I am about to buy my very first unicycle, I am a beginner, since I wish to use it for moving around in a city, I thought I would buy a 26", I have found two models for a reasonable price, but I cannot decide which one to buy:
QU-AX Luxus 26", the shipping weight is 7kg, for £ 129 pound
I’m planning on upgrading to the 26" club road bike this summer (maybe earlier if I can ride well enough).
I bough a cheap sub-£50 Unicycle from Parkers of Bolton to learn to ride on. The saddle on it is too small, so I just spent almost £30 on a Nimbus Gel saddle. The pedals also need an upgrade as they are fairly smooth plastic and my feet slip off them in the damp.
Had I known then what I know now, I would have bought the 26" road immediately instead of the 20" ‘learner’. My grown-up son will probably benefit from my mistake though as the 20" Uni is the right size for him.
My advice, whatever you buy - get quality and talk to someone about it first
Generally larger wheel is harder to learn to ride on. Taller riders (like 6’2"+) tend to prefer larger wheels. I’m 5’10" and I couldn’t move beyond the railing until I tried a 16", mainly a confidence thing.
Just a thought on wheel size and learning. I am new at this and not very good. My wife bought me a 20" Torker for my birthday in September. I was excited but was slow to learn. I finally got to the point I could get around on it a little when I had a chance to build a better quality 26". I can ride the 26" much better than the 20". I think the main thing the 20" taught me was how to fall. Stepping of off a 20" is a good bit easier/less scary/less nerve racking/less painful…than the 26". I bet you can learn quickly on the 26" but be careful coming down from that extra height.
Yeah, also less speed and height, which lead to less painful UPDs.
After I mastered the 16, I rode a free 20, then after learning to ride and fall on those at those speeds (I also put on smaller cranks on the 20 to boost speed a bit, to ease the transition further) then I had the confidence and skill to move back to the 24. The 16 and 20 have still been useful for learning the basics of tricks.
My experience is not typical. I have some paralysis in my legs so they don’t always respond properly, requiring extra precaution.
It’s certainly possible to learn on a 26". It will work best if you have a “go for it” mentality; going slow on a 26" is harder than on a 20". Your falls will be a little bigger and a little faster. But if that’s the size you want to eventually ride, and you can’t afford two unis, it’s not unreasonable to learn on 26".
This is an odd quote… our experience with the saddle on the QX is that people swap it out rapidly as it is so uncomfortable. It is a negative, not positive. The Club saddle is superb, I now have it on my Muni because I prefer it to any of the KH saddles.
You can learn on a 26", I learnt on the equivalent to a modern 26" and I am not tall.
As has already been said, the bigger wheels are preferred by people who “Go” for it and prefer to move. If you are someone who prefers to think about things and is a bit tentative, then I would suggest going smaller. The 24" is certainly a more common learner unicycle.
a 24 will be a good choice, and you can get a lot of use out of it. Different lengths of crank arms can really make a diff. I have a KH 24 that gets a lot of trail use with 165/137’s, and a Nimbus with 150/125’s. Neither is is a speed demon, but between the two I have much one wheeled fun on stuff ranging from gnarly, hilly, droppy, trails, to riding paved bike paths. I only really use my 26 in the winter cause for me, on the trails I ride, under our conditions, the 26 is more of a snowmobile.
Then my memory is faulty and/or they were talking about a different QX seat.
What I remember hearing about the Club saddle is similar in overall comfort to the Torker LX (horrible for me). So either that memory’s wrong too or you just like how the Club fits your bum.
The only seat I’ve found reasonably comfortable is the KH FFR (2007). I also have the KH Air, Nimbus Gel, Torker DX, CX, and LX (in order of decreasing comfort).
