I’m planning to learn unicycling with a view to Mountain Unicycling (I live in the Lake District), I’ve saved up around 200 pounds and am planning to buy a unicycle. My question is, should I buy a Nimbus Muni and learn to Uni on that, or should I get a learner pack from unicycle.com and save up later for a Muni?
Many Thanks,
Bingo Jesus
(also, what size of unicyle should I get to learn on?)
Many thanks again
you should get the stongest uni you can afford (like theYuni)
if you have your eyes on the trails even before you have learned, there is nothing stopping you from getting there…actually learning to ride is the trickiest part…trails are just a little harder to get used to.
If you buy a shitty ‘learner’ uni, you will be cursing it when you are ordering your next one (the one you should get now)
if you end up not liking it, it’ll be easier to sell for actual money
edit: if you want to buy a cheapo now to learn on, buy your ‘expensive muni’ before you break it, as it would make a great spare (and spares are always great to let your friends try out, because riding alone is a lot less fun)
Thanks a lot, hopefullty I’ll be able to get an order in this week.
Is that The Lake District as in Swallows and Amazons, the Bluebird, Jennings Bitter, and the smell of burning clutches drifting over the Roman fort at the top of the pass? or some other Lake District? If the former, buy a 12 inch wheel with 7 inch cranks.
Joking apart, the basic advice is:
Buy a good mid range uni you can upgrade, adapt, fettle and wreck. Then buy the one that reallysuits you.
buy a cheap one. replace everything
buy a decent one. replace things as they break
buy a really expensive one. replace things as they wear (like the tire, etc…)
Get the Nimbus. It’s plenty strong and a decent price.
http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=470
Before you know it you’ll have four or five unicycles, so why by a poor quality one to start with?
I have been riding for just less than a year, now level 4 and have 4 unicycle.
JJ
p.s. The most important thing is the seat.
Which one is in Derbyshire? Peak or Lake? The other one’s Cumbria right?
If you intend to only do muni get a muni, there’s no point in learning on something you’re not going to ride.
But munis aren’t the best for indoor or freestyle, so if you intend to do any of that consider getting a reasonable starter uni. Though I think as has been mentioned above, one is never enough!!!
I personally went for an OK unicycle and upgraded parts as I went along. Then repeated several times! That’s the great thing with unicycles, a little purchase can make a big difference and it’s very easy to do.
There’s more than one style of off-road riding, some people like to go really big on things drops etc, some plough uphill, some bomb down, log rides and general XC. These are by no means all the types of thing people look for on muni rides, nor are they mutually exclusive. A good 24x3 muni with a cotterless hub/crank set will last you a long time on XC and most trails. For big drops and severe changes in gradient etc a splined set up is the way to go, as people have snapped axles by hammering up things.
Cotterless are generally lighter and lighter generally means more manouverable. Though this doesn’t stop some people. You also get more choice in crank length, but they aren’t as strong as the cranks of splined set ups.
If you think you’ll break the uniycle, then just go straight for a nice splined hub muni, possibly the KH, Onza or Qu-Ax. Please don’t ask if the Onza or KH is better!!! There’s been dozens of threads on this already!
Good luck!
I’ve been riding a mere 2 months. I got a reasonably good skinny 20" which was great to learn on. a week ago I got an Onza 24". great fun but I find it easier (so far anyway) to hone my skills & try new things on the 20 which is more nimble, and then transfer them to the Onza.
But if you’re going for just one, go straight to the Muni. the reason I got the Onza is because the 20 was no use at all for the most basic of trails. and i’ll bet you’ll be on then as soon as you can ride 50 metres!
Re: Learning to Uni (Aiming for Muni)
If you’re in the lake district, make sure to get in touch with Cumbria Muni and Trials, who ride round there a lot.
Their email addresses are on this page
http://cumbria_muni.trials_club.unicyclist.com/
or you could message Aaron from them on here who has the user name pluto.
If you want an in-between option, buy a nimbus Muni with a 24" wheel and then buy a cheap 24" slick tyre to use for the learning process. You can put that on until you’ve got the hang of riding on smooth concrete and then put on a proper tyre and start some proper riding. It’d only add a tenner to the price and you’d end up with a good mid-range muni and a good learner unicycle in one.
Joe
Definitely go for the Muni to learn on!
I was in your exact same shoes as few weeks back–I wanted to learn the Unicycle, and I was deeply into the idea of getting a Muni because they seemed to be highly versatile, and really strong. I knew I would be falling a lot, so a good strong Muni seemed to be the way to go. I figured, why get a cheaper uni to learn on, when it stood a better chance of breaking due to the abuse I would give it as a learner.
I opted for the Nimbus 26 inch (with that monster 3 inch wide tire) and sure, it is not easy, I’m still getting the hang of it, but when that baby takes me along those highly satisfying fifty-foot excursions into the abyss, it is well worth it.
Another advantage of a Muni is that even when learning, you can opt for non-pavement surfaces. I progressed tremendously by riding from tree to tree in a gravely-dirt park when the local parking lot was too full of moving cars. Also, concrete pavement can intimidate the learning unicyclist, and a Muni allows you to ride on softer surfaces like packed dirt or grass where the idea of falling seems a lot less dangerous.
There is also another reason I decided on a Muni as a first Uni, and it’s both important, and pretty damned silly. I just think Munis look really really cool. I mean, if I’m going to be out and about in public doing something as absurd as balancing myself over a single-wheel, I might as well do it with a bit of style, eh? A scratched-up Muni with a fat knobbly tire has that and a lot more…
Munis are totally punk rock. Munis are also quite heavy metal. They really rock, even if you stink at unicycling as I admit I currently do. As bad as I am, I just can’t wait to get back on the damned thing, and I think this has a lot to do with my uni being a muni.
Plus, you get less “clown” comments with a mean-looking kick-ass Muni. At least I think you do…
Good luck!
steve
the only advantage to the Yuni MUni is its’ upgradeability. IF YOU BUY ONE AND MUni ON IT, IT WILL BREAK. I broke 5 sets of cranks before getting my profile wheelset. 5!!! my advice: get a cheap 20" torker, and then get a KH later if you want to keep unicycling, or get a kh or other splined MUni right away. and the hub/cranks is the most important thing, seat is 2nd most.
If you ride muni well on the Nimbus muni, it should last quite a long time.
If you ride trials and do massive drops, or do loads of drops on muni rides and land them really badly, it will break.
Joe
i say get the MUni but before you do make sure you really want to MUni. no good buying a 800 odd dollar muni an going out once or twice then deciding you dont like it. you could sell it but unless its band new not opened/used you might not be able to get your money back.
800 dollars on a MUni?
I only spent 179 on my Nimbus.
OK, it’s not the same as an 800 dollar MUni, but for a beginner to learn on, and to check out MUniing, its perfect–and not at all expensive
Re: Re: Learning to Uni (Aiming for Muni)
Definitely the way to go.
Right as soon as my money comes in I’m going to by the 24" Nimbus Muni and a Tyre. Thanks a lot, I’ll probably come back in a week or two with more questions.
Thanks again, see you soon 
Bingo Jesus