I ām in the club, have the hat, and need better wrist guards.
On the very last day of 2009 I put in an order for a Schlumpf KHU using the order form on the Schlumpf. I knew from this forum that it would take a long time and that I wouldnātā get much communication.
February 8th I received email with an invoice and an approx 4 week delivery time. April 23rd I got email asking what I wanted engraved (no extra charge) on the hub. This email was in my Junk e-mail folder and I almost missed it. April 30th I got a message that they are working a 24hour shift to finish the hubs and that mine would be shipped the next day. There was a picture of my hub attached to the email. April 31st I got a tracking number and two days later I had the hub built into a newly purchased KH26.
I think that was not as bad as I was expecting. An acknowledgement from the web site order would have been nice, but overall the process went smooth.
How for some things I learned.
The UPS driver wanted a extra $167 USD for a charge from the Custom Clearing Agency
I used the spoke calculator ( http://www.unicycle.uk.com/SpokeCalc.asp ) and came up with 252.96 so I order some 253 spokes on line from ICYCLES and they came long (255), which I didnāt catch until after I built the wheel. I consider cutting down the spokes and tried it on one, but, I didnāt feel there was enough thread left to make a strong wheel. I took the one spoke that I had cut to size down to a local bike shop and had measure it (252) then had them cut me a batch of 251ās. The 251 size was a perfect fit for a new KH26 rim.
I was very paranoid about the torque of the bearing holders, so I had purchased a new torque wrench from sears for $80. It turns out that the wrench was too large and defected. I sapped off the bolt head without much effort. I it was back to Sears to return the wrench and buy a bolt extractor. I didnāt want to chance buying another of the same model and the only other one they had was over $100 so I thought I would just do it by feel.
I got back home extracted the broken bolt without any problem, borrowed a bold from my KH20 and put it all back together. As soon as I was finished the rain storm hit.
Hours later there was a break in the rain so I hit the local bike path. Seeing as I over 55 and donāt heal fast I was taking thing slow. First ride was in the 1 to 1 mode just to get the feel of the new KH26 and to make sure everything was set up right. Seat was too low, but otherwise all felt great.
Next I shifted it into high gear while stationary and holding on to a rail. I had too much back pressure and wheel shot right out from under me. Second try I put it in gear before getting on and made it about half a crank, this time it shot out behind me. Third time I was off on a very shaky start, but was able to get the feel of the wheel after a few feet. I stated on and went about a mile down the bike path. Amazingly it felt really good and I was going about Coker speed on a 26 inch wheel.
I was able to dismount and mount without incident (slightly downhill mount) and went for another two miles of rolling hills.
Next step was to try shifting. I started out in low gear got my foot into position and hit the gold button. I got a little freaked out because it actually shifted and I went to dismountā¦.big mistake. The hand adjusted torque was not at spec and the bearing slipped in the bearing holder. I hit hard on my ass right in a puddle which shocked me somewhat because I havenāt done that in a very long time. I also now have a sore wrist.
I went to the local bike shop and borrowed their Park Tools torque wrench and made some slight adjustments. I also ended up ordering the tool from the shop for $50 US.
I went back to the bike path for some more training miles. After a 4 mile loop I switch to my Coker with 125 cranks (I had rebuilt the wheel using the Isis hub that came with the KH26). I was surprised that I could not mount the Coker. I ride this thing every day. The switch from geared 165 on a 26 inch wheel to ungeared 125 on a 36 inch wheel took several tries. Once I was able to mount and stay on I was amazed and how fast it felt and how little effort it took to keep up a high speed as compared to the geared 26.
This post is getting way too long. Iāll just end by saying that Iām a happy rider with a new toy and love it.
If I had had the money right away and therefore not much time to āprepareā my wife about this ~1K euros unicycle part, she would probably have NOT signed the paper and rejected the deliveryā¦ which would have been horrible, donāt you agree? 
