Great first uni! I bought the road version and modified that one to my needs but this is a great Nimbus to start with. You’ll go slow at first if your journey is like mine but keep practicing and work on your cadence and over time you’ll get going faster and faster.
I’ve now been Unicycling for 2 years and bought my first 29 in November 2021 and was at 12kmh average, end of last season before winter was 14.5-15kmh, and I have been doing many rides averaging 15-16kmh with me easily setting off spread signs going 20kmh and sprints of 20-23kmh
The progress is addictive and very rewarding. Benefits of a 29 vs 36" in my mind too is the variety of parts for build and such. I redid my road Oracle to now be a 9lb/4.8 kg down from the 13-15 pounds stock, though you can do it with a 36" the upgrade costs are much higher.
Hi, I just wanted to add my perspective / journey with unicycle sizes.
I felt I graduated from the 20” el cheap uni after 3 months daily practice and when I comfortably unicycled down a 300m long hill, 15% grade walking my dog.
Bought a KH29 thinking it to be a “do all” uni. Muni and commuting. After 6 months, I fortunately got a 2nd hand KH36 as well as a 24” trainer - used for dog walking now.
Now I am now preparing for a shlumpf hub - intended for 36” but am considering starting with Guni on a 26” frame ( nimbus hatchet 125mm bearing centres). So I can continue to commute on KH36. Speaking of “ money is no object” have a look at the price of a 125mm shlumpf hub…and the prices will be rising…@#$&!
My preference for distance is the 36” uni. Once the rolling mount is mastered, it is effortless to ride/cruise. For the last month I have been commuting 13km each way to work 3 days a week. It includes a couple of 300m long 15% grade hills. Worked out a comfortable way to hill climb out of the saddle. (150mm crank still - want to progress to 127mm setting)
So projecting forward. (With no injuries- Knock on wood)
80km/week x 4 weeks x10 months = 3200km per year is my projected mileage.
KH29 - If I get the 26” hatchet frame to practice guni before putting hub on a 36”, then I might get rid of the 29” and keep a 26” for Muni.
If I had my time again, I would have got a 26” before getting a 36”- for above reasons.
If it is raining, I drive to within 3km of office (closest free parking) and ride the 29” which is fun. But I wouldn’t even think about riding the 29” the whole commute. Maybe I have bad technique, but my upper leg muscles just seem to burn and I am easily out of breath riding the 29”.
I don’t know how the others rack up so much distance on a 29” uni.
Sounds like a great plan and you know what you want. For me in the 29" I think it’s just having more control and being closer to the ground if I UPD.
I know I could go faster on a 36", but with enough practice and riding a 29" with 100mm cranks I’m happy with current speed and progress towards going faster, plus I live in Canada and ride through the winter and I like having winter tire options.
Go for it with the GUNI 36" plans because honestly I can only imagine how much fun that would be at speed. It would be fast and stable once you’ve got the skill to control it and you’d be flying.
Each I think has different aspects that appeal to different people and realistically if we all wanted to go fast we’d have bikes. But this is our unique fun hobby that just brings us sooooo much joy.
Best of luck with your riding, can’t wait to see some posts about it.
Yeah, why is this goofy, entirely pointless, hard to learn, semi dangerous sport so satisfying? I mean, who unicycles? I’ve only seen two other uni riders…ever. I guess maybe I like being different? Not just another yuppy on a $4000 mountain bike. And those electric bikes…I was practicing my uni and one motored by. Couldn’t help feeling just a tiny bit, not superior, but…well, you all know. I’m preaching to the choir here. It’s kind of like when we are out rock climbing and hikers walk by. We often hear them comment that they “could never do that!” I get some of those same comments on the unicycle. And of course having a new and challenging aerobic sport that I can do in the city is very fun. No expensive gas to buy. It’s a win win.
I think try shorter cranks on your 29er and your legs might feel better. So if you have dual hole cranks on the longer setting, try them on the shorter setting. It will be more difficult/feel strange at first but you’ll quickly get used to them.
In any case, I think you are an amazing rider. You only started a short time ago yet you are extremely capable. Btw, I am really happy you bought that KH36 off me, you are the perfect buyer! You’re using it and not just allowing it take up space
Be careful on this point, I know several persons (including myself) who have put way more than a thousand euros on their unicycles. And some of them (still including myself) have put more than those thousand euros on one single unicycle.
I won’t agree with the first two as facebook and any other form of exercise have millions of followers that are those exactly.
But the hard to learn and dangerous sports are so satisfying because they are something that you have to build up the skill and stamina before even coming close to getting good at it.
Then there’s a whole other level when someone masters something. The skill and stamina don’t even show unless they start pushing their own envelope. They make whatever sport look almost effortless.
Most people won’t put in that kind of effort without quicker rewards.
Ya I told my wife it would be half the price because it’s only one wheel, and I’ve easily bought an e-bike or 2 in unicycles
Also I could never afford a “fancy” bike due to worrying about theft but I can bring my Unicycle indoors so yeah I’ll drop $500-1000 on one. It’s a fun hobby and it cheaper than a second car and saves transit fair. I love my city but sometimes a bike or unicycle is literally more comfortable and convenient because our busses are bad. The LRT in Ottawa is really nice when it works though and is great for multimodal transportation.
The way to buy nice bikes for cheap is to buy ones that are 20-30 years old but were top of the line back in the day. Most bikes, even expensive bikes, hardly get ridden and cyclists tend to be gear heads that often feel they need to have the latest, greatest all carbon $8000 machine.
Compared to the price of bikes and ebikes, even top of the line unicycles seem dirt cheap in comparison.
That’s kind of true. But I always consider a unicycle is worth half a bike of the same quality. For example “road” unicycles prices start at 200€, a normal dteel bike with wich you would do the same things starts around 400€. A good road unicycle is around 700€ and a quite good steel or aluminium bike is 1500€. And a custom unicycle such as mine is 2000€ when a good custom bike is more about 4000€. And a whole new top of the technology carbon bike can go up to 10000€, but this kind of uni doesn’t exist.
Tried that, hamstrings just burn. I hope to progress to crank setting 127mm on the KH36 and being comfortable with that before attempting to ride a Geared 36”. 127mm crank length might even satisfy my goal of reducing my commute riding time from 1 hr 15 to below 1 hr for 13km. Not sure if I will get strong enough to climb the hills with 127mm crank length though. Still want to get the schlumpf hub though. Intending to only speed up on wide open straights. Not going to get much change out of $AUD4000 for geared 36”. Especially if I get a 26” frame and wheel build to learn how to ride the geared schlumf hub. (…not a dig at your comment, climberartist) just to let you know, the small production quantities in Unicyling mean some things just cost more.
The way I look at it is that road bikes are a mostly mature technology. Sure they keep incrementally improving them, but a $3000 road bike from 20 years ago is still a great bike that I can buy for $700. Mountain bikes have seen more improvement over the past 20 years, but I’m not that great a rider and $700 can get what for me is a great bike. I just might have to swap out the mechanical disc brakes. Unicycles on the other hand are much improved from just a decade ago and decent quality used ones aren’t that cheap, but for around €1000 I can buy a fully optioned out M41, which seems quite cheap compared to new mid-range and high end bicycles.
I found a Giant TCR-2 on a council clean-up pile while walking the dog. In it’s time in 2001, it was considered the “break-thru” road racing frame geometry…Shimano 105 components. Totally rusted chain. Broken gear shifter for rear derailleur so I only got 2 gears by using front derailleur. Bought a spare chain, 700x25c types and it is my backup commuter. 2 gears is luxury. Only used it twice.
Racers were descending hills at 100 km/hr on those same bikes just 20 years ago. So long as the brakes and the tires are still good the bikes are as safe as what we have today.
Just to add to my earlier comment about smaller unicycles and distance. I cycled around 15½ miles on a 24″ yesterday. Yes it is easier (for most people) to cover distance on a 36″ but a smaller uni will do the job for distance if you have a just a little more time.
