I can only afford one muni to use on the road and off. I am seeking all the advice I can. Steel or Aluminum preference? Thank you for your vote.
- Steel
- Aluminum
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Voted for aluminum, but I don’t think it matters. The aluminum uni will be a bit more expensive, so if you’re trying to spend the least amount then I would go steel.
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Voted for steel, saves some money and other than being slightly heavier it doesn’t matter. You can always upgrade the frame later if you come upon some money and feel like making your unicycle a bit nicer at some point in the future.
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I also voute for Steel. It’s heavy but it’s good. I think i go from aluminium Back to a Steel frame for m’y 24" Muni. With thé Aluminium Frame IT hast a Wright from 7,2 kg.
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I was in the same boat. My thought process was if I can only get one, I better get the one I really want-- not one I will want to upgrade from later.
At UDC USA, the steel nimbus 27.5 is 17lbs, and $490, but has no brake or brake mount under the saddle.
The aluminium Nimbus Oracle 27.5 is 13.9 lbs with the hydraulic disc brake included for $685.
I figured if I got the steel one and add a brake, rotor, mount, that eats up a lot of the ~$200 price difference and you did more work to get there, and are stuck with a heavier uni in the end. I also thought The Oracle was a lot nicer looking.
So, I just got the Aluminium Oracle and called it a day!
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That seems too heavy, I could be wrong, but I don’t think that number is right.
You will enjoy the oracle, it’s great!
I just went by face value here:
Hopefully its right
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There was a whole thread this summer about UDC weights being possibly a bit off at times. I would copy the link here to the thread but I am on mobile. My personal takeaway was to take those numbers with a grain of salt.
Edit, here it is:
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I did exactly that and went with the steel frame, only to spend way more a few months later to put a brake on, etc.
The jump to the Oracle is the easy choice if you can afford it.
Yup… buy the best you can afford and hopefully that’s good enough for you.
I can afford aluminum.
I get asked this reasonably frequently, and especially if someone’s looking to go 27.5" I tend to point them at the Nimbus 27.5" MUni (steel), as compared to the Oracle it’s much better value.
There’s really nothing wrong with the steel frame, and if someone’s asking the question they’re normally asking if they’re going to miss out by spending less money.
In my personal opinion in this specific case, they’re not.
If you can afford fancier unicycles then there’s nothing wrong with buying them, but if you’re counting the pennies and haven’t got to a point in your riding where you know exactly what you’re looking for, go for the steel (27.5").
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But if you get the nimbus w/ brake, they are only 15 bucks apart, so … 
180 to add a brake seems excessive to me. But I’m a cheapskate, I guess they have a business to run.
After many years with different aluminum frames, I’ve only been riding with steel frames for the last 2 years. For me the most suitable material, especially CrMo. All the aluminum frames flexed too much for me, I had forks from 3 brands and with all 3 I had the problem that the tires tended to scrape the fork when I, for example. drove uphill. A steel frame is about 400g heavier, I accept that. Steel is a good material and in terms of riding comfort, steel is better if you believe various reports (related to bicycle frames). Aluminum is lighter and should be stiffer, but I can’t confirm that with the forks I’ve used. You can also build lightweight unicycles with steel frames. What good is an aluminum frame if you mount a 1600g Duro tire with a 500g downhill tube? Seen it many times.
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Was stunned by that price, then I looked at UDC US and you are right. Totally excessive pricing there, for that price you should almost be able to get into one of the cheaper 4 piston brakes (like a slate t4), not the commuter bike spec Shimano 2 piston they have…(I actually checked this on a US online MTB store, but also, damn, bike parts seem fairly expensive in the US…)
My understanding is that the unicycle stores don’t get a good deal on brakes from Shimano, but all the other UDC versions seem to have much more reasonable prices.
Big fan of steel (both my bikes are), but believe those reports wouldn’t stand in a blind test. Everyone thinks they are a wine connoisseur but most can’t tell a white wine from a red wine in blind test, same with bikes. Material is just a minor variable in ride feel.
I wish someone made high end unicycle frames from steel, but unfortunately there is none on the market - maybe the closest we ever got were the old Koxx-one devil frames, although they were a bit too thin and dented easily. I think the current steel frames are perfectly fine, but they are all positioned in the entry level.
crmo is the perfect material for this. I had my Fatty frames made with CrMo and will probably continue to have the standard frames made that way in the future. With CrMo, the wall thicknesses are thinner and the frame is lighter.
Every hard muni rider should test once a tire insert + sealant matched with a sub kilogram muni tire. They could shave 600gr from their wheel and say that is the best muni wheel ever built! I usually prefer to shave other 120gr removing the insert, but I ride CX and not muni at all
Who’s that jaco_flans you talk about? 
Good news, I made like 3, and they were awesome, and I’d like to make more in my new shop that is almost ready 
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You can do a brake much cheaper by sourcing your parts. I put a used Shimano caliper, lever and line on savaged off of a mountain bike , I bought this on eBay and the disc I bought on Amazon, all in around $75. I put this on my nimbus 29 road that I also just happened to buy 2nd hand and it works great.
I bought a 24 oracle complete with a brake off of trading post at a very good price. I do love this uni. I would love to try a 29or 32 oracle.and would love to find a second hand 32 oracle for sale.
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Aluminum, no doubt about it.
Unless it’s a first 20" to learn on always go with aluminum… unless someone make a full carbon unicycle frame.