I have read a lot here about some of you making your unicycles lighter by drilling the rims and other modifications and I wonder who can claim the greatest weight loss?
Please answer the following:
What size, type and brand of Uni?
What modifications?
Total weight loss?
Thanks
Every time I get off of my Coker it loses 195 pounds.
Wow, that was rude.
What if your bmi is underweight and any weight loss would be unhealthy? The origional post is an interesting question that I look forward to seeing the answers to.
Think about what you’re saying before you make an ass of yourself.
+1
I could prob gain a few #'s.
Although ezy said it in an extemely rude way most could use to loose a few #'s off their body, but fewer in our community.
Most effective place to loose weight on the uni is things that rotate, esp the outermost parts of the wheel (ie tire).
You punk little kid, you have no idea where I was going with this qiestion. Your response was completely out of line and I hope you break a leg.
I think he had fun typing the word fatasses in all caps. Let me try it. FATASSES. Yeah that was kind of fun.
Sorry I guess I’m in a silly mood 
Since a 36" has the heaviest parts, it has the biggest potential for savings.
Sask has drilled out his Coker rim and reported the weight savings at ~75g: Coker Rim - #44 by saskatchewanian
Switching from a regular 36" tube to a 29" tube (or a 36" FOSS tube) will save ~12oz. (I’ve never run a 36" tube; I built my 36" with a 29x2.3 tube that weighs 7.3oz)
My Nightrider tire weights 4lbs 10oz. Switching to a 1000g tire would save almost 2.5lbs (~39oz): 900-1000g 36" tire, anyone interested?
Needless to say, a lot of people are anxiously waiting for that tire to become a reality.
I may be asking the wrong question on the wrong thread, but…
I’m interested in WHY lighter is better.
When I put different cranks and pedals on my 24" Torker LX, the cranks were shorter, but they were not aluminum like the original cranks. Immediately I thought the uni was much heavier than I was happy with. It made a big difference.
But, exactly what are the riding advantages of having a lighter uni?
I’m seriously looking at upgrading…
for instance, the Nimbus Sport Racing 24" uni has a really skinny tire and is less than 9 pounds.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a light weight uni? And would somebody who is just conquering riding around the neighborhood likely to find this uni a good thing, or not??? Thanks.
Sorry if this is in the wrong place. I just thought since you guys are so interested in trimming off the weight, you would probably have some good reasons for going with a lighter uni.
Thanks!
Weight makes the most difference when it’s rotating (e.g. wheel rim & tyre, also cranks (less so as the rotating mass efect occurs when it’s furthest from the axle) when either acceleration or decelaration occurs.
Most obviously when going up a steep hill where the wheel tends to stop with each half rev, and then have to be accererated through the next half rev etc, etc.
It’s also a factor on any hill, as, the laws of physics dictate that any mass undergoing a height rise requires more energy, the bigger the mass is.
A third factor is that, the heavier the unicycle, the harder it is to carry when not riding.
More weight means more inertia, especially weight in places that rotate when the wheel turns. When you’re going straight and not changing speed this isn’t always a bad thing and can make for a more stable and smoother ride. When your riding involves lots of speed changes and turns the additional inertia requires more effort to overcome.
24" KH guni.
My “before” uni had: Schlumpf hub, DT db spokes, a Velo 8 computer, 150/125 moments, Magura brakes, and 2" cut off of stock seat post. Everything else was stock.
All measurements done with a small digital food scale.
Totals based on all part weight separately and summed.
Muni before: 8126g (17.91 lbs)
Muni after: 6832g (15.06 lbs)
Total Savings: 1294g (2.85 lbs)
Duro 24x3 w/ slight wear: 1421g (3.13 lbs)
Panaracer Fire FR 24x2.4: 850g (1.87 lbs)
Tire Savings: 571g (1.26 lbs)
Odyssey Trail Mix: 566g (1.25 lbs)
Wellgo MG-1 Ti: 300g (0.66 lbs)
Pedals Savings: 266g (0.59 lbs)
24x3 stock DH: 425g (0.94 lbs)
24x1.5/2.5 Schwalbe A 10: 165g (0.36 lbs)
Tube Savings: 260g (0.57 lbs)
Stock 150/125 Moments: 585g (1.29 lbs)
Milled (too much? pics to come): 444g (0.98 lbs)
Cranks Savings: 141g (0.31 lbs)
KH seat clamp: 67g (0.15 lbs)
Woodman Deathgrip SL Ti: 11g (0.02 lbs)
Seat clamp Savings: 56g (0.12 lbs)
Total rotational weight savings: 1238g (2.73 lbs)
*** Note ***
I have not ridden this off-road yet. For all I know, I’ll hate the tire, the tube will pop, the seat post will not stay up, my titanium pedal spindles will snap, my milled cranks will break and cut my Achilles tendons leaving me on the trail to bleed.
Even with no problems, I don’t really know if the weight savings will be noticeable or not. So far I noticed it was lighter when I took it off the wall of my garage. 
I’m still considering:
Another serious answer:
I once changed the duro 24x3 (1750 gr) to a Schwalbe Big Betty 24 x 2.4 (800 gr).
Also changed the tube from the DH version (450 gr) to a standart tube (225 gr).
A total saving of 1175 gram on the spot you will notice most.
The feel of the uni was completely different, very light and nimble. Much easier to accelerate. So you will really notice 1+ kg weight loss on the tire.
But you can’t go very fast on a 24" anyway, so I changed the tire to a Gazzaloddi 24x3.0, and put the DH tube back in.
I think the grip and the cushion feeling of a large tire are more important then weight.
Yeah if you want any decent weight savings, different parts are the way to go. You wont take off much drilling things but the easiest mod is to cut the seatpost down if you can.
A heavier uni will absorb more impact on rocks and things, so the ride will be smoother. For riding distance on relatively flat surfaces this comes in handy, it also smooths out Muni trails. The trade-off is when you encounter uphill patches which will take more work.
When doing trials, flat and street type things a lighter uni means you might be able to jump higher, get faster wheel and uni rotations, etc. The whole thing will feel more nimble and take less effort, still doesn’t guarantee you’ll land the trick. 
We were just having this conversation over in this thread. Rotational weight is where it’s at but weight at the hub (Schlumpf versus aluminum hub on Impulse) on my two similar 36er setups is noticeable. The Impulse feels light as a feather climbing hills. Also, you can’t (not “recommended”) use a FOSS tube in a drilled rim. Finally, I’m on the list for the lightweight tire if/when it comes out. I’m a weight weenie.
Rotational weight is the real issue here- at least for uni disciplines like Muni and distance where the wheel will be travelling a long distance and undergo periods of forced acceleration and de-acceleration. It becomes even more of an issue when you have a geared hub and your wheel speed will be much greater than an un-geared machine.
I am a moderate weight weenie. Insofar as i will do things in my power to make changes to my unicycle that will directly effect the feel of the ride. The best way I have achieved this is by changing tyres, tubes- even going tubeless to change the weight of my wheel in my geared Muni. The difference in ride characteristics is instantly noticeable.
The type of weight reduction that is not so noticeable for these types of riding is overall weight. You will notice big differences weight in very hilly situations- but apart from that it is harder to qualify the changes.
An interesting example from my riding habits: I always ride with a camelback with a 2l water bladder in it. Thats 2 whole kgs of weight I put on my back for any ride I do- even if it is cooler weather or at night. I notice more of a difference changing the few 100 grams in the tyre than I did when I decided to ride with only 400ml of water in my bag.
The issue is different for trials/ street/ flat riders. Overall unicycle weight becomes paramount because they are requiring to spin, lift and throw the unicycle around a lot.
@muniorbust: fancy posting a pic of your machined moment cranks?
Mark
A friend of mine milled my moments. I gave him a picture of KcTheAcy’s milled cranks from this post.
He took out even more material, which makes me nervous.
I don’t care much if they break, especially with Moments being $50 now, but I don’t want to get hurt.
Looking at the picture makes me more worried than in real life. But they’re still pushing the limits more than I’d like.
What do you think?
WOW! yeah he really went to town on them didn’t he! 
I guess we won’t know until you get out there and ride hard on them for a bit. Once I decide on what crank length I want to have on my new G26er (tossing up between 125 and 137mm but will test both out in the next few weeks) i’m going to do the same thing. I think i’ll get the machinist to leave an extra 2mm on each of the sides and maybe even a small cross beam in the middle of the cut away.
I hope they hold up for you!
Mark
I have a unicycle that was close to 9kg a few years ago and is now under 6kg. The only part that is the same is the hub… On another unicycle I just swapped a 1200g tire for a 1860g tire
light weight is great for most stuff but having that extra bit of momentum can help in other situations.
EDIT: thinking about the forces going into cranks I think you should be OK as long as you don’t do a bunch of crank grabs and dent one of the sides.
About feeling the light
I am not a very good uni rider. If I was much better, having a uni as strong, and much lighter, would be an advantage. The only advantage I could just buy.
At my skill level, I sorta enjoy my KH’s more for the pride of ownership in a quality product. The weight difference doesn’t seem to help me much. I bet I could ride a heavier Nimbus, Qu ax , etc. , just as well.
Still, no one can refute the fact that lighter is better. FTL can’t feel it really. I’m not that good and just wanted KH’s for the craftsmanship. For better riders, I am sure it is very important. Light is the only thing you can buy.
Also, even if you can’t feel it yet, light is always right. Especially if your wallet is heavy. Oh, so much then.