First 36er experience

You can thank the Swiss Post for that. They have increased their prices significantly for 2024.
Economy packages from 2kg cost CHF 10.-
Last year it was 8.25

That wasn’t addressed (pun intended) towards you, I know it’s the Post - I send letters and I order things from online shops and the like.

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Terry, I like that vid, and how it conveys your attitude.
I think longer cranks are a bit easier to mount, but that might be different or everyone. It‘s safe to say that longer cranks seem to be my personal preference, though.
I am indeed enjoying my new uni. Today I had to go to the city and decided to take it with me. Went there by train and returned home by unicycle; saved a few bucks, hehe. Key takeaways:

  • To my surprise, even a 36er can be fitted under a group of four seats in the train I take most often. The saddle will stick out a bit under the seat I‘m sitting on, but that‘s fine.
  • If you bring a lock to lock your uni to the b!cycle rack in front of a hospital …you shouldn’t leave your keys at home :-1: . I ended up parking it rather elegantly in the stairway of the hospital (so it didn‘t get in the way and was as stealth as the fluorescent green Stealth rim would allow).
  • Riding a 36er right through the city center on a saturday afternoon is a bit of an adventure. Hard to go by unnoticed :alien:. I now know that I can also ride it at pedestrian speed, if I have to. But the big wheel isn‘t exactly ideal for that.
  • Having to pass near a stadium before a soccer match sucks - lots of fences everywhere.
  • The view from „up there“ is still both thrilling and a bit frightening.
  • Have to work on the position of the UDC Stadium saddle or replace it (changed the position when back home, will see if it helps on the next ride).
  • My knees hurt ever so slightly, but they held up better than expected.

All in all a rather pleasant experience :slightly_smiling_face:

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My knees were the same when I started riding bigger wheels. For me, it took time to condition myself and they no longer have any issues. Keep at it.

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Sounds great, I hated my Stadium saddle It came with the mountain uni.
It was to stiff and rubbed my thigh raw. I complained in the forum about it and everyone told me don’t wear blue jeans, well, I wore them when I was younger and it was never an issue. Anyway, I got a Kris Holm Freeride Saddle , way way more comfortable, soft like my old Schwinn seat.I’m more mindful about wearing thick seemed pants. I tried bike riding pants, I felt like a male ballerina wearing tites.Nope, not my style LOL Anyway, winters closing in here in Vermont I used to ride on the snow when I was young, at 64 I’m protecting my bones and won’t be doing that anymore I highly recommend the Kris Holm Freeride Saddle Take care

I must say now that I‘ve mounted the Stadium saddle in the most forward/upward position possible it is pretty much just fine for my short tours. I don‘t think I ever did more than 20 unicycle kilometers in a day; my usual unicycling takes no longer than half an hour, and for this the saddle is now fine. That doesn‘t mean I won‘t replace it someday, or try it on a different uni - it‘s always fun and interesting to try new components or configurations, and sometimes it even happens that the new setup is better than the old one. That said, I totally get it that you plan to stay with the crank length you‘re most used to.

You can hide the ballerina cycling pants under your jeans :slight_smile: For me, it is by far most comfortable when I wear cycling pants as a first layer and pants made of thick material over them, such as jeans or work shorts.

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I got my 36er today! Rode it twice around the parking lot of the travel center where I picked it up from the seller: so much fun! It was pretty trippy being that high up. The lateral stability on a 36er is pretty impressive, and turning is easier than I anticipated.
My new best friend is a really clean, stock KH36 with barely any miles on it. Not sure how I feel about the flat saddle yet. I am pretty fond of the fusion free ride I have on my 29er, and I may want to swap the saddle out at some point. Other than that, it is great!

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Congrats on your new toy! I mean, on your new, more efficient means of transportation.
The height is indeed something to get used to, but it‘s also fun. Mounting the beast is the only thing I still find really annoying, even though I usually nail the mount on the first try (my 165mm cranks help a lot with that). It‘s just that it takes a real effort and quite some concentration compared to mounting a smaller uni. You seem to be a bit taller than me, so that may be less of an issue to you, though.

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Try shorter cranks for easier and more consistent mounts. I have 109mm cranks on my 36er and find the wheel is less likely to move when mounting and I can put more pressure on the pedal when mounting.

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Thanks. I am still getting used to the 29er I bought from the same guy a few months ago. Pretty sure freemounting the 36er reliably will take a while, but I may surprise myself. I am just 5’11”, so not really tall. Just about average height for a white American man. I think the average is 5’10”, if memory serves.

Funny how we experience things differently; I‘d still like the wheel to be lighter while you seem to be perfectly fine with the momentum a heavier wheel provides, and I have an easier time to mount a uni with comparatively long cranks. Each to their own, I guess. But 109mm is shorter than what I currently have on my 20“ (though I plan to buy 110s soon) and they would certainly be too short for me to successfully ride my usual route to the next town, given my physical condition and my skill level in unicycling. I‘d love to try cranks around 155mm to see how I could cope with them. But my next shorter ones are 150mm and at the moment I feel that would be too big of a step. But someday I will give them a try, because I do think that I made some progress in my ability to ride up a hill. I would love the additional gain in speed and the „floating“ feeling that goes along with it. I would fear the increased risk of falls (due to reduced ability to accelerate quickly) and the stronger impact that goes along with them - I’d have zero ability to run a UPD out if I ride faster than the current 15-16km/h, so I‘d end up on my knees and/or my hip, according to my experience when pushing the limits on my 29er.

Edit: Maybe I should invest some time in learning to roll mount that beast. I kinda can do that on the 20“ and sometimes the 29“, but the 36“ is a different story. But I think the bigger the wheel, the bigger the advantage a rolling mount can bring.

I consider that tall :joy:

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Lately I’ve been doing a lot of riding on 114mm cranks, and I certainly feel like I’ve gotten to the point where I feel comfortable riding with them. I remember how awkward it felt riding at first, but now I’ve gotten used to it. I’m even considering trying out 100mm cranks… :cowboy_hat_face: But I feel like that might be too short for anything other than flat ground, considering I still struggle with inclines on 114s.

Today I also managed to average 14.3 mph on about a 0.4mile (0.64km) stretch while trying to push my limits a bit. There was some gentle slopes where I probably touched 15 mph for a moment. It felt tense for me going that speed… I don’t event want to think about the feeling of pushing 20 :sweat_smile:

I agree, I most always do a rolling mount on the 36er. I find it more reliable and takes less energy.
This is 12% Upgrade Mount - 109mm Cranks:

And a step up going downhill:

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@JimT ’s second (downhill) mount is my normal mount. I dream of performing his uphill running mount in the 2nd video successfully. But seeing as he has 20 years on me, I can tell myself I have some time before I have to learn to mount like JimT. In reality, JimT makes me ask myself, “Seriously? What are you waiting for?”

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From your rolling mount video I now understand what you meant (Nice uphill rolling mount by the way! I think I generally try to jump mount in that situation but I’ll have to give that a try).

But otherwise I totally disagree: Longer cranks are way easier to mount on a large wheel: with 150s I never miss a 36 mount, with 125s I sometimes miss a mount after a long day if work ot when I’m tired but otherwise not, but with shorter I really have to work at it. I can usually do a normal static mount on 100s if I’m warmed up and feeling good, but at 100mm or shorter I have better success with a jump mount.

Incidentally, for the 10k unlimited road event at the French nationals in November, after having good success with 89s on my 29er for the standard marathon race (29 class), I tried the 89mm cranks for the 10k on my 36 and rode without a dismount in 27:44 (I was happy with the time as I’m not really a road racer and it was my second 10k and second marathon). After the race a friend of mine who is a really good unicyclist was a little frustrated as she wasn’t able to free mount my 36 with the 89mm cranks (I think that I could as I was sufficiently warmed up was what really frustrated her). But after doing a brake-assisted jump mount she was riding it well.

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Yes, unlike a rolling/running mount the crank length makes little different on a jump mount because both feet hit the pedals at the same time.

I find that jump mounting a 36" using the brake is very useful. With the brake locked I can firmly hold the seat handle with both hands and pull/push myself up with my arms. A jump mount on the 36" is quite easy with the brake holding the wheel fixed.
For new riders, shorter riders or really old riders like me it may be something to try. It seems to be very easy to learn, I just went for it and was successful with no real learning curve. The key is just to go for it and keep an eye on the pedals till the feet are planted. It also does not really matter what foot is forward or back.
168587139.bNghNP62.JumpMountgif3text2

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So I mounted them 150mm cranks about a week ago and had no difficulties riding the ascents of my usual route. :+1: Took some getting accustomed to the new setup, but the transition was very smooth overall.

My fastest speed on the Ferris wheel increased from about 20km/h to 21km/h on the shorter cranks (that’s not trying to find out my absolute limit, but the fastest I can ride in my comfort zone. Really not trying to push it). So far I only did two „serious“ rides where I even tried to be fast-ish. But it happened twice (if I remember correctly) that I rode the thing inadvertently at 20km/h when not wearing any protective gear except for my KH gloves. I just planned to casually ride to town to do the daily shopping… And when I was back home and had a look at the cyclocomputer I was quite surprised to see the max speed. Really looking forward to the new computer that hopefully will attach to the T Bar so that I can see and slow down when I reach a speed that isn‘t safe anymore in case of a UPD.
Speaking of the T Bar, I slowly get the hang of it. Riding no hands on the 36er often feels wrong until I tell myself that I‘m on a unicycle and that riding it like this was the usual way for the last 35 years… :crazy_face:
And that flow when riding a curve at a certain speed… :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Today I rode the 36er to the city. It was a very nice ride as long as traffic was low, but a pain on the crowded sidewalks in the city center.
At some point I tried to push it and achieved a max speed of 22.6 km/h (assuming the circumference of 275cm is correct). That corresponds to a cadence of 137 which seems to be my max range, at least with 150mm cranks. A couple months back I was also riding at about 140 rpm on my 29er with 150mm cranks before having my worst UPD / fall so far (because I couldn’t further accelerate to re-establish the balance).
Today, the average speed before reaching the city center was a bit over 17km/h, which I’m rather happy with. I don’t think I would be a lot faster on a b!cycle, if any (I’m not particularly fast on two wheels, either…). But I would sweat a lot less :sweat_smile: …and have a lot less fun.
The knees held up better than expected - the reason for me to give in and board the train on my way back home weren’t the knees but an ankle that suddenly started to hurt. I guess it was due to the cold wheather, with some wind. The ankle got rather cold while the knees were kept warm thanks to the knee protectors.
Having to push the 36er through the city because of the many pedestrians who visited the city for shopping today, sucked big time. Even though i got somewhat used to being kind of an attraction that provokes reactions from passersby, today was a bit too much° for my taste. I didn’t really feel comfortable any more and was happy when finally leaving the worst part around the station and take up riding again, instead of walking.

°even tough I didn’t get a single negative reaction. Most people that i noticed were either smiling or expressing (or exclaiming in case of children) their admiration and/or suprise to see somone riding such a huge unicycle.

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