I am excited to have found this resource, and so I thought I would pick your brains for what you can tell me. I have the typical beginner 20" wheel and I am learning more about different disciplines of unicycling and I am learning a lot more techniques as I build my skillset. I want to learn more about trials, but first I would like to know if it is necessary that I have a special trials unicycle. Can I just get a bigger tire and run a low pressure to get the bounce when hopping and add a handle? How important is this? My unicycle is a sun bicycle unicycle and I have not had anything break yet (and it has taken a serious beating), so it seems the primary difference between mine and an actual trials unicycle is the tire and the handle. I have some more questions specifically regarding road unicycles and gearing, but I will get back with those later. Thanks.
The hopping style of trials riding puts a lot of stress on a unicycle. You could put the bigger tire on the Sun and learn on that but the stresses of repeatedly jumping on it will likely cause parts to bend or break, especially the cranks and hub.
I am not saying don’t do it, just don’t be surprised when things start to fall apart. I learnt on a cheep trials with a square taper hub (like your Sun) and wrecked three pairs of cranks before twisting the hub. replacing things as they broke it was still cheaper than getting a second higher end trials unicycle when I did not know if it was something I wanted to seriously pursue.
Hold off on any thoughts of geared unicycles until you feel pretty solid on non-geared ones. There is a whole new learning curve with the added forces of the gears pushing on the frame plus the small amount of slop in the cranks.
Ok cool. I will keep learning trials stuff on this one for now. I am pretty comfortable on it as I can hop, idle, ride pretty fast forwards, ride backwards, and ride offroad over deep sand and tree roots. I am in a flat coastal area with no mountains, so it does not make sense to get a muni. Aside from trials, I am interested in going faster on flat ground, and so I was thinking about either a 36" or as before mentioned, a geared unicycle. The kh hub is pretty much out of the question, so I was considering getting a 3-speed fixie hub to mount onto the seat post of another model and running a chain down to the axle and down to a cassette mounted the wheel hub.
Don’t do too much hard hopping on the Sun, that will eventually kill it. Save those things for later, when you’ve added a stronger wheel to your (soon to be) collection. 
Ok. I won’t do anything crazy, but I am still trying to learn how to hop seat out for more height. I don’t want to break it if I can avoid it, but it occurred to me that since I have already invested $20 in better pedals, maybe I should just replace the parts as they break with better quality ones rather than waiting to buy an entirely new one. In the mean time, I will lower the tire pressure (I have been running about 55 but will try 25 for a better bounce).
Well, the thing is that pretty soon your axle and your cranks are going to start bending, and replacing that with an ISIS axle and cranks will need re-lacing your wheel and cost about as much as a new unicycle.
I still began trials unicycling on a shitty square-taper standard unicycle and it was good enough at that time 
Just keep watching your local craigslist equivalent for second-hand trials unicycles 
I will just have to keep my eye out then.
I just learned basic seat out hopping, and that has caused the pedal to become extremely loose in the crank so that it falls out 1 min. after retightening. I will fix it with a product called red loctite and hope it is ok. I have been checking craigslist, but I doubt that there will ever be a trials unicycle on there because, in my area, there are only usually about 2 unicycles listed at one time, and usually dusty ones that look like they are from 1960. I will just keep fixing stuff as it breaks for now then.
You may want to look into the difference between red and blue loctite before you do that.
Red loctite needs heat to disassemble. Blue loctite can be disassembled at room temperature.
Red loctite won’t fix it, not for any length of time. The problem is that your crank threads (or pedal threads) have become mangled so they don’t fit anymore. Most likely you’ll need to replace the crank.
I just talked to the guy at the bike shop and he said the exact same thing. That explains why it comes loose so easily after tightening. When I looked inside the hole in the crank, I could see that the threads were deformed. As I mentioned before, I upgraded to BMX pedals, so the threads on the pedal are completely fine. Which cranks are better to get? Steel or Aluminum? It seems steel would be tougher, but I am not sure.
not all steel is created equally, and not all cranks are built to withstand the same forces. The united steel cranks use a cheaper steel alloy and are probably very close to what you had before. I wouldn’t splurge on ventures or similar aluminum alloy cranks for the wheel that you have now. You may want to consider getting a shorter length crank if you’re trying any level of trials on a cheaper wheel. The longer the crank, the more moment you’re going to put on them.
Carter,
Just wanted to say that I think it’s cool that you’ve already trashed your cranks. I know that sounds weird, but it means that you’re thrashing on that thing and givin’ some serious effort. You definitely need a more robust uni for what you’re doing, but kudos to you for really gettin’ out there and doin’ it!
Yeah, I’ve given it a beating. Only my wallet does not think that is quite so cool to break the cranks…
The cranks I would be getting to replace these would just be the $20 or less ones at the bike shop. I understand that steel quality varies with price, but I am trying to keep the cost down. If I have understood correctly, you are telling me that cheap steel vs. aluminum will not make much difference, but I should go for a shorter crank either way. Is this correct? What length do you recommend?
Bike shops usually don’t have uni cranks.
The $15 United Cotterless from unicycle.com is fine. Just make sure you install them on the correct side. The most common cause of pedal thread destruction is installing the cranks, wheel, or seat backwards.
http://www.unicycle.com/unicycle-hardware/crank-arms-parts/united-cotterless-cranks.html
The guy at the bike shop told me that any cranks would be fine, but I guess I will get those if they are the only ones that will work on a unicycle. How does putting them on backward break them?
Bike cranks are almost all way too long (165mm+), and the right crank of a bike usually has chainrings attached to it.
If you install something backwards, the pedals will unscrew as you ride, and a partially-inserted pedal will ream out the crank threads.
Oh, ok thanks. I have learned a lot. I will just get the united cranks then.