by doing a quick search of the members on the forum, it does not look like he is on here. perhaps he uses a pseudonym.
Interesting to see this mentioned here
I follow Brett Bergie on twitter, who recently posted this (which obviously caught my eye)
https://twitter.com/brettbergie/status/1468735602262622208
In turn I then saw
https://twitter.com/CTVStanfield/status/1469292960856481793
and finally
https://twitter.com/brettbergie/status/1469361020682444800
and now it is all mentioned here
His commute distance is similar to mine (when I do not take a scenic route) and it looks like he uses a 26″ uni, which is also my most common choice for the winter.
Just ran across this thread while researching the muni I just picked up - that is me and my pup!
@brettbergie is a friend of mine who snapped a pic of us as we cruised by her condo.
The uni in the story is my old 24" Miyata and it has served me well so far, that being said I bought a 27.5" Nimbus Oracle yesterday from a really nice guy who was going 36". After going on a packed snow trail ride this am I think I may be using the big one to commute as well, at least in the snow!
If anyone reading this is from Calgary and wants to go for a winter trail ride some time, give me a shout! Only thing is you have to like dogs, haha!
Welcome to Unicyclist.com Matt I’ve seen copies of the article you are mentioned in on other unicycle pages on FB as well. You’ve been the center of a lot of interest from other unicyclists.
Thanks for the welcome!
I am surprised at how many folks have seen it, even just random folks around town.
Nice to meet you (virtually) Matt. I too am a commuting, winter, unicyclist. My direct route commute is around the 5km mark but I often double it and go a more scenic route along the main river here in Oslo (Norway).
Is the tyre studded? I have cycled with and without studded tyres in the winter. While it is certainly possible to go without studs, I feel a lot better going over patches of ice that I might encounter having them.
I am also curious about your crank length. I typically use 100mm on my 26". I have a 24" also that I sometimes use in winter. That is for when there is more snow or I go further off the beaten track because it has an (unstudded) 4" wide tyre. To give me extra power in potentially deeper snow, I have 125mm (or more recently 115mm) cranks on that one.
Here I am on my 24 from last winter
And here it is after a ride with a fair bit of stickier snow
Hey Ruari!
My 24" has 140mm cranks and my new 27.5 has 150mm. Both set-ups seem to work great for leverage, but I don’t have the experience with shorter cranks to compare.
Neither of my tires are studded - my Miyata tire is a 1.95 K-Rad. It is fine on snow packed roads and pathways, like in your pic, but it is admittedly sketchy on ice patches. A studded tire sounds like a great idea!
Nice to see other uni commuters! Folks think it is some crazy activity, but it is such a peaceful way to start each day!!!
Here are a few that I know of in your size range but I am sure there are a lot more
Suomi ‘Routa’ 24″ (47-507) - Studded
Suomi ‘Mount & Ground’ 24″ (47-507) - Studded
Schwalbe ‘Marathon Winter Plus’ 24″ (47-507) - Studded
I could not agree more!
Hey thanks for that - had no idea so many options existed for 24", throwing a studded tire on the 24" may be a good option and just take it out when really icy!
For studded 24" tires, the ebike company Benno also makes a 24 x 2.5 studded tire without super aggressive tread. We have a store in Canada called Scooteretti that sells them.
Yeah that is a good one but
- It is pricy
- Clearance might be an issue on a Miyata
I am not sure how it is in other countries but there seems to be quite a few options for 24" tyres here in Norway. Cargo bikes are popular in Oslo and Benno as mentioned makes cargo bikes with this wheel size. In addition it is a pretty common size here for kids mountain bikes. So I can pickup 24" tyres of various kinds in all the local sports stores, including studded tyres.
Obviously the 24 does not have the range of tyres that 26, 27.5 (605b) or 28/29 but it is not bad IMHO. There are even 2 or 3 “fat tyres” (well 4"). I have never seen these in stores here but you can find them online.
You could just leave it on all winter. The studs on all three of the ones I linked to are made of tungsten carbide (as used in things like drill tips). They are super hardwearing and will likely last as long as the rest of the tyre.