I think Kris Holm and QU-AX are merging because MAD4ONE is a big competitor. They’re selling fewer and fewer units, hence this common standard for differentiation. I just hope Kris Holm uses better bearings. There are NO alternatives to this!
The new Q-Axle bearings are reportedly much improved over the original ones.
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It will be interesting to see if we get more variety in Q-Axle cranks. Particularly with some Q factor - all of the zero Q cranks don’t really suit my feet. More options are always better.
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I also like me a good and curvy crank. My feet angle themselves such that the heel lands on the crank at the axle and sends me flying if I’m not careful when using little to 0 Q cranks. I’d also like some more Q-y cotterless cranks but innovation in that realm is not as frequent these days.
Do you have more info about this? Are there available as spare parts?
I just ordered new bearings for my q-axle. If I can get a new and better version, I would go for it instead…
It was a rolling and unannounced change they did a few years ago as far as I know, so I think chances are high that you will get the “new version”. (Which is the same kind of bearing as the old, just better quality)
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It’s interesting to me to see that the KH blue is now a good deal darker.
When compared to a really old non-disc 26” frame:
And to a somewhat newer 24” disc frame:
It is certainly a beautiful item as I have always thought with KH gear - but my gut says it isn’t anodised?!?
Blue with high durability glossy clearcoat, laser-etched logo.
This is what the specs say… it looks very close to the older frames but somehow the paint does look like it is more of a coat than an anodisation.
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They’ve always been powdercoated, so I would expect the new ones to be too.
I heard rumours that they only changed to just black because the blue powdercoat wasn’t available anymore (the whole supply chain being messed up thing), so I wouldn’t be surprised if they settled for a “similar enough” blue.
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I’ve always thought a very slightly darker shade of blue would be an improvement anyway so I’m cool with that.
I’ve got old frames and bearing holders where the blue doesn’t match up perfectly either though so the variation you’re seeing may not be very different to the historical variation anyway.
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All unicycles look the same covered in mud, problem solved.
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I don’t understand why KH has gone back to Blue colourway?
I personally love my new Black retro KH19” Uni.
What do I mean by retro well almost 19 years ago, my first Muni was a Black steel KH24” and I’m glad the overall design has improved greatly with a one pieces hub, aluminium cranks, Heel clearance and disc brake.
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I think most people struggled to understand why they went back to black.
“KH Blue” is certainly a thing that pretty much all unicyclists recognise, whereas I can’t think of the same for any other brand.
A black KH unicycle doesn’t stand out against a sea of black Nimbus frames.
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But all KH’s were Black for years.
I don’t understand why KH switched to Blue?
As this original handbuilt models were red in colour.
KH unicles were only available in blue for 15 years and that really had made it their trademark, the few years of black and some red have not left as big of a mark. If you consider production numbers, probably 90% or more of all KH frames produced ever are that shade of blue.
I liked the black and I think offering more than one colour is good, but it’s hard to deny the immediate brand recognition the KH blue frame has.
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Fair enough points.
To be honest, one of the reasons I upgraded my 26 inch KH to a titanium frame set was because I didn’t like the colour.
Do I think changing into titanium made a big difference?
I’d have been happy with KH black had the paint work been of the same quality. But the black frames appear painted - and in all honesty the relief they went back to blue (aside from the nostalgia I have as my first nice uni was a blue KH20) was that this blue finish is back to the way it used to be - as in not painted. Power coat I think is the way it is applied or perhaps anodising (can’t remember).
If Nimbus upped the quality of their black coating on their frames then I think it would make for a more premium look.
Aesthetics wise, I think raw metal always wins though so be that Ti or Steel or Flansberrium raw Aluminium - I’d think that looks best / most authentic 
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It’s powdercoating, which is a fancy way of painting essentially. A powder is sprayed on and then baked, which produces a finish that is typically a bit more durable than paint. I’d be surprised if the black frames were not powdercoated too, but black powdercoat probably just looks less fancy, the black KH frames I’ve seen looked of decent quality and seemed to last ok.
Anodizing produces the kind of colour that you see on Qu-ax RGB and Mad4one frames. The aluminium is put in an acid bath and connected as an anode to electricity, which creates an oxide layer with open pores. Then you can dunk that into dye and seal it to give it colour. The paint is actually inside the metal, which gives it that “metallicy” look.
Most coatings tend to wear of sooner or later with most riders, the wheel being between our legs means that something is likely to rub on the frame somewhere.
Frames on unicycles tend to only make small differences. But titanium looks very nice 
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You’re wrong! It has been proven that a Flansberrium frame let’s you ride 10% faster than any other frame 
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Can’t argue against that, Flansberrium unis have 3 world champ titles at last Unicon
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Well I’m so glad to be back riding and to have been able to purchase first my new Black KH19” from OZ.
I was planning to wait until Mid Summer before ordering a new Muni 24”, but because of this post and the return of Blue KH uni’s I have now also ordered and waiting on a new Black KH24” also from Peter in OZ.
This is because I do not like and have never liked the blue shade of KH.
Plus my first KH was when all KH’s were beautiful in black (with the most disgusting crank design I’ve ever seen) so it’s retro to myself.
I understand that you all like the blue colour way, but for myself it clashes with any dressing up colour that I’ll be adding in the future.