorter cranks should work for me. Especially since it probably will not get used much outside of NAUCC.
Thanks for your input and suggestions.
Just remember that the rules have a minimum size on cranks…
Keld
Right, minimum of 125mm on a 24-inch unicycle.
Yes. As a matter of fact, I have. This evening, I had the opportunity to measure two different 24" unicycles. With my trusty tape measure, I measured a Torker LX 24" and a Nimbus 24" with Hookworm tire. Without using any scientific methods, here are the results of my measurements.
Torker LX 24" is almost exactly 24 inches in diameter.
Nimbus 24" with Hookworm tire (as sold by UDC) is 25 inches in diameter.
Oh yeah. Them MUni tires kind of mess things up. If your tire is wider than 1.75 or so, it may be pushing the limit on diameter. That’s why you can’t race on a 24 x 3" Gazzalodi for instance, or the Hookworm. I guess that’s part of why I generally think of them as 26" tires, even though they go on 24" rims.
does anyone have a link to a video of a unicycle race? I’ve never seen one before and I’m curious.
I think one of John Foss’s galleries had a video or two of races from one of the championships… If nothing else, you can get a feel for it from the photos… Try www.unicycling.com…
Keld