That was really fast and smooth. It must be those tiny cranks, because the first time I watched it I thought you had a freewheel.
haha i know. It’s actually not me, it’s Louis Stevens. he did it without a brake too 
Omg I couldn’t imagine cranks that short!
I use a 24" with 110mm cranks and a 3" tyre for muni. I keep up with people on 27.5"s fine and have got through to the elite downhill finals at UNICON with this setup. I actually got better at climbing when I changed to 110mm cranks too.
You can’t beat the 24" for manouverability but I have been thinking about getting a 27.5" with 125s so I can ride easy trails at the same speed with a slower cadence. The tyre choice is also really limited on 24", although luckily my favourite (Duro Wildlife) seems to be one of the only tyres still easily available.
6 Likes
I think these factors were driving the change:
-
Lack of availability of 24" Muni tires. The Gazz and the Duro were the two main tires at the time, and they stopped the production of the Gazz a long time ago. Not sure of the current availability of tires now. This was driven mainly by the Downhill Bicycle tire market, as they had moved away from 24".
-
Kris Holm. He had moved away from 24" Muni, and a lot of people followed him.
-
A sense that 24" wheels were too slow.
1 Like
Honestly, I’m kinda hoping that people will do gravel-unicycles. I think for the type of riding a lot of people do, a thinner tire that can handle both mild offroad but is still good on the road, some on unicycle storage bags and a good tourable bar setup would be very neat.
3 Likes
Such a thing already exists - it’s called a 36er 
3 Likes
Speaking of gravel, is there any reason to worry/care about gravel staying lodged in my 32" Nimbus nightrider tire? I had it on pavement since and heard them clicking but was able to ignore it soon enough. I don’t recall ever having a tire with this kind of tread pattern; it seems it’s on the hungry side and also maybe able to retain stuff somewhat indefinitely…
.
Nah, it doesn’t matter. That tyre just likes picking up fine gravel.
1 Like
OK, cool, I figured it was inconsequential, but had this niggling thought to ask. Thanks.
My own experience with it has been pretty good. It’s really very well suited to both road riding and for what a 36er is capable of on the trail. Sure, a more aggressive tread pattern would give it slightly better traction in wet grass and mud, but its really not much of a limitation as the bigger limiting factor offroad is the height and weight of that big wheel.
On a 32er maybe things are a bit different, but isn’t the Nightrider the only game in town in that size?
New to unicycling here, and I like the idea of gravel unicycling. When I tell people about my gravel adventures, I try not to use “muni”, since, if you do a casual search on google/youtube, it’s the Kris Holm kind of Muni, which I think I’ll never do. Perhaps things will change as I get better at unicycling, but I what I do like is being out in nature, not on asphalt, and tackling the occasional root --basically the greenest of green mtb trails.
1 Like
In a nutshell, I think the main driver for larger wheels is to go faster. But what about the technical, you say? These people are really good at it, and still enjoy those larger sizes on the technical stuff as well. Not so much 29" or larger though.
Personally, I missed the boat on 27.5", ordering a 26" in 2016, right when everyone was starting to flock to 27.5. Kris Holm had a great 26" with Schlumpf when he came to my local Muni Weekend, and I remember watching him and Corbin Dunn speed off into the distance in high gear while I had to stop to answer my phone (the work of a ride host). 
So I have a 26" now, which is great. Before that, I had a 24", no-brakes Wilder. It was built to fit the 3" Gazzalodi tire, which was THE tire for Muni back when the Wilders were being made. but they were heavy. Today’s larger wheels also can use tires that are much lighter than the 24" tires from years ago, so they perform better as well.
In answer to Duff’s final question, about the Schwinns and Torkers, nope, nothing to do with that. In fact, my first purpose-built Muni was a 26" wheel shoehorned into a Schwinn frame. That didn’t work so well; the tire only rubbed when you pedaled hard. So if you rode on level ground it was fine… but what’s the point of that?
1 Like
Yes, “what was the point of that”, I highly agree!
Dawson
I love the nightrider tire so far. It came on my 32in Nimbus, was hoping to be able to do light trails/dirt roads on it as well as pavement and so far so good. I am new to unicycles per last November, got the 32in in March and my impression of the nightrider tire is very positive. Stable on gravel, smooth on pavement. Have done asphalt bike trails, and then gravel rail trails on it recently, and hitting my first state forest road with moderate hills this Saturday, can’t wait. Just was ruling out that the stuck pebbles are not a big deal, lol.
I ended up turning my 29er into something like this. It has a light, quick tire with small tread that I pump up to fairly high pressure. I ride it on a mix of roads and easy trails, and it feels really quick and agile.
I also have a 27.5 with a 3.25" tire that I run at lower pressure for more technical muni. Both unis are really good at what they’re designed to do, but the riding experience is very different. I like the contrast. I used to have them both setup with similar medium duty muni tires, and they felt almost the same. I was starting to wonder why I even have 2 unicycles…
1 Like
got a good 29" tire suggestion for what you described? (I’m well aware there’s a separate, huge 29er tire thread.)
I’m running a Maxxis Ikon 29x2.2. It’s a decent unicycle tire – pretty light, has low rolling resistance, and it grips well enough. The only downside for me is that it is slightly affected by road camber. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. If I keep the pressure above 30 psi, then it’s fine.
The Maxxis Pace might be good too. I haven’t tried it though. If you’re feeling adventurous, you could be the first one to try it and let us know what you think 
I’m using UDC’s stock Duro Crux 29x3.25, which has great reviews here. But I can’t help but think it’s overkill for gravel (instead of hardcore muni).