Welcome to the forums Canuck. You’re right that the 29" is a good choice for a combination of commuting, groomed trails and city riding. Since I guess you’re not throwing/giving away your 20", or trading it in for the 29", I’d say there is no reason to wait with the purchase of a 29". So there are really no prerequisites since you’ll be able to switch between the two unicycles, and hence you can already get a feel for it, while being able to fall back to the 20" to learn other basic skills like idling which is quite a bit harder on a big wheel. It’ll be a strange feeling at first to ride a 29", but you can take confidence from the fact that you seem to learn somewhat faster than average.
Thanks for the response Klass Bil. Yes, I intend to keep the 20” to develop my skills. By the way, my original motivation to learn to ride a unicycle was to help my son learn to ride his bike without training wheels. He is riding with almost no assistance now and very soon we will be able to ride together with him on his bike and me on the unicycle. Of course riding a unicycle is so much fun and I immediately caught the bug.
I am starting to shop for a 29”. I assume the Nimbus is strong enough in its default configuration for the type of riding I described in my previous post (road, groomed trails, no drops higher than a typical curb) and the KH29 would be an overkill, would you agree?
This is exactly the type of riding I do; the Nimbus 29 has been great for it thus far.
Yep.
…unless you plan to upgrade to a geared hub later on. People have had problems when trying to use the KH geared up in other frames.
IMO The KH 29 is only worth the extra $ over a Nimbus if your getting a geared hub or at least moderately tech Muni.
KH29: 2009 vs 2008 worth +$150?
Hi all:
I’m pretty settled on getting a KH29, and am now considering the differences between the 2008 and 2009. The difference in US dollars is about $150. Is it worth the extra money for the 2009 upgrades?
Here’s what I understand the differences to be:
KH29 2008 vs 2009 worth $150?
Haha - that’s pretty funny - in the 6 days it took for the moderator to approve my message*, I got impatient, found a 2009 KH 29 at Bedford, and bought it! 
I still think the question is worthy of discussion, beacuse it is a pretty big jump in price, with various online stores clearing out the 2008’s. I ultimately decided to go 2009, because of raves about the hubs and seats on other posts.
*No offense to the moderators, I know watching this forum isn’t top priority, and appreciate the time people put in for everyone else’s benefit.
I just switched from the kenda nevegal to the wtb exiWolf. I have a KH 29’ Guni. The exiwolf is a lot quiter, the kenda was very loud, especially on the roads in high gear.
The exi is lighter and feels quicker and more manureable, The nobs are smaller and less spaced out giving it a more consistant feel expecially while taking fast cornors.
The side walls are thinner but not paper thin like some other folding tires.
I think the kenda handles mud better and probally snow (i havent rident the exiwolf in snow yet)
Anyone have anyother thoughts about diffrent tires? I like the looks of the stout but it looks like too much tire to commute to school on.
Is there anyone that could compare the exi to the Racing Ralph?, it was another tire i was looking into.
Also, anyone have any thoughts on 26’ vs 29’ Gmunis? How much does the size affect crusing speed on the road?
29’ers ROCK ON! 
I first had the WTB ExiWolf on my 29’er and I think that it’s a rubbish tyre. The sidewalls are way to thin to do any technical MUni with which just causes the tyre to fold on any drops.
I currently have a Bontrager Jones ACx 2.2 on my 29’er. While not a great tyre itself, it is an improvement on the ExiWolf. The Bontrager is also a foldable tyre, but the sidewall is slightly thicker so it handles drops better. I would love to get hold of a WTB Stout, but unfortunately they are not available in South Africa yet and importing one is quite costly.
Taking my 29’er out of a MUni ride this afternoon on my favourite donwhill single tracks where I normally take my 24" 
Is anybody running the WTB Vulpine?
It looks like it could be a decent urban/XC compromise tire…
I started with the Nevegal and switched to the Stout. The Stout felt really heavy at first, but now I seem to have adjusted to it (whenever I try a new set-up, it feels awkward at first, even if I end up liking it in the long run). The 29 with the Stout still feels light compared to the 24 with a Duro 24x3. I just put the Nevegal back on to try it on some technical XC to see how it feels now. The Stout is definetly my choice for more technical rides.
Being the lucky owner of a geared KH26 I can tell you that swooping down xc - light muni trails in high gear with a 26x3 Gazzaloddi is absolutely amazing. I would assume that the 29er would not be performing anywhere close to that in high gear. Although on paved roads things would probably look quite different. The outside diameter might not be very different on the 29x2.3 vs. 26x3. But I think the 26x3 setup is the most versatile of the two. Also because when bombing down a trail in high gear on the 26x3 the tire swallows up most of the bumps. And then there’s the issue of tire choices as well.
As far as uphills are concerned I’m not sure about what works better. Of course the 26 has a smaller diameter so it should climb better, but the weight of a 26x3 tire might cancel out that advantage.
Edit: Just noticed you were actually asking about “on the road”. Hmmm… The 26x3 would probably have more of a fly wheel effect than the 29er. But I guess the 29er would be faster.
I bought a Vulpine about 2 weeks ago. It replaced a WTB Stout. I do mostly urban and uncomplicated trail riding on my 29er. I like the Vulpine much better than the Stout. The Stout is not a good urban tire but was okay on the trails.
The Stout has a raised ridge of nubbies which make urban turning real squirrelly. I dis-liked the Stout from the first time I rode on it. But then, as danger_uni pointed out, it was not intended for urban riding.
The Vulpine works very well for the riding I do.
(I have a slightly used Stout if anyone is interested. )
Nice, yeah that’s what I figured, I ride the Gazz on my 24" muni. I Definitely want to put the hub on a 26" eventually but I already had a KH29 so it went on there rather than getting a totally new ride.
Ive found that the only time there is an advantage to the high gear on the trails is when it is relatively flat and there are no drops or large roots. Its nice and fast on the roads but after falling off going 17+Mph on asphalt I wouldn’t mind having a lower top speed.
Thanks for the input, Im hoping to build a 26" Guni next summer.
I rode my geared 29er two out of three days at California MUni Weekend, on the Downieville Downhill on Saturday, and Hole in the Ground on Sunday. On Downieville (17 miles, 4000’ net altitude loss, some up and down terrain in the middle), the 29er was great. There were only a couple of short sections I would have tried on my 24" MUni that I didn’t try on the 29er, and there were sections I did try that I cleaned as well as a bunch of good MUni riders on 24" unis. Much of the trail is relatively non-technical, and it was a lot more fun being on that stuff on the 29er than on my 24". I didn’t get into high gear very much, but there was one smooth singletrack section that lasted for at least half a mile where I geared up and had a blast. And on the road at the very end, I got to the ice cream shop three times faster than the people on 24" MUnis.
On Sunday, the 29er was fine on the mostly non-technical climb up to 8000’, but the trail was more technical than Saturday’s, and I wasn’t able to get into as much of a flow. There were some very nice 29er sections, but also a lot of sections with enough rocks to keep me from getting into the flow. The 29er probably took more energy than a 24" MUni would have, and wasn’t any faster. The four leaders on that ride (KH, Beau, Jess, and Corbin) would have been faster than the two chasers (me and phlegm, both on 29") no matter what the unicycle setups were, but I think the first group had the better setup on that trail. They were all on 24" MUnis, Corbin’s geared.
The 26 Guni sounds fun, but requires a significant monetary commitment. I’m not sure that I would want to go any faster down most of the trails I ride. Of course, if I had the Guni, some of the trails that I avoid because they are too boring might be more exciting.
Guni speed on 29"
I’m curious, what type of average speed on a gear 29" is possible.
I’m not talking flat out but rather an average pace.
You could experiment and find out. Other then that, i don’t know. 
On fairly flat roads I usually cruise going between 14-17mph.
My overall average on my computer (including trails, stopping, starting…) is around 12mph and my top speed so far (going downhill) is 21.5 mph.
I use 150mm cranks
I’ve done time trials on rolling terrain where I averaged 16 mph (>25 kph). That’s at race pace, but not sprint pace. I’ve turned criterium laps at 18 mph (29 kph). Cruising speed when I’m paying attention is probably 15 mph; probably 1-2 mph slower than that if I’m relaxing.