After seeing all these posts about the new nimbus, and soiling many pairs of pants, I have decided to cough up the cash and get myself one. I have many questions before I buy: 1. What is the difference between a 36er and a coker? 2. What would you recommend for a saddle? 3. What crank length should I get, and what in your opinion are the best cranks for this type of riding? This shows me the beast, and gives me a list of what I can get: 4. What is the difference between 12 and 14 gauge spokes, and which ones would you recommend? 5. Is the AT7 Touring Handle nice, and is it worth it? 5. The Kris Holm geared hub might be coming out soon, would it be impossibly difficult to switch the hub? 6. What is so special about this airfoil rim?
Thanks to all who answer my bombardment of questions! Hehehe
1. What is the difference between a 36er and a coker?
Coker is a brand name, both are 36ers. 2. What would you recommend for a saddle?
UDC Gel. 3. What crank length should I get, and what in your opinion are the best cranks for this type of riding?
140 or shorter 127 are faster but harder to learn on 4. What is the difference between 12 and 14 gauge spokes, and which ones would you recommend?
weight vs strength ratio. depends what your doing on ur uni. 5. Is the AT7 Touring Handle nice, and is it worth it?
Only if you like touring handles. Some people like them some dont. For short commutes you probably wont need it. 5. The Kris Holm geared hub might be coming out soon, would it be impossibly difficult to switch the hub?
Not sure. 6. What is so special about this airfoil rim?
Much stronger, much lighter. Thus better handling and better for bumps.
Well I’m going to be riding it around. No six foot drops and crankflips on this. What would be lighter and better suited for a commuting uni?
Thanks Muzzle!
As muzzle noted, both are 36" touring unicycles. The Nimbus from UDC is superior to a stock Coker from almost any angle of comparison. The combination of the Airfoil rim, 14 spokes, and well-designed frame are the Big 3 differentiators. On the negative side, the current Airfoil rims are reputed to only fit the TA tires, rather than working on both the TA and the Coker tires like earlier Airfoil rims. That’s a downer, as the Coker tire is nicer for offroad applications.
I agree, get the UDC gel saddle. If you get serious later, you can think about tricking it out. Likewise, the 150 cranks will be much easier to learn on, and much more flexible if you have any regular hills in your riding universe. Once you’re more proficient, you may want shorter cranks, but the 150 is a pretty versatile length. Learn to spin on those, and you’ll be flying when you start going shorter.
If you’re unsure about the touring handle, at least spend the extra and get the rail adapter seatpost setup. Being able to adjust the angle of your seat can make a big impact on increasing comfort on long trips. Plus that way, you can always add the T7 later.
I recently bought a Nimbus 36 for my 13 year old son, and have been very impressed with the quality. I added on a T7 handle later, and the workmanship and design is quite nice. Overall with all the adders, it’s a factory setup in the $700-$800 range that you previously had to go fully custom to get, at a pricetag of $1000+++.
I just did the SINZ tour on a KH Fusion Freeride saddle and had no problems at all in nearly 1000km. This saddle is the best of the KH saddle variants for long distance riding, in my opinion. A rail adapter and KH rail post will greatly enhance your saddle comfort on rides longer than a few km.
As for handles the T7 is a good choice as is the GB4 handle (though this works best with a carbon fibre seat base). I use a Scott Wallis Deathgrip handle, which is very light and strong and can be used with one or two hands.
14g spokes are lighter and stronger than 12g.
BTW you cannot be a ‘Cokeur owner’ unless you own slaves who ride unicycles. ‘Cokeur’ refers to someone who rides a Coker/36er.
The KH geared hub will most likely NOT work with the nibmus 36 frame. That frame is compatible with only wide hubs, and as far as I know, the KH geared hub is not going to be wide, just normal width(whatever that is) to fit in his KH frame. If you really really really really wanted it, you would have to 1) deal with having a much weaker wheel which is not good and 2) buy the KH 36 frame that costs $590 USD
You don’t have to to need a strong wheel, I have the 12g steel spokes and steel rim on my nimbus 36. I can quite easily get the rim to bend so that it rubs on my brakes while riding on flat ground, just by riding hard, whihc is extremley annoying. The stainless spokes are lighter, stronger, stiffer and cheaper, there’s no downside.
I have the T7 handle and i love it, got my brakes computer and bell on there, I can’t ride coker without one anymore.
Sometimes if i want to confuse people when i’m riding my coker. I hold an actual steering wheel in front of me and make beeping noises as i pass-by. It’s hialrious to know that people like me will try new and weird things. :D. Also when i’m turning, i also turn the steering wheel to match my movements (Left to go left, right to go right) and so forth.
So are the new Airfoil rims just as good as the old ones in all respects except for the Coker tire thing? I have to wonder if it even holds the TA tire as well as it should. I was going to wait for the next batch of Airfoils to come out before upgrading my steel rim, but I think I can live without a Coker tire if that’s the only problem.
The current batch of airfoil rims–or at least the one that came with my son’s Nimbus 36–appears to hold the TA tire quite well. According to the discussion I had with Amy Drummond at UDC, it is not at all clear there will ever be a “next batch” of airfoil rims. UDC stays pretty tight lipped about who the supplier of the airfoil rims is, but she clearly lacked the confidence (in either herself or in the airfoil supplier) to assert her rights as Buyer and reject the current batch as defective, which it clearly is. The impression I got was that she fears the supplier won’t make another batch, and they really wanted to get the Nimbus to market with the wonderful TA tire.
In the long history of UDC mistakes at the expense of their customers, I believe this one is their biggest. If you’re the buyer and someone tries to sell you a load of crap that doesn’t meet spec, you should shove it back at them and make them do it again.
To answer some of the original questions, the t7 handle, I don’t have one on my uni, but I’ve ridden on it, and it’s the first handle like that I’ve actually found comfortable. I really didn’t like the old GB handles that Roger from unicycle.com had on his coker before, whereas the new one puts you in a nicer position. I would get it, because it matches the pimpy frame, so why not.
Don’t get an air saddle, air saddles ming, they’re a common beginner distance rider mistake, they feel more comfy when you don’t ride distance, but are rubbish once you’re actually into it.
I think all learners should get 150mm cranks. It’ll be a beast to ride until you get used to it. When you want to change, a new set of cranks is cheap.
It’s a steel frame, so you should just be able to bend it in to work with the narrower geared hub when it comes out. I’m sure Roger from unicycle.com told me it works fine with the normal unicycle.com hub as well as the cowboy style super-wide one. The current KH splined hub should work in the nimbus 36 too (though it’d be pointless overkill).
There’s some chance you might need to grind down one edge of the bearing holders with the new geared hub though, so there’s no guarantee everything will fit together.
Having said that, if the new geared hub is going to cost anything like the $1600 that the current less good geared hub costs, the cost of a frame to fit it will be a drop in the ocean, so I wouldn’t worry too much.
I hate the normal cotterless cranks that cost 10 bucks and bend very easily. I would rather have something a little heavier and better quality.
What cranks should I get?
Would they fit the udc wide hub that is on the nimbus?
I was also wondering if you could have say three sets of cranks that are different lengths and change them for varying terrain. Would it take long and/or cause damage to the parts?
I have bicycle euro cranks. They’re strong enough for cokering. Some people I know ride with some aluminium ones from unicycle.com, which make your uni noticeably lighter, I’m not sure what they are.
What I did with the crank lengths was get used to riding 150s on most terrain, then switch to 110s, and get used to riding those. Nowadays I just stick with 110s for everything (on road only, I don’t bother riding my coker off road any more).
:D. Also when i’m turning, i also turn the steering wheel to match my movements (Left to go left, right to go right) and so forth.