So after riding it for another week I’ve found the camber is something that can be overcome. The autosteer still challenges me however. Regarding the camber, taking a very firm hold on the handle with the downhill side hand and pulling up hard even if I’m not out of the saddle has been enough to allow me to traverse my usual trails. The autosteer still gets me regularly however. There are just a lot of places where I find I can’t switch direction at the moment I need to.
Climbing is about the same as I reported earlier. It’s not perfect at it, but it’s no slouch either. I do notice myself a bit more winded and my legs a bit more spent after half an hour of riding hilly trails. It’s not a huge difference, but it does take more energy to pedal.
Rollover ability is still amazing. I’ve now learned how to pedal up curbs on my 24” as well, but I have to have a pedal somewhere between one and four o’clock to do it. On the Hatchet it seems I can pedal up a curb in any position and on rocky/rooty terrain it has an advantage over the 24”. Same thing with mud or sand.
I wonder whether the improved rollover ability of something like the Hatchet will; a) improve people’s skill in that area by making it possible which riders will then improve over time and can apply to other wheels, or b) slow down the improvement of that skill as once it’s possible the rider won’t need to work on it so much any more.
My experience is that smaller tires also tend to have less autosteer. It helps me to counteract this if I press the handlebars into the opposite side. If the unicycle zb. hold to the left, so I press slightly to the right (sounds illogical I know)
It probably comes down more to how the rider trains, than the unicycle they choose. I think it doesn’t really matter if someone is riding a hatchet on “rougher” terrain, or a 24" with a 1.9" tire on easier terrain - if they are only in the comfort zone for their setup, they will pick up less than if they challenge themselves.
In my own experience it definitely has had that effect. Once I found I could roll it over larger obstacles I figured, why not try pedaling up a curb? It took me a few tries, but on about the third attempt I got it. Then I did it over and over without purposely orienting my pedals. Once I got used to doing it I thought, I bet I can do this on a smaller tire too. The big difference between the two is that on the 24" a 15cm curb is right at the limit of my ability to pedal over and unlike on the Hatchet, I have to have the pedals positioned right to do it. I’ve been practicing pre-hops in order to accomplish that.
Just a heads up on that Vee tire speedster, I had the 29x2.8 inch version and it had extreme camber sensitivity/autosteer on the unicycle. It even has significant autosteer on my mountain bike.
So after about a month and a half of riding the Hatchet with the 4.8" tire, my current opinion of it is that it is still an excellent, if somewhat specialized unicycle. For terrain that is mostly flat and rocky, bumpy, rooty, sandy, muddy or snowy and not too twisty, this is the perfect unicycle. You can simply ride over or ride through obstacles that are impassable on a narrower tire.
For longer muni rides I find it’s just better to give up and walk a lot of the steep climbs I would normally challenge myself with. It’s not super fatiguing to ride, but it does take noticeably more energy and if you try and climb every hill you’ll likely find that you’re spent a little earlier than usual. Walk a few of the hills and it’s not a big deal.
Camber is severe, but by firmly gripping the handle, pulling up and supporting your weight on the pedals you can still ride through the worst sidehills. The extra effort associated with this is probably part of what makes it more fatiguing to ride. Still, under most circumstances I don’t see this as a drawback that outweighs it’s advantages.
Autosteer is also a challenge. It can be overcome and with practice it can be ridden on twisty, technical terrain, but you’re still at a disadvantage compared to a thinner tired uni. Sometimes it just does not go the way you want it to and this is it’s biggest failing IMO, as I suspect that even an extremely skilled rider would still be at a disadvantage on a 4.8 Hatchet in techical terrain.
The Hatchet has a reputation for being slow, but I do not notice that at all. It seems noticeably faster than my 24" with 150mm cranks.
On soft surfaces it is excellent. I’ve tried it in mud, sand dunes and ocean beaches and that fat tire does make a world of difference.
This is a unicycle whose performance is all skewed towards rollover ability and flotation and away from nimbleness and controllability. It’s a specialized machine that does what it does extremely well, but you don’t get that without sacrificing something.
This is a very good Hatchet evaluation. I feel pretty much the same as you. I have ridden my Hatchet for the last 3 months with the 4.8" and now the 3.8" tire.
I found a sweet spot with the 3.8" tire and will keep this on. This 3.8" still has off-camber traits but less than the 4.8" tire.
Yeah, I just wanted to give the kind of in depth review that would give a prospective purchaser an idea of what to expect. I really like the big tire, but I would not want it as my only muni. A Hatchet with a narrower tire might fill that role well though. Maybe a 27.5x3.25? I don’t find that the frame design or the 125mm hub negatively affect rding behavior and that wide frame gives you a ton of versatility.
Isn’t a modern 29" frame suitable for anything from a 29x3.25 to a 26x4 wheel with the difference of being made of alu instead of the Hatchet’s steel? I think that if you are planning to ride a plus tire more than a fat one maybe an Hatchet is not the best value choice (IMHO it is the prettiest)
Hatchet frames are aluminium too (but still 300g heavier than M4O size L frame) and the price difference between a hatchet and anything else not really big either…But yes, somehow the hatchet has been seen as “uniquely versatile” when in reality, more frames can deliver similar capacity if you don’t want the fattest tires.
I personally wouldn’t get a hatchet frame for anything other than a fat tire build, but well - I don’t like the look of them anyway.
Good point about the M41 large frame. It makes me wonder if the sonic bang might have even greater versatility and be able to run just about any wheel/tire combination provided your legs are long enough. It also makes me wonder about frame flex. One thing about the Hatchet frame, it is very robust. I found that with my Quax rgb that a 3.25" tire would rub while climbing. M41 frames seem a bit sturdier, but I’d wonder how they would do running tires that are 4" wide or close to it. With the Hatchet a clyde like me can’t make it rub even while climbing hard with 170mm cranks and a 4.8" tire.
The primary advantage is to get the frame out of the way of your legs. I know plenty of people who rub the paint off the frame of regular width unicycles, let alone fatties.
One thing I failed to mention so far is that with a tire this fat leg rubbing happens regularly. The hatchet frame design manages to prevent rubbing against the frame, but with a tire that wide it’s difficult to avoid rubbing against the tire from time to time. It’s much more noticeable than on a slimmer uni.
That’s the same with my Fatty fork. The first 2 or 3 trips I was still bothered by it. On the other hand, the contact also gives some guidance for the legs. I have absolutely no problem and once a year there is a bit of silver spray on the affected areas
