Incorrect weights of unicycles on US unicycle.com

Unicycles and Equipment
22

ME:

“Hi Josh,

Sorry for all the questions….

I’m thinking that 26” hatchet might be best for the sand and gravel we have here, give me options for different tire sizes later, and pack the wheel smaller being a 559mm.

Is the weight on that monster actually 13.5 pounds?! Seems extremely light for such a big tire.“

JOSH:

David,

Yes, the Hatchet weight can vary a little and up to a pound difference depending on how the tire is made. The fat tires do have thin side walls to offset the tire size to weight ratio, the 26" is the best where max float is needed.

Cheers,

Joshua Torrans
General Manager

Well, I would love to just pick up a phone and call…but I’m back in Iraq now for nine months with the unicycle.

Obviously I have ruffled some feathers…which maybe is a good thing.

I’m not upset that they may have accidentally posted incorrect weights on their website…

Rather, I VERY specifically emailed Josh with the subject line “CAN YOU PLEASE CONFIRM THE WEIGHT OF THE HATCHET “

It’s nearly 30% heavier! My entire sleep system when I bike pack weighs less than 4 pounds, so it’s a big difference. When I raced mtb and crits I know what a 4 lb difference would be. I have 3 mtb and 1 gravel bike that weigh less than this unicycle.

People like Ken at adventure unicylist who ride distance know the value of shaving pounds when riding. He measures and weighs everything as do most people riding more than a couple of hours. I actually think it may be even more critical on a uni as the balance can be off and less places to carry stuff.

If you feel 4 lbs isn’t much then take a half gallon jug of water and tie it around your neck next time you ride…that’s 4 lbs.

So, Not trying to go on a witch hunt, but I value integrity above all else and when I emailed specifically asking the weight it’s pretty disconcerting that I didn’t get an honest answer.

Would I have purchased it anyway?…probably not. 4lbs is a lot in my experience.

I wonder if a bicycle company sold a carbon fiber super bike advertised at 13.5 lbs and then shipped a 17.2 lb aluminum bike how many people would be ok with it??? Lol.

Anyway, the idea was to let others know so they can make an informed purchase decision….not start a big argument.

Nuf said…buyers beware and confirm via email with a refund policy if weight is not accurate.

Thank you for the responses…I’m going to go ride this heavy beast now.

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23

I find your tone very condescending btw. Let’s try to treat each other with respect please.

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24

Thank you! I’m glad someone gets it.

25

IRAQ!!? OMG! No wonder you wanted a light weight unicycle! I would have to. :astonished:

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26

Dave, I agree with you in that we should all treat each other with respect. I do not make it a habit to disrespect people. If you feel disrespected by my response, then please accept my apology.

I have noticed discrepancies in the past on the UDC website, normally after specs for an item had changed. An example of this is when the Oracle 27.5 was changed so that it would accept a Duro Crux tire. My phone call to clarify the specs resulted in the Oracle 27.5 listing getting updated the next day. Another time, I ordered a Tshirt that was incorrectly printed. In that case, my purchase price was refunded and the item listing was updated once the Tshirt was corrected.

I say the above, to say that UDC has been very responsive and accommodating in the past when I have called them.

I did not realize you are currently in Iraq. That does make it tough to just pick up the phone to correct an issue. My apologies for assuming you might be in the US, after having purchased the Hatchet from UDC US.

I also acknowledge that if your Hatchet is four pounds heavier than you expected, that is a sizable difference.

Bottom line is I should have just kept my comment to myself, or better yet, requested additional information to ensure I wasn’t misconstruing your motives. Your reply above provides some insight that would have kept me from posting the response I posted.

I do hope you end up loving the Hatchet.

Respectfully,

Shawn

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27

Shawn, that’s very kind of you. Thank you so much.

Yes, I ordered from the US and only had four days home to pick it up and fly back. That was the reason why I sent the email to confirm the weight before ordering.

I’m sure I’m making a bigger deal than I should have. I was just miffed that after trying to confirm the weight with Josh that he gave me bad information. From my biking weight weenie days four pounds is just unacceptable. Lol

Anyway, thank you so much for your kindness.

I’ll post pics whenever they let me…117F today and a sandstorm so not much riding. :joy:

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28

You are very welcome.

117F? Well, we here in Texas just lost any justification to complain later this summer.

Please do post pics when you get a chance. Very few people may ever get the chance to ride a Hatchet in the sand in Iraq.

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29

For what it’s worth, you might be able to save a bit of weight with a lighter tube. I can’t remember the thread or member, but someone on here found lightweight tubes for fat tires recently and reported a significant weight savings. Purely speculation here, but perhaps the listed weight was without tire and tube since people like to change things like that anyways but that still should have been disclosed on the website so I don’t know what could be the cause of such a discrepancy, I just hope there is a reasonable reason for it.

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30

Another point too, but both experiences can exist.

The unicycle jus by the factors of production could have come out heavier than spec but it is ordered by what I’d consider a small business (I don’t think any of the major brands have more than maybe 5 employees, 10 at most probably).

We’ve for a similar store in Canada called Bedford unicycles and everyone I know says amazing things about them but I’ve only had negative experiences. So when people ask about I point out I don’t order from them for that reason but others have had great experiences.

It could be that just by a roll of the dice you got the heavy Unicycle when the frame and all other parts were assembled from a certain number of different manufacturers.

If anything it’ll give you some room to play with upgrades down the line (150g tube, rope spokes, carbon rim) to bring down the weight. But I hope you enjoy the unicycle. The weight discrepancy does suck, but I hope it gives you a bit more fitness and I found with my heavier uni that once your muscles get used to it the difference might not be so bad. A 3lbs difference is still significant though, but that’s also meaning it accelerates slower so might be great for muni on downhill control.

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31

A 3.5 lb difference is way more than can be explained by manufacturing variances, unless there was some prototype all carbon model. For the time being, I’m going to chalk it up to error and ignorance on the part of udc. Personally, I would not want a 13.5 lb Hatchet as I suspect it would flex like a spaghetti noodle. My Quax RGB would flex to the point that the tire would rub while climbing.

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32

I also usually find the weights to be quite inaccurate on UDC.

Often, different length cranks have the same weight. One example right now on UDC USA would be:
VCX 150mm and VCX 102mm, both listed as 376 grams. (UDC UK states the 150mm crank is “just under 490 grams”).

VCX+ 150/125/100mm listead as 454 grams. This seems accurate enough to me, as I bought a VCX+ 150mm, and it weight 461.6 grams.

However, I just “know” that the 150mm cranks are heavier than 102mm cranks…so ignore the listed weight when making my purchase decisions.

I have a spreadsheet of almost every bike/unicycle item’s weight that I’ve bought, and I usually refer to it to check if the specified weight of a part makes sense since I don’t particularly trust manufacturer specified weights.

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33

Interesting idea: maybe the weights should just be user reported on the site. They could show individual reported weights as well as an average. Will probably end up with more accurate numbers and it takes the fairly big responsibility off of UDC.

34

I can understand being upset. Why wouldn’t you believe what they told you about the weight… But I think if you showed just about anyone a picture of a hatchet and an oracle, asked them to pick out the one they thought was heavier, most would pick the hatchet.

I just can’t believe Josh is that ignorant in not knowing how much the hatchet weighs.

I was looking for a new uni about 6 months ago and it was hatchet vs Oracle, one of the things that made the decision so close was the ‘weight’ of the hatchet. Ultimately I choose o29, glad I did cuz I woulda been a little upset too. Even though I was miffed anyway because the o29 comes with a tire too big for the frame and rubs, so I had to spend another 75 for a tire.

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35

I’ll say that Mad4One has been great in this aspect. The weights have been fairly on point for my one uni from them and Marco is super responsive to all of my questions. I primarily buy from UDC UK historically but will be doing more from Mad4One in the future as the colours are just superb on the anodized frames and I like shiny pretty unis

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36

+1. M41 is the best IMO.

37

Mad4One certainly has good products, but it was precisely with him weight information was wrong (he deleted them on the new side). What I default with him is that you often don’t know what you really get. There is some picture published, the tire is completely different. No indication of this in the description that there are deviations. You don’t know what is photographed and what you really get.

38

No chance is the hatchet UDC’s best selling product. There can’t be that many guys going through mid life crises

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39

This made me LOL because, yeah, I think thats a real thing.

Serious note though, it can’t be their best seller. It’s a $1k unicycle for crying out loud haha.

40

Yeah I’d imagine for most people the Cotterless unis are probably enough

41

I’m yet to damage a cotterless hub, try as I might. I completely folded a rim, total taco, but the cotterless hub was fine so I laced in a new rim off an old b*ke and the hub lives on! I’m actually about to recommission a Club 24” for muni. Nothing extreme where I’m at, mostly XC style, but I’m yet to have issues with cotterless hubs.