Look, I don’t ride a unicycle for speed. As has been said before, I would ride a bike or drive a car if I cared that much about going a bit faster.
I do care about comfort and fun on a unicycle. For me the 36 is more comfortable and fun on rides more than a mile or so than any other size (on the road that is).
I don’t have a bike computer on my 36, my bike or any other unis. I’d rather concentrate on the road, the scenery, the people, and the fun. I am not training for anything. Some people like to know how fast they are going and care. That’s great for them. But it’s not me. I’m not training for anything, and I just don’t care how fast I am going.
I’m sure I go a bit faster on my 36 than I would on a 29, but what, it’s like a few MPH difference? How does that really affect me? Especially when commuting. The red-lights even it all out quite a bit. I actually don’t get anywhere that much quicker on my bike because both my bike and my uni go exactly 0 MPH at the numerous lights I encounter during my commute. On a 14 mile commute round trip I save about 20 mins on my bike. That’s not much considering I can go a lot faster on my bike with a lot much less effort than the 36.
Is my bike more comfortable? Yes of course. I can coast. I don’t have to think about balance. Is the uni more fun? It depends on my mood. If I want to get to work without much thought, if I don’t want the attention, if I’m tired, if I care about saving an extra 20 mins both ways then I take my bike. If I feel like being macho on my 36 then I take that.
What’s short on a 36? Again that’s perspective. People commonly ride on 110s. I might try that some time, but I doubt I’d like it much. The 127s seen perfect for me given the several steep hills I encounter on my commute. With practice you can get up almost any hill on a 36 with 127s as long as the hill is relatively short. There’s momentum with that big wheel.
I saw in a bike forum the other day, a comment that was something like “pick something, and just ride the crap out of it”. I think that’s good advice. I am usually changing up things anyway. But you don’t know enough to change up things until you get used to a given configuration, which takes some time.
My advice is don’t worry about speed, think about comfort and fun. But also experiment. Life is short. Get a uni in every size. If your wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/husband bothers you about the space, tell them it’s a better hobby than cheating.