I’m looking to step into the world of the 36" wheel, moving up from a 26". I fancy doing more road riding essentially so i can cover more distance with ease. I can’t find any ‘current’ posts regarding these size of wheels so thought I would drop a post on here.
I’m based in the UK and seems the commonly accessible options are: Nimbus Oracle 36" - seems like a good option Nimbus Nightfox 36" - can’t work out the advantages of this one over the Oracle when it has no disc brake. Nimbus 36" trainer (i think i’ll skip this as seems pointless if you then want to shell out for another with a disc brake) Custom QU-AX 36" - also looks like a good contender and i like the multiple holes on crank for pedal position. KH36 - I have no doubt this is probably the best, but out of stock.
Oracle- solid option. Nightfox - if you are really short, and don’t fit on other 36", you might fit on this. 36" Trainer - budget option (if you are someone that just cruises around and doesn’t need a brake it’s all you need) QU-AX Also really nice. Do you want to use the Q-axle system is really the main question - it works well and is lightweight, but if you have a whole lot of Isis cranks sitting on the shelf, that may be a consideration. KH36 As someone that still isn’t convinced by the crank mounted disks, I think KH is not the best on the market anymore - still good, but not best.
I’m not sure about how UDC UK does it, but you might be able to have them upgrade your cranks to multi-hole cranks for less cost than buying a second set of cranks if you send them a nice E-mail.
I own both Oracle and KH and if i had to choose between the two it would be the oracle. I prefer the inboard disc with 125mm hub. I also like the nimbus round crown frames better and the oracle comes standard with QR seatpost clamp for those multi hole cranks your getting
I’ve only ever ridden a KH 36" and for me it’s a solid uni and I’ve no complaints about it. The crank mounted disc brake has never gotten in the way for me and I do like the wider q factor with the spirit cranks. The only downside initially was the fusion one saddle did take some time to get used to.
You should consider the Oracle, the KH and the Qu-Ax QX RGB.
The KH I would only personally consider if you want to have a Schlumpf hub. (But there is a adapter in the making, so you can have a internal disc and the Schlumpf hun would fit also into the QX RGB uni then).
The Oracle is comes with a nice price for great value. But has 125 mm between the bearings.
(I combined a 125 mm with KH spirit cranks that have a huge Q-factor and due too that I got lots of knee pain, but before I had cranks without Q-factor, worked good for me then)
I recently got the QX RGB with the lighter tube and tire and with T-bar and it only weights 6.8 to 7 kg. If you looking for the lightest 36" on the market and you don’t want to go into carbon it is the QX. The saddle is great, accepted as compftable by a lot of unicyclists. The saddle also has a KH base,
so you can easily mount a T-bar. Your legs are very narrow together, the Q-factor is very low (and that resolved my knee pain I had on my previous 36" completely). And it has a hub interface that doesn’t wear so fast out like the ISIS interface.
In my eyes a unicycle is mostly defined by weight, the right saddle and the crank length.
Compared to old school 36" all are light.
Without a comfortable saddle you will not have a lot of fun riding, you can always ask the shop can exchange the saddle for you. The KH fusion one (that comes with the KH 36") takes some of time to get used too and it’s not Everbody favorite. The Nimbus Stadium (that comes with the Oracle) is a hard saddle, they are only few who like the saddle. The QX eleven (that comes with the QX RGB) is a saddle widely excepted by a lot of unicyclists. Has the classic form of a KH saddle, foam is not to soft nor to hard and in comparison to the KH Freeride it doesn’t become a sponge when wet.
The crank size: I definitely recommend dual cranks. For the first month you probably want to start with some longer cranks and then go shorter. The longer hole is always also great for hilly terrain and Muni and the shorter cranks for flatter road riding and riding faster. I really liked the 137/117 length on my nimbus and now the 136/110 for my QX. Going bellow 110 mm up to 90 mm is fun, but also takes a lot of skill and in my eyes doesn’t make sense if you don’t race.
Nimbus has even tribble cranks. But in my eyes 150 is way too long on any unicycle. 100 is very very short, you would probably not be using it. And 125 mm is a great size and compromise if you never want change crank length and want to have some speed and some power on uphills.
I went with the Nightfox because it can fit smaller riders too and I don’t see any downside to the unusual frame design. I’m 6’1", but my daughter is 4’2" and she should be able to ride the Nightfox by next year. Also, maybe they come out with a 40 or a 42 in the future. That frame is very adaptable.
I agree with almost everything @Becky98 said. The only point I disagree with is this one:
I have ridden with 89-mm cranks on my Oracle 36 and it was great for touring on flat. I don’t think it should be kept for racing. It needs some time to be used to it but when it’s done… That’s really great and enjoyable!
Regarding @Duff’s comment, I see at least one downside to the Nightfox frame design: you can’t chose the orientation of the t-bar. IMHO that’s not great to not have this option. However, because it is the only frame allowing short people to go for 36er, it’s still great
Lots of great comments here. I will make a couple of comments.
I personally think the top of the tree are the Oracle and QX, when it comes to 36". That is if you are not wanting to fit a schlumph then the KH is currently the only option. The Oracle frame/wheelset is the stiffest (with the exception of the Nightfox). The Qx hub is really nice and light, although the aluminium Nimbus hub is not heavy. Qx and Oracle are the same frame weight. The QuAx hub is the narrowest set up and this is to some people liking, but it is at the cost of rigidity in the system. I do like the new QuAx handle as it is versatile, but for me I like simple. That does not work for everyone though and the KH handle works for many people as it is super versatile, but don’t expect it to be durable or rigid.
Tyres, it is great they are getting lighter and it is making a difference. With both Nimbus and QuAx using the same factory you will see both developing in the same direction with weights.
Cranks and Q-factor. KH with Spirit cranks is the same width as the Nimbus with vcx… but has a stronger wheel and frame.
This is a developing area and things get better all the time. All the models are better now than they were even 2 years ago. I have another frame design on the drawing board… I need to make that!
I think what would be really interesting for 36ers would be some 3” tires. Speaking as a beginner, I notice that in some ways the 36er does better off-road, (I’m only doing cross country at this point), than the smaller wheels. It doesn’t like to turn or stop fast, but it just rolls over things that you feel on the smaller wheel.
Aside from that, other than lighter or stronger parts, (incremental improvements), I’m not sure what more could be done to improve them. Maybe a 42er?
Oooh, I’d bite someone’s hand off for a larger wheel with a pneumatic tyre (that’s not sewn together…)
I’m not so convinced that going any larger on the tyres would provide much of an improvement, even off-road as you would be adding weight - there’s no getting around it.
With a carbon rim and the modern lightweight tyres 36ers are pretty light and nimble and I don’t think I’d want to give that up for an extra 3/4 of an inch or so.
The narrow asymmetric hub on such a large wheel always raised an eyebrow for me, but I must admit I’ve never seen one in the flesh. Maybe it’s plenty strong enough.
I used to think that it would be terrible, but after lacing a JR freewheel hub (which is much narrower than even the Qu-Ax hub at 40mm between flanges compared to 52mm IIRC) into a 100mm 32" wheel I’ve changed my mind.
It’s clearly not as strong, but it’s been plenty strong enough for me at least, and wheel flex is minimal.
I’ve never personally seen any wheel failure on a unicycle that could be attributed to narrow flange spacing.
