Today I went to the local bike store to try and get a 24" wheel built on a unicycle hub. They told me that they had no 36 hole rims and phoned the Alex distributor to find that they didn’t have any either. Is this a case of the Unicycle world falling behind the mountainbiking world again? Or is it due to the extra weight per wheel on a unicycle and the extra four spokes are needed? Are there any 32 hole unicycle hubs available? Almost all the rims in the bike store are 32 hole.
Anyway, in my search for a rim I looked at Unicycle.com and noticed the new KH Freeride rims. They look pretty awesome and are fatter than anything else I’ve been able to find. Maybe I should wait and get one of them, hopefully it won’t be too long until they are available in NZ. Are they 36 hole? I guess they would be. They are extremely wide- wider than the Sun doublewide by far. The new KH unicycles look good- loads of improvements over the old models. It is a bit like computers- you buy one and it’s out of date in a few years, and unicycles seem to be getting better and better too.
Yes Rowan they are 36 hole. Upon further investigation of Kris’s website I noticed the Detailed Kris Holm Product Specifications which include the number of spokes for the 20" and 24" rims, and I guess the 28" rims are the same number of spokes because they are laced onto the same hub. I was a bit hasty in posting this thread. Looks like I’m in for a wait when it comes to building my next MUni- I wanted to do it today!
32h rims do seem to be becoming more popular in MTBs, but if that’s all your LBS had, you should probably look elsewhere. Either they have a very limited selection or they cater almost exclusively to MTB’rs. I’m not really sure why the MTB’rs use 32h rims, the wieght difference caused by 4 spokes is very insignifigant.
I don’t think the KH rims are going to be sold seperately for some time. That’s what I hear anyways. Looks like the unicycles are going to be sold as units only for this run. I am pretty sure the doublewide is wider than the KH rim. The doublewide is about the widest readily available rim on the market. The OD of the sun is 45.9mm while the KH’s OD is 42.2mm. I also think the sun rim has a better cross section.
I think unicycles are a little different from computers. I am fine getting by with my old computer (example only, mine’s nice and shiny still ) but when you see the new unicycle come out, it is hard to resist. If I wasn’t so broke I would be tempted to sell parts of my pimped out old school KH and get the new one.
32 hole rims have been the standard in mountain biking for many years now.
Down hill and freeride bikes tend to have 36 hole spokes.
Many bikers are concerned with weight and find the strength gain of 4 extra spokes unnecessary
I think lieghtweight mountainbike wheels have even gone down to 16 or something in a recent XTR model, but that could not possibly take any abuse, but it’s not really designed to.
36H 24" Alex DM24 rims and DX32 rims are indeed available in NZ. www.unicycle.co.nz can order one for you. We’ll also have the KH Freeride 24" rim in stock soon.
The Try-all rim is 47mm wide. I forget if that’s id or od. It’s also drilled, though, so it may not be as strong as others. It’s definitely lighter, though.
) but when you see the new unicycle come out, it is hard to resist. If I wasn’t so broke I would be tempted to sell parts of my pimped out old school KH and get the new one.