Announcing the new KH gear for June 2012

Kris - How much will this stuff retail for?
I’m particularly interested in the prices of a whole uni, a KH frame, and just a pair of cranks.

Ah but being the fussy git that I am the rounded crown bothers me greatly, to “circus” like and not as manly as a KH :stuck_out_tongue: I have been running an internal disc hub from the month it came out and it has been fantastic.

I keep reaching for the grinder to take the brake bosses off my current frame as I hate superfluous mounts/bosses :stuck_out_tongue:

I would have instantly bought a Spirit 150mm non disc single hole set of cranks :frowning: as they are a nice weight and look fantastic. The 137 might be pushing it as I dropped from 150mm to 145mm as it is, might give it a bash though once my strength improves some more.

This crank disc does mean you could run dual discs though with an Oracle hub :stuck_out_tongue:

They are so sexy.
But I don’t think my wife will appreciate sharing the bed with them.
Oh well she can sleep on the lounge.
:smiley:

Looks great, thanks for all your hard work and innovation Kris. Is the shape the reason for the 125s going to 127? Now sure how I feel about the change, hopefully it’s very subtle.

D Brake Mount

Hey Kris
The D Brake is designed to be mounted on the left for an inboard disk.
Would I be right in assuming that putting it on the right for the outboard disk on a schlumpf would work ok?

Cheers.

It was mostly to standardize things. 110/127 gives 2 more millimetres of metal between the holes, compared to 110/125, which I want.
With all the length options, having some cranks 127 and some with 125 is confusion, so I stuck with 127. It really doesn’t make much difference in practical terms; very subtle as you say.

Kris

I personally have not used the D’brake to retrofit Spirit cranks to a frame. But Roger Davies has, and I understand from him that it works to install it on the right side. If someone does this, please post here with photos =)

Kris

I completely forgot to mention about one more upgrade: Percussion Armour now has moulded hardshell knee protection, underneath stretch-nylon/kevlar. I don’t have good photos yet, but see the attached (slightly muddy) photo.
This narrows the profile of the armour even further (because the knee cup is curved) and increases the level of impact protection.
This upgraded armour has already arrived in Europe, North America, and Korea, and will be in Costa Rica soon.

Armourprofile.jpg

Thanks for the explanation Kris. I figured if you made the change there had to be a logical reason for the modification. The change also appears to distinguish KH from other cranks on the market as most (comparing 125 or 127 size only) are at the moment (no pun intended) 125s.

These look sweet, especially for those of use with skinny legs.

Kris, is this the same new and improved Percussion Armor that I bought from UDC last month? I have the original, the improved version I bought last month, and am hoping that the improved is the same as what you are now announcing.

I am not sure if I want to replace my brand new KH26 frame for the new one, but I am tempted to transfer all of my Moment cranks to the KH20 and buy a full set of DH Spirit cranks for the KH26 with KH-S hub. I really don’t want to use a rim brake on my KH26 wheels (but that is my cheapest option to consider).

My upcoming geared KH36 WILL use the Spirit system. Just not sure I want to replace a new KH26 frame and consign the cranks to a Trails uni.

If it has a molded knee cup with stretch nylon on top, then it’s the new version =)

:smiley: I see now the old were 1100 denier ballistics and the new arm and leg are 1200 denier ballistics! I have both and am good.

I’ll keep my eyes peeled on UDC and Compulsion Cycles for the new frame and cranks!

+1. I learned to Coker on 150/125s but it wasn’t long before I switched to 125/110s. Switched back to 150s to learn how to Schlumpf. Now I’m ready to move down to 137s on my geared KH36. Don’t see myself going much shorter and maintaining enough leverage to climb even the slightest hill in high gear. And, I might actually enjoy riding (without all the wobble) in low gear again! I really prefer to spin shorter cranks when touring. Plus, my size 10 FiveTens will reach the button on 137s so I don’t end up riding on my toes like I do on 150s.

I’m not sure about D’brake, but Mountainuni UCM is designed to work on the right side.

Those new cranks (and rotor) are gorgeous works of art. The sexiest unicycle cranks I’ve ever seen. Beautiful industrial design; my compliments to the designers!

That setup is starting to cement in my mind the future replacement for my aging (no brakes!) Wilder MUni. We’re going to ride the Downieville trail again in two days (and I still have no brakes!). :slight_smile:

Eww. But I guess I’d be having the same problems if I lived in the Southeast…

I challenge anyone to detect a 2mm difference in crank length. It reminds me of the big argument a few years back when we changed the minimum racing crank length (for 20" wheels) from 102mm to 100 to accommodate the new splined cranks on the market. People argued it would be unfair to the kids (20" racing is all kids) with the 102mm cranks. Silly.

do you have any picture with the Starfighter brake lever extension installed on a brack to see what it’s look like ?

Brilliant improvements Kris! I will buy some spirit disc cranks sometime when I get a disc brake! They look great, the drawings do not do them justice! They are a realy great mass too :smiley:

Why do you recommend a 160mm rotor? And can you not run a smaller rotor than 160mm with the KH setup?

Everything looks so great.

So the moment cranks are not going to be produced anymore right?

It is very cool to hear that a former Raceface cranks engineer helped design the cranks! :smiley:

You really help the sport grow and progress majorly Kris, you deserve so much credit for this! :slight_smile:

FYI on your website there are a few mistakes

http://www.krisholm.com/khu/kh26 -“Attention to detail and the use of high-end materials and construction set KH unicycles apart. With a high strength-weight ratio, the KH24 is a versatile mountain unicycle that excels for all mountain and cross-country trails.”

Also on the KH26 page the different descriptions list different tyres for the uni, such as “High volume, Maxxis Ardent 26x2.6” tire " under Features and “WTB Stout 2.3” wide tire" under specifications and then their is the picture with a Maxxis High roller tyre haha :slight_smile:

Have been waiting for this for so long…

Congratulations Kris - yet again you developed great stuff!

I like the new bits but wish the brake was mounted on the left of the unicycle. I sidehop to the right and can land on the disk :expressionless:

Additionally, I am curious if anything other than disk mounting related updates were applied to the frames (e.g. crown width, shape and clearance to tire).
How about the hubs - are they exactly the same as before?

Would also like to see a photo with the Starfighter mounted…

@Kris, what disk brake did give you the most satisfying results yet?

By the way, I am not quite satisfied with the braking power given by the rim brake (HS33). Tried both standard (black) and red original pads but there doesn’t seem to be a big difference. Do you guys have any recommendations of better pads?..I heard Plasmatics are good for smooth rims (not grinded)…

Thanks

Thanks for catching those typos! Much appreciated. They should be fixed now on the site. About the KH26: neither tire spec was correct. The KH26 is coming with the Maxxis High Roller 26x2.5" tire. I really like this tire for All Mountain riding - even the single wall is well supported on the wide rim, the tread pattern is really good for Muni, and it has a good balance of volume and weight (under 1000 grams).

Fitting the rotor between the crank, frame, and spokes on the inside, is a challenge. The tolerances have to be just right, and the curve of the inside face on the crank has to be just right to clear the caliper and still maintain strengh. Anyone who has done detailed solids modelling should appreciate the complex curves on the inside face where the rotor spider blends into the crank.

A disk caliper will probably hit the rotor on a 140 mm rotor size. 160 works well - decent braking power and it stays out of the way. Personally I would move to a more powerful brake before I chose to increase the rotor size, if I wanted more power.

It was great working with the Raceface Engineer. Rob was responsible for designing the Raceface Atlas cranks, and brought a wealth of knowledge to the project. In particular it helped ensure that weight and strength were intentional (e.g. we weren’t just trying to make it as light as possible, or as strong as possible - we had a specific target strength and weight we wanted), and that some details weren’t overlooked. For example, if you look carefully the amount of metal around the pedal hole, it’s not symmetrical - the thickness varies to reduce metal where it’s not needed and increase it where the pedal hole is most likely to develop stress fractures. The intent is to produce cranks that are strong enough for 99% of riders, but not 100%. Moment cranks were strong enough for 100% of riders, which meant they were >25% too heavy for 99% of riders as well. RaceFace went through the same transition when they moved from the Diabolus Cranks to the Atlas Cranks.

Yes, Moment cranks are discontinued.

K.

Hello Kris,
on your site the pic of the kh24 the crank with disc hole is on the left, opposite to disk caliper mounts on the frame…