I know, I’m just being pedantic. The technicality was that while black is actually a color, although I agree with you: I myself tend to think of black as the absence of color, and I do want to replace my cheap black pedals with something more fun.
One of the cool things about a black unicycle is that you can just about pick any other color and it works. Black/yellow … black/red … black/blue … easy way to make your unicycle look cool.
Fair enough 
Seriously, when you say “bunt” in german, you often refer to bold colours. Not sure what the most appropriate term in english is. But colourful seems better suited than coloured, in hindsight.
Your choice of adjective was spot on for common English usage, but whoever makes the rules for English seems to also like snarky “technicalities” that are not helpful. My German is super limited, but I’m sure there are equivalents.
Frankly, you folks have such excellent English that I forget that a lot of you don’t speak it as a first language. Kudos!
Everytime you post a new build i find myself cursing the Swiss postal system. They are such beautiful machines!!
Why are you cursing the Swiss Post? It’s very reliable and punctual. Did you mean the shipping costs? I can only say this: I’ve always offered a 10% discount for self-assembly.
Since I often can’t mount the tire on large unicycles due to the box size, you only need to attach the cranks and seat post, and then it’s self-assembly. It’s a bit trickier with unicycles that have brakes: you have to remove the ball bearing and mount the brake disc. But most unicyclists should be able to do that themselves.
Many people assemble the unicycle themselves and order it without brakes, since I only offer beginner brakes. Then that’s not an issue.
Depending on the destination country, this 10% discount is higher than the shipping costs. So you essentially get free shipping. Since I’m currently offering many unicycles with a 10% discount, the discount for self-assembly increases to 19%. This means the recipient country’s VAT is included.
Therefore, the argument about high shipping costs doesn’t hold water for me, as they can be saved entirely or partially.
Typical shipping costs for an insured Priority parcel (10 kg) are:
Surrounding countries: CHF 54.-, Overseas (USA, Canada): CHF 94.-
These are the postal fees plus a CHF 2.- handling fee.
I offer a 10% discount on all self-assembly unicycles here. Just let me know so I can adjust the invoice accordingly.
https://einradshop.ch/einrad-kaufen-schweiz/132-10-rabatt
Oh nice! And yes to the costs, I had outdated information it was still really high going to other countries.
It is what it is. But shipping costs can’t be the only reason not to buy something. Otherwise, “Schlumpf” wouldn’t have exported a single hub.
On that particular point: Schlumpf hubs are unique. You can’t find similar items (= geared hubs) outside of Switzerland. So, people who really want such a hub are forced to directly buy from the Swiss shop. Most of your types of items (unicycle, frames, …) can be found outside of Switzerland, so you don’t have the same advantages as Florian Schlumpf. Plus, Schlumpf hubs are really expensive, so a few more dollars/euros/… don’t really matter, which is not really true for the less expensive items you sell.
(No hard feelings there, just what I have understood of the situation.)
Yes, everyone has to decide that for themselves. I can’t do more than develop my products and publish them in the shop. In the end, the consumer decides. But one thing is clear: this new fork series was my last major investment. I worked on it for five years, it cost me as much as a cheap new compact car, and there’s been absolutely no interest. It would actually be an idea to only serve the Swiss market, because we’re talking about five packages a year that I export, three of which are very small (large letters) and one or two larger ones. The time and effort involved are simply not worth it.
First off I want to thank you for your participation on this forum. Other than Roger from UDC UK you really don’t see input from other unicycle companies. I like how you explained how your discounts can help to offset shipping costs maybe that info will help you move product through this forum.
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that your fat mountain uni wasn’t a smash hit (yet?). It seemed like a really nice product to me. The discount for self-assembly seems like it not only saves money, but that it saves on size of shipped item, and is a great idea.
It is also cool that you are active on the forum. That’s a plus for me.
Building on this I’d likely order one later this year. I’ve been looking at a fat 20” for winter riding around my city.
The discount is really good to hear about and would be a deciding factor for me.
There’s something I learned about in business school called the 5 Ps of Marketing:
Product: The goods or services offered.
Price: The cost of the product.
Place: Where the product is sold.
Promotion: How the product is marketed.
People: The staff and team
Being a small operation even with the right product a lack of visibility can have a direct impact on sales.
It may not be possible to do, but if you sent a few of the unis to some of the larger content creators to try and maybe they send back later it could be something. The same marketing professor loved to say 50% of all advertising work we just don’t know what 50%
Being on a 120mm standard means that they are a niche in an already niche market.
They are beautiful machines though, and as opposed to AI GPUs though they may sell slowly they aren’t going to be obsolete anytime soon as they cover all the modern standards.
You know your customers and business better than us, but there’s some selection bias on the amount of unicyclists that partake in this forum or discussion spaces vs those that silently ride around and maybe never post or interact and may not have heard of your brand yet.
No, the Fat Muni is not a success, I had already started with the CrMonster, the CrMo Fat Muni, 5 years ago. To do this, I diligently tested tires and later had TPU tubes made with a car valve so that everything was nice and supple. The CrMonster fork with the round tubes is extremely stiff, but seems a bit bulky. Because it is a big investment, I shied away from bringing aluminum forks in this format for a long time. The round tubes of the CrMonster have been replaced by flatter D-shaped side tubes, which makes the fork narrower overall. Unfortunately, I first came across a bad manufacturer from China who was able to produce aluminum forks for me for less than half the price. I got the first bad sample during the Corona period, and other bad samples followed. Then I looked for a new supplier who probably doesn’t manufacture himself, but knows the industry in Taiwan very well and was able to provide me with good quality at a much higher price. The first sample was good, but the bearing cups were asymmetrical. I wanted symmetrical bearing cups that were designed in such a way that you could also put washers between them to make the wheel roll better. The thread in the counterpart should also be continuous and designed in such a way that a nut could be screwed onto it in an emergency (use a longer screw) if the thread in the shell were to fail. The internal width of the fork had to be 112m as a specification, which is 20mm more than normal forks and that also explains the hub width of 120mm. With a 100mm hub this would only work with tricks and bent tubes. When I once bought a 100mm fork suitable for fatty on the open market and tried it out, the tire touched the inside when I started driving. This was the starting point for 120mm hubs for me. Since there are now 6 different forks available to buy in this width, which cover sizes 20-29", no one can complain that there are no suitable forks.
The biggest challenge in international shipping is package sizes.
I have to reduce my 70x 70x 20cm boxes to 60x 60, otherwise it would be another 15.- surcharge. With this size you can actually only put the rim in the box without the tire mounted. But since I can count the number of unicycles exported on one hand, it’s not a big item. Until now I have paid this extra charge myself.
I can no longer deduct the Swiss VAT of 8.1% when exporting because I am no longer liable due to my declining sales.
Domestic challenge: I am too expensive for many Swiss, they prefer to buy from retailers in the EU and benefit from VAT. difference. Not a single club in Switzerland buys from me and there are quite a few. I’m only good enough as an emergency reserve if you need a ball bearing or other small parts.
These are the problems I struggle with every day. Cheap unicycles: There is a discounter that makes over a billion in sales and sells them well below the official price, with free shipping of course. I don’t have that market share either. Recently the unicycles were difficult to deliver there and suddenly I sold a few cheap unicycles. He took all my customers.
You see, it’s not easy being a unicycle dealer in Switzerland, especially now with the steep EUR CHF exchange rate.
But there are also great Swiss customers. There are few, but they are loyal and always buy things from me. Two of them are here in the forum. Thank you.
Speaking of… I guess I will soon need a 70cm seat post 
120 Bigfoot 26 inch FAT Unicycle
The 120 Bigfoot 26" FAT MUni makes unicycle hearts beat faster. It is made of light, stable, high-quality components and weighs an incredible 5.67kg! With its FAT tires it is 200% off-road capable. The built-in Surly Nate 26x 3.8 rolls through the terrain like a tractor, offers the best grip and surprisingly good driving characteristics. This unicycle is an ultimate all-rounder and can be equipped with disc brakes
120 Bigfoot 24-inch Fat Unicycle
24-inch fat unicycle (MUni) with 4-inch tires, equipped with high-quality, lightweight, and sturdy components. Weighing only 5.38 kg! 24-inch fat unicycles offer great potential: They are more maneuverable than larger unicycles, handle inclines better, and make mounting hills easier.
I’m reviving this wheel size, because 24-inch MUnis were once the benchmark and the standard for everything.
Google translates worse and worse.
I meant: You can better get on the unicycle on a road with an incline than with a larger wheel size
So, that was the last new release in the Fatty series. There are a total of eight models: 20", 24", 26", and 27.5" Fattys, each available with either a CrMo or aluminum fork. This was my last major investment in this sport. I’m cutting back now, as it was only causing me debt.
