I’m 37 and married with three kids, and a musician who has never been much for exercise or fitness (besides mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, and keeping children alive). But then my dad bought me a 20" Sun Classic unicycle for Christmas as a sort of joke (or dare?) and I practiced for about 3 weeks and got to where I could ride around my 3/8-mile block. I couldn’t get the seat post high enough–I’m 6’3" and about 205–and wanted to go farther too, so I got myself another Sun Classic, their “28,” which I have come to understand is more like a 29er. The difference was amazing, and since the end of January I’ve gotten into the routine of taking it for 3- to 5-mile rides around town at the crack of dawn several mornings each week.
Then disaster struck. I started working on backward pedaling and was getting decent on the 20" when the left crank just fell off: I had sheared off the end of the hub where the crank attaches, effectively totaling my budget uni. But then I did the VERY same thing to my 29" Sun just last week. (Also working on backward pedaling again…has anyone else had this happen?)
I am now without unicycle and feel lost–I’ve gotten so addicted, and now there’s nothing! BUT I just talked things over with my better half, who thought it wise, in light of the depth of my obsession, to get a nicer vehicle. Now a Nimbus 29" muni is in the mail from unicycle.com! I’m like a little boy waiting for Christmas morning at this point.
Nice to “meet” you all. I’ve been prowling around this site for a few weeks and love the stories and the wealth of knowledge.
Compared to a gym membership, you will get more for your bucks and the motivation factor cannot compare. Do not forget to treat your wife (flowers, cake, spa or whatever else she likes) just to share how happy you are with your new ride
Welcome to the forum, Luke. I am a fellow musician. I recommend you invest in a full-sized pedal wrench. Recently I stupidly reinstalled the wheel of my 24" backwards. I must’ve taken half a dozen rides before noticing the problem. Without a pedal wrench, I probably would have suffered the same “disaster” as you. Your new 29" will have a “breaking-in” period where spokes and various other bolts will loosen. Make sure to have all the necessary tools (which are very few in our sport), and check tightness frequently when the uni is new. Good luck!
But wait, there is a Lake Zurich in the US?? Sometimes I feel like they just copy-pasted Europe to the what is today the center of the US and then blew it up until it stretched from coast to coast. (Ok, admittedly I’ve never been over the pond.)
Welcome Luke! Happy to hear you are enjoying unicycling. I used to love to ride b*kes, but riding a unicycle always seems more fun. I like the less maintenance aspect too. Hope you enjoy your new wheel.
@elpuebloUNIdo Thanks so much for the advice. You clearly have greater insight into the crank-shearing (or really, hub-shearing) problems I had. So is your thinking that the pedals need tweaking regularly or else they cause the cranks to give undue abuse to the hub? Is this tied to backward riding too? Or maybe I’m way off, haha. Good advice on having the necessary tools. I was thinking this: Park PW-5 Pedal Wrench | unicycle.com
and this: Nimbus Multi Tool - Black | unicycle.com
and I suppose I might want a crank puller eventually, but I’m really not there yet as far as even wanting to try different crank lengths.
@r4nd1nt Haha, yes, my Lake Zurich (in Illinois) is even nicknamed “The Alpine Village.” There is also a Lake Geneva (and a Lake Lucerne!) in Wisconsin…
@UniBeetle Yes, I’ve been riding my bike a bit to have something to ride while I am unicycle-less and I agree with you about the uni being more fun. It’s like flying…
Those tools sound good. I have used my crank puller quite a bit. I got the one without the attached handle. A pedal wrench can be used with it. My suggestion about tightening anything is: Pay attention to how much pressure / torque you’re using (by feel) when you tighten/install something. When the unicycle is new, check the tightness of everything after a ride. If anything loosened during the ride, you will notice right away. Try tightening whatever loosened with greater force, then. But if nothing loosened, don’t increase the tightness. It is common for the interface between the pedals and cranks to loosen up a bit. Also, dropping the uni as a beginner means you’ll have to check the tightness of seat bolts. If a run-of-the-mill drop causes your seat post to twist, try making a bit tighter. But, again, don’t increase the tightening force unless you sense something has gotten loose. Keep checking tightness to the extent that the uni is new…or a part is newly installed. Using this method, as far as I can tell, will keep you from under- or over-tighten your uni. At some point, the uni will stabilize and you’ll feel comfortable not checking the tightness of things on every ride.
I have read that spokes need re-tightening soon after a new uni is ridden on…that they don’t do an awesome job of tightening spokes at the factory. I don’t have any good advice about tightening spokes.
There is a lot of confusion about the ISIS hub / crank interface and the correct use of spacers. You should definitely do a search on the forums for that.
Hi Luke from Lake Zurich, Ill. Welcome to a great experience. I was formally from Roselle, Ill. (grew up there). haven’t been back in 40 years, haven’t missed it or the weather either.
Hah! Maybe not quite yet! The fact that she is OK having a unicycling husband is already a huge win in my book, so I can’t push it!