all right so soon i shall be heading off to college.
CSU Chico to be specific (so if there be unicyclists there give me a holler in this thread)
But any way
I was eyeing up the Nimbus II 24" ISIS Cruiser for a college machine.
my reasons
I had a 24 inch and it was perfect except it was cheap and the wheel and frame were bent out of shape so i learned to ride strangly and its single rimmed square tapered, and i just prefer stronger machines.
also i can only take one uni with me and i like to go for longer rides but also need to be weary of it needs to fit in my dorm. i have a 20 inch trials which i use as a bit of off roading randomly but not much and i would prefer to have a 24 again.
so after examining this uni (nimbus 24) i have a few questions i was not able to find the answer to
would i be able to jump stairs or go down curbs or jump curbs or general thigns of that nature with this uni with out it getting bent out of shape?
and how well does the ring worm tire fare against kinda minimal off roading
such as mild road gravel or a dusty smooth path?
It sounds perfect for you. The Uni is strong. Isis means it has a strong hub and cranks which can easily take small drops and curbs. The hookworm tire is pretty wide (2.5 in.) and will work for on road and mild off-road just fine.
I think the 24" you mentioned is a nice ride but would suggest seriously considering a 29". I ride my 36er into university every day here in Oz and it is great for covering the 8.5kms to campus but is a little unwieldy for crowded courtyards and walkways.
If you want to be able to cover decent distances in areas with quite a few people to dodge i think a 29er would be ideal. If you get a KH29 you also have the option of being able to do the XC you are talking about because it comes with the knobbly tire and ISIS hub. It should stand up to all the abuse you want as well.
With the new 09 KH line out as well you might be able to pick up an earlier model for cheap. As for fitting unicycles in your room- i managed to fit 4 unicycles (20 learner, 19"KH, 24x3 Muni, and Nimbus 36er) in my shoebox of a room when i was living at college. I’ve also heard of people jacking up their beds on cinder blocks so they can fit more stuff under there. Hope it all goes well,
mark
I’m a faculty member at Chico State. My oldest son, who rides (mostly muni), will be a freshman there next fall, too. He’s not on these forums, though.
There are a few of us who ride in Chico pretty regularly. Great muni trails here. And lower Bidwell Park has a nice 6-mile loop for quick 36er loops.
I teach English. It’s a good gig. There’s another professor on campus who rides to work occasionally on an LX24, and I saw a student on a 20 a week or so ago but he was too far away or I’d have spoken to him. I recently have seen probably 5 or 6 different people unicycling around Chico, which surprised me as I probably haven’t seen that many in the prior ten years.
The six-mile loop is half road, half road or dirt jogging path or singletrack. It’s absolutely flat. I ride it almost exclusively on the KH36. It’s ridable on anything, but would be slow on a 20". If you like trials, there are a few interesting areas in lower Bidwell Park that are fun (although I should mention that I’m not much of a trials rider at all, so it may all be boring and tame for those with actual skills!). Upper park has about 40 miles of singletrack, and it’s pretty great riding (almost anything you want–big climbs, technical trails, steep downhills, fire roads) if you’re into muni.
If you’re riding around campus while classes are changing, you’ll want something with a lot of maneuvarebility. Sidewalks get really crowded for those ten minutes.
Maybe it’s just because Texas A&M is a huge campus, but I don’t think maneuvarability is all that much of an issue with a 36er in comparison to bikes, and there are tons of bicyclists on campus that ride during the busy parts of the day. Though I should say that I haven’t actually ridden my new 36er on campus yet since I can’t pick it up from the package room til tomorrow at noon (only 14.5 hours left…)
My university has bike paths, so people usually aren’t a problem (except when there’s a group of morons walking on the bike path like they own the place). So yeah, I can usually ride my 36’er between classes without incident, even with 89mm cranks.
well i plan on taking english courses which is cool i might get you
sounds good i was considering trials but im not into it as much as just ridding around
i might get into muni but after a while
that is odd there are so many unicyclists in chico
but great there are so many places to ride
24’ ISIS works great for me, although mine is not the nimbus you linked too. I live about five blocks from uni and ride it in when i dont need to take my laptop. Stairs and gaps are a breeze once you get used to the size. It is great for cruising about checking out all the sweet action but also maneuverable enough to weave through students or roll over the odd first year.
I also have a trials but it bearly gets used at the moment. Comes out on weekends to teach visitors.
I ride my Bedford 29er daily on the NCSU campus during my work commute. It’s a great compromise between maneuverability and speed where there is lots of foot traffic. I normally ride with 125 mm cranks as campus is hilly, but with 102mm cranks on the flat, longer rides are easy. I can go almost as fast on my 29er with 102mm as my 36 with 125mm cranks.
I used to ride my 24 on campus but much prefer the 29er.
My 29er and my 36er were both quite easy to get around on on a busy campus (va tech). Both could go down stairs and weave in and out of people.
Get whatever uni you want, you should be able to dodge foot traffic with any uni if you practice enough. With that said, the 24er will give you a lot of options as far as doing tricks and not going as slow as a 20". Get a 29er or 36er if you care more about the ride itself and less about the tricks.
