First ride on new KH 24

Unicycles and Equipment
1

My KH 24 showed up yesterday afternoon. Family obligations prevented me from doing any real riding yesterday, but I did get out for an hour this morning before work.

I love this unicycle! The difference between this and my Torker CX is unbelievable. The Snafu pedals are worlds better than the plastic ones on my Torker. The fatty tire just rocks. I feel like I can roll or hop over anything.

I am a little bummed, as I do have some slippage of the axle within the hub as a few others have described. Not sure what to do about that. How have those of you with this problem dealt with it? Right now it only moves about 2-3 degrees, is it likely to get worse over time?

In spite of the hub problem, I am still on cloud nine. I can’t wait to get out and hit some real trails.

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Re: First ride on new KH 24

Don’t ride it when it’s loose! Go to a auto store and pick up some copper antisieze. A small bottle will last a life time. remove the cranks and coat the axle with a nice helping of copper colored cream. Reinstall the cranks and tighten them up nicely. The antisieze will first allow you to get the cranks on tighter and will prevent them from seizing if you ever want to get them off. I did this to my KH wheelset and I’ve had no problem since.

Daniel

3

My problem is not actually the cranks. It is the axle itself slipping inside the hub. The cranks are snug, absolutely no play in them whatsoever. I can grab the pedals with my hands and apply rotational force (simulating pedaling) with the wheel held in place (me sitting on it) and move the entire axle/crank assembly about 2-3 degrees back and forth, it is quite obvious that the axle is moving independently of the hub. It doesn’t affect my riding much, but is rather an annoyance as anytime alternating forward/backward pressure is applied while pedaling I can feel the slop as the axle spins the little bit.

Others have mentioned tapping the axle out of the hub and coating it with Loctite, but honestly I am a little hesitant to do this to a unicycle I paid $450 for and noticed the problem the first time I rode it (this morning). I will of course contact unicycle.com and ask what they suggest, I was just wondering if others had already spoken with them and if so, what was suggested?

4

This seems to be happening a lot with KH’s and other splined set-ups.

I find it bizarre that such relatively expensive unicycles are shipped out in a state where they’re basically unusable (if riding splined set-ups that are loose is as damaging as it is with square tapers).

Luckily, the type of riding I do doesn’t require a splined set-up; if it did I’d be concerned because I’d be quite reluctant to order one, given the current state of the models being shipped out.

(I know that square tapers also suffer from loose cranks when new, but it seems they’re a lot easier to fix, with less special tools needed- also, IMO all unis, whether square taper or splined, should be shipped out with everything tight)

5

Re: First ride on new KH 24

send it back! its defective. the first run did not have this problem.

6

Honestly if my problem were just loose cranks, I would be much less worried than I am about this. Unfortunately, there is nothing to my knowledge that I can tighten that will make my problem go away. Just so everyone understands exactly what is happening here, if I were to take my cranks completely off, I could grab the end of the axle with my fingers and rotate it back and forth inside the hub. Nothing to do with the cranks really.

I was very reluctant to order the KH 24 for this exact reason. After talking to unicycle.com on the phone before ordering they eased my concern by saying that they are aware of and checking each unicycle for these problems before shipping. I guess they missed mine :frowning: I was hoping I would get lucky and not get a faulty one, I should have known better.

I was going to order the qu-ax from Roland as I haven’t heard of this happening with that hub, but ordered the KH instead since the wait would be shorter. I’m kind of wondering if I made the right choice.

I still love the uniycle, just bummed to have problems after spending what to me is a lot of money. I will call unicycle.com tomorrow.

7

Like Jagr sez " Send it back!"… there is no way that there should be movement where you describe …and with the kind of torque the Muni hub gets, it will probably break loose totally in very short order …

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Please let us know what they say.

I am also having this same problem. I could never figure out what it was until i read your post. It has always kinda bothered me, but i kept thinkin it was the cranks and id keep puttin the anti seize on em, but it wouldnt get any better. finally i just gave up and ive kinda gotten used to it. It doesnt bother me very much, but If its possible that the axel could slip completely and send me into a freewheel at any givin moment, thats not cool:(. Im hoping unicycle.com will help us out with this, but I dont want to have to send my whole uni in. Would it be possible for them to just give us new axels, or do you guys think the whole hub needs to be replaced?

Anyways, yea call em up and lemme know whats goin on. The amount i spent on this uni is a lot of $$$ to me also, so I dont like it having problems right out of the box…

9

I just ordered a 24 qu-ax with splined… hopin the same thing doesn’t happen to me. (when people say stuff like this has been happening, do you mean just on the KH’s?)

10

how can i check to see if i have this problem on my kh24? ive had the standard clicking, but the antiseize didn’t seem to fix it. Do i have to take off the cranks to be able to notice the problem?

-grant

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I just got off the phone with unicycle.com, I talked to someone named Drew. I am very dissapointed in the response I received. Here is what they said:

Initially Drew told me to take it to my local bike shop and ask them to “tighten” the hub. I am not sure what he means by that (and Drew couldn’t tell me either), but he said that the bike shop would know what it means and how to do it. He said they would have the “special tools” required to make the repair.

I mentioned that my local bike shop has absolutely no experience with unicycles of any kind, he still said they would know what to do.

I thought this hub/axle assembly was a press fitting with no adjustment on the hub itself, am I wrong? Does anyone know what adjustments or special tools they might be talking about?

He also said I could send the wheel back to them and they could make the repair, but they would not cover any shipping costs as it is not a unicycle.com problem, it is a factory problem. I asked if I should contact someone else (i.e. the factory) to make a warranty claim if unicycle.com isn’t handling theses claims. He said it is not a warranty issue since they do not consider it a defect, the hub was just not properly tightened at the factory.

I told him that I asked Robbie about this issue when I made my order. Robbie told me that they check each KH 24 for this problem before sending them out, and if I had problems, unicycle.com would stand behind the product as there is a warranty.

I asked if they would reimburse me any charges incurred at my local bike shop, he didn’t know if they would, and wasn’t authorized to make that decision. I asked if I could speak with Amy since she could make that decision, but she is out of town and not returning until next week.

I asked if I am likely to cause damage to the hub if I continue to ride it, he told me he would have to ask Robbie and call me back.

When they called me back, Drew said that he had just talked to Amy and she said to loosen the pinch bolts and then tighen the axle bolt as tight as I can, and then tighten the pinch bolts back up. He said Amy told him this has resolved the problem for some (I am skeptical that this relates to my particular problem, but I will do as they ask). Amy said that if this doesn’t fix the problem, to call them back and they will take care of it from that point. This made me feel a little better, I hope they stand behind their word.

Sorry about the long post, I just want others to possibly benefit from my experiences so far. In reading the forums I have found that we are by far our own best support network and this information is presented in that spirit.

Jerad

12

MuniTune -
I have not heard of this problem with the qu-ax. I was actually going to order the qu-ax myself to avoid this problem. I emailed Roland at municycle.com when I was researching and he said he has not seen any problems with the qu-ax hub/axle/cranks.

The only reason I ordered the KH 24 was that it would take less time to get to me.

I think you made the right choice, let us know what you think of the qu-ax when you get it. I think the yellow flanges on the hub look wicked.

13

jerad, that sounded awful up until the point where amy said she’d take care of it!

i find it hard to believe that they can ship out a unicycle, but not take responsibility if it is not in working condition. they are the middleman between the factory and you; if something goes wrong its their fault, not the factory. anyways, good luck with it, i hope you dont end up wishing you got the qu-ax.

-grant

14

That’s the way rumours start. I’ve only seen comments against the latest batch of KHs. Nothing wrong with Qu-Ax, Onza, Profile etc.

Regards,
Mark.

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I just got a new KH24 on tuesday, and I haven’t noticed any play in the axle or anything. I can hold the wheel still and the pedals won’t move at all without wigling the wheel. I guess I just got lucky :smiley: , I’m sorry yours isn’t working out :(, its a sweet uni :sunglasses: (very large though :astonished: . I could hardly get on it as I’m used to being able to stand over my old 20" uni :wink: )

Good luck on repairs :slight_smile:

16

Indeed. In UK law at least (I don’t see it being different in the US), the contract is between the buyer and the seller. I’m sure Unicycle.Com are quite frustrated about things at the factory but that’s their problem.

I assume Drew is a junior member of Unicycle.Com staff - but they need to be aware that people making comments like that and having them reported on this group could do their business a lot of damage. :frowning:

Regards,
Mark.

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im sure he already is wishing for the Qu-ax. the sad thing is it would just be somone elses problem if Jerad didnt buy that KH, at least this way we get to hear about it. i wonder how many there are that we dont.

Somday the Qu-ax hub will be available in the US from a closer source. i hope they get around to making a 36 hole version too,since so far there is only 48 hole.

Jerad,

doing what Amy said to do with the cranks will help some but not you. use that finger moving the axle with the cranx off description when you talk to them again. it sounds like Drew just thinks your another caller with loose cranks. best to wait and talk to Amy or John. dont bother calling between 1:30 and 4:00pm their time, they are always dealing with UPS stuff at that time. call early.

check your PM’s for another message.

18

Alright, so you’ve tried that and it didnt work ofcourse, and you are going to call them back tomorrow then? Should I and the rest of us who are having this problem call too, or should we see what kinda luck you have first?

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Do you just want the 36 hole version so it will fit other things or is it better than 48? I thought 48 would be better (but then again, I don’t really know that much).

I’ll definately let everyone know how the new uni treats me when it gets here. I also have to say that so far, Roland has offered only the very best customer service too. (SUPER fast e-mail responses). Can’t wait for my new uni!

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If you have a problem call. The more the more likely you are to be taken seriously. I’m pretty sure unicycle.com have to either refund or replace the defective/damaged parts or at least repair them, although that doesn’t sound like an option in your case. Just keep on and on and on at them until your problem is solved. If they’re blaming the factory- so what? It’s not your fault they buy and sell on defective products. It should be a hassle free dealing. I had a dodgy hub from unicycle.uk.com and they apologised immediately and had it fixed right away and covered for P&P.

I’ve bought a fair bit of stuff from Roland, including a 29er (which is awesome!!!) he built for me and I have only great things to say about him, his shop and his service. Fast detailed replies with pics etc. Tells you why certain things aren’t available and looks for other options etc etc etc and really goes the extra mile. Sounds like unicycle.com US should take a leaf from his book…