I am considering getting a Pipifax, but the fact that it only comes in red is something I dislike…
How difficult would it be to preform a teardown operation to get just the red outer shell powder coated in something different?
I really love the color! As to the strange bearing spacing and unremovable bearings… I have an angle grinder that begs to differ~
:3
Is there enough space between the bearings and flanges to perhaps cut it down to 100mm? or is a 120-125mm frame non-negotiable?
I’m not sure anyone has taken one apart to have a look.
If the sprag clutch is pressed into the shell hydraulically during manufacture then it might be exceptionally difficult to remove and reinstall.
If you’re really against the red, I’d probably recommend masking and spraying to avoid having to completely dismantle something which might be quite difficult to get apart.
There are some very hard wearing products that can be sprayed on.
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Seems like it would be easier to just build a wheel instead
I think that this is a begginer exercise to become used to the freewheel hub. I did it in my first rides and it seemed to help progress faster (mounting with a feet on the front crank). I think it stops being useful when you can start coasting (or brake gliding) whenever you want independently of the speed, just by pedaling a bit backwards.
The second 3.8x geared freewheel that we know of having being built:
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I have a stupid question as someone that has not had much time on a freewheel uni.
Has anyone tried riding backwards and downhill?
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It’s possible, but I can’t think of any actual benefit to doing it.
What would happen?
You would be able to brake with your legs, but wouldn’t be able to accelerate.
To go backwards with a freewheel, you have to pedal to accompany the movement. This doesn’t generate movement, but it does generate instability.
If you want to coast backwards without having to move your feet, you have to mount the unicycle backwards.
I was just browsing some local listings for bicycles/unicycles/etc., when I stumbled upon a trike made by a company named “Mobo”. Turns out… They’re front wheel driven, and that front wheel freewheels!
Out of curiosity, is there anything that stands out about this that shouts “hard no” for a freewheel uni as far as we can tell?
That is interesting, it seems like a very cheap recumbent trike in the grand scheme of things. Drift trike hubs seem to have been the basis of early freewheel unicycle development – for example, if you do a search for the Nimbus freewheel hub you will probably see it referred to as a drift trike hub. So using freewheeling trike hubs is kind of the the basis for freewheel unicycles (as far as I am aware).
The ‘Shift’ hub is interesting insofar that it has a “reverse” gear – which I assume means you can lock the freewheel, so you could go between a freewheel and fixed wheel uni – a bit like a Flick Flock hub but at a tenth of the price… (take from that what you will!)
It is difficult to see how the wheel is mounted to the frame in the photos on the website, and also I didn’t see any information on the bearing spacing (it is not really something they’d put on there to be fair), so you’d probably need to do some frame customisation to put this in a unicycle, potentially both on frame leg spacing and bearing holders, but you could get lucky…
I’d also have some concerns about the number of points of engagement on it and its durability, but it seems like an interesting, potentially cheap, way to build a freewheel/fixed switchable unicycle.
So I don’t immediately see any fundamental reason you couldn’t use this, it might need some frame building/modification, and it might not be very good (but might be!) – but on the other hand it could be a cheap source of freewheel hubs for unicycles to get more people into it. The proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say – Well spotted.
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I was considering buying a wheelset (probably the 16" one) just to do a bit of playing around with it, though I’m not going into it fully expecting to have a freewheel unicycle by the end of it 
But you never know unless you try it so… It might be something I could tinker with on a more relaxed winter day
Found a neat video of somebody explaining how the reverse function of the Mobo Shift works
So when it’s in reverse mode, the hub does behave like a fixed wheel which is pretty neat. There is quite a bit of slop though so I’m not sure how that would feel to ride… Probably not great
It looks like it has lollypop style bearings bolted onto flats in the frame so you’ll need to figure out what to do there. It is interesting that the video is seven years old – they’ve been around for a while.
In the comments he also refers to high roller trikes. They seem to have hubs available to order at $129.99 USD. I don’t recall mention of these trikes and hubs on here. They have cartridge bearings on them and look pretty much like a unicycle hub (again I haven’t seen anything about spacing). So if you want to actually build something with a new, cheap, freewheel hub that might fit an existing frame, this might be a better option, or at least ask them what the spacing and bearing size is.
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Well, well, well… 
Assuming those are the actual specs (Apart from the spoke hole count… Says 32H at the top and 36H in the Additional Info tab), it might just about be an inexpensive plug-n-'play freewheel unicycle hub. The flange diameter is even pretty close to the 100mm UDC hub on my 26" Club 
If there was an option for a 36H hub I wonder if it would be possible to swap hubs without needing new spokes… If I wanted to be cheap
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I didn’t notice the 100mm centre-to-centre – that’s good. Some shims for the 40mm bearings and you should be done – you’d probably be best with a frame and rim that can take a rim brake, I don’t know if your Club frame has that, but nevertheless, it seems like something worth a try 
Problem not! I’ve had great success with my 3D printed rim brake mount. And my next iteration will be glorious.
Please tell me you are going to build a 16" freewheeled unicycle. 
…wait. Does this mean I could simply put one of these 16" freewheeled wheels on my 16" unicycle with 40 mm bearing houses 100 mm apart and brakes already fitted, and have myself a freewheeled unicycle? 
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That looks identical to the Nimbus brakeless freewheel hub so I’m sure it’ll be fine.
You’ll be able to do a direct swap into most wheels without changing the spokes.
I occasionally do the calculations for swapping hubs but very often it’s close enough so if they look similar by eye, I just go for it.
That Mobo shift wheel looks interesting. I’d certainly convert an old 20" into a shiftable freewheel if I could find such a thing locally. You could most likely simply chop off the bearing housings, flatten the frame legs, and bolt the wheel on. Alternatively don’t even flatten the legs, just fill them with something non-compressible and bolt straight through.
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