I tried to ride at a high pressure. Unicycle is riding and controlling well on the road. But the main advantage of fatuni for which it was created - LOW pressure - is lost in this case. Tire bounces off obstacles like popcorn on heating and very susceptible to puncture!
Tire goes well on dry coating. Snow and mud - no comment!
Finally got my 24" fat freewheel back from the bike shop. The brake is a little too grippy so I need to make some adjustments. I also need to experiment with tire pressure.
Yep. There is some contact…but no big deal.
While sitting its no problem at all cause the knees are moving in front of the frame.
Riding in standing position bowlegs are usefull
But its never realy a problem.
I did all summer break. It’s incredible! You have to find the perfect tire pressure, and it can be a prolonged trial and error process, but once that ideal pressure is found, the tire really feels like it’s “floating” over everything. I took it on local beaches and unicycled on hard/wet sand (bordering the ocean water) and soft, deep sand (where the water doesn’t reach all year). The hard/wet sand was certainly easier (unless the water erosion caused camber) but the soft, deep sand was the most fun, especially down dunes. And you can hop around stuff without worrying about getting hurt! I really enjoy beach riding. It allows me to have places to ride my fat unicycle all year round. Other than finding the correct tire pressure and having to thoroughly clean off the sand and salt water from my bearings, pedals, etc., the only other difficulty I found was that it requires a lot more energy to keep pedaling than it would on a hard-pack trail or muni terrain. I didn’t realize why I was so out of breath and tired after every beach ride until I took the unicycle back out on redwood trails and was able to ride for a lot more time and at greater distances. It takes a lot out of you, but it’s worth it, IMO. If you’re interested, here’s a video I posted a few weeks ago of my most recent beach riding: California Soul: Fat Tire Unicycling on Vimeo And Terry Peterson posted a video of his beach-riding adventures on his Nimbus Oregon.
The place is called Turning Mill (in Burlington, MA) and you can find the map of the trails on the NEMBA site I think. I attached a screenshot of the map. The red arrow marks the parking lot.
We can go and ride together if you want a guide (even though I don’t know every corner yet).
I haven’t been too interested in a fat uni until I read some of the reviews of the Oregon. Then I saw this, and while the sharp bits sticking out of the crown are a bit disconcerting, it still intrigues me. What is pushing me more toward a fatty is a post by Nurse Ben talking about a Nate on a 50mm rim.
So, here’s my question: Would a round crown Nimbus 29 frame have enough clearance over the top for a Nate 26x3.8? What I’m imagining is cutting the crown and splicing in a couple of tubes like on this track monster. Then a little cold working to get the bearing holders back in the right spot, and I should be golden.
As it happens I have a 26" MUni wheel with a TryAll 50mm rim already, so I would only have to shoe it with the right rubber to get it all together.
Let me know what you think. Is this a crazy plan or does it seem workable? I like the idea of the round crown on a frame like this, and I would probably have the legs hug the tire a little closer.
I’ve been riding my stock Nimbus Oregon with 26x3.8 Surly Nate on 65mm Surly Marge Lite rims now since April and absolutely love this unicycle setup. For me it perfectly matches the type of terrain and type of riding I typically do. The monster tire at properly dialed in pressure just rolls over everything. It is a beast though and only now do I think I’ve nearly dialed in exactly “how to ride it”. I don’t ride very frequently as I’m mainly a runner but in the Fall into Winter I take a break from running to ride. Thus the long adaptation time; in reality ~ 100 miles of proper MUni trail riding. So, yes, there is a learning curve but it can be overcome. I’m now comfortably riding all the same terrain I once struggled with on my KH24, and more!
I’m now tempted to experiment with ways to help lighten the weight of green machine. I’ve successfully gone tubeless on my Surly Pugsley fat-bike which has the same rim/tire combo so perhaps I’ll give that a try soon?
All in all, I think the Nimbus Oregon frame is extremely versatile which is what convinced me to finally part with my KH-Schlumpf MUni hub and purchase the Oregon. With this one frame I can ride the setup I have now and in the future I can run even wider or taller (or both) tires. Plus I didn’t know what I was missing not having a disk brake. Wow it’s so much better than the often “janky” hydro-rim brake I have on my KH24.