I am really having trouble deciding what uni to buy next. I have been looking at the freestyle 20" nimbus eclipse (http://www.unicycle.com/unicycles/eclipse-20-inch-freestyle-unicycle.html). What I want to do is just hone my riding skills. I would like to idle better, ride one footed, wheel walk… or, I was wondering if I should go with a trials uni? I was concerned if the freestyle with a thinner wheel can hold my weight when hopping/standing on wheel or do I need to go to a trials 20" with a fatter tire? I am 5’8" 185lbs. Any suggestions? Any unicycle recommendations would be greatly appreciated too. I am ready to get a 20" but really am stuck as to which one. I live on a crummy paved road if that helps. I only own a 26,29 and 36er. I usually ride distance for exercise so a small tire is new to me. Thanks for your help in advance!
Nimbus Street
Supposed to be just as tough as their trials (that’s what I gathered from my reading), but doesn’t have the two knobs poking out of the top of the frame fork. Less knee strikes. I love mine.
You should be ok for an Eclipse with you weight. That is as long as you don’t use it for jumping with; it is an all out freestyle unicycle… and one of the very best! I personally think an Equinox which is it’s bigger brother is actually the one you want, the eclipse is limited to smaller tyres and has narrow q-factor. With your size the equinox is better… same thing though, top end freestyle unicycle.
If you want stronger freestyle unicycle; go for the Nimbus II or speak to Unicycle.com in the US about putting the nimbus ii wheel in the Equinox frame.
My call on this would be look at the direction you are going. If you are riding outside and doing the tricks on the street, then a trials wheel may be better and look at something like the Nimbus Trials or Street or Impact Reagent. All of these have big tyres and flat top frames. But… you would not ride these in a hall where Freestyle unicycles are designed to be used. So if you are using the unicycle in a gymnasium then go for a freestyle unicycle.
Hope that helps.
Roger
Nimbus Equinox Street
Nimbus Equinox street: That is what I ride. You can do pretty much anything on it. I learned SIF, jumping up and down curbs, riding backwards, idling…on it (currently working on my first one-footed revolution). It is really light, it has a great, durable tire, it works on and off road, and it is great for climbing hills if you have any of them. A super, all-purpose 20" uni. Somewhat more expensive than other 20"s, and probably not for the most extreme drops (which I will never do). It has a longer neck, which should not be a problem for you, but check the inseam requirements nevertheless.
How about getting both ?
A trials unicycle with it’s chunky tyre for rufty tyfty stuff ouside.
An equinox or Nimbus II for inside practice, idling, wheel walking etc.
Hope that helps 
Trials all the way
The freestyle would be great for learning and practicing new tricks like you mentioned (idling, riding backwards, etcs), but when you master all these basic tricks, you will be itching to try something new and probably more daring. The trials can do everything a freestyle can do AND more. You’ll never be limited with a trials unicycle, but you could be with a freestyle. It might not survive what the trials is built for (drops!).
I recommend any trials unicycle. KH, Nimbus, Impact, and Koxx all make really quality trial unicycles that will be able to handle anything you throw at them.
I hope this helps!
Hmm, If your statement were correct all of the freestylers at UNICON would have used trials wheels… they did not. There are things you can do on freestyles that are more difficult on trials wheels, this is particularly the flowing spinning tricks.
It is certainly true that a flatland/street unicycle is a lot more versatile than a freestyle unicycle and I personally think would be better for rem48 from what he has said he wants to do.
Roger
Several of us are rolling fat true 20" rims–mine’s a 47 mm wide KH with a 406 mm bead diameter, not the 387 mm trials size aka 19", and the CST Operative is a nice tire at a nice price for that. Tip of the hat to jtrops who clued me in to it. My uni originally had an Onza Sticky Fingers tire on it, which has knobs and is almost as wide as a true trials tire. It was more fun for hopping than the Operative, but the Operative is more useful for all-around geezer freestyle and flatland type practice. And to be truthful, I’m hopping better now on the Operative than I ever did on the Onza.
20" wheels are mostly just pretty miserable on rough surfaces. But I’d think that a tire with lots of volume would help as much as anything.
You could do as well to get a trials frame and build up a 20" wheel for it like the one kahunacohen did in this thread, especially if you already had some take-off parts on hand like a saddle or cranks from another unicycle that you could apply to it. Or start with a used trials uni, or maybe one of those Koxx’s on Amazon for just over $200. (Haven’t heard much about them since they first showed up there.)
Got to say after everything I have heard I am leaning towards a trials. I was not aware that the freestyles are more for indoors. I have never unicycled indoors. Which do you guys recommend in the $400 or less range? Thanks for all the help and more comments are will be appreciated and considered.
Why do some unicycles listed on UDC as 20" unicycle have 19" tires? I’m still confused about that.
Oops, I previously referred to my Equinox Street as a 20". It has a 19" wheel. However, the tire that fits the 19" wheel is extra fat, so it ends up having the same outside-diameter as a less-fat tire attached to a 20" rim.
Yeah, this bugs me to no end too! What we tend to call a 19" tire–originally the “mod trials” rear tire size with 387 mm bead diameter–some companies want to call a 20" tire (Homepage - MAXXIS International) while others agree with us for the same product (Maxxis Creepy Crawler Rear 19''). You’ll see them mixed in a single listing sometimes, a 20" unicycle with a 19" rim. But I’ve never seen a tire labeled “20x2.5” that wasn’t a 387/mod trials tire.
The normal, all-but-universal, bmx size is 406 mm bead diameter, and it’ll be marked “ETRTO 54-406” or whatever on the sidewall. (Actually it’s 16" in diameter. 406 mm is the equivalent to the closest millimeter because metric units were hipper or something.) If it says “ETRTO 67-387” (actually 15 1/4" to the nearest millimeter) then it’s the trials size with the 19" rim.
Confusing enough? 
Sorry rem48 for highjacking the thread. Sounds like any Nimbus or Impact trials uni in that price range will be fine.
At some point I hope to buy a 20"/19" wheel that I can learn to hop. Right now I have a Torker LX that I’m using to learn how to idle. I picked it up on Craig’s List for only $35. I hesitate using it to learn how to hop because I’m not sure it can take much of that. My current idea is to learn idling first and reward myself with a new uni when I get that skill under my belt. Problem is I spend most of my uni time on my 29". The lack of daylight is really limiting my overall uni time.
LargeEddie, yeah rims/tires are so darn confusing, especially for a newbie like me. My head spins every time I think of changing what I’ve got. I guess they call them 20" unis because they can fit a regular 20" tire but if they want to call it a trials uni they need to include a wider tire which means a wider rim. I suppose the wide rims are only 19".
Lately I’ve been feeling like we aren’t breaking enough stuff. 
You can’t know what’s really needed or how much a given unicycle can actually take if nothing ever fails other than from neglect or being put together wrong.
Watching some of those old videos reminds me of what extreme stuff George Peck, Kris Holm, Dan Heaton, etc. were doing, and why heavy-duty unicycles have to be what they have become. They weren’t just hopping!
Seems like this has been SAD-dest winter in a long time! I just commented to someone about how few rides are being posted on Strava lately. But little-wheel unicycling is good for this time of year. I don’t have to leave the driveway, and the one light bulb next to the kitchen door is enough.
Well 20" is nominally the overall diameter with the tire on. A rim having a 16" outside diameter plus two tire sections at 2" each makes 20". (The standard 26" mountain bike size really uses a 22" rim–559 mm. Same deal.) It kinda makes sense of you think of it as the frame having room for a tire of a certain size.
Nope, that would be far too simple. My good 20" has one of these http://www.unicycle.uk.com/unicycle-parts/rims/20-kris-holm-flatland-rim.html
Looking for either “406” (standard 20") or “387” (trials 19"/20") seems to be the safest way.
And yeah, apologies to rem48. I like to nerd out on this stuff. Hopefully someone will find it helpful sometime.
Its ok guys…I didn’t understand what you were talking about anyway! Ha! Still looking for recommendations and why. Thanks.