When I still had a unicycle, it was a 24 and worked okay for everything. Before it’s disaster, I was starting to like some mild trials (hopping up/down things for the most part) and distance unicycling. It wasn’t great at either. Now that I’m in the market for a new one, I face some issues.
A 24 isn’t great at trials or distance, but is perfect for throw in your car and go type things.
A 29 or 36 would clearly no work for trials
A 20 would clearly not work for distance
I’m on a tight budget
I don’t want another broken uni a few months down the road (pun intended)
So, I need to make some choices.
Buy a cheap 24 now (Torker AX for $90) and hope it lasts. Buy a 36.
Buy a nice 24, ask nicely for a 36 for christmas (yeah right).
Buy a nice 20, same deal with the 36
Buy a 36, ask for a nice 20 or 24 later.
What would make the most sense to you guys? I eventually want a 36, I know that. And I like having something to hop and fool around on, which a 36 is not. Also, I have potential plans for MUni later, which I would want a 24 for.
24" muni is the best compromise you can make. Trials can be done on it, though not as easily as one a 20", it’s obviously awesome at muni, and you can still do relatively decent distance rides, albeit slower than on a larger wheel.
I do think if I went and spent real money on a nice 24 I wouldn’t be able to afford a 36. The $400 KH24 from BI is tempting, but that’s a lot of money. I could go Nimbus for $100 cheaper but then I would second guess whether the KH was worth the extra which it probably is. From there the only other option really is that good deal on the AX.
A 29" is good for XC/Road, but not much trial. I would get a decent/good 24" and save for a smaller/bigger wheel if I were you.
EDIT: If you want to do either trials or distance riding, it’s probably better to buy two separate unicycles. 24" is the best compensation, but not really optimal for either. In that case I would go for a 20" and save for the 36er, or buy the 36" first depending on what I enjoy the most.
If you are interested in trials, I suggest getting a good trials uni from www.unicycle.com and then getting the Sun 28" for distance, UDC no longer has them in stock but a lot of places have them really cheap. I don’t know how legit this store is, others may want to weigh in but they have it on sale for $74. http://www.ebikestop.com/sun_28_inch_chrome_unicycle-67722.php
If you are on a tight budget I wouldn’t buy the KH 24" over the Nimbus 24" with upgraded moment cranks, the only real significant difference would be the frame and for someone on a budget its not really worth the extra money to spring for the KH.
I have bought a few things from ebikestop.com. The customer service is only through email, and pretty good. I had them check with their vendor on a couple of things and they got back to me within a day. The stuff I got from them came quickly, and the shipping was very reasonable.
I currently have a 29’er, and a MUni 24". I was thinking about the same things you are, and it seems like the best way to get the most terrain out of two uni’s. Of course you really can’t have just one, but right now I would favor the 29’er as it is my daily ride.
Plus, I’m not going to be using the seat. I have a KH Fusion Freeride I’ll be swapping out immediately.
EDIT: Correction, it would be more like $110. I talked to the owner of UDC and I would be removing the seat and subtracting that price from the overall price.
For what you intend to do I wouldn’t bother with the AX, not only is it a square taper hub and crankset, but the rim is single walled, so after not too long it would probably end up looking like the one in your user pic. Go Nimbus.
A lot of people on the forum have been buying these KH’s. They are '07 models, but you can’t beat the price. I think you would have fun with either the 24 or 29.
You will need a KH seatpost to put your free ride on an ax. A KH post fits in an ax snugly. I would recommend getting the KH though, even though I have an ax 29 and nothing has broke so far, the KH’s are just that much nicer.
I think the Fusion Freeride has a different seat bolt pattern than the Torker AX, so you can’t use the KH seat on the Torker seatpost. I think also that the Torker seatpost has a different diameter than the KH seatpost, so you can’t use the KH seatpost in the Torker frame.
Thanks for that link. I’ve seen that deal, and it’s pretty remarkable.
The (final) choice:
Buy a 24" Nimbus II, completely stock, hope the cranks dont break on me. If they do, buy $60 Moments. Price w/ shipping would be $260 without the cranks. Moments would be another $70 shipped, assuming I need them later on.
Get the KH. It’s about $80 more than the nimbus, and if you tweak the nimbus frame even a little bit a fat tire won’t fit in it. I’ve seen 3.0 duros in the nimbus frame, but it’s close. Also, my nimbus frame would never fit a true 3.0. I can barely push a 3 inch long stick through.
The '07s are pretty much the same except for the frame and seat–that means that for just $80 you get a $200 frame.
This is quoted from an email I received from the UDC help desk regarding the Nimbus II with a wider tire: “The 24 Muni, on our next container, will have pre-welded brake mounts. As for the Nimbus II for a Muni cycle, it’s possible to do Muni on it, but you’d only be able to put up to a 2.6 tire on it, instead of the 3.0 that comes on the Muni. The Nimbus II still has the same spokes and hub as the Nimbus II, and also has a double walled rim as well”.
So if you want a really big tire you probably want the MUni version of the Nimbus which is more expensive, and with shipping will be only a bit cheaper than the BI KH. Of course they are currently out of stock of the 24" MUni, so when they get more it will be the ones with break mounts.
