I lay the blame squarely at the feet of Jacob Spera for this
I started on a KH24 and shortly after got a KH26, the KH24 was sold and I was content, I bought a kh20 LN trials that bar the frame I later totally rebuilt into a 4kg lightweight beauty. Then as my skill and fitness improved rather dramatically I recently went to a KH29 reusing most of the KH26 parts, I am now very happy with the KH29 build and it is the perfect XC machine and I am cranking out 40+ mile rides
Now I am looking at a 36er for road use and assumed that would be my next purchase but then watching Jacobs awesome flowey MUni come natural trials on his KH24 got me missing the speed/nimbleness of a true MUni which my Trials and 29er will never have. So here I am looking to get another 24" for Street/urban riding and DH/Urban Trials (True MUni I suppose).
As I had a KH24 before I am going to go for something different (sorry Kris I think I have bought enough of your fine kit for the time being ;)) and am looking at a light but strong Impact Gravity 24" in a pure brake free setup using a Trials bike 32h rim.
I feel I may just be fighting the inevitable of having one of every size Uni Maybe a Schlumpf on my unused KH26 frame is on the cards in the future as well
Has anyone else made a jump back to a smaller wheel?
Recently purchased a 24 to see if i gain confidence using 24 (in spite of 26) for Alpine DH and to see if I manage to climb better for XC ride with a smaller wheel. Evaluation pending but hopping, & placing seems easier with 24.
If you have a KH26 frame why not building 24 wheel and use this frame? If you finally decide to use a brake put dābrake+spirit crank.
Or take a disc hub+dābrake +36h rim that will give you the choice to had an inboard disc brake in the future.
Think of it as investing. In health. In a happy hobby. In resale value;) Honestly though, there are worse things to drain your bank account with. Iāve always loved anything with pedals. People know that about me, so they donāt give me grief. I will eventually own a 36 and a geared 29. Why fight it? Embrace it!
I have one on my trials but I was trying to keep the cost down on this build
l did think of using my kh26 frame but fancied a change of style and colour scheme
white 24" Impact Gravity frame
Black kh one piece post
White Impact Naomi saddle (love these saddles)
Black Echo seat clamp
Black Echo tr 42mm 32h trials rim
White rim tape
Black Nimbus 32h hub
Black spokes and nipples
Black 138mm Venture cranks
White Nuke Proof Electron pedals (third set of these awesome pedals but hard to find in white)
Schwalbe Big Betty tyre (63mm wide ,snakeskin sidewalls and only 800g)
So should be nice and light but tough enough for big drops like my trials (which may become obsolete?)
If you ask my wife, this manyā¦(photo is minus my 12" which is on loan)
I am currently in negotiations for some other non-uni related toys, so I suspect that the uniherd may have to be thinned out to raise some capital for other expensive play things. Also looking at building up another 36er with a Triton frame I have laying around. Iām afraid it will come down to my negotiation skillsā¦
My problem is generally the opposite, too many unis/skis/stuff, so my perfect number is generally n - 1.
I picked up a 24" muni for the exact thing you are considering, rode it very little, now itās a loaner. After spending so much time on big wheels, a little wheel was just too slow.
Granted, Iām not a trials guy and my jumping/hopping is very limited, but honestly, anything you can do on a 24" you can do on a 26", the difference is just not significant.
The idea of 24" unicycles being the only āreal muniā is completely rubbish, the uni is not what determines the capabilities of the rider, the rider is the one in charge.
I can only ride one uni at a time, so when I pack up for rides I generally take two sizes so I have choice: 29" and 36", sometimes Iāll throw in a 26" or 32" wheel depending on the weather, terrain, etcā¦but for the most part one wheel is enough.
I donāt want to ride far on the 24" at all I am intending in driving to key places to effectively ride faster trial type riding and generally dick about on fallen trees mega steep declines etc, whilst I can ride the 29er over nasty stuff and do drops etc it is too big to throw about like I can on my 19" but my 19" is not fun to ride more than a few yards hence the 24" should fit perfectly in that gap.
I am limited to how often I can ride with a young family so my 29er will always be the most ridden
It may turn out to be a pants idea but I will never get upset about buying new toys
shh you that is happening after Christmas
And that is another thread worthy discussion on what to get, the Oracle is a nasty colour but has an inboard disc the KH as standard uses an outboard setup which I donāt like so a custom nimbus disc hub wheel might be in order but spoke length is limited at that size ans is such a big wheel on a narrow bub a good idea.
If dmacuni just gave me that old Triton 36 frame he has knocking about and unloved that would help me out and leave him free to get another new Uni
My good lady is very supportive of my hobbies and the 18 pallets in the garden but I am sure there will be a Uni headcount issue soon enough as I refuse to keep them in the shed. The 29er sits at the head of the dinner table like a member of the family
ā¦however, if you insist on getting another 24", why not make it a guni with some Spirits, then use the 26" frame, worse case scenario is you donāt like it/use it, in which case you swap the hub to a 26, 29, or 36" wheel and all youāre out is a rim and spokes.
Iām getting another Schlumpf next Summer for a 29er, just waiting on my wife to finish college; and to see how Schlumpf changes the hub.
Ah, so the plan is coming together
Get the Oracle as a custom, chromoly Oregon hub, black Stealth 2 rim, stock colored frame or have it powder coated. The reason you want the Oracle over the Triton: Greater Hub width = Greater Stability. Also the KH is more expensive and offers nothing more in terms of quality or design.
I was going to fire an email to Roger at UDC about specing something up as I am keen on the wider hub and it is mainly aesthetics I am not keen on, oh and I will need to get the lightweight tyre ordered as well
It does all add up to a full custom job as I would want to change saddle, pedals, brake, rim, tyre etc
The HK26 in the cupboard may get schumpfed one day but it is a 2011 frame so I would probably would just buy a 2012 one anyway to make fitting the spirit disc setup on it easier (although not necessarily trouble free)
The other option is to schlumpf my KH29 so I can use it mainly 1:1 for XC and then in 1:1.5 more for road rides which kills the need for a larger additional uni.
I would like to have/ride a 36er though decisions decisions
They are a lot of fun, take some getting used to, but once you have the big wheel feeling itās not something that can be filled by a little wheel
I have a hard time choosing wheels these days, actually prefer the 36er for XC, but it takes more effort to ride than a 29er, so I take the 29er when Iām tired or when the terrain is super tech/steep.
Unfortunately not but I am dead keen to, I had no issue sizing up to a 29er and took to it instantly so I am confident although a bigger jump the 36er will be fine as well (I was riding my first uni in a couple of hours and my first MUni ride was at hour 8 :p)
Some of the trails I do are easy going and I have been thinking what they would be like on a 36er, the roll-over-ability of a 29er over a 26er was incredible so I can only imagine how the 36er must rollover terrain like it isnāt even there.
Exactly. 36ers roll everything, bridge terrain like a train, smooth things out, such a nice feeling to just roll on. Itās also fun to make that big wheel do really technical stuff, drops, tight turns, throw in some hops, a couple stalls, and then hit it though the twisties, yeah!
Forget the little wheel, get the big wheel, then youāll get some comfortable on the big wheel that a 29er will seem small; small enough for āreal muniā
Am I remembering correctly that the stock Oracle has an Aluminum axle hence your suggestion to spec a cromo one?
My mother has just asked what I want for crimbo and as we have all gone through a loss in the family recently she is very much living for the moment and wants to spoil all her grown up kids this year and she has asked if I wanted anything Uni relatedā¦
My worst fall was a top falling out of my camelbak onto my tyre which jammed the wheel in the frame at 10 mph slamming me into the floor faster than I could even realise what had happened
decisions decisions