30km ride on 29" and 36"

Today I did a 30km ride with my 29" and 36".

To begin with I packed my two trusty steeds into the van and drove in search of interesting places to ride.

I began with my 29" on the bike trail, it was still under 3ft of snow, hard packed and froozen from water and freezing rain mixture. The trail was full of snow drifts that had froozen solid, so it was like an amusment ride up and down.
The kenda claw gripped the snow and ice and easily floated over the landscape. I ventured onto some hillsides and places where kids had been sliding down the hill. I managed to ride sidways to the hill. Then I climbed the huge snow banks and drove along on top of them. Man my 29" took me everywere. After 20km, I rode on the side of the road and sidewalk. On bare road and sidewalk I noticed more rolling resistance then on my 36". This I believe is primarily due the knobby tire design of the kenda claw tire and the lower tire presure. Its that lower tire presure that really helped grip the ice and snow. Back to the van and try out the N36 Nightrider pro.

Immediately the heavier weight of the N36 vs Bedford 29 caused the 36 to sink occassionally thru the surface of the snow. Also freemounting on slippery snow/ice was more of a challenge on the 36 whereas the 29 was a no brainer. Time to point the N36 to non snow/ice covered surfaces.

Now I got the N36 on hilly cross country terrain. Lets try out some hills.
Man it goes up the gradual hill no problems. The new Nightrider tire rolls much better on this terrain vs the Kenda Klaw. I look down at my vetta and I’m going 13km uphill. This is better then my average speed on my 29".

After my last 10km on my N36, I decide to pack both uni’s away.

It’s nice to go on a ride and use two uni’s.

One is great at off roading and playing in the snow. The other is a speed deamon/commuter.

If I had a geared 29" there would be no need to have a 36.

False!

The 36er is better at some things than the geared 29er. On bumpy surfaces, the 36er rolls a lot smoother and more controlled than a guni in high gear. It also takes less effort mentally to ride the 36er, so it makes a nice commuter and touring unicycle.

The geared 29er is probably the most versatile unicycle though, and I guess technically you wouldn’t need a 36er, but I would never give up my 36er even with the guni! With that said though, when I am traveling this summer I am only bringing my 29" guni because it will be more compact and more versatile than a 36er.

I also have an ungeared 29er that I love. It is lighter than the geared 29er and I took it out on the trail last weekend and it was a blast. The Kenda Navegal tire is by far the best offroad 29er tire I have tried.

I have done a unicycle tour on the 36, but not the geared 29er yet. Once I do my Pittsburgh to DC ride in a month I will find out how nice the guni is for touring.

Don’t have a guni

I don’t have a guni, so I can’t provide a point of comparison.

Perhaps I need more riding time in the saddle of a 36" to remove my biased opinion. So far I only have 50km logged on the 36" and over 600kms on 29.

Thus far I still see the 29 as the better well rounded unicycle (compared to the 36). This is because the 29" fits my daily needs better then the 36".

My needs are:
Commute to and from work (20 - 25km /day, with interesting side trips along way).
Easily transportable on my Goldwing Motorcycle.
Can off road and perform moderate distances commutes.
Can learn tricks easily
On occassion commute greater than 50km off road trails.
Special need for Uni for RTL (non-geared 29" too slow for average speed)