Super excited to get it together on my lunch break today and give it a whirl after work.
This 26" will be perfect for my paved and smooth dirt 5 mile bike path loop by my house.
After 5 weeks of learning to ride, the 20" was just too spinney for the long rides, I’m ready for some higher speed cruising
I rode several LX 24"s recently and for the price it looks like its going to be well worth it till I get my Nimbus 24" for Muni riding.
Just wanted to share the enthusiasm of my first Uni purchase, I am upgrading from a free Jugglebug 20" that got me going.
Any tips on assembly?
I have high quality bike tools with me
Planning on lightly lubing the crank bearings and pedal bearings with white lightening dry lube then wiping off the excess.
Also think I will use a touch of med strength loctite on the pedals
Once I get the Nimbus Muni in a month or so I am planning on making this my distance Uni by getting a semi slick tire and shorter cranks, along with a better seat ( I love the Torker DX seat, its like a big pillow )
The commonest mistake is to put the wheel the wrong way round - make sure the left pedal is on the left and right on the right, or the pedals will undo themselves as you ride and ruin the threads.
Don’t do the bearing clamps up too tightly - they should be firm but not so tight that the wheel doesn’t spin freely. It’s quite easy to over-tighten the bearing clamps and squash the bearing a bit.
Obviously if anything starts to come loose while riding (cranks, pedals, etc) stop and do it up before it does any damage.
Thanks for the tips.
Already made sure to mark the cranks, pedals, frame and seat with post-it note stickers to avoid that mistake.
Overtightening was something I didn’t really consider but I am pretty mechanically inclined and have rebuilt cars, bikes and motorcycles before so I think I’ll be ok.
I have not yet recieved my first, so no tips, but that’s very exciting and I hope you will enjoy it. I’m gonna start on the LX 20" and try to learn some tricks and stuff, maybe cruise around a few blocks to my college, and then later start on muni with a new uni.
Tell me how your new uni is! Cuz I’ll be trying to learn on something similar and I’d like to see what you like about the bigger wheel size.
Dane: the DX seat has very thick relatively firm foam on a standard Velo base. It has a fair amount of curve to it which will help keep it under you. I like a flatter thinner saddle and the DX seat is perfect for carving into your desired shape.
Stand: I don’t have much more advice other than what people already said. Enjoy the new wheel.
@Sask - ah cool, I’m not sure what velo base means (although I know it means “bike” in french) and whats the thing with the air saddles? I just saw one yesterday and I was curious about them, I’d think it would be more difficult to balance?
@Stand - very cool, fast learner! Can you do any tricks or anything yet?
My opinion but air seats suck. Search around and you should be able to find more information about them.
edit: Velo makes the bases for Nimbus, KH, Koxx, Monty, Torker DX and I am sure many other saddles. In most cases the only difference is the foam and the cover.
I made my first hop to a curb the other day but I was on someone elses trials uni. I can go off small curbs and do 3 diff mounts, smooth turns and action/reaction turns. Just started working on Idle and riding backwards on a railing.
I wouldnt recommend much hopping or jumping on the LX, it may kill the hub/crank area. This will be for cruising/ distance.
Don’t get ahead of yourself with tricks when you havent even rode yet.
My plan is to continue distance riding on the street and light trail riding till I’m really confident then move on later.
You will have plenty of work to do when you get started that you should leave tricks for a few weeks or so down the line.
I ride about an hour a day on average, 4 hours last Sunday with the club.
CONGRATS!! Hey, free uni to learn, that was so lucky of you!
Thanks for the video. I cant wait til I can ride like that. I still havent learned how to control it lol. We just got dumped with snow but I found a place to go practice today, even though its only high of 30F outside. I wish I had a fat tire uni to practice a bit in the snow lol.
Could you take a few pics on putting it together? I want to put mine together myself, hopefully without much help needed at the bike store. I’m not sure what the crank/pedals look like apart for a uni. I’m just familiar with bikes.
I was going to take pics of the assem, but I think Im doing it here at work w/ no camera, the cranks came on the wheel.
I put on the pedals already.
Then put frame on wheel, seatpost in and inflate tire
So all you need to know is which way is the right/left of the wheel, screw the frame on the wheel, screw on the pedals, seatpost in, inflate tire? Thats IT??? Wow, I thought you had to do the hub and cranks and all lol.
Well, I’m off to practice, hope you get off work soon.
Had to go to my buddys shop next door to have him cut the seatpost for me. Its really long when it comes.
I just rode it around for 5 min. Freemounted no prob.
Its a really big wheel and the cranks are ridiculously long, prob ordering some shorter ones soon.
It is definitely a speed machine!
Kinda wish I got the 24" but Ill see how it is once I get used to it.
I’m sure the big wheel will pay off on long smooth fast rides
AAh! I typed it out but I never posted it… and then I lost it in my plethera of windows…
I was saying I was gonna try to learn basic balance, then going forward and turning, then maybe backwards, and then problably some balance on objects, such as 2x4s and stuff. From then I will probably just try to keep workign on my balance and try some little flat dirt trails around here. The area I think I will start in will be muni, but I’m fascinated by all of them.
About the seat. The LX uses a non-standard seatpost, so if you’re going to buy a new seat for it then you will also need to buy a standard 25.4mm seatpost. Or you could convert your LX saddle to an air saddle; it’s pretty easy to do. Either option is far better than the stock saddle.
haha oh no, I mean to go slow. Without the foundation of good balance, what’s really the point right? I’d like to be as much in control of my balance as I can (at least to understand it, if not apply it very well) before I start doing anything like that. Plus I’d be afraid to hurt the jewels before I knew what I was actually doing…
Do you guys wear bike shorts? I have a good pair that I use for mountain biking that I think will work well.
I always wear bike shorts if I am going to be out for more than 30 minutes, especially if I am doing trial or muni, don’t want anything to get smushed on drops :o.
I wish I had a fat tire uni to practice a bit in the snow lol.
