Great job!
Hi,I’m Kikenji from Japan.
I posted a comment to your video on YOUTUBE.
Thanks for your invitation for this forum!
I’m thinking about the mechanism of freewheel hub.
What kind of thing did you choose?
I think whether I will make a hole in a plastic wheel and will embed an one-way clutch on it.
Tell me your opinion please.
I do not have a technique of an exact drill, either 
Hi, Kikenji! I’m glad you made it to this forum which is an awesome resource for unicyclists (although Japanese unicyclists are underrepresented). Another great resource you should check out if you haven’t is the Facebook group “Unicycle Chat”. I’m not a member but there’s a large community and a lot of information there. For my current freewheel unicycle I’m using the hub of a Huffy Green Machine which is a type of tricycle with a 20 inch wheel on the front. The hub was donated to me by a generous member of the forum (Mark aka lobbybopster). I used the rims and spokes of another unicycle to build the wheel and then replaced the bearings to fit a unicycle frame. The process is similar to the one I recommended on this thread but that dispenses with the need to build a wheel. The biggest problem for me was getting the old bearings off. What a pain! I’ve done it on two wheels and each time one bearing came off easy and the other broke and I had to use extreme measures to get the inner race off. Another problem is that the bearing spacing of the freewheel hubs I’ve used is wider than a regular unicycle frame which is 100mm. To get around this I just forced the frame on but it’s far from ideal. Other companies make or at least use freewheel hubs for drift trikes and I’ve been contacting some of these to get details about the hubs they use to see if I can find one more suitable for unicycle frames. I’d also like to add brakes to my freewheel unicycle at some point, possible by drilling the frame and putting on caliper brakes.
If you’re going to practice something before making your freewheel I highly recommend one foot coasting where one foot is on the frame and the other one is not. This is probably the most directly transferable skill to freewheel unicycling although it also helps to be able to coast with both feet on the frame. Right now I’m limited to making strong clockwise turns on the freewheel unicycle and have more trouble turning counterclockwise. This is due to the fact that I freewheel with my right foot down and cannot do it with my left foot down yet. To get better at this I plan to practice one foot coasting with my left foot on the frame which is a scary proposition. Let me know if you need any other advice or help! I hope you enjoy freewheel unicycling as much as I do!
Fantastic! Thanks for the build instructions. Can’t wait to see how it is when you add brakes.
that looks incredibly hard! I wonder how many people driving by even realize what your doing?
Introducing the Nimbus ready to run freewheel hub!
Also…
… they do a DISC version!
Yes, this is an awesome development! UDC UK has these now and will build a wheel for you. The US site will have them in September. I asked if they are willing to build wheels with these so we’ll see what they say. I’m still not sure what size I want but I definitely want a disc brake. In the next few weeks I’m planning to build a 24" freewheel with parts I have to see how that is.
Freewheel unicycling on Santa Barbara Road 6-23-2013
Another great day to ride my freewheel unicycle!
Aaauggh, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these, I DO NOT need one of these.
Man I want one…
How are you at coasting? That’s something you could practice on a regular unicycle to see how much you’d like it. I love coasting and the freewheel unicycle gives me the ability to do it longer and in more locations. It’s also great exercise! While coasting in general works the core as you’d expect freewheel unicycling particularly works the lower back.
I haven’t learned to coast yet, first I need to learn to one foot wheel walk.
I don’t want to discourage you from learning to one foot wheel walk, but I would say that it’s not a prerequisite for coasting. Nice, smooth one foot riding really helps, but if you have it down at least somewhat you’ll improve as you practice coasting. My left foot was originally my weaker foot for one foot riding but after a lot of coasting practice it’s better than my right foot.
If I build a wheel based on the Nimbus hub and it doesn’t work, whose gonna but it from me? 
So why would a bigger wheel be harder? I’m thinking 26 or 29…
What’s your definition of not working? For the Nimbus hub I believe Roger is figuring out the offsets that may needed to fit washers to offset the caliper. I have a line on another drift trike hub with 100mm bearing spacing but it has 32 holes and I’d prefer to stick with UDC if possible.
The problem with a larger wheel for me is the learning curve and risk of injury. So far I haven’t had any major falls (knock on wood) but the potential is there. So many times I can just shrug my foot off the pedal to the ground to make a save. I also wonder about the benefit of a larger wheel. I imagine it makes it easier to absorb bumps and rough terrain but on a 20" wheel it’s already easy to go faster than I can control. I’m not sure if the balance will be different on a larger wheel. I was surprised how much control I have on a freewheel vs. coasting on a regular unicycle.
I’ve been planning on building a 24" wheel because I have an extra hub with 48 holes and I have a 24" Nimbus II I could cannibalize. However, that wouldn’t have a brake so I may need to rethink that strategy. A 26" would probably make the most sense.
Let me clarify: I can’t do it 
I have no idea about coasting, I have never tried, so for me this would be a new trick, and if I want it to work it’ll need to be usable on the trails with my feet on the pedals so I can pedal as needed.
Is the Nimbus hub spaced wider than 100mm? And is the bearing also 40mm vs 42mm Nimbus standard??
What’s frame/fork is this hub designed for ??
I’m not sure that coasting is a prerequisite for freewheel unicycling but I would recommend at least some practice with it. Looking at my videos and based on experience the body corrections are very similar. It’s almost a cross between one foot on frame coasting (which I’m not very good at) and two feet on frame coasting (which I’m decent at). With one foot on frame coasting for me the balance corrections take place by moving the unsupported leg. For two feet on frame coasting the balance corrections come from moving the torso forward and back (although the feet do a little bit). Coasting on a freewheel unicycle lets you swing your bottom foot forward and back but most of the balance corrections come from the upper body. I started practicing coasting in February 2012 and after a few weeks I did this video:
Those are decent runs but they were not very frequent at that point. Another year plus of practice got me nice long runs more frequently:
Since I got my freewheel unicycle set up I haven’t practiced regular coasting (I count it as my coasting practice). I think I’ve mentioned before that it has the fun parts of coasting but with longer runs and less remounting. Plus, no startup!
The bearing spacing on the Nimbus drift trikes is 100mm and they are 40mm diameter as you mentioned. I believe they are meant to be used for penny farthings unless UDC is going to start selling drift trikes (the name gives their original purpose). I know some other sources for hubs, too.
I wanted to thank everyone for their input and feedback, in this thread, another one I created asking about disc brakes, and the original thread that spurred me to build my freewheel unicycle (jona and lobbybopster, especially). I’m going to backpedal a bit from the idea that coasting be such a big part of it. That’s the place I went to because that’s my background and I had no experience with brakes until recently. There were certainly suggestions about a brake but I was fairly skeptical how much it would help except to slow down on an incline. However, as I get more practice with it I’m finding it to be much more useful. Pedaling is probably the most stable action but not a lot is necessary to get going at speeds I was comfortable with which meant a little pedaling and a lot of coasting as demonstrated in my first two freewheel videos. Using the brake more lets me pedal more. I can pedal to get to a speed beyond which I’m comfortable simply coasting and then use the brake to get more control. I can also use the brake to control turns more easily. I’m planning to practice a few more weeks with the brake and I expect I’ll be able to go faster and take on paths and terrain that I cannot at this time. I’ll make sure to make another video with my progress. By then I may also figure out if I can order a disc brake compatible freewheel from UDC and decide on a wheel size.
Freewheel unicycling on Santa Barbara Road Redux 7-1-2013
Here is the brake coasting version of “Freewheel unicycling on Santa Barbara Road”. On the previous version I coasted only and didn’t use the brake. It’s less arduous and requires less concentration and balance adjustments. It almost looks like regular unicycling except I’m touching the seat more.
Looks like you’ve gotten significantly better, keep it up!
Thanks! Riding at this slow speed on concrete or asphalt seems fairly easy to me now and I can go for decent time without a UPD. I want to work on getting my speed up and getting better off road. A path with packed dirt and small rocks is pretty easy, too:
This is sooo awesome… I’ve got a spare cotterless (24") frame and cranks, basically everything but a hub which is broken. I’m extremely tempted to buy that nimbus hub now that they are available at udc!
Keep the videos of your progress coming as well!