29" WTB Motoraptor/IRC Mythos

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Has anyone tried using a 29" Wilderness Trail BIkes Motoraptor(pic) or 29" IRC Mythos tyre on their uni?

At the moment I’m tossing up between the popular WTB Nanoraptor and the lesser known WTB Motoraptor and IRC Mythos. I’d like to know which is a good all-round tyre and which are good for offroad riding.

Laters,
T

2

From the writeup it sounds like the Moto (which looks pretty damn nice) would be better for any offroad conditions and the Nano would be a better choice if you’re doing a fair bit of road riding as well. How much road and trail riding will you be doing on it?

What sorts of bikes use 29" wheels? I hadn’t heard of them until I entered the world of unicycling and I’ve never seen one in the bike world.

Edit - Another thing you may want to find out is how thick the walls are on each tyre and how soft or hard the rubber (or whatever it’s made of) is. If I ever get a 29" uni I’ll probably try to get that Moto Raptor for it.

Andrew

3

Gary Fisher was one of the early promoters of 29er mountain bikes. Check out the selection of 29er cross-country bikes that Gary Fisher has.
<http://www.fisherbikes.com/bikes/collection.asp>

All of the 29er MTBs that I’ve seen on the trails have been Gary Fisher bikes.

4

Yep, the 29er movement started picking up a couple years ago. Willits and Surly also make 29ers as well as Hunter. A friend of mine has a custom Hunter and he swares by the 29ers. The Surly 29er is called the Karate Monkey. Really cool bike, plus the Surly guys are great people. I’ve ridden with them a few times and they liked my muni.

I’m really loving my 29er unicycle more every day. It seems to be my all-rounder. I welded on some v-brake bosses last night and installed a v-brake. I took it off-road for the first time this morning. On easy trails, it’s super fast and smooth. I used the brake on some bigger downhills and it was so easy. Just sit down and float down the hills. I’m running a Nanoraptor with 125mm cranks, and could never handle the hills without the brake. I’m using the 29er wheel in my Coker frame, so now I have 29er brake mounts that will be too low for the Coker wheel, but the Coker wheel is taco’d right now anyway. Another great thing about the 29er in the Coker frame is that I have plenty of room above the tire to run my chain through to lock it up at work. I was worried about flex in the frame from using the brake, but I can’t see any flex when squeezing the lever hard.

So now that I’m sold on brakes, I need to get one mounted on the muni, but I don’t think the v-brake cable will clear the top of the 24x3 gazzilla, so I guess I’ll have to go with a Magura.

cheers and beers… Mojoe

5

Gazzilla… I like that.

6

Tony,

I actually ordered the Moto Raptor through my LBS last week, but
it hasn’t arrived. I wanted to try it, because some riders felt there
was some road crown sensitivity with the Nanoraptor. The tread on the Moto, doesn’t have a semblance of a center ridge, so I thought it might not have the crown sensitivity.

I am surprised more people don’t ride it, but I haven’t heard from
anyone who wasn’t happy with the Moto, either. In fact, almost no one rides with it, strangely. Steve Howard rode with a Notos for a while, but the knobs on that are widely spaced and seems like the Moto would be better on road than the Notos.

If you go with the Moto, you can do a review later. I very seldom
get out on my soon-to-be 29er, so any review I give you wouldn’t be based on any significant experience.

If this thread fades, kick it back up mid week, when more people are reading the forums.

Hey Mojo,

Thanks for giving details on your setup. I have been playing with crank lengths. I had thought everyone was running 150’s on their 29eers. I find them too long to get any speed. I will have to try the 125s. I just put on some 102s and wow was that wierd. But it sure got some speed, though. I used the 102s only on street.

7

Mojoe, do you think that 29’ers are here to stay? I’m a bit worried that it is just a passing fad and the MTB industry will stop making them if they don’t sell. I have only ever seen one person ride a 29’er and he was the guy importing 29’er tyres! There is also a whole fleet of unsold Gary Fisher 29’ers at one of the local bike shops.

Are 29’ers popular over in the US or UK? And do cyclocross/touring cyclists use 29er tyres also?

I would be very sad if 29’ers died out.

Ken

8

They’re not very common here in Australia.

What’s the advantage of putting a 29" wheel on a bike?

Andrew