Hi All, I really want to put a brake on my unicycle but apparently I can’t just put a disk brake on it, am I missing parts or something? Any tips would be much appreciated
Thanks in advance
This is a 2004 Kris Holm frame?
You are indeed missing pieces. You could either have a disk brake mount welded on the frame leg (I can do that! (or a local bicycle framebuilder could do that)). Or maybe fit a D-Brake, you should contact Roger at Unicycle.co.uk to ask for fitment with the older KH frames as I am not sure it fits.
You will also need Kris Holm Spirit cranks to mount the disk.
Yes, you need fittings on the lower fork leg that the calliper can bolt onto. Then you either need a disc hub, or a pair of those cranks with a built in spider for a disc.
Don’t know much about the uni, here is a picture.
Sounds like it would be cheaper to buy a second hand nimbus rather than add disc brakes which is a shame, although I might need to price up D brakes and see what that works out like
I think I would put a rim brake on that one.
That’s an easy exercise. Do it like Hugo (RIP:()or me. (Translations (google): Hugos, mine)
With a painted rim and no mounts on the frame? Disc brake is far easier to realize with these components.
I agree with that. You have mounts for a Magura hydraulic rim brake, so you could put one of those on, or install a v-brake with a minor effort. There’s a thread here somewhere about adapting v-brakes to Magura mounts.
Installing a disc means new hardware to hold the rotor - either rebuild the wheel with a new hub, or change the cranks to ones that can hold a rotor. And then you need to mount the caliper to something, which means either getting a mount welded on, or using a d-brake (I didn’t like my d-brake much). That’s a lot of work and $$.
I still use v-brakes on my 29" muni and I think they’re pretty comparable to discs. I don’t plan to change it.
Aaaah, now I see them!
I did have a rim brake on a painted rim once. Some of the paint wore off, but it didn’t bother me. I’ve also put a disc brake on a uni without disc brake mount, and it costed money and wasn’t completely straight forward. Besides, I think a rim brake is well suited for a small wheel.
Awesome! Thanks guys! Any tips on what exactly I need to order and ideally a how to guide for noobs would be brill as well 
You need to find a Magura HS11 or HS33, and then a pair of KH mounts. Anything in the “for sale” part of the forum?
Magura HS 33 rim brake should work just fine.
I used it on my 24" Qu-Ax Muni and now have it on my 27.5" Qu-Ax Muni. Both with painted rims.
Make sure to check the brand of the frame and saddle so you get the correct mounting stuff.
I bought mine as a set from Qu-Ax.
I have all the necessary to fit Magura on your uni (available in France close to Paris, shipping possible)
It’s rarely as easy as it should be. Before putting any money down for adding Magura rim brakes I would take some measurements. The Alex DX32 rim is a bit skinny for the location of the Magura brackets on the later frames. I’m not sure if earlier frames had the mounts closer or not, but that would make sense.
There are fixes you can do with offset mounts or using a HS11 lever with HS33 slave cylinders to have full range of adjustment to deal with skinnier rims and wearing pads, but it’s hard to find such specific pieces when working with obsolete technology.
With a bit of hardware and ingenuity you can rig up a V-brake that will work fairly well for quite a bit cheaper, as long as you add some sort of brake-booster type arc to the outside of the bolts.
Jam a sanding block between the rim and frame and spin away if you want to remove the paint for a consistent braking surface.