I am planning to go to Unicon next year in France. We will be coming from Sydney Australia via Helsinki as I have Queen tickets.
At this stage I am planning to participate in road races, Muni races and track races.
If I do this, I then anticipate I’d want to bring 3 unis - a 29er for distance races, my 27.5 muni for muni and a basic 24” uni for track events.
Now, I suspect lugging three unicycles on international flights would be very annoying.
Any suggestions on how to do this well? My 27.5 muni has an internal hub mounted disc but the 29er doesn’t, so that’s a bit of a hurdle if I was to try to bring 1 less frame. I imagine I can get away possibly with 1 or 2 saddles and seat posts though
Doing road races with the 27.5 wouldn’t be ideal - too much road friction IMO with the tyre.
there may be another option: some people like me happen to be French (nobody is perfect ) and have some unis they do not intend to use for Unicon.
So for instance I can bring a 32"/140mm in my car but I do not intend to ride a road race with it (I am only a muni person) so if you (or someone else) can use it for a ride I would happily lend it (I also have a clunky auld Coker -also with 140mm cranks-)
You could disassemble all three, then strip down the 29 and 27.5 wheels to just the rims, hubs and spokes and then nest them around the 24" wheel. Done like that, all three would take up no more room than your 29er.
You’d have a couple hours of reassembly time afterward and you’d want to brush up on wheel lacing and tensioning too, but I’d wager there will be plenty of people at Unicon that would help you out.
Borrowing tends to happen, especially for disciplines like track racing, where there are very few people riding at the same time it’s pretty easy to arrange - ideally you would find someone outside your age group (usually starting order is by age groups) and share a uni with them.
Harder to do with Muni and Road racing, where mass starts are common, but as wobbling bear suggests, there are sometimes extra unicycles around, that people who travel there by car bring.
But 3 unicycles >29" would fit reasonably well in a bike bag if you pack well - of course it’s not going to be a whole lot of fun to carry that bag, but you’ll only have to do that a very limited amount of time, I’d personally not stress about that too much. Will cost you extra for the extra luggage, but it’s hard to avoid that…
Thanks for all the responses. I now think I may be able to just bring the 27.5 as a result and borrow others which will be much easier.
Hi @wobbling_bear, I would love to borrow a uni from you if that’s cool. Can you please put me down for the 32"? Having to bring one less big uni to bring via multiple flights would be extremely helpful. I’ll keep working on my big wheel mounting skills in the meantime… I’ve got 9 months for it to get good/better.
In theory, yes, thats possible and better for travel but I think to reassemble the wheels will take ages, particularly truing and I think it could possibly cause me unnecessary stress. I have laced a 36er and a 26" and it requires significant time investment to put it all together.
Think I’ll do that for track… so, I won’t worry about bringing a 24". One less uni
I’ll check them out, but, if I only need to transport a muni now, this problem is now very manageable.
ok the 32" will be waiting for you ( its name is “rangorang” so you’ll know how to call it when you’ll want to tame it ) the only drawback might be the handle…
If you plan to participate in Marathon, remember that a 32er will make you go into the unlimited category while a 29er would have make you ride with the other standard unicyclists.
By the way, you could buy a road tire for your 27.5 so you only have to change the tire between competitions.
Not a bad idea too about using a smooth tyre for 27.5! It’s just a bit smaller than a 29er. Question, does 27.5 get included in standard category? Anyway, let’s say I don’t think I’ll be 1st, 2nd or 3rd regardless.
Thanks @Maxence. Let’s say, I’m not imagining to be 1st, 2nd or 3rd in either race, unless there’s not more than a handful of people in my category (I’ll be 45+ female).
it sneaked inadvertantly into my home (but I right now since I have hurt my knee … I have been unable to ride it … I will -cautiously- try to ride it later)
Hello all!
Right now I’m thinking of just bringing a basic 24” Club uni.
I am wondering, could I borrow a 29er for Unicon? (Prefer a slick tyre)
It will be a lot easier to manage to bring one smaller uni than hauling 2 unis all the way from Sydney.
I envisage the 29er would be used for marathon and maybe the 10km road race. (I can do 10km on a 24 though).
Can someone also tell me, how easy/hard would the muni beginner downhill be? Is a brake needed (cause my Club doesn’t have a brake)
Two of my co-workers always ship their bags for business travel. They arrange for the hotel to receive them and then ship them out before leaving. You might try arranging this with a hotel or some other person you trust. I envy my co-workers when they get on and off an airplane with one small bag.
I think you don’t need a brake for the Muni beginner. I’m also startet at the Muni beginner with my 29" Muni. The Uni is the Muni for all, also for Unlimited Marathon 29" With a Muni Tire and 137mm cranks, not the best setup for going to the marathon but I hope it goes. You can also walk the Muni beginner path it is not work your you because it’s to steep but I read that the Parth are forest streets and there don’t going up and down.
) and have some unis they do not intend to use for Unicon.
(but I right now since I have hurt my knee … I have been unable to ride it … I will -cautiously- try to ride it later)