I have a new KH 29"… and the high school friend I loaned my old Torker 20" has decided that he is going to save $$ to buy a unicycle of his own. He is hoping to find something for around $100, and definitely can’t afford a KH.
He is already riding/hoping my Torker down stairs and can do more tricks than I can (I’ve been riding over a year, he has been riding 3 weeks)… so I think he probably wants something strong enough to not break right away. He probably weighs under 150, but he is just a freshman so will probably bulk up eventally.
He also is not sure of what size wheel he wants. I’m letting him try out the 29", but I thought probably 24" or 26" would be better for tricks. He does seem to think the 20" is too small… but I understand that is the normal size for trials?
(I mostly use mine for commuting and plan to do mountain/river trails this summer… I’m not really into tricks or the like.)
Anyway, I realize that really is not enough information for a perfect recommendation, but I’m not sure he knows what he wants to do yet. I suspect a Nimbus Muni would be strong enough for him, but I think he is hoping to spend a lot less. My neighbor has a Sun that is in the right price range, but it looks weaker than my Torker LX. Looks like 24" and 26" Torker LX’s are under $150.
There is a 24" “Club” on Craigs List for a decent price… but the description on unicycle.com does not make it sound very sturdy.
Anyway, he has no internet… so I promised to ask for him.
If he wants something that will last for jumping up and down stairs he should probably look at getting ISIS. Nimbus make relatively cheap ISIS 24"s and 26"s which may be a bit more than he wants to spend but will last a lot longer than a square taper hub unicycle. Smaller wheels are better for tricks, generally, and larger wheels better for distance- so your friend might be able to guess what he will want. Always room for more unicycles once you get addicted too.
I would agree with Eric here… An Nimbus II 24" would be great…
I have been doing alot of looking and reading, the 24 is decent for street and flatland tricks (not perfect but does ok), works ok on the trails for light muni, Toss a knobby on there for a little more aggressivness… And the 24" tire would be a bit faster on commutes…
Only weak point might be the rim which can be addressed as he gets more addicted and pushes harder on himself and his equipment…
I have been looking at this same Uni for my 11 year old now that he’s riding his 20" up and down small curbs and around the block and down the neighbors yard.