The “middle” that Joe states is relative, you could say the square hole is in the middle of the end.
Ruari, since your rim turned out to be an odd size, you might as well want to invest in a cheap new uni. For riding in snow you don’t need a splined (strong but expensive) hub, a cheaper “cotterless” one (like on your Pashley) will do. As for wheel diameter, 24", 26" and 28/29" will all work fine under snowy conditions. Depends on what you want: a bigger wheel allows for more speed, especially under more favourable conditions, but you’re somewhat more limited in technical riding. For most snow conditions in my (limited) experience a wide (e.g. 3") knobbly tyre is good, you don’t need medal studs.
If you go for the 28/29" size, you can probably order a new uni without tyre, and use the Nokian 240 you already bought. You could also re-use the seat, with UDC such custom purchases are negotiable.
A new unicycle is tempting. I’m just considering if I can justify the money. Perhaps I’ll have to, otherwise I need to wait until the snow has gone.
Although another 29" would allow me to re-use the Nokian 240 I have I would then have two 29" unis, which seems wasteful. I was thinking of getting into some light Muni at some point so perhaps it would make sense to get a second 26" unicycle. I could use this as my general winter/muni cycle. Also keep the 29" Pashley for a bit more speed on the road when the snow has gone.
The reason I suggest a 26" rather than a 24" is that I don’t want to give up all my potential speed, particularly as it would become my main winter uni even for longer distances.
Any recommendations on a cheap fairly decent 26" for use in the snow and light muni?
The Nokian Extreme 294 (26") has excellent grip, but I find it a bit hard to steer due to its relatively square profile. It gets around corners just fine, but I am unable to do those nice sweeping turns that I do with the 3" Duro Leopard in the summertime. Still, I love that grip on the icy patches and being half the weight of the Duro acceleration/stopping is also improved.
If there is any potential for icy surfaces then studs are the way to go. I am living in Trondheim at the moment and studded tires are an absolute necessity during the winter! I use the Nimbus 26 with square tapered hubs and I have had no troubles (but then again I do not do any extreme drops or hops).
You will be very happy!
I have been riding that one in the snow just recently and it seems perfect.
I am, as a matter of fact, in the middle of studding the Duro Leopard as we speak. I just finished grinding down the screw points on the inside of the tire and my whole shop smells of burnt rubber…yummy…when it cools off I will check for any burrs left over and then apply some silicon caulkng where the srcews came through and then look for a liner.
Nice. I really think that a 26 is a great size for riding in winter. It will plow snow better than a 24, can have a wider tire than a 29 and is not as unwieldy as a 36 (not that 36ers are unwieldy once you get used to them)
Bondo: What method are you using for studding your tire? Sheet metal screws from the outside? anyway I hope it works well for you. For anyone else who is thinking of studding their tire I posted a link to my tutorial near the start of this thread.
I read your tutorial awhile back Sask…thanks a bunch for that!!
I used 3/8 hex head self-tapping screws, screwed in from the outside in. Leaving the hex head on the surface of the knobs. I had to grind down the sharp tips that poked through to the inside.
The self-tapping worked great and I did not have to pre-drill any holes!
I just now finished the wheel off by gluing a rubber liner to the inside of the tire. I put a dab of E6000 on each screw tip and layed in the liner, then I put it all back together and pumped it up. So far so good. I will do a quick ride here at lunch just to be sure.
Hey does anyone know if those Nokian 294’s will fit the Nimbus stock 26" rim?
Just curious. For future options. Those tires look great.
Thanks again for the tutorial.
I have a 12 mile winter-Mtb race I am entering in a couple of weeks. This should help out a lot on the packed snow.
The 294 fits the stock rim on my Nimbus 26 just fine. It is easy to put on and remove compared to the stock 3" Duro (I use a regular size inner tube as I think the Duro tube would be too large). Due to the extra wide rim the tyre gets a slightly more square profile than on a more normal width rim. This is great for traction, but does make it a little less “leanable” (for lack of a better word :D).
ruari: I buy all my unicycling gear from Unicycle.se
I think I probably will be as well. I was wrong when I said that UDC DK was cheaper, on further inspection it would seem that UDC SE is actually the one that tends to be cheaper.
By the way, something confuses me that perhaps you can explain given you have ordered from them before. UDC SE lists the Nimbus 26" as being 2550 SEK but I was only charged 2040 SEK. Any thoughts or ideas why? I’m wondering if this is not including tax and I have to pay that at a latter date.
Assuming this is not tax, 2040 SEK plus the 250 SEK delivery charge is just 2290 SEK total. This seems very cheap when comparing to similar products on UDC US and UDC UK.
For others reading this who are unfamiliar with the value of SEK (Swedish Krona) and who can’t be bothered to look up exchange rates, according to XE 2290 SEK is currently:
$262.34 USD (United States Dollar)
£184.213 GBP (UK Pounds Sterling)
Seems a little cheap for the whole uni delivered doesn’t it? You can find the complete spec here:
I was expecting you to ask about that…it took me a little while to figure out for myself :o
How to calculate price from UDC.se to Norway in five easy steps:
Divide the sum of the intended purchases by 1.25 (to “remove” the swedish sales tax)
Add the cost of shipping (for a 26" unicycle I expect it to be around 450SEK)
Convert the sum to NOK using a currency calculator of choice
Multiply the sum by 1.25 (to add the Norwegian sales tax)
Add the cost of import handling (the Norwegian postal service), around 150NOK
This should add up to the total amount that you end up paying for your purchase in NOK. The cost of the items in points 4 and 5 are billed on a separate invoice from the postal service that you have to pay when you pick up the package from the post office.
One thing to keep in mind is that orders below 200NOK (excluding shipping) do not require the payment of the sales tax, but unicycling stuff is rarely that cheap (unless you are buying a single seatpost clamp or something similiar).
I was only changed 250SEK. Not a complaint though!
P.S. I still can’t get used to this Skandinavian thing where a company ships the product and then sends an invoice request payment. What prevents less honest people from ripping them off?
Well, they give people the benefit of the doubt since most people are reasonable. I think it is nice to be treated as a responsible person instead of a criminal suspect Nice to see that I remembered incorrectly about the shipping cost. I think my 36" cost 450SEK to ship though (but then again that was a MUCH larger package with three sets of cranks, two sets of pedals and a T7).
Don’t get me wrong. I like the system and agree it is nice not to be treated like a criminal but it is still wierd for me coming from the UK/London.
Anyway the Nimbus 26" arrived yesterday. Which was actually a shame as I was at home with some kind of stomach bug (plus flu like symptoms). Of course I couldn’t resist and went out and picked it up from the local post office anyway. Since I felt so terrible I put it together in super slow motion (it took over an hour). In the end I simply couldn’t face going out even for the most simple test run, even though I wanted to. So I still have’t tried it.
It is a nice and solid looking and seems well built so I am very happy so far, despite the lack of a test ride. With the 26 x 3.0" Duro Wildlife Leopard the total wheel size (including tyre) is comparable to my Pashley.
I feel much better today (must have been a 24 hour thing) so I’ll probably give it the first test run after work.
Get well and get on with the riding! Oh and, you need to check your spelling (location)
The Nimbus 26 Muni is nice and solid. I have been very happy with mine so far after owning and riding it for well over a year
Changes to my Nimbus:
KH Freeride saddle
KH rail adapter with brake handle mount
Biltema brake handle and cable
Biltema aluminium seatpost with angle adjustment
Biltema bicycle computer strapped to the frame neck
Shimano cantilever brakes on welded cantilever brake posts
Prowheel 127mm cranks
Nokian 294 (during the winter)
Just thought I would follow up on this really old post of mine. Anyone who read the whole thread will know that I followed the advice of others and bought a Nimbus 26" for winter commuting. I haven’t used it as often as I would have hoped in the winter but I have done it a few times and it handled the job admirably.
But… in case anyone else ever finds themselves with a unicycle with a 28x1 1/2 wheel size (40-635 / 700x38B) AND wants to ride in the winter (ok, yeah… not very likely!), there are winter tires available from Schwalbe:
When we eventually hit winter again perhaps I will even buy some of these myself just to see what it is like. I also own a Pashley bike with this wheel size as well, so if it doesn’t work for the unicycle, it gives me yet another biking option in wintery conditions.
Ok @saskatchewanian 11 years later and I did it. Thanks for the guide. As it happens, this time it was not for a unicycle but I am replying here because you still you inspired me.
How things change. I used it constantly (pretty much every day) for the 2018-2019 winter and the same again for the 2019-2020 winter, although I switched out the frame to a URC frame but the wheelset is still the same one!
Since you revived this thread, I thought I’d go back and read the first post.
You learned to ride 100 meters on your first day?? It took me quite a while to do that… wow. Maybe I was just a horribly slow learner…
