I’ve seen this in several threads recently, and it bugs me.
“Newbie: What unicycle is best for me?”
is NOT the same as:
“What is your favorite unicycle?”
Please, if you’re going to recommend unicycles to newbies, take into consideration what kind of riding they want to do. There is no one unicycle that fits all. Just because MUni is the greatest (and it is ) doesn’t mean that every potential unicyclist should buy a $500 MUni. In fact, even if a newbie might want to do MUni, a simple freestyle unicycle may be more suitable for learning basic skills.
a person should buy a unicycle they want to ride when they have learned.
a muni is a good choice as it can do anything, and is the most fun until you want to get a style-specific unicycle…nothing but a muni is as good of an all-arounder.
i recommend a $500 MUni to everyone who asks me what they should get, because most of the time when they buy something less they are unhappy when they have to upgrade.
They certainly don’t have to buy what I recommend them, but when they are unhappy, it’s their fault
MUni is where it’s at, and I’ll recommend a MUni to anyone who asks
Do not question my expertise at lameness ! LOL:) I started I guess maybe almost 4 months ago. I started on a craptastic 20 with a Romanian seat that had a Bulgarian seat post of unobtainable size. I ordered a KH 24 straight away, and have worn out one tire. I love it. The standard recommendation to get a 20 is poor IMHO. I have a new KH 20, and I only ride it watching TV, learning to idle and hop. I am sure it is great for trials, but what do I ride in the meantime ?
Getting a muni makes sense because it was easy to learn to ride off road for me, and I assume , anyone. Why get a cheap 20, then a skinny 24, then finally a 24 muni ? Save your money, just get a KH24 first and you will have more fun and save $. I have also taught a friend to ride it in 2 days. It’s fine for a beginner unless cash is to short.
I agree with some of what Brian said, in terms of buying for the type of riding you think you’ll be doing, and buying the good stuff rather than going cheap. Beyond that though, we’re not all trail-riders. If you want to ride around in a gym a MUni is one of the worst things you can use. If you want to do tricks at all, you need a smoother tire, so the real answer of what to buy should always be a function of what kind of riding the person plans to do the most.
If it’s a combination of things it gets a little messier, but when in doubt there are two ways to go with that as well:
Which type of riding will you do the most (or matters most to you)?
Which type of riding is more destructive to the unicycle?
For the person who wants to do Freestyle and Trials, the obvious answer is to get a Trials. Start with a Freestyle uni and you’ll probably break it after a while. Start with a Trials and you can get a Freestyle later without breaking either of them.
Everybody does not need a MUni. A 24" Miyata can do great on trails as well as in the gym, but a dedicated MUni might not even be allowed in the gym in the first place (marking tire).
I started with a crappy torker, learned how to ride. Started reading this group here and decided I wanted to do trials, so I bought a nice trials uni… Ooops! Turns out what I really wanted to do was ride bigger wheels. I bought a 29er and have been having a blast cruising around on it. I thought it would also work on some of the trails around here but they are too steep (for the 29 er and me) so I just got my 24 Muni today I’ve just been riding it around in my backyard and it’s alot of fun (especially since I’m so used to the 29er, can’t wait to get it out on the trails. I think I may sometime be interested in a coker as well, but for now I’m set. The bottom line is you really don’t know what you want until you get it.
I regret buying the trials, but I would always have that question in the back of my mind if I didn’t get it. You see all the sweet videos out there and you think you want to do that. Maybe if I was 15 years younger I would get into trials, but I don’t think my body will take it now. Maybe if I got the 24 Muni first I would have known if I wanted something smaller. I’m keeping it though, in hopes that my son will want to learn in a few years.
Yes there is. 24" Schlumpf. With 2 or 3 different tyres to hand I can’t think of much that it can’t do. Apart from trials. But you only have to wait for the KH version for that.
He said he was a juggler who wanted to learn to uni in order to perform. He wants to be a street performer. I suggested he learn to ride on a 24 muni then buy a giraffe and juggle torches on it. This would be the easiest way to be a performing-juggler- uni rider. It takes more then 10 times as much practice to learn a crowd pleaser on a short wheel then the old standby of torches on a giraffe. When I performed at a street festival in Halifax, years ago, I was the only juggler, out of about a dozen, that didn’t uni. All the rest had giraffes. Street performers need to learn to bullshit, juggle, and uni, in that order. In fact pure bullshit is best of all. Riding a small wheel well enough to entertain a crowd is hard. Bullshit on a giraffe is more impressive to a crowd then much harder tricks done on a shorter wheel. But I couldn’t recommend a giraffe to learn on. He didn’t ask for a "performance "uni !
I generally recomend a 24", prefferably the Nimbus II.
It’s not too expensive
You can get a non-marking tire for indoor freestyle.
…or a 3" nobby for Muni
Cranks are inexpensive, so you can get a full assortment to discover which you like best. And they are lighter than splined.
It can be upgraded to a splinned hub later on if needed
I most highly recomend the Nimbus Muni 24 if they already think they will ride some dirt trails. That way an upgrade to a splinned hub has more options.
Usually I try to inquire as to what they want to do, how far they live from school/work, how much money they are willing to spend, and how certain this is something they are going to do.
If they primarily want to do freestyle, but occasionally ride up to 5 miles, I recommend a 20” freestyle.
If they have no idea what they want to do and want to commit the least money possible, but want something of half decent quality, I recommend the 24” LX, but caution them of it’s weaknesses.
Anything else and I do as I stated in the above post.
I tell them to not worry about it too much, since if they really get into this sport they will likely get several unis. And since uni’s don’t cost that much, in comparison to b*kes, verry doable.
quote=thejdw](attributed to a random female)Hey, I need a uni that will fit in my handbag, that will also be good for a 20km race I’m doing later this year.
[/quote]
My response:
Paris! Glad to see you’re out of jail! So do you really want to unicycle 20km and kick your dog out of your handbag?
How is the 24" MUni going to help him in any way as a performer? Why not go straight to the giraffe? He should get a 20" if he wants to perform on it and be unique. All the other street performers have giraffes. You can be like them or you can be something different, that they’ll remember. Not that I’m saying skip the giraffe though; I also know what sells on the streets. Or a multi-wheeler, which would be better than the giraffe for the same reasons.
If he put on a slick skinny tire on it and maybee shorter cranks that would work. But since THIS person doesn’t seem interested in Muni a uni like the 24" Nimbus would be much better.
well i am officially a noob at unicycling, and when i posted my “whats best for me” thread, (which im sure you all get a lot of) i was looking for a Muni. i didnt know what a Muni was at the time but thats what i wanted. because i know that once i learn ill be hitting the trails. id rather get a muni now, instead of getting a cheaper trainer and upgrading later. like i said before its an investment thing.
just thought id trow in the opinion of an actual noob, to make it seem fair:D
) doesn’t mean that every potential unicyclist should buy a $500 MUni. In fact, even if a newbie might want to do MUni, a simple freestyle unicycle may be more suitable for learning basic skills.
I’ve just been riding it around in my backyard and it’s alot of fun (especially since I’m so used to the 29er, can’t wait to get it out on the trails. I think I may sometime be interested in a coker as well, but for now I’m set. The bottom line is you really don’t know what you want until you get it.