36 Muni

General
24

1)
For a while, I used my 36" with 125mm cranks + handle bar to ride on fire roads and for commute.
But later I removed the handle bar and installed 150mm cranks to do “muni”. I thought of using 165mm, but I never installed them.

2)
I don’t know the tire pressure that I use, but my test is if I can hop in-place, then the pressure is ok for “muni”.

3)
A 29er will be easier to do certain things, but that is true for a 24 as well.

In general, I don’t think there is a correct size of wheel size, or a correct size of crank size.
For me, it is about having fun. Yesterday I did muni on the 36 in Tamarancho Camp
The uphill parts where extremely difficult, and I didn’t have much fun. But the downhill and flat parts were super fun. And the fun that I had in downhill+flat was much more than the suffering that I had in the uphill, so I’ll do it again on the 36".

And I also agree that some muni features are easier to do on 36" than on a 24".

25

@MUCFreerider
Whoa you have a Maxxis Ardent in a 36 incher??
Where’d you get it?

26

Same here, run my Coker at 20-25psi, i don’t like my tires super firm especially on trails, more grip, more control.

27

Oops, I don’t. I have the Nightrider, 36x2.25 Zoll (60-787). Sorry for that.

28

Muni vids

I ran into a friend on a mountain bike, so I finally got a few Muni videos, although not really that great.

Here a little drop:
https://vimeo.com/112964730
hmmm… trying to embed the video, but it doesn’t seem to be working…
https://www.vimeo.com/112964731

29

Muni now embedded

OK, finally got the video embedding to work: had to post again, as the 30 minutes editing period expired while I was adding the comment of how to do it below :frowning:

I ran into a friend on a mountain bike, so I finally got a few Muni videos, although not really that great.

Here a little drop:

OK, finally got the video embedding to work. FYI: To get the embedding working, it was necessary to add www. and remove the ‘s’ from https to the viemo link, so change from

http[B]s[/B]://vimeo.com/

to

http ://[B]www.[/B]vimeo.com/
30

so awesome I can’t describe it

Today’s Muni ride was so awesome I just had to post!!:D:D

Throughout the winter I’ve been getting in a Muni ride whenever possible with the weather, but about once a week or ever y two weeks. Actually, the last few weeks I have ridden less, but I have continued commuting my 2-3 days/week.

Anyway, after a break of no unicycling for over a week, on Monday’s commute I already felt prett good and basically had no UPDs. Yesterday commute as my fastest time yet (around 54 minutes for 16km, but that includes about a 2 minute stop to have a chat with a bicyclist friend I ran into on the way).

Today’s muni ride was like I had the golden touch and everything I touched turned to gold: time after time I tried “difficult” sections that I had previously never or seldom cleaned and I did every single one!! uphill, steep downhill, really rooty, multiple super-tight twisting singlestrack sections. It was incredible!! There were so many sections that I have been trying and trying and trying for the last 3-4 months but never able to do and ALL of them worked today!! There were a lot of blown down trees as we had a super-strong wind all last week, so I had to dismount often for huge trail blockages, so I wasn’t actually staying mounted for really long sections. However, almost every single section I tried to ride, I did!

Anyway, I have just gotten used to Muni 36 rides being super challenging and close to frustrating with setback after setback: Well, ok, I have been making progress, but I mean having to stir up determination and try and try and try again. :angry: :angry:

Today was different, as every single time I got up the determination… and instead of only cleaning 1 of 15 tries again and again, I cleaned every single different section on the first try!!! I don’t know if I’ve had such an extreme feeling of accomplishment in any sport ever, or at least I can’t remember any more (probably with mountain biking like 20 years ago). The only thing that would have been better is if I had been riding with other people to share in my euphoria. But wow! So I guess I’m sharing my euphoria now here on the forum.:):slight_smile:

Unfortunately the next few weeks I am so busy with work, moving and preparing for my huge 3-month summer vacation, that I probably won’t be able to ride so much, otherwise I would be out there again tomorrow and this weekend!!!

I did have one technical difference in my setup, but I don’t think it is the reasons I did so much better: I have been riding with Qu-ax 170mm cranks that I borrowed from a friend. Yesterday I put on KH 165/137 Spirits and rode the 165mm length. So the cranks were actually 5m shorter, which shouldn’t help at all. I think the Spirits may have a touch more Q-factor, but I don’t think it’s so substantial. Plus, they’re lighter, being aluminum instead of chromoly, but that neither of those minor factors seem like it would explain such a huge difference. Rather, I think I just passed a certain level so that so many things that were almost riding suddenly became rideable, and every time I nearly fell, I was instead able to recover and keep going. Anyhow, today was so incredible I just can’t describe it! 3 1/2 hours and 25km of XC muni trail riding. Wow!!

31

Hey that is inspiring to hear, MUCfreerider! I find the same with every new skill: try over and over and it’s impossible then you get it sometimes and eventually you crack it and it’s easy. That’s probably a summary of unicycle riding and maybe why it’s so addictive. Got to try a 36 muni one day! Maybe when I stop falling off the 26 :slight_smile: which is closer to the ground and only as fast as I can run.

32

@ MUCFreerider
I would have to say that the week of break did the trick. Yesterday’s ride sounds like it was only a warmup. Nothing beats fresh legs.
I had an awesome ride too, on my 36er on the Bay and ShorelineTrail, despite the 20mpg headwind gusts. Took off my windbreaker jacket that treated me like a kite , then it was total mono y mono with Mother of Nature. In this case if i can transform my upper body into a twig it would help. More weight needs to be lost, i figured.
My legs feel great, it got rid of my stupid nagging left knee ache that comes and goes when i practice with the giraffe and smaller wheels.
:wink:

33

Wow! Another killer 36er trail ride today. So I confirmed that last week’s ride wasn’t just a fluke or because of doping or some magic: Today I rode virtually every obstacle on the first try, and for the most part only dismounted for the (still many) blown down trees. Although I consider myself to be in shape, riding 10+ minutes 36er Muni without dismounting is SO strenuous (or rather only dismounting maybe 4 times in a half hour). About 1 hour into my 3 1/2 hour ride I had to stop and take a break for about 10 minutes as I thought my lungs were going to explode (I can ride steep uphils now, yeah!!)

I skipped two steep downhills (one very steep with gravel and one with big roots), but otherwise I was pretty courageous and tried so much (and succeeded!). Now I just need to find another 36 Rider with whom I can ride, so I don’t always ride alone (and to push each other of course).

34

Late to the party but…

It depends on how steep your terrain is. 170 used to be not uncommon, though today most people tend to go shorter. Most of my Muni rides on 36" have been with 150 cranks, or with whatever I had on there. For steep trails I would definitely use something longer. I would not be comfortable going shorter than 150 except for milder, easier trails.

The general answer on tire pressure is always “enough to keep your rim off the ground”. This means more pressure if your trails are rocky, chunky or rooty. For smoother terrain you can go higher. Numbers don’t matter; just keeping your rim off the ground does.

29" is definitely better on terrain that’s too “hard” for the 36". I like riding 36" on trails where you can go fast. The more technical the riding is, the less I like a 36" on it. Of course, most trails are a mix, so it’s okay to have difficult sections in an otherwise 36-friendly ride.

You can get a 29" later (or a 26" if you don’t have one of those). :slight_smile:

35

Oracle hub okay for 36er muni?

I thought I had read elsewhere that the lightweight hub used on the 36 Oracle was not suited for muni. Can anyone answer this? I’d hate to break my hub…

36

The new Oracle 36er ( listed on the UDC. U.S. website ), has a hardened CrMo spindle which is stronger than than the older Oracle which is fitted with a light weight impulse hub.

The new Oracle 36er is better suited to Muni than the old one. :slight_smile:

37

P.S.

  1. I have my off road 36er fitted with KH 137/165mm moment cranks. I find that I can spin them quite fast on the trails. The 165s also allow for faster corrections which allows me to keep up momentum making for a faster overall ride

If your’e going for two hole cranks then I would recommend the KH 137/165mm Moment cranks.

2.Using 165mm crank setting, I ride cross country on 30psi. and I weigh 175 lbs.

3.Rather than buying a 29er, I suggest that if you want to add a smaller size uni then wait for the release of the 32" off road unicycle which Roger is currently designing :slight_smile:

38

:astonished: That will definitely be my next uni!

39

Too bad I have the older version with the aluminum spindle. Although this keeping me off the trails may be keeping me from really hurting myself on it!

40

36 muni is great, but unless you’re a monster, there are some real limits. After many months of kicking my own a$$ trying to push the big wheel up big hills, I’ve moved to 29er for most aggressive uphill muni and 36er primarily for minimal grade offroad.
2 issues:

  1. Pushing the big wheel up big hills…virtually impossible without massive legs
  2. Sprains and bad falls just too easy on big descents down steep single track when you’re atop that big wheel. I’m plenty brave enough, but just don’t want to risk a big uni retiring injury that could keep me out of the game for months. Too many close calls and sprains falling on rutted out streamflow downhill trails where edges of trail slope in and virtually guarantee bad ankle landings.
    The thrill is great, but not worth the inevitable injury/downtime for me.
41

Thanks John. All your answers jive with what I have learned in the last few months:

150s still seem too short, and I rode 170s, but currently settled on 165mm cranks (actually 165/137 duals, so I can switch to 137 if I have to cover some non-technical distance).

That’s what I’ve been doing with tire pressure and I know that well from years of freeride mountain biking. The 36 tire seems to have more volume than it looks like, so I can go pretty low (no pinch flat to date),

42

As far as I know I have the old one (bought it in March 2014 from Municyle.com Germany). But that’s not stopping me from doing Muni on it. I haven’t followed it, but I got the impression that’s it’s not that the aluminum spindle can’t handle Muni, but rather just that the CrMo one is stronger so a better choice over the long run (at the cost of a few grams). If I could chnage it easily I would, but it’s probably not simply a matter of pulling it out and installing another spindle, but probably necessary to buy a new hub. Thus, I will not upgrade unless I have to (i.e. it breaks).

43

I guess it depends a lot on the trails. I just spent last weekend in the Alps doing lift-assisted mountain biking and I got in two great Muni Downhill rides on my 24. These were super technical super steep trails that are too difficult for the average mountain biker rider on a full suspension enduro bike with 160mm of travel (they ride the easier trails). I rode most of the downhill and had a great time on the 24. However, I can hardly imagine doing it on a 36, mainly because of what you’re saying about dismounting and hurting yourself.

That said, on my semi-technical up-and-down XC trails I am getting much more comfortable on the 36 so that I can do both uphill and downhill. Sure, I wouldn’t want to try a long half-hour offroad uphill at >10% grade but then I wouldn’t try that on my 24 either. But for short uphills I almost find it easier on the 36 as I can use momentum (on the 24 I have to star from zero and crank the whole way).

Have fun with the 29er!