This feeling prevailed for quite some time. But today I thought that the 36er was indeed the right choice after all.
I love all my unis (only 4 frames and 5 wheels, so far) for different reasons, but when it comes to ride in perfect conditions - i.e. smooth ground, no tight corners, not many pedestrians or other obstacles that force you to slow down or even dismount - there is nothing like a big wheel.
A 32er would be better to use in combination with public transportation, but I have a (g)29er for that. With the Schlumpf wheel it‘s even faster than the 36er, but the big wheel has some kind of magic in it…. I don‘t know, maybe it‘s just the green rim
If I ever get the chance to ride a 32er I would of course love to do this, but I have no more traces of buyer‘s remorse on getting the larger wheel.
To be honest, the T bar adds a lot to the 36er and makes it also a lot easier to maneuver in tight spaces. I‘m trying to build such a thing myself for the 36er and then move the T bar to the 29er to see if this combo works well or if I prefer that uni to be a bit more minimalist.
That could be true for the 20er. It is the one that clearly sees the least use at the moment since I use it to learn new skills or improve on them. But that‘s something I tend to do when the weather is warmer. Plus my wrist is put in a splint at the moment (and prbably will be for a while ) so no risky unicycling for me at the moment… Of course that means no muniing, but the fatty got its share of use (and due accolade) just before my injury. And I can still use it on the road if there‘s more snow and ice that I like to ride on with the slim tire of the 29er. That one with the non geared wheel and studded tire is my go to unicycle for my very short rides to the town while the 36er is used for the longer rides to the next town.
Agree, doing a sort of jump mount I was almost able to mount and ride off with 45 mm cranks. Unfortunately they were of such poor quality that they were already starting to bend. If i were to bore out my 75 mm cranks it might actually be possible.
unicycle.com state the minimum inseam needed to ride a given 36er. The Nightfox is best suited for shorter people (I reckon you aren’t tall if you ask this kind of question), thanks to its frame design.
Yeas as wheelou said the nightfox is probably good for shorter riders. Even so if you are still too short just put shorter cranks on. With 45 mm cranks you would only need an inseam of around 60 cm!! Childs play
Just came back from a short ride to test the new headlight that I put on my 36er. It’s a Magicshine EVO 1300 U. U because the lamp mounts underneath the handle bar - or in case of my 36er the T bar.
Time will tell if there are any hidden flaws, but so far my impression is that this is very well suited for this particular application. The light beam is quite wide with a sharp falloff, particularly towards the top. This helps not to blind oncoming traffic. I think this is particularly important on a unicycle, since the light beam moves quite a bit more around than on other vehicles, so everything that helps to avoid blinding others is welcome. And the risk of blinding someone with this light output is real! The medium power level is well suited to cruise around (in complete darkness) at my typical 15-20km/h. If I need more light, I have this option. There’s even a high beam mode that is not only brighter but will also extend the width and height of the light beam (that’s when oncoming traffic is guaranteed to be blinded). But on reasonably well entertained roads it’s unlikely for anyone to really need that mode.
There’s also a wireless remote control that allows you to cycle through the different light modes with one button as well as enter or leave ther high beam mode with a second button. Smartphone users can even use an app to customise the light output of the low, medium and high modes.
What’s not to like? Very little, from my short experience. My only minor gripe is that the light falloff just in front of the uni wouldn’t need to be so sharp and that the beam could be a tad wider. But I think that’s mostly a case of personal preference. I like light beams with a gentle falloff just in front of me and towards the sides better. On a unicycle the part just in front of the rider is in my opinion more critical than on a b!ke. But since I use the lamp on a 36er where I’m not very likely making very tight turns and such, it’s not a big deal - the illumination was good enough for my “tight turns” (I needed about 4m wide space for a U-turn). Still, I have a different lamp on order with a very gentle light falloff. Will be interesting to compare. To use that other lamp on the streets I will have to DIY a kind of shade to not blind other people.
A disadvantage of the unicycle is that the fore - aft position of the frame and thus the lamp is not determined by the incline of the street like on vehicles with two or more axles. So if you ascend a hill the beam points too low whereas if you descend a hill it points too high up. Years ago I played with the idea to make a lamp mount that can be remotely adjusted via a cable. Maybe I find someday the motivation to machine this, but given that I seldom ride in the dark I kinda doubt it.
I have wondered if it would be possible to mount a light on some sort of gimbal so the angle stays the same regardless of the frame position. I haven’t got round to experimenting yet though. Possibly easier than a cable activated system?
The gimbal might keep it more level and steady by reducing the impact to of the frame movement on flat ground, but it wouldn’t ‘know’ when the ground is on a slope so that the beam should be either higher or lower than horizontal. If there was some sensor that could tell the absolute angle from hub to the point of contact of the tyre with the road and adjust the beam accordingly that could work (only in a world of magic maybe!)
I wondered the same thing, but that doesn’t really make sense unless you always ride in perfectly flat areas. I live in Switzerland, not the Netherlands, so there are always hills… I realised that even rather gentle inclines result in the lightbeam pointing too much down (when riding up a hill) or too high up (when riding down a hill). So the mount shouldn’t be referenced to the plumb but to the incline of the road you’re riding on. I’m 100% sure that some skilled electroengineers or such could make that work. But I can’t. What’s more, I prefer a low tech solution that doesn’t rely on an additional battery.
I once had a very weak light mounted to my seatpost. The light shining between my legs along with the side to side wobble made it constantly look as though there was a car coming from behind. Not very fun.
I also had (still have) a weak light that stays on the uni during the darker part of the year. One, that is plenty bright enough to be seen, but since the light isn’t even somewhat bundled into a beam, it’s not suited to lighten the road properly.
The moving shadows you mention are annoying indeed, but I got eventually used to them. My new lamp is not mounted to the seat post like the other one, but to the T bar. So the issue with moving shadows is less pronounced. I could move the lamp even further to the front, thereby probably eliminate the issue altogether, but I think the lamp would be more exposed when the uni is being bumped around.
I use two different lights on my uni.
For a long time, I have used a lupine piko R that was attached to my helmet using a gopro mount (preinstalled on the helmet). It was really great, with plenty of settings available:
two modes (diffuse and beam)
power range from 0 to 2W in diffuse and 0 to 20 W in beam
It works well, has a really great autonomy (7h at 2W which is plenty enough for most use cases). But the fact that it was attached on my helmet made it not light the floor just in front of me (due to my helmet making a shade).
I now use a lupine nano sl fixed on my handlebars, which has a less good autonomy, just two settings but lights the ground just in front of me.
I plan on using both for long muni rides in the night during which I will want to see both the ground in front me and far away where I am looking.
I think the Nano is comparable in terms of light output (at max level), while the Piko is in a different league. But for muni you can’t have too much light, I guess. And having two lamps, one on the muni and one on your helmet ensures that everythig you’re looking at is illuminated, even as far as peripherical view is concerned.
For road 600-800 lumens seem reasonable to me. Of course the distribution plays into that, too.
) so no risky unicycling for me at the moment… Of course that means no muniing, but the fatty got its share of use (and due accolade) just before my injury. And I can still use it on the road if there‘s more snow and ice that I like to ride on with the slim tire of the 29er. That one with the non geared wheel and studded tire is my go to unicycle for my very short rides to the town while the 36er is used for the longer rides to the next town.
