Hey guys. I’ve watched a few videos and I’ve decided that I want to get a uni. I’m 6 foot tall and I looked up some charts and I am recommended right between a 20 and 24" uni. I’m thinking that I’ll go 24" since I’m not hugely interested in tricks. I’m thinking I’ll mainly use the uni for riding on paths and dirt tracks. Originally I was just looking at the 24" Club Freestyle but now I’m more leaning towards the 24" Club Muni - http://www.municycle.com.au/catalogue/UNI-CLUB-24-M-BLK_item.html?ref_cat_id=MuniOffRoad24 as the wider tyre would be better for the trails and it looks nicer overall. My questions are - Is this a good uni for paths and trails?, Is this brand/model of uni good quality? and Is this tyre (24 x 2.35" Innova) good and is it alright for road/concrete?
BTW I’m thinking that this will be more of an interest than a hobbie thus resulting in me only buying one uni.
As a new rider myself I don’t know how much value my input has, however I bought the Nimbus 24" muni which came with the duro 24x3" tyre. I also bought a maxxis hookworm slick/street tyre. It’s much easier to ride the smooth tyre on smooth surfaces, ie tarmac, concrete, gym floors, etc. If you intend riding off road go ahead and get the muni, but if you’re a complete beginner get a smooth tyre with it for learning before you progress to harder trail riding. Good luck!
… until you feel the magic. Very few who continue to ride will stop at one. They should come with a warning.
Hello, my name is OneTrackMind and I am a uni-addict.
For me it all started with a ten dollar uni at a garage sale a bit over a year ago. I bought my fifth uni today. It cost more than the previous four combined.
Hello Jacob, I think the club 24" Muni is a good choice for your needs. It has a CroMo hub which is good and strong. In my my opinion the 24" is the best all round unicycle. It’s versatile, quite portable and can be used for many different riding styles. The Muni tyre should be ok for some road riding and will offer much more grip on the trails.
For a better view of the Club Muni, look it up on the Unicycle.com U.K. web site:)
I’d say start with a club 24, that’s what I’m learning on, and it IS one tough uni. I’ve dropped mine multiple times, and it’s still running. It rides great as well!
I suggest that, as a beginner, you approach the uni as neither an interest nor a hobby, but as a religion. More than an hour each day of practice, over a month, should have you riding around the block.
There is nothing wrong with the goal of being a casual rider. However, a casual approach to learning the unicycle, as a total beginner, could hurt your chances of success. Sorry if this sounds negative…I really want you to succeed.
Persevere! That’s the best advice I can think of. When I started, on each successive day of practice, it took me at least 30 minutes to catch up with my successes from the previous day. The payoff, riding, is totally worth it.
The 24" MUni you’re thinking of buying looks great. I started on a Torker 24" LX, which was not really made to go off road, but I did it anyway. There are a lot of good threads on the forum related to the right size for a beginner.
+1
Looks like it has a single walled rim. Be carfull of UPDing & landing on the wheel and depending on your weight, I’d avoid drops. The ones you do, try to land streight and roll out of it. If you are going to ride off road you’ll prob need some pinned pedals and shin guards that protect the back of your calves. (I maxed out on protection: knee/shin guards, elbow/forarm, wrist, but, and backpack protects my back)
Hello my name is Lewis and I’m a uniaddict. It started with one Torker DX & now I have 6 unis.
Maybe I miss out on your sarcasm… well, I disagree: I’ve been riding much less, and yet I’ve never needed 30 minutes to catch up. Maybe because my successes weren’t so big. But other riders have written the same in this forum. Oh, and I was riding around the block in less than a month, and there are lots of faster learners than me. From my experience (and seconding what some experienced riders incl. one instructor wrote in the German forum), I’d say practicing a short time several times a week (ideally: daily) can be a good way to get started.
Just find your own pace, take it easy, and don’t forget to enjoy it.
(BTW, starting out between 2 walls with good grip made learning much easier for me: so I could get support on either side whenever I needed it, until I could “steer” a straight line without holding on at all…)
Good luck from another uni novice, who’s also been through that “I’ll buy just one uni, so let’s have a 24”…"
PS:
Just in case you don’t know: Lewis is talking about intentionally jumping down from obstacles (“dropping”), not about falling (“UPD’ing”) and accidentally letting go of the uni in the process.
Thanks for all the awesome replies guys. Looks like I will be getting that one. As for what I meant by this being more of an interest than a hobby I didn’t mean that I’m not gonna practice much rather that I’ll probably ride everyday for the first month or two then probably once a week or so on the weekend.
That comes down to personal preferences. There are variables, ie tyre casing stiffness, sidewall height, rider weight and riding style. A harder tyre (higher pressure) should turn better and roll better but will feel more ‘twitchy’, softer will have more rolling resistance and be harder to turn (corner) on, and may also be more prone to pinch flats if you do drops. I’d suggest you take a pump and pressure gauge for a few rides and experiment a bit, maybe adding/removing 5psi at a time til you find what works for you.
Thanks for all the replies guys. I’m still thinking that I’ll get the club muni as it seems to be one of the most versatile unis. Anyway, I’m gonna use the tyre it comes with for a while but from what I have heard it will not be so good for turning on concrete. I’ve done some research on what would be the best tyre for my needs and the hookworm keeps popping up everywhere. Firstly, are there any better options for road, concrete, pavement, grass, dirt, gravel and maybe the odd trail (not extreme)? Also, is the (24 x 2.4") hookworm completely compatible with the 24" club muni (size, wheel, stock inner tube, etc.)?
The difficult thing at your stage is knowing what sort of riding you’ll want to do. At first I wanted a 29 and could never have imagined that one day I would spend half my uni time trying to ride up and down the stairs and the other half trying to pedal with one foot or using my saddle as a steering wheel. Sometimes, though, I do go for long-distance rides on a 29 that a friend sent me. I tend to advise beginners to either borrow or buy a $10 garage sale unicycle or else to spend some real money and buy a good trials uni, though you could probably do a lot of trials-type moves on a 24, plus traveling around a bit more.
All that aside, though, yes, the Hookworm will fit the uni you’re thinking of buying. It can be inflated to 110 psi, which is excellent for precise handling on flat pavement, but you could easily run it at one-fourth that pressure for rougher ground, or for hopping, depending on your bodyweight. The Hookworm is also very durable. Knobby tires, in my experience, don’t handle turns as well, and they wear out a lot faster. Hookworms are perfectly good for off-road, unless you think you will be going through deep mud or something. The one problem I had with a Hookworm tire was that its round cross-section made it very twisty when riding on cambered roads. Rumor has it that the 24" Hookworm is disappearing, though.
Thanks for the advice. I probably won’t get the hookworm when I get my uni so I’ll see how the stock tyre goes then go from there. I assume that the hookworm will fit the uni in question (it would be great if someone could clarify that tho) but would the stock inner tube fit it and does the new tyre come with an inner tube?
Yes it should, although if it’s a cheap tire its probably pretty flimsy and probably wont be worth it. I’d probably suggest just sticking with the included tire and adjusting the pressure where it feels the best to you. Probably you’ll want higher pressure at first as it will make the wheel easier to spin. If the wheel feels like it’s gonna shoot out from under you, lower the pressure a little.
The “normal tire” might have thinner sidewalls than the one that we favor for muni. Therefore would have some lateral flex, making for loss of control when riding. And it’s rather small, especially compared to the 24"s favorite, the Duro in 3.0" wide…
But other riders have written the same in this forum. Oh, and I was riding around the block in less than a month, and there are lots of faster learners than me. From my experience (and seconding what some experienced riders incl. one instructor wrote in the German forum), I’d say practicing a short time several times a week (ideally: daily) can be a good way to get started.