I’m about as new as you can get to the world of unicycling, it just seemed like a fun activity and i’ve heard its good for my lower back! I’m 32 from oklahoma, and I bought a Nimbus Muni as my first unicycle from an auction for 89 dollars as my first uni, which I think is a good deal. The seat has a Kris Holm signature underneath it, and it looks pretty new, even still has the l/r stickers on the pedals. I’m not sure how to size the unicycle. I don’t know if it’s based on the rim size or tire size, but with the tire (it came very inflated) it’s close to about 25".
So now I get to watch a lot of videos and read a lot of comments on how to begin learning the unicycle! Anyone have any tips on what to learn first, like idling, or anything to be careful about?
A question I’d really like to know the answer to is how do you know how far to lower the seat? mine hits just below the belly button right now, which puts me about 3 inches or so higher than standing. should this be adjusted?
For seat height I use the general rule of when sitting on seat your leg should have a slight bend to it when pedal is in lowest position. You want to be able to raise yourself off seat about an inch or so when riding standing up.
mnunirider is spot on. Lets you lift your bum of the seat a bit when it falls asleep and gets a bit numb. ah, but then just remembered you may want to do trials stuff like jumping so I think a lower seat for more bounce.
Watch lots of you tube vids and look at trials unicycles and road unicycles and see the difference.
Top tips ?
Maybe check the cranks and pedals are on the correct sides before you start.
Learn to ride.
Post lots of pics and videos, cos we love these !
Most importantly…Have Fun
Welcome floggindave! Very nice auction find there.
Pretty surely it’s a 24" mountain unicycle. The actual rim size is 20 inches, what it would be called on a car, motorcycle, wheelchair, hand truck, etc. The tire is nominally 3" wide and tall, but really it’s a bit undersized. Put them together and roughly, 20 + ~2.5 + ~2.5 = ~25.
I’d say to protect the family jewels but the truth is they’re gonna be traumatized repeatedly. No avoiding that.
Just learn to ride it. When you can go 20 feet under control and consistently, then you can ride a unicycle and the worst is past, but it takes time. Don’t be a hero trying to hang on and ride out a bad situation a little bit longer. Work on dismounting cleanly and staying upright. Enjoy the process as much as you can and the results will come.
well, thank goodness i’m done having kids. Maybe i’ll sew in a little extra padding…
As for tire size, is there any input on if there is a preferred size to learn on? I can say so far, i’ve only had time to play with actually sitting on the uni and it has felt really weird trying to pedal! I assume you get accustomed to the way this movement feels. Either way, im excited to get out and do some learning. I found a great fence at the local dog park. its about 50ft long and its go some nice soft (er than concrete) grass to fall into. I think Ill try to do a lot of my learning there.
Thanks for the welcome and the advice, i’ll be sure to stay checked in!
-floggindave
Poke around in the ~25 years of archived posts here and you’ll find a range of opinions. Starting from scratch, a lot of us bought 20" unicycles to learn on. That size isn’t good if you want to actually ride anywhere, but it’s an advantage for getting started or learning new skills since you never get going very fast so you don’t have as much inertia to deal with. Then again, 24" is a more practical size and plenty of people here learned on one of those. You might at least look into swapping a lighter, easier rolling tire onto that rim while you’re learning. It’ll need to be pretty fat because of the width of your rim, but something like a Schwalbe Big Apple would reduce the amount of effort you have to put out while practicing.
Yup, that’s what it’s about. Keep playing around with that, going forward and backward, speeding up and slowing down. Before long, your feet will be making corrections to keep you on top of the unicycle, or the unicycle underneath you if you prefer, without you having to think about.
Sounds ideal! Looking forward to progress reports.
Congrats and welcome! That’s a solid deal on a unicycle. Looks like a 24". Most people start on a 20" but a 24" should be just as easy to start on depending on your height. For seat height, most people recommend a similar sizing style to cycling, where your knee should just be slightly bent when the pedal is in the lowest position.
Dude, someone got robbed … and it wasn’t you! I don’t think there are many riders on the forum who would pass up such a deal!
And since you got such a ridiculously good deal on the unicycle, I suggest investing in the following: safety gear (wrist guards, helmet if you don’t already have one), padded bike shorts, a set of metric hex wrenches and and a pedal wrench. Maybe a good air pump, also, if you don’t have that.
I agree with Large Eddie regarding swapping the tire out for something lighter. But, you can certainly learn on the tire the unicycle came with. Reducing rolling resistance and rotating mass gives you more immediate feedback when learning to ride. Large Eddie mentioned the decreased inertia of 20". Putting a lighter tire on the 24" will accomplish the same.
The modifications we’re describing are not, to my knowledge make or break issues in regard to your learning. Different techniques are harder or easier to learn on different setups. However, perseverance is more important than having the perfect setup, at this point.
Thanks for the response elpuebloUNIdo. I dont have any safety gear yet, unless you count motorcycle gear! Any wrist guards you all might recommend? Also, i really appreciate the additional feedback about the tire. Ill see if my local shop can provide the tire that LargeEddie suggested. Ive been stuck dealing with college courses not stop, so i still havent gotten a good chance to get out and try this out! Hoping for this weekend
A bunch of manufacturers produce roughly the same product. It’s what you’d wear if you were roller blading. IMHO wrist guards are the #1 safety item for beginners. Helmets are important, though I’ve never actually hit my head on anything except low hanging branches during mUni. If you’re wondering when you’re ‘officially’ riding, it’s probably when you’re forced go out and buy padded bike shorts. And, when you start trying to free mount, a pair of cheap soccer shin guards will come in handy. My acquisition of safety gear was gradual and inspired by accidents (I bought knee pads after falling on a trail and skinning my knee). Wrist guards are important, because beginners can lose control of the pedals and go down fast. And when we go down, it’s natural to reach forward with our hands.
One of the most difficult things for me as a beginner was humiliating myself in front of my neighbors. Trust me, you’re not going to look good for a while. The other college students are probably going to be amused (we’re not laughing at you, we’re laughing because of you.) by your ineptitude. You have to be all right with that. People with no experience unicycling are going to give you advice, and you’re going to have to take it … otherwise your pride will get the best of you and you’ll want to quit. If you persevere, you will teach others a huge lesson about the value of hard work, and you’ll be admired by the people who laughed at you and pitied you.
I got the Kris Holm fingerless gloves which have a wrist guard - makes it easy to grab onto rough fences and walls while learning, too. I second what Elpueblo says about the public embarrassment too - however thick your skin, the early stages are of what appears to be complete failure, and it is actually quite hard to push through it if being watched by people who know you. For some reason, strangers seem a lot more likely to be impressed.
