Im thinking of buying a muni and i believe i need some advice. Ive not been unicycling for long but im starting to do more strenuous things with it and the cheap 20" unicycle i have learnt on is beginning to creak ominously. Im not really planning climbing mountains and stuff with it but i would like to get into that at some point and i want a good machine to improve my skillz on.
These are the models ive been looking at that are within my budget. Im currently leaning toward the qu-ax since its the cheapest and looks pretty cool, although i think it would be nice to have the 26" rather than 24 since I want to be able to go long distances more easily.
I’d probably go with the Nimbus due to a better quality seat, wider hub and Alex rim. The only drawback to the Nimbus is the steel cranks. I’d get Uni.com to swap them out for some stonger aluminum cranks before they ship it.
I have a Pashley 26 MUni. I also have a sentimental attachment to Pashley products. Nevertheless, I would not buy another Pashley MUni. They are well made, solid, but heavy, and the weight is all in the wrong place: the frame. They have Pashley bearing holders which are not as bad as “lollipops” but are more trouble to remove than conventional bearing clamps.
As for size, I have a 26. Knowing what I now know, I wish I’d bought a 24 with a very fat tyre, rather than a 26 with a medium tyre.
The 3" tyre of a 24 x 3 muni gives a really cvomfortable ride that rolls over tree roots etc easily.
I’ve got a 24 x 3 Nimbus which has been a really good and reliable machine for the past few years.
In some ways I’m tempted to get a 26", also with a fat tyre, as I’m more into cross country riding than technical stuff; but I’d want a fat tyre on it.
Bear in mind that a 24" rim with a 3" tyre is effectively the same diameter as a 26" rim with a normal tyre.
For whatever it’s worth, everyone I know who’s gone cheap with a MUni, later regretted not buying the sturdier stuff from the get-go. The wheelset is where most folks scrimp, going with a non-splined hub and cheap crankarms. If you’re just tooling around a forest or on fire trails, perhaps a cut rate set up will do; but if you’re looking at rocky stuff with drops, I’d suggest the KH 24. The Profile hub is twice as much but no better (I have one on my trials uni).
Granted everyone has to work within a budget, but it might be better to save and get something stout right off. The more expensive stuff doesn’t work that much better, it simply holds up a lot longer.
I wouldn’t suggest a 26" for “skillz”, unless you mean riding in circles, idling, and riding backward. My 26" is a street uni (26"x2" tire and 5" cranks), so maybe a downhill version would be better, but i wouldn’t want to do anything too technical on mine. The wheel is too big, heavy, weak, and gets too much angular momentum to be doing jumps, hops, and spins.
My advice is:
Technical, local riding = 20" (with Miyata seat)
Some technical, some distance riding = 24"
Non-technical, distance riding = 26" (with KH or imitation seat)
From what people have said here, it looks like a 24" with a big tyre would be the way forward.
On paper the qu-ax seems to be the best value for money with aluminium cranks etc. Does anyone have one to confirm this? Is it worth getting the splined hub version? The splined hub qu-ax still works out about the same or cheaper than other munis like the nimbus which dont appear to have splined hubs, why is the qu-ax cheaper?
Or should i just stick with my 20" until i get more proficient or it breaks?
i say go ahead with the qu-ax, although i must admit i do not own one. I did spend many hours deciding which muni cheaper than the kh24 was best, and the splined qu-ax appears to be statistically and financially the overall winner. I say if you think you will be just a casual offroader, get the nimbus muni from uni.com (you can upgrade the parts later if you get more extreme), or otherwise just get the qu-ax try not to think about the shipping costs.
I’m in exactly the same position as you. I’ve been learning on a cheap 20" and now want to get something more suitable for riding on the trails. I thought it was going to be just a straight decision between a few mid-priced 24" and 26" machines (I also considered the Qu-ax for its splined hub, and the Nimbus) but the responses to my post just made me realise there is no easy way to decide, and even made me wonder whether a 700c wheel may be suitable for the type of cross-country riding I mainly want to do. I still think I want a 24x3" or a 26", but I’m no nearer deciding. I think I’m going to wait until I can talk to some more riders face-to-face at the SW Uni meet in Exeter in October - until then I’m just keeping off the rough ground. I don’t want to just ride my 20" to death because I want to keep it for improving my general riding and learning freestyle skills like idling.
Not much help to you, except to point out that it seems like a very personal choice - everybody has their own feelings about the 24/26" thing. I think the only definite points are that a 26" will be slightly faster, but not quite as strong and slightly harder to control on technical rough sections. But then throw in crank lengths and it all becomes a very grey area (24" with fat tyre and short cranks could ride very similar to a 26")
I’ve not been riding long so I don’t do monster drops with it, but I bought the 26" nimbus and so far have had a lot of fun and found it reliable for riding rocky, rooted singletrack. The biggest drop I’ve done is about 12 inches. One item that does not seem to get mentioned in these discussions is rider size. One of the reasons I went with the 26 inch model is that I’m 6 foot 3 inches tall with very long legs. I’m also of medium weight being about 180 lbs. As I said, for my riding the nimbus has been very good so far and the Kris Holm seat is absolutely great.
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what an interesting idea, the thought never crossed my mind!
i’m 6’4 but only 160 lbs. Perhaps a 26"er would have suit me better than a 24x3. For people of our size, is it still logical to get a trials uni? do any come with tall enough seatposts?
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i think a 24x3 is simply hard to go wrong with. Ive heard of many more people getting 26" munis and wishing they got 24x3s than getting 24x3s and wishing they had a 26".
keep it mind there are no “wrong decisions”. you will adapt to whatever you decide on.
