So I recently got a nimbus gel with a new oracle wheel, and I thought I’d bring up a few points here and hear some thoughts. I have the old model with the KH base and noticed many changes from the previous model that are a bit concerning.
the vinyl cover is now seemingly cheaper
the seat foam is much more firm, yet still very thick
the plastic handle in the front is made of a thinner plastic and has a large hole in it, all to presumably save plastic, but looks like a durability concern
the rear bumper does not wrap around the sides as much as the KH one.
the plastic base is just as rigid as the KH base, and seems like a similar if not identical plastic
the vinyl lock nuts instead of the allen bolts seems like a step backwards and there are dome nuts on the front and back bumpers, which, after the break off inevitably will become an issue with your hand hitting them.
Overall I was relatively surprised by the changes when the new wheel arrived. I’m sure these changes were in an effort to keep the costs the same as prices have risen over the years, but the gel seems to have gotten farther and farther from the gold-standard KH saddle.
edit: if anybody is interested, let me know and I can stag some comparison pictures for reference.
Be warned when ordering a new oracle or nimbus, you may want the upgrade depending on your taste. The rest of the wheel is awesome! I wouldn’t hesitate to grab an oracle, and I was very happy to see that the 32 came in a non-disc version. Hopefully that is a option that will continue to stick around.
I’ll have to ride it a bit more. I’ve only ridden it around my street so far. My girlfriend got it so that she could do some road riding with me. : P I’ll put up a full review when I get the chance. I wanted to snag some pictures too comparing it to the 29 and the 36. My initial glancing impression is that it is very close to a 29er, but with just a little more umpf of speed. I think that’s attributed to it being significantly lighter than the 36er, moreso than you would think. I’ll probably ride it off road a bit to get the feel for the real differences and try and quantify that a little more.
Yes the new nimbus gels are rubbish compared to the old ones. I assumed that the KH base ones (with hex bolts) were the NEWER model and they had taken a step forward. When I found out that they were the old ones and they had now started making a version that was worse I felt betrayed.
The new one really does feel flimsy compared to the old. One of the guys on my hockey team has the new one and I have the old one. Our unicycles are identical apart from that. You can feel the difference when you mount and ride the new one it feels cheap and flexy.
That’s an interesting one. I find the 36er slightly ‘too much’ for me, I love its speed but sometimes find it a bit hard to handle in certain situations compared to the 29er. A 32er might fit me pretty well, assuming I can almost hit 36er speeds on it
I captured some video (of my very awkward self) that should help shed some light on things. I have a 24", 29", and a 32" all with the same crank size, and a 36er with short cranks for some speed and height comparisons. I only have a kitchen scale, so I don’t think I’ll be able to get any reliable weights. Working on editing this afternoon. : )
I have two of the Nimbus saddles built on the base inmolded “DDC” rather than the KH one. Not having tried one of the previous models, I actually like them quite a bit for riding, though the vinyl is showing some trail wear on the older.
That said, a couple of points not mentioned:
A KH reinforcement plate won’t fit. Interestingly, impact is also using the DDC base, and it seems that with some forcing it might just barely fit on the impact. But on the Nimbus Gels, the overall curvature is just a bit less, so the plate would need to be about the hole diameter shorter. This is true of both my well ridden and new examples - my guess it is has to do with a different metal piece inside for Nimbus vs. Impact.
Even if the plate would fit, the front studs aren’t long enough to install a KH style handle mount. I’m debating making my own “L” pieces from aluminum stock that would bolt to different holes in the plate, interspersed with relief to accommodate the existing acorn nuts. Either that or some kind of stepped nuts. Or just buying a different handle setup entirely and leaving the KH attachment on the fusion zero I bought it with. Or risk pulling the cover off the older one to install longer studs.
The molded area for the seatpost is now symmetric front to back, and as a result the more trapezoidal top of a KH tiltable seatpost won’t fit within it. And the studs aren’t long enough to make some kind of spacer to keep the post top outside of the depression.
