If your cranks are only a few degrees out of synch it’s not very noticeable. And you can still ride even if they’re way, way out of synch…
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Does that make it a V twin unicycle?
greetings!
I am the mad modifier of the aforementioned Huni-Monster!
here the little sod is wondering where it’s hub has gone
I bought it off a lad at unicycle hockey for a very reasonable price just for a laugh, I took it out for a ride and (as a regular 36" rider) was drastically unimpressed by everything about it, hence why I went big on it’s modification!
I’m guessing by ‘pedal strike’ you mean the pedals clouting the floor at even a slight hint of cornering? TRUE also there is a little free-play on the chains, the bigger wheel fixes the pedal strike, a surly track cog
got rid of some free-play (another should kill some more)
and for good measure here is a pic of me, and it, riding vert! (yeah right)
oh yeah, and the inseam length is massive! =O lucky I’m about 6 foot!
*if anyone does want to buy it I would consider selling!
Huni, no go
I tried the huni for a few days from a friend and now i am afraid to ride it because i had a couple small pedal hits but then i had one major one and crashed into a wall and hurt my back 
. Its not the best design but nice try Huni-rex. I wish they made a larger wheel or put the cranks on top. But it is nice try at bringing affordable geared uni’s to the market.
Wow, that’s pretty serious,
and seriously out of control, to crash into a wall
if you werent aiming for it 
…more practice perhaps, to get over the fear:D
@Dazzer
Hmmm…somehow your Huni looks flatout exhausted…
I’d be curious to hear any issues you have with the cranks getting out of sync over time. Does it happen? How often? Does it get steadily worse and how is it fixed? There’s an 8-speed drift trike front end in the works with a similar independent crank design that I’m planning to turn into a unicycle and it’d be great to hear from someone with experience in these issues.
Too bad the cranks weren’t placed above the hub rather than below. Guess that would be a dwarf giraffe.
the difference is that the huni-rex has the pedals independent. A small giraffe still has a traditional bottom bracket placed outside of the wheel.
: ) Still want to build one of these.
It occurred to me recently that a “Huni-rex” style system would make a good basis for a freewheel unicycle. Seems like the pedals below the axle would make the balance better when coasting. (Kind of a “BC wheel” type of thing.)
Won’t help much, if at all
The location of the pedals doesn’t directly affect balance. What matters is center of mass. And, it’s not clear that having the center of mass lower really helps.
If the center of mass is below the center of support (the wheel contact point) then the unicycle becomes stable. That’s handy. But that is probably only possible if the unicycle is on a tight wire and you are hanging below the wire.
Since the center of mass in realistic scenarios will be above the center of support, instability is unavoidable. But if the center of mass is quite low then it can actually make balance harder – it can make the unicycle ‘twitchier’, to use a technical term. Very tall unicycles are quite stable because it takes a long time to tip over enough to matter. It’s like balancing a broom on your finger (easy) versus balancing a pencil (hard). If a low center of gravity made unicycles easier then giraffes would be harder to ride, and they really aren’t.
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Enlarged q-factor wasn’t mentioned amongst drawbacks.
Another issue is that one chain gets loose sooner than the other (maybe because there’s more pressure to the pedal that you step first when mounting), so you can’t remove backlash.
My friend bought a new Huni already with 700c wheel, but later he changed it to a 26" fat one.
The Huni-Rex seems like a fun uni to give a try, so I asked Municycle.com if they have any in stock. Apparently they do, but don’t yet know the price. From what I read in the various threads, it does come with various problems. The biggest one to me would be that the chain will wear out and since the manufacturers are out of business, it will be impossible to get new spare parts. I’m not technical with bikes myself and I doubt an LBS could be of any help.
Would yous agree it is basically a waste of money?
Also I hadn’t much success with the Schlumpf in a KH26 and had sold it after a year, because I thought normal unis were easier to ride. I don’t care much it is a geared uni, just the idea with the pedals so low, could make it a fun ride.
Hunirexes are very difficult…
- The balance point is below the wheel axle
- Chain slack makes it not respond as expected
- You’d have to be a damn good rider to hop on it (note too, it’s extremely heavy)
- Very wide Q factor like you are riding a motorcycle
- I have not seen anybody do a sharp turn with one
- It may be hard to replace a spoke - you might need to pull apart some very complicated setup due to the way its put together
If you are a solidly skilled uni rider, sure, you may enjoy it. If you arent so skilled, it’s frustrating and horrible. I much preferred a 36er - at least you know exactly how it would respond with a turn of the crank. Much more secure and reliable.
Thanks Gockie, I am not afraid that it will be difficult. It sounds like it behaves like a Lunicycle, which I haven’t gotten back into because when I first tried it one of the pedals got loose. The lunicycle is a kinda ultimate wheel, but it should be easier to ride and the balance point is also below the wheel axle. The leg supports push your legs outside, like riding on horseback. If the material they uses was stronger, I would use it more.
Learning to ride a HuniRex will be fun I think, but in the end I might just choose my normal unis again and then it will just gather dust in the shed.
[EDIT]
I just got a message from Municycle.com and they sell for 200 EUR, which isn’t bad. They also sent a link from Funicycle.com, the French version where they sell one for 650 EUR, which is seriously overpriced, since they are not being produced anymore and given the issues it comes with.
I decided to let this one slide.
The only additions I will eventually get are a 24" muni and a 27" muni, but there is no rush yet with those. They are more solid products.
I’m 99.9% sure that they use a standard bike chain of some kind (just shortened). A bike store can easily take care of that.
Fun novelty - maybe. Fun enough to spend money and space to store it on it? I personally don’t really think so… Plus, the fact that it is geared and has extra slop in the drivetrain will probably overshadow having the pedals lower.
Well I’ve got no time to send a long reply… but if you are don’t mind setting it a bit it is a good uni. I solved a lot of problems without too much work.
It has no more pedal issue (less than a 20" with 135 cranks)
The lower cranks are a blessing when fast riding and a when upd compared to similar uni (I own a 26+" hunirex, a G27,5 and a 36" and others)
It’s very easy to make smooth fast short radius turns. It is very difficult to make sharp turns (I am not ablesure)
It is heavy and hill climbing will be an issue.
It is the best choice if you are willing to built an electric assisted uni
I suppose a single speed guni could accomplish the same thing without needing any new parts other than the hub. I know the Schlumpf drives are very expensive, but maybe if it didn’t have the multiple gears they could be made for much less.
There’s already a guni with a single gear: the Hunirex. It’s pretty cheap but not very great.
It’s not just the price (and general unavailability) that stops me getting a Schlumpf hub again, it’s also that they ride different to a fixed wheel, even in 1:1
The Huni Rex is even worse in that regard - there’s a reason why they didn’t sell well!
I fancy a bigger wheel because it’s a bigger wheel and the feeling that gives, not just so I can go faster.
This discussion might want to be moved elsewhere if it’s going to continue though as we’re getting a bit off topic!
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I own a Schlumpf, a Huni-rex and a Carbon 36".
The Huni rex is safer than any other uni at high speed due to the lower distance from the ground. It requires some mod before riding so it’s good for Fix-By-Myself guy. After the first mod it is far more reliable than a Schlumpf. It has a real big downside: it is heavy and cannot use cranks longer than 125… so no hill climbing at all.
In my experience the Huni-rex own a bad reputation due to people going on repaeting and old mantra without even listening to real owners.
However I’m appreciating more my light 36" than the fixed Huni or the Sensitive Schlumpf