Seriously considering getting my first guni. I have an almost full set of KH unicycles - 20,24,29,36. I mostly do muni with the 29&24. Lots of rocky, technical singletrack. My preference is the 29 for the speed. I pull out the 24 for the really steep/droppy stuff. I am thinking that a guni/muni would be fun for the thrill of speed on singletrack, but can’t decide if a 24 or 26 guni is better for this.
I have never ridin a guni but if you had a 24’’ guni than the faster gear would be more usable, but 26’’ have more tyre choices. I think someone on the forum tried a 26’’ and 24’’ guni and prefered the 24’’.
Your KH collection doesn’t seem to include 26". Your problem solved! 
KH reported that he loves the 26" size for geared MUni, while Corbin Dunn loves his 24". I know, not very helpful.
I’ve got a 29" Schlumpf which I will be configuring for an off-road race next month. I think the low gear is slighly too high for what I’m going to use it for. My next GUni will be a 26" Schlumpf…I think it would have two very useable gears for XC riding.
I’ve not ridden a 24" Schlumpf, but I think the lack of tyre and rim choices and the overly low gear would annoy me.
But everyone is a different…you’re really have to try them both to see what fits with your type of riding.
You can always rebuild it to a different size at a later date.
I would go with a moderately light 26" setup. KH frame, Try-All rim, nice 2.3-2.5" tire, 150mm cranks.
At least that is my current geared dream.
I would keep my heavier echo rim and 26X3.0 Gazz/Duro on a solid wheel for slower tougher rides.
I have a 24" Guni- i went with the smaller wheel for the reason Sam pointed out- having two more usable gears for tech trails. Not really sure if that is the case for a G26 (i have never ridden one but assume that high gear is great for fire trails and easy single track but a bit too big for moderate terrain). Also, i love the 24" wheel size for super tech DH and climbing so it was a no brainer for me.
I wonder if corbin will chime in here- i know he is a beast on the G24 but at unicon he was telling me he also now has a G26. I wonder if he has had long enough to compare them both and give a verdict. I would probably wait for that before embarking on any Dream uni building project if i were you.
Here is a pic of my G24 with my new XC handlebar that i am experimenting with at the moment- Just got back from a 15km ride this afternoon and am loving it. A few more mods and it should be about perfect for my style of riding.
Mark.
How necessary is an extended handle on a guni of this size? Seems like it would be undesirable to ride technical downhill with other than the normal seat handle.
Go light!
I think an extended handle is not helpful on a Muni.
I got rid of it on the 36 as well. What a relief!
Just sit and relax!
I have a 24 Guni. I love it. For me 24 x 1.5 is fast enough
on the trails. On a guni going uphill is strenuous and downhill is
strenuous as well. I do not think, I could be much faster
on a 26.
For me the 24 has another advantage: I can easily take
it on plains, trains, buses and trams. It even fits into a
big suitcase.
Hans
Does the extra weight of the hub make a noticeable difference for uphill?
I too am running a KH24 Guni and really love it. As “hans” already pointed out it is very portable as I can fit it in a large hardshell suitcase by simply removing the seat-post and pedals (not so easy with the 26 though I have taken it around but that required removing the tire (big pain!). Still that is a small point. I’m sold on the 24 Guni for now as I was already heavily invested in my KH24 (all this 26" stuff is a more recent trend). I’ve ridden a 26 and 24 and too be honest I really didn’t notice too much difference. Each have their little quirks but on the whole I think I’d be happy with a Schlumpf in either one. That being said I’m sticking with my KH24 Guni for as long as I can (still have a couple new 24x3 tires waiting to be used).
Still, if I were coming in fresh w/o any other biases, and because truth be told IMHO there isn’t a whole lot a difference between 24 and 26, I would probably go with the KH26 Guni simply because a greater availability of tire choices.
As for the extra weight of the hub? It did, for me, take some getting used to, as well as the slight “click, click, click” with the little play in the gearing. Both things you forget about really quick. Where I’ve really noticed the extra weight is when I’m trying to hop. So much heavier! 
So stuff I often could hop si I’ve had to go sif. But no big deal (perhaps I need to practice more!).
One benefit of the heavier hub I’ve found is that I feel A LOT more stable on the techy down hills, lower center of gravity perhaps? I’m able to take descending switch-backs a lot easier now compared to the Un-Guni? Anybody else notice this? Perhaps my skill level has just improved?
24 or 26, just go get a Schlumpf Hub, you won’t regret it!
Since I have a KH24 already, it would be less of an investment to just buy a guni wheelset vs getting a whole new uni. I am thinking that it would be good to get a totally new wheelset and keep the un-guni wheelset for strictly downhill thrash sessions (and as a back-up if the hub needs repairing).
Exactly. I didn’t touch my existing 24" wheelset, instead built up a whole new wheel around my KH/Schlumpf hub. I’m glad I did because I have a back up wheelset and sometimes it’s fun to just go unGuni (though not as often as you might think!). Plus, when I did sadly have to send my first hub back to Florian, I still had a complete wheelset to use… Good luck!
I also have a spare single speed wheel for my 24" that i can swap out if i am going to be doing DH with lots of big drops- but i find myself rarely using it even if the trail is borderline- guess i am just a bit lazy but i have good faith in how sturdy the hub is and what it can handle.
As for the extended handle- to each their own. What sealed the deal for me was seeing corbin hit some moderately tech single trail in high gear and blasting it with so much control with his handle set up. I rode my g24 with the standard KH front bumper handle for the last 3 months (including an intense 1 month period of riding in NZ for Unicon) and am very comfortable with it. For me though, the handle is invaluable for comfort on moderate trails and is a great addition for climbing and overall speed. I can push high gear on gradients now that i couldn’t before.
For me the jury is still out on how it goes with the really technical sections (hopefully my ride this afternoon will help me make my mind up on it). I think that once i get used to the different hand/brake orientation that i will be able to have as much control as i did with the old front bumper.
mark
I was just thinking that the handle could be a hazard in a tricky UPD.
I do have a KH T-bar handle that I am not using on my KH36 that I could try out if/when I get the guni.
After having the geared hub in a 29 and 36’er (both for off road use) I went for a 24 GUni and have been super happy with it.
Fwiw, I opted for a 24 GUni instead of a 26 GUni because of a few things:
I love the feel of the 3.0 tire on the 24". I also have a single speed 26" MUni with a 3.0" tire, sure it also feels good but it’s much heavier to spin. With a 3.0 tire on a 26’er the wheel size ends up being very close to a 29’er, and I already knew a 29’er GUni didn’t suit me and where I ride. The 3.0 tire on the 24 GUni is also great for a wide range of conditions, e.g. loves mud and rain as much as dry conditions.
I also love the feel of the 24" wheel - stiff and indestructible. The 26" wheel (or larger) doesn’t have that same feeling.
The gearing on the 24 works great too, you can ride it like a two speed MTB, changing back and forth often to suit the trail - much more fun than the ‘high gear to get to the ride, low gear for the ride’ mentality. For me 1:1.5 on the 24" is plenty fast enough off road and coupled with the big fat tire it’s sometimes crazy how fast and comfortably you can move through rough terrain.
Tuscon mentioned:
"My preference is the 29 for the speed. I pull out the 24 for the really steep/droppy stuff. "
A 24 GUni gives you a heap more speed than the 29’er with all the great capabilities of the 24"/3.0 combo when you need them.
The main things I miss on the 24 GUni compared to larger wheels:
- The limited ground clearance of the pedals on the 24 compared to larger wheels can be a bummer sometimes.
- The 24 wheel doesn't roll/spin as smoothly as larger wheels, whether that's through terrain, uphill, downhill etc.
Due to the big jump between gears - 1:1 / 1:1.5 you sometimes find neither gear is a great match for what you want to do at that moment, and that’s going to be a PITA sometimes regardless of what size GUni.
The mechanical play in my current hub is minimal, hardly noticeable, nothing like the first hub where could feel quite unnerving.
I don’t notice the extra weight of the hub. What I do notice hugely is the very different feel of riding in 1:1.5, terrific feel of load on your legs. While in theory you can say a 24" in 1:1.5 with 150mm cranks is similar to a single speed 36’er with the same cranks in practice it’s a very different experience. A few hours of hard riding on a GUni off road, riding it like a 2 speed MTB, can really shag you out. It’s great
For me the biggest step forward with all the GUni’s came when I added a handlebar - it provides a new pivot point out in front for you and the uni, where everything trails and pivots behind the point where you’re gripping the bars. Apart from all the stuff about handlebars already discussed elsewhere they really let you crank along on a GUni, in a much better body position, with much more control and less fatigue. I made my own - it took a few iterations but I’m really happy with them now - they’re light, they don’t get in the way during riding or UPD and are strong enough to survive many crashes. I think making your own is the way to go as none of the bars out there do it IMO, though due to being adjustable the new KH bar is great for working out your preferred hand positions
Anyways, really I guess it’s about how you like to ride, where you like to ride - keeping in mind if you go to the expense of buying a geared hub you really want to make maximum use of the second high gear vs using it off road every now and then. For where I live and how I ride that’s how I ended up with the 24 Guni… and as other guys have said and as I’ve done too, can always put the hub into another wheel size.
Thanks for the great response. Yes, my favorite riding is on the trails, and I want to use both speeds on trail. The speed of the 29 adds some thrill that the un-guni 24 does not have. I have tried the 36 on trails, and it is just a bit too unwieldy to really crank on the rough stuff. I am thinking that the 24 guni would have the speed of the 36 without being as hard to manage. You mentioned the pros/cons of the 2 sizes that I have been thinking about. I worry that the 26x3 would be too heavy and that 1:1.5 might be to much on trail. As far as the 24, I do find that I have more issues with pedal strikes.
I really thought my heart was set on a geared 29" for logging roads, bike events on the street, some single track, general riding. I rode a 24" Guni while I was in Florida and I am pretty smitten. I like the 24 inch wheel a lot in the first place and it really scoots along in high gear. I also rode a 2010 KH 26 and there is no way to deny that is a sweet machine. The KH 26 also had the new Free Ride saddle and it was very comfortable.
Nicely constructed post about the 24" Guni by “lunicycle”…now I need one.
What are my options for acquiring a 24 guni wheelset? I don’t see the hubs on UDC anymore. I don’t think that I want to build it myself.
I talked to UDC earlier this week about that. They told me if I purchase the hub and send it to them they would be happy to build a wheel set for me. They said that I can use a LBS and UDC would cut spokes to the right size. UDC does not order the geared hubs any longer. The bummer for me is that I have to save the money (several months) then order and wait for however long it takes to get the hub (could be several months). But, it’s nice to have something to look forward to.
I am trying to decide whether to use this on my 24" or get a 26". I was all set to set it up with my 29", but I rode a steep hill yesterday which was at my limit. I was wishing I had a smaller wheel for the climb. The steepest sections were 20% grade. That is too hard for me to sustain on the 29". Dang these old lady muscles. I just wonder what a 24" will feel like when moving faster. Will it be squirrelly? My 29" feels squirrelly compared to my 36".