The issue of the tyre has been discussed, see also my post in another thread i have included below.
I saw an unltimate wheel lying around on a dutch unicycle event which had a tyre with a very smooth sidewall made of some hard rubber compound. The owner was not around so i could not ask which manufacturer made it.
I would be very interested in learning which tyre is best though. So far i have invested some time in reducing friction but haven’t found a solution which allows one to hop on and ride with ease.
It has been a while and i have tried several things with my ultimate wheel modding two tires so far and am now happy with the result so far. I thought of posting the result here for others since it involves a considerable effort.
I have used duct tape which i found to be sub optimal. The tape does not stay in place for two long and is expensive to use. I tried taping the wheel and the leg armor.
I have used dish washer soap on a pear of jeans with i wear over the leg armor to prevent trashing the leg armor. This works but as you can imagine it is quite messy and raises eyebrows when you apply it on the street :-).
Currently i use the system demonstrated here:
http://www.tux.org/~bagleyd/ultimate.html
where Tubular Webbing is sewn on the tire. I have tried a standard needle with high quality thread. This is less than optimal since the sewing process wears out the tread quickly when it is pulled through. Also it requires a pair of pliers to get the needle through the tire. After a bit of googling i found this
http://www.speedystitcher.com/#the-basics
which works like a charm and is available on amazon. Be sure to include the additional waxed coarse thread they offer.
I started sewing away on a tyre and looped it twice on both sides. The result is shown below. The lower stitching is below the rim and is not visible.
I tried it today, again with leg armor below jeans and am satisfied with the result. There is a bit of friction and maybe the thread will wear through before long but i already have an idea on how to solve this when it does.
happy riding