As far as 24" vs 26" I’m going with the 24" Guni first of all because I already have a KH24 but also because I will be able to do a lot more with it than a 26" i.e. I often will do some natural trials on my 24" mid muni and I don’t like the 26" for that. The 24" guni may be heavier than non-guni but it’s much better to do trials on this set up than 26". Sure the 24" may be more “twitchy” but I don’t plan on ridding technical trail in high gear and I’ve grown accustomed to the 24" ride in technical terrain. Another thing I’ve noticed is that, at least on trails around here, I don’t have as much “head room” on a taller unicycle, even on my old 28" (26x3 Gazz on 28" Yuni frame) where I get by easier on my 24". As for tire choice, is there really a huge problem finding 24" tires? I haven’t had any trouble… However my main arguement for my 24" guni is that it is indeed more compact and easier to travel with in a hard-shell suitcase. I only have to deflate the tire, remove the seat post and pedals and I’m good to go. With my 28er I had to remove the tire as well… To each their own and perhaps I’ll regret the 24" guni set up but only time will tell (i’m still waiting on my KH / Schlumpf hub to arrive)… Then again I’ve ridden a lot of double digit muni mileage on single track on my 24" including a 50 mile ride last year so I’m comfortable with this wheel size…
As far as 24" vs 26" I’m going with the 24" Guni first of all because I already have a KH24 but also because I will be able to do a lot more with it than a 26" i.e. I often will do some natural trials on my 24" mid muni and I don’t like the 26" for that. The 24" guni may be heavier than non-guni but it’s much better to do trials on this set up than 26". Sure the 24" may be more “twitchy” but I don’t plan on ridding technical trail in high gear and I’ve grown accustomed to the 24" ride in technical terrain. Another thing I’ve noticed is that, at least on trails around here, I don’t have as much “head room” on a taller unicycle, even on my old 28" (26x3 Gazz on 28" Yuni frame) where I get by easier on my 24". As for tire choice, is there really a huge problem finding 24" tires? I haven’t had any trouble… However my main arguement for my 24" guni is that it is indeed more compact and easier to travel with in a hard-shell suitcase. I only have to deflate the tire, remove the seat post and pedals and I’m good to go. With my 28er I had to remove the tire as well… To each their own and perhaps I’ll regret the 24" guni set up but only time will tell (i’m still waiting on my KH / Schlumpf hub to arrive)… Then again I’ve ridden a lot of double digit muni mileage on single track on my 24" including a 50 mile ride last year so I’m comfortable with this wheel size…
For me, the answer is yes – it is VERY enjoyable, and very stable when moving along in the high gear. I also have quite a few miles of fast riding guni experience (heck, second in the RTL time trial, behind chuck).
corbin
Hey René, Would be great to try your 26".
I usually do my muni sessions in our local parks in Arnhem, where we have some medium sized hills. For that kind of riding I prefer to take my KH24. That way I can practice things like hopping up stairs and one foot wheelwalking etc in between more or less technical muni sections.
I also like to go long distance riding on my 36". Then I mostly go riding in the Veluwezoom north of Arnhem. There’s a great network of bicycle paths there going through some beautiful landscapes…
I learned to mount my KH 24" guni muni in high gear today. Wasn’t bad, took a dozen tries, but then I got it. I’ll have to practice more, but it’s not bad. I don’t plan to shift on the fly yet, so I’m glad to be able to mount in high. I use the rollback mount, with the guni learned to mount with the pedals 1 and 7 o’clock for less rollback, instead of the my standard closer to 3 and 9.
Funny thing was, when I went back to my trusty non-geared Nimbus 36", it took 5-6 tries to mount. Felt like I’d never be able to do that again.
Corbin how do you think the riding experience of the 24 GUNI in 1:1.5 mode off road compares to a single speed 36" off road?
Are you finding you can ride the 24 GUNI 1:1.5 ‘virtual 36’ as aggressively off road - descents, climbs etc - as they can be ridden on a 36" wheel?
I’m in the process of machining some adaptors out of aluminum bar stock to use a Maggie brake on my KH26 (29er frame and 26" Alex DX32 rim). I’m actually considering not using these adaptors and going back to a 29er wheel in this 29er frame. I may be interested in selling these adaptors if I elect not to continue with the KH26 concept.
Brycer1968
When compared to an ungeared coker (or a geared one in low gear), I think that I can ride slightly faster on a coker on mild offroad and single track. I’ve been riding the 24 guni on stuff that I have ridden the Coker on. However, on the geared 24 I can do more aggressive trails that I wouldn’t have even considered on the coker, and ride the steep downhills (or uphills) in low gear.
As for riding uphills: it is definitely harder to ride the geared 24 up steep hills when in high gear – I could ride stuff on the Coker that I don’t think I can do (yet) with the 150 cranks on the muni in high gear. But, having said that, these hills are best tackled with a lower gear ratio – so, riding the 24 in low gear is just as fast (for me) as riding a coker would be; I’m just spinning my legs faster with less effort on each spin (compared to the coker).
We’ve done quite a few more rides (about 5 in the past 5 days) and I really love the geared 24. Some of the rides (and distance/elevation profiles) on my blog http://www.corbinstreehouse.com/blog/
-corbin
Thanks Corbin, great info!
I’m enjoying the 29" GUNI, but 1:1.5 on the 29" off road riding might be less useful than I thought it would be, unless I go to a longer crank. Too fast and not enough control, but it’s early days with GUNI for me.
Later on I wouldn’t mind trying the hub in a 24" wheel. I enjoy off road on my 36" with 150 and 137 cranks, so the 24 GUNI might suit.
I wonder if a 1:1/1:1.3 would be more useful for off road riding? The gap between the two gears seems so large, atm anyway.
You’ll get better at the 29er GUni. I took it on one of our local trails that has a long swoopy slightly downhill singletrack (almost 3 miles continuous); it was a total blast at speed, and I could handle the roots and rocks as long as I didn’t try to control it too much. The main rule with GUni MUni is, never stop pedaling.
I did have an amusing biff going for a jump off a kicker; I got a little bit of air, lost control on the landing, and face-planted into a mud puddle.
Alright. After months of waiting to get my KH/Schlumpf hub and then another space of time waiting to be able to buy a proper wheel set… yadda yadda yadda I finally took my KH24 GUni for a test ride around the neighborhood. Wow it is quite surreal riding around on such a little unicycle at Coker speeds! Very fun! Right now I’ve got my KH24 set up in “road mode” i.e. Maxxis Hookworm tire, until I get a bit more used to riding in over-drive and getting the hang of shifting. Still, I plan to do some comparable “time trials” over routes I’ve done some Coker Muni on to analyze the difference in time, feel etc… So far I think I’m really going to like this set up. I’ll post some more thoughts here, especially after I get the real hang of this beast and put the proper MUni tire back on and hit up all my staple MUni routes…
I think the geared 24 sounds very practical for muni riders, especially if you have to ride a few miles to get to the trailhead or if you are traveling with it, but I am curious how it compares to coker muni. I would think coker muni would be more of a thrill due to the massive wheel and being higher up.
Oh yeah, Coker MUni is a huge thrill! Unparallelled IMHO. Just one look at the faces of the mountain bikers I pass by says it all! Still, I’m hoping the “virtual Coker MUni” experience will be comparable. Even if it isn’t quite the same, I’ll still have a very versitile MUni (once I get the hang of it). No worries, my Coker won’t collect too much dust! There is still nothing like that huge wheel off-road!
Okay. Practiced a bit more on the streets around my house last night. Feeling much more stable riding at speed (in overdrive). It is a bit more “twitchy” than riding the 36er (at least on the roads) but I think it’s something I can get used to; especially when I put a proper handle bar set on this thing. I successfully upshifted and downshifted a few times while rolling. For me I think I’m using the technique described by Siafired where I basically have the front or ball of my foot on the pedal and have my foot flexed and angled such that as the crank is on the down stroke I hit the button with the side/bottom corner of my shoe (kind of hard to explain). I tried the “rub the side of your shoe” method but that didn’t seem to give enough “push” to the button; bumping the button with a bit more solid surface i.e. sole of your shoe (or side) seems to do the trick. While not 100% consistent yet it worked well enough that I was able to semi-anticipate the shift and didn’t UPD when it happened! Wow this is so fun to shift! I imagine it will take a while to change gears quickly enough to be effective in quickly changing terrain; but I’ll keep at it. I think I’m going to put that MUni tire on very soon!
Alright did my first “long” distance paved path ride on the KH24 GUni. Riding with 150mm cranks and Maxxis Hookworm tire. Took the GUni for ~10 1/2 mile spin on a paved bicycle path at work. This path is predominately flat but does have a bit of everything to keep one attentive i.e. road crossings, bumps (from roots under the path), pot holes, zig-zag turns, a few slight hills and of course the ever present pedestrian. Anyhow, just cruising along w/o really trying to push I easily covered this distance in right at an hour which included a short stop half way and few slowish sections were I practice down/up shifting (getting pretty good at this by the way). I GPSd my ride and in the longer straight sections it seemed like I was averaging somewhere between 11-12 mph. For one short section that was slightly downhill I picked up the pace and I think I hit 15mph though who knows; it felt fast for me. I was pretty impressed that the whole experience seemed pretty much like riding my Coker with 150mm cranks. I will say that initial “twitchiness” I experienced my first few rides has about gone away. I’m now very comfortable with how this setup rides. I probably could do a bit better if I actually had my T7 handlebar on there but right now I don’t. Also I felt that with the 24" GUni I could slow down and speed up much quicker than on the 36er, probably because of the weight difference. I also felt much more nimble in turns than with the 36er. I will say climbing a steepish hill in overdrive seemed more difficult than on the 36er but that probably is an issue of technique and lack of handlebar… This “pocket Coker” is sooo much fun!!! I’m probably going to put the MUni tire on very soon and try out my staple Coker MUni route!
Alright did my first “long” distance paved path ride on the KH24 GUni. Riding with 150mm cranks and Maxxis Hookworm tire. Took the GUni for ~10 1/2 mile spin on a paved bicycle path at work. This path is predominately flat but does have a bit of everything to keep one attentive i.e. road crossings, bumps (from roots under the path), pot holes, zig-zag turns, a few slight hills and of course the ever present pedestrian. Anyhow, just cruising along w/o really trying to push I easily covered this distance in right at an hour which included a short stop half way and few slowish sections were I practice down/up shifting (getting pretty good at this by the way). I GPSd my ride and in the longer straight sections it seemed like I was averaging somewhere between 11-12 mph. For one short section that was slightly downhill I picked up the pace and I think I hit 15mph though who knows; it felt fast for me. I was pretty impressed that the whole experience seemed pretty much like riding my Coker with 150mm cranks. I will say that initial “twitchiness” I experienced my first few rides has about gone away. I’m now very comfortable with how this setup rides. I probably could do a bit better if I actually had my T7 handlebar on there but right now I don’t. Also I felt that with the 24" GUni I could slow down and speed up much quicker than on the 36er, probably because of the weight difference. I also felt much more nimble in turns than with the 36er. I will say climbing a steepish hill in overdrive seemed more difficult than on the 36er but that probably is an issue of technique and lack of handlebar… This “pocket Coker” is sooo much fun!!! I’m probably going to put the MUni tire on very soon and try out my staple Coker MUni route!
Great info MuniSano!
My geared hub is headed back to Florian soon for some work and I’ve been wondering what GUni to make when it gets back. I’ve really enjoyed the 36 GUni off road for the last 5 months or so. With the longer 165 cranks you can have a lot of fun in 1:1, and scare yourself silly in 1:1.5 off road in XC terrain as well as cruise along at nice low revs.
Prior to that I had the hub in a 29’er for a while and didn’t find it to be an especially useful off road machine, which makes me think twice about building up a 26" GUni.
That leaves a 24 GUni. I think I’ll probably go that way, so it’s interesting to read feedback from guys riding a 24 GUni. Also looking forward to hearing how the 24 GUni’s went in Africa.
I too am very interested to see how the 24" GUni’s fared in Africa? How about it Corbin? Also anybody else with 24" GUni’s please share your experiences here…
If someone is willing to send me a Guni hub, I will be more than happy to review the hubs handling in Africa
If someone is willing to send me a Guni hub, I will be more than happy to review the hubs handling in Africa:D