Hello!
I have a club 20 inch with white tire and upgrade plastic pedals … (yellow - from unicycle.com)
After about 6 months, I go around the block, up and down a small hill, hop easy, free mount left and right, roll down sidewalk , go up the sidewalk side hopping and began to idle (reached about 10) …
My question:
I Mountain bike with some friends. They have various levels: beginner to advanced. I 'm strong enough on 2 wheels. But now I wonder if I can try to follow my friends on a uni and they still tolerate me … Is it reasonable to think that I can do unicycle in the woods with my friends on two wheels?
I thought may be a 26 " or 29" municycle with disc brake ?
Will I be able to have fun ? Should I forget it and stay on 2 wheels for my outings with my friends ?
I would like to know your views on the subject before making a purchase …
I am no MUni master, but I am comfident and proficient on intermediate trails. I often ride with friends on b*kes. It works for me, our pace is pretty calm on the trails between the more tech elements. Att tech elements like rock gardens I am often faster than the bikes. It helps to select trails that will be fun for everyone. flowy trails don’t do so well for unicycles, so stick to whatever tech oyu feel comfortable with.
I have a 26" Nimbus Muni with Magura rim brakes and 150mm moments. On the disused road leading into the trailsmy friends are taking it easy and I spin like mad, but when we are on the trails there is little issue with speed differences.
I nearly always ride XC-Muni with a biker friend. He’s really powerful and fast and I can usually keep up on my 29er… I dunno about real crazy hardcore MUni though as I’ve never tried it
Generally it seems the harder the trails, the more hills, the more level between bike and muni, assuming the muni rider is decent. On flats and easy trails you won’t keep up with the bikes. But on moderately difficult trails you probably could if you are decent.
That being said, to keep up with bikes you’d have to have way more skill than they would.
If they were great mountain bikers, and you were a great muni rider, the advantage would go to the bike.
I ride regularly with a biker. He’s not an expert biker, but definitely faster than I am on the downhills. I however, do better in technical sections and most uphills. But then, we’re pretty good friends and we both wait for each other when we go through sections that split us up more. For the most part I always have fun when I’m riding, whether it’s with a friend or not, so just because I can’t keep up with a bike isn’t going to limit the fun factor for me personally.
If the people you ride with aren’t total douche-bags, they should be fairly understanding and you can all have a good time. If they leave you in the dust on the first downhill, and you don’t see them again, they probably weren’t worth riding with in the first place.
Wow thanks for all your insights !
Now I feel it is not an impossible chalenge, at least worth a try… I am primed.
_Anton: I hear you: I will have to dig deep from all my fire inside
_Timmy: Thanks for your experience. I will find an easy way for me from home to the trailhead to be fresh in the woods at least the first few times…
_PieceMaker: The 29er looks interesting for better speed on the flats. The only way I can find out 26vs29 is probably to test ride them many times…
_Kahuna: All clear, it seems to be the consensus yes.
_Killian and Uber: Fun is first: fun riding with fun people, nice! Friends will wait for friends.
All that is left is probably 24 vs 26 vs 29. I will look at many movies and choose from the riding style I think I will like best !
All of you with any experience on the trails, I will love to read your experience!
Sometimes I like my biker buddy to go a bit crazy, it makes me push a bit harder
That being said, there’s a difference between, as you worded it, ‘leaving you in the dust on the first downhill’ and going fast enough that you actually have to work to keep up. I like that challenge, and is the main reason I ride uni with a biker (as opposed to just grabbing my bike or riding alone). I guess the thing to write here is, YMMV
That’s a really good point. Whether going up or down, a lot of times I like my friend on the bike to go first and set the pace. Sometimes I get a bit too ‘enthusiastic’ on the climbs and burn myself out halfway up. It’s good to have someone that can set a slower-steadier pace that leaves me with some lungs left at the top. It’s also a lot of fun to try and keep up on the downhills. I’ve suprised the hell out of myself and done some spectacular things that I didn’t know you could do. I’ve also had some spectacular UPD’s at speed.
The other thing, which others have mentioned, and I agree with, is that if you are friends, just out for a good time, the group will try to generally stay together.
Even on muni rides, there is often a gap between abilities. With the group I ride in, I am often in the middle. There are folks better than me and I am a bit better than other folks. We all wait for each other.
In general there just aren’t enough muni riders out there to only ride with your own level. And besides we are generally a very friendly, social kind of people. We are so excited about the sport that we are always encouraging and enjoy having people join our sport, so we are usually happy to wait for slower folks.
1 for the above.
When I’m lucky enough, I go for a uni ride with the guys from Unicycle Northwest Facebook page. I am always last but those guys are always waiting for me round the next corner , or the top of the hill or the bottom AND I never ever get frowned upon for being slow, they are always encouraging me.
I wish I lived nearer so that could ride with them every weekend.
So, if they’re true riding buddies they’ll wait for you. They’ll probby end up wanting a go on your uni.
I hadn’t seen this discussion until now. I was gonna say “depends on the terrain. The less technical, the bigger the wheel can/should be”. But then I saw you have decided already (for a 26").
Welcome to the wonderful world of MUni! I’m lucky to have an active meet-up group in my area. I wouldn’t dream of showing up with my unicycle but I have I joined them on my old Giant Mountain Bike on several occasions to explore our trail system ever vigilant looking for the best MUni lines. They are a nice bunch of guys but I prefer riding my unicycles alone. I’m grooming my own riding group (my children) and they are almost ready. When I do ride my unicycles in off-road bicycling events like the Kentucky Points Series, I find it best to bring along one close friend (usually my wife’s uncle) so the race organizers know I’m using the buddy system. He’s really cool about waiting. We always finish at the rear of the pack but its all good.
Same question except now riding with roadies. They will always pass you on downhill sections. The geared 36er helps my keep up with my kids riding their bicycles in Cyclovia and Hike, Bike, & Paddle events, but they are quickly gaining on me.
The QuAx Muni is a really durable unicycle. If you have one of the older ones they come with really long cranks. It is not much to upgrade these for shorter ones that can give you a little more speed. 150mm is the most common size.
W/ the Muni group I ride with there is also usually a wide range of abilities. They usually ride easy to medium trails w/ interesting obstacles once in a while or on the side of the trail.
We would stop at these where the advanced riders would try the challenging obstacle using different lines (the most tech that each could do, or even tricks on/off the obstacle) while waiting for straglers or others to catch their breath.
Intermediate riders would find a very easy line on the obstacle, find another close by, work on some skills, or watch others.
, or the top of the hill 