Anyone know where to get touch up paint for a Kris Holm unicycle?
Or perhaps a color code so I can order some online?
Thanks in advance.
I believe it may be called “boring too-common blue”?
That’s not totally fair, Kris offered the frame in raw aluminum and nobody wanted to buy it. A KH uni has to be blue for some reason, like a Ferrari has to be red otherwise it loses value on the second hand market.
Anyway, I got some model paint to touch up my frame. Revell nr51 is a perfect match, cost me 3€ for a tiny pot.
The story goes that Kris’s first uni was blue. Don’t know if it is true.
My first KH uni (an old Onza era trials) had been repainted red by the son of its previous owner. He apologised for it being so badly done but at least he stripped it back first.
I don’t mind the “distressed” finish. It also means I don’t have to worry about damaging the paint which is just as well. It is wearing thin in places now.
I recently upgraded the wheel to an Impact with an immaculate gloss white rim and hub. The contrast with the frame works. And the big orange lettering on the Gekok tyre sort of works with it too.
If I decide to refinish it again I would go with red. I already have a KH26 and a KH29 in original blue and I think two is enough. I have also contemplated anodising the frame. But then if it had a nice finish I would have to worry about scratches.
'03 KH unis where orange. '04 are black, then they became blue. (I think Norco KH unis where before and where black?)
So far, all my aluminum 20" frames have ended up raw. Paint just doesn’t last if you ride flatland…
That’s what I call it. Mostly because it’s almost exactly the same shade of Blue that Tom Miller (The Unicycle Factory) painted nearly everything he made. I remember asking him why, once upon a time, but I can’t remember the exact answer. I think it was because it was a color that most people tended to like, and also either that it was the cheapest non-offensive color available, and he bought a whole bunch of it at a discount!
Raw aluminum isn’t a color. That’s the equivalent of “clear”. 
Interesting. I think he learned to ride when he was 12, which would be around 1986. Not sure what was available in Canada at the time, but I feel fairly confident in saying that any blue unicycles at that time were probably crap. Not like Troxel tricycle crap; just like basic Taiwan cheapie crap. Which I guess would be about 100 times better than the Troxel I started on.
My Troxel was red. I like red unicycles. I am POSITIVE the one has nothing to do with the other. 
Not sure if I remember right, but I think the orange ones were knock-offs? Not copies, but un-authorized additional production from the factory that made them for Kris. Those were followed by the black; one of which Tom Holub was riding on our Muni outing in Fairfield yesterday. Black is too generic; blue definitely says KH (unless the tubing is square, in which case it says TUF (or Crandall).
At our ride yesterday, where we had 12 unicyclists at Rockville Hills Park, at one point I was looking for my uni and couldn’t tell which one was mine because it’s nearly stock KH. I want to get it power coated to metallic red or something…
There where summit orange unis too using a ‘copied/similar’ design (I have no idea of the history there) but afaik there where orange KH03s my guess is the orange went with the Norco partnership, since KH had a partnership with them until 2006? I’ve at least seen the black ones as KH04s for sure, never seen an orange one in person.
Will my QX frame lose value if I remove the white stickers?
Only if you plan to not ride it much; to keep it in pristine condition. For painted frames, this is pretty hard, unless you only ride casually, not learning tricks, jumps, drops, etc.
Contrary to what you may see on eBay, Craigslist or similar, few unicycles have any value as collectibles. But this one does. In that case, it’s one of a very limited number that were made, by hand, by Bernie Crandall, who created the Pontiac Unicycle Club. He was one of the founding members of the Unicycling Society of America, and his club was one of the two major ones that hosted the first five National Unicycle Meets, 1973-76. I’m tempted…
The second hand unicycle market is so small that it is very hard to assign a second hand value to anything…you can be happy if you are able to find a buyer at all sometimes. I wouldn’t personally mind as a buyer if stickers are removed.
You know, they’re under the clearcoat?
Useful info.
Not interested in touching up my frames but I was looking to colour match some stuff some time ago.
Good to know. My KH trials frame would look better with some touching up.