Hah Miyata’s are gorgeous. My dream would be to own one of these, unfortunatly its a bit out of my, and your price range. But it would give you something to shoot for in terms of perfection.
Quality: take Semcycle XL freestyle, and compare it to that Siegmono one that LOOKS exactly the same and -how typical- has almost the same measures, and is cheaper… the Siegmono does’nt have a heat-treated chromoly hub, heat-treated chromoly crancks, heat-treated chromoly axes in the pedals, and the tubing might not even be chromoly steel. These features makes production expensive, but your unicycle -on the long term- cheaper that the cheap model.
Or take the Nimbus 2007; it does’nt have a decent crown. With skills that produces forces like these, I rather have a stronger connection between the tubes. Again such a crown will involve more welding, and again will cost $omething more. But if it prevents your frame from bending or even breaking…
So my independant advice: take the $220 Semcycle XL freestyle. I use that myself to for stand-up skills, for all other stuff I ride the Semcycle Pro 20".
What about the Torker LX? Wouldn’t this be perfect for what he is looking for?
Cheap, relatively slim seatpost clamp, and what I believe is a good crown.
Isn’t that exactly what he is looking for?
Does anyone else think an LX will work for me?
well yeah i do, its pretty strong, got an okish freestyle frame and its got a myata style saddle which are really nice for freestyle…
The new Nimbus X 2007 frame is no normal frame; it is fully made from CrMo with a 100mm CrMo insert at the crown welded on both the top and bottom of the crown. It is made like this to offer a big foot area with greater rigidity along with it’s streamlined design reducing knee knocking. The frame is based on the Max Daddy frame made by Gus in Minnesota and the exact trick that you show is done by Max (the famous frame breaker who weighs considerably more than you!) on the MaxDaddy frame and has never broken it!
Have a look at Trev’s old Sem XL frame…
(I know it says it is a Nimbus but it is not, this is an XL having a bad day)
The Sem XL frame is not CrMo at all, it does not have machined bearing housings. The wheel, while it may have a CrMo spindle, has flanges 25% narrower than the Nimbus and only 36 spokes. The Nimbus X wheel offers considerably more rigidity and robustness over the Semcycle XL. Comparing the two unicycles is like comparing a Ford Escort to a Porsche. A better unicycle for less price!
B****cks!
Independent! who are you trying to fool Leo. Please be up front about your connections with Sem. I openly admit I have connections with Nimbus and Unicycle.com and I will be biased in what I say. You should do the same with Semcycle.
http://semcycle.nl/html/very-special.php
skate4flip… the frame you are referring to is not the one that leo is dissing
Roger (or known in the office today as the grumpy old man)
What are the advantages to machined bearing holders? They look nice but do they do a better job of holding the bearings than the other kind?
Bearings last longer, probably more important on a trials uni.
A wide hub, such as the unicycle.com CrMo hub, isn’t always an advantage. The unicycle.com hub is too wide to fit in a Koxx one Signature frame, for example. I’ve tried
since both have 100mm centres on the bearings it is odd you can not fit them together?
The UDC wide flange hub came about because of a reality check. We realised that the standard hub was based around a standard bike hub and then the bearings placed to fit a lollypop bearing. That is old hat and not required, so the flanges were moved out to match the modern bearing housings.
If it does not fit the Koxx frame then I would suggest that it is a design feature of the koxx design not to include other hubs.
Roger
I’m sorry but watching the parts (crancks and pedals) and especially the distance between tire and crown, I’m pretty sure that that is no Semcycle XL at all, but probably a Siegmono or another replica. Maybe a Nimbus like the title said? Like I wrote in my earlier reply they LOOK very alike. But they are not. So I think that picture is a good proof of it, and showed exactly what I was warning for.
I agree, though Semcycle always used to be called the Rolls Royce among uncycles. The comfort and durability never disapointed me. And after more than 10 years I still daily ride my 1st and 2nd unicycle I ever bought. For that reason I gladly recommend it to anyone who’se asking what’s a good freestyle unicycle to buy.
I’m sorry for you but I have no connection with Semcycle. If I want one I pay exact the same price like any other person. If Semcycle sells something (or not) does not affect me in any way. At least no other that I’m happy for them (just like I’m happy for you if you sell something), but especially happy for the new unicycle-owner, as s/he bough a great product.
But I have not any relation with any unicycle manufacturer or shop at all. I do sell some my own unicycle related t-shirts online. As that’s just t-shirts I still dare to call my advice independant.
In the past I’ve had offers by at least 3 unicycle brands (EXcluding Semcycle) and by some other unicycle-companies to join, but I’ve never felt that much attracted to give up my freedom!!!
If you based yourself on wrong information, no problem. But otherwise I wonder who’s fooling who.
I don’t feel for talking in ****'s as well, still I like to mention I’m dissapointed that you feel the need to implicate I’m not honest.
Semcycle sells a normal 20" XL as well as the longneck freestyle so couldn’t it be the normal verson? That one has more tire clearance than the freestyle one.
The Signature frame does fit a Qu-ax hub though, as well as Koxx hubs, obviously. So the problem as I see it, is that the flanges of the unicycle.com hub extend too far, and there’s no space between the bearings and flanges for the housings to fit.
The regular models use to have a smaller crown, but maybe they’re recent models do have a wider one. I don’t know. Still it was refered to as old frame. If it isn’t it an XL it wont be the 1st time a shop sell another brand as being a Semcycle. And if it is an XL I still see non-semcycle parts and so would like to see if he kept the Semcycle hub in it (or bend the frame to fit his wheel).
Maybe that’s a wrong asumption of me, maybe not. However the tubing is obviously better than the replica’s, that I did’nt even recognized as replica -untill I touched it-.
Still both a Semcycle XL with upgraded pedals and a Semcycle Pro have a heat-treated chromoly hub, heat-treated chromoly crancks, heat-treated chromoly axes in the pedals. As far as I know Semcycle is the only brand who does that.
And the chromoly UDC hub is not heat-treathed, or is it?
Also more than both a friend of me and myself who are applieng weird forces to the XL?
Based on my own experience of over 10 years, and owning many different Semcycles, it still keeps by far my prefered choise of unicycle. And again; I’m not having any benefit to waste my time on broadcasting that message.
Leo, The frame that was sold to Trevor was a Sem XL frame. It was purchased from the US section of Unicycle.com by ourselves for him - it is nothing to do with Sigmono as he does not sell to unicycle.com. I have the purchase invoice. He then sold it on the Gary and it broke at the Emu Hockey tournament earlier this year. These are all facts, no speculation about it.
I do not deny that the Sem XL is a very good frame, it is or that Sem unicycles were known as the Rolls Royce among unicycles, they were. Although things move on, the developments in unicycles over the past 5 years have been immerse and you were comparing here the very latest design, that I do not believe you have even seen never mind actually tested, with basically a standard (although good) frame.
I did not accuse you of lieing, you are very trustworthy and honist, that is not what I meant, I do apologise; although I wanted you to explain your connections with Sem, these you still have not done fully in my opinion, but this is my opinion. I think that should anyone look on any Sem website they will see you there or should they talk to you it becomes apparent your connections with Sem. You can not be seen as impartial when you are talking about something so close to your heart. I think it is always best to be clear in statments like this that you do have a bias.
I am biased, I admit it but I am too close to Unicycle.com or Nimbus products to claim to be unbiased. I have great reaspect for the design of Sem, kh, Bedford, Schlumpf, Koxx, quax and others, their inovations and contributions to the development of unicycles is on going. It is great to be in such a vibrant market place.
Just for the record, my personal unicycles include a DM, a Pashley, a Miyata, 3 Nimbus protypes, a schlumpf, a KH, an onza, a few mongrals and of course a splattering of carbon unicycles.
You want to know if the UDC hub is heat treated, yes it is to a hardness of 580 Vicors. This is well documented. I have done full harness test on all the hubs and it has been posted on the forum in the past. The majority of UDC pedals have CrMo spindles, this is standard. Billot cast aluminium cranks do not need post production heat treatment from what I understand to acheive their optimium harness.
Roger
He actually broke it at a Kidderminster uni meet - things don’t break at EMU tournaments - they’re high quality hockey tournaments not destruction derbys 
- we save breaking things for Tuesday night practises as we don’t want to put off our guests 
Roland
Thanks for the correction Roland. It was one I was not at.
Roger
Would the Nimbus X 20" ( http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=743 ) be a good choice for freestyle? It’s one of the cheapest decent looking freestyle unicycle I found. I guess the LX looks fine; is this much of an upgrade from that?
Is the Semcycle better, and why, if it is? The Nimus X looks as good, at a lower cost compared to the Sem with all the upgrades.
The Nimus X description:
Tubular steel longneck 300mm frame with squared top for one-foot skills, black powder-coated finish.
Unicycle.com wide-flange CrMO hardened steel hub and 48-count stainless-steel silver spokes.
Bearings:6203 40mm sealed
114-mm silver alloy crank arms
Double-walled 48-hole alloy rim with nipple eyelets.
Nimbus Gel Saddle - low profile saddle with gel insert for more comfort with front handle and rear protective bumper, black with red Nimbus logo.
Kenda Kikzumbut black 20 x 1.95 freestyle tire, inflates to 65 psi.
Steel 22.2mm seatpost 300mm
Black plastic 9/16 pedals
5-mm Double allen wrench seat post clamp
Weight: 4.9kg or 10.8 lbs.
the nimbus X is better than the LX, for some simple reasons, the Nx (nimbus X) has a double walled eyeletted rim while the LX has a single walled rim.
also note the shorter cranks on the Nx this is probably better for freestyle, the LX cranks are abit long.
The frame is much nicer on the Nx, its crmo (not sure if lx is either) and is much higher and made for freestyle. As rodger said before its a custom made frame for freestyle, and although having never tried it, it looks very good.
Also notice the saddles, although personal preference, i’ve heard people complaining about the myata type/LX saddles because they are wider, but i’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about the nimbus gel Velo style saddle…
As to wether all this is worth $75 extra, thats for you to decide. But i think $175 is a very good price to pay for the nimbus X.
Is there a significant difference between the Kenda Kikzumbut and other freestyle tyres? I’d rather order a better tyre with it now than have to pay separate shipping later, if there is a big discrepancy.