This is a bit early for snow here. Most of it will probably clear out over the weekend
I’d keep the 36er since it actually performs very well on winter conditions. I haven’t used any other tyres than the nimbus nightrider though
Today we got the usual amount of snow: Enough to tease you. But not enough to please you.
I decided to make my ride in the morning, before the snow would melt. It was a nice ride, despite wind, snow in the air, but only very little snow on the road.
By now there are about 5cm (that’s the usual amount) on the grass etc., but still 0cm on the roads.
The tyre’s a Schwalbe Marathon Winter, by the way. Has some studs, but nothing wild, and is good enough for icy roads. Would’ve loved to take the Oregon with the Schwalbe Al Mighty, but couldn’t justify it given the little snow. Now the Al Mighty is a different beast!
You have a lot of clearance between the fork and the tire. I’m very envious of that, and the snow. We hardly have any Snow at all.
We also got some 10-20cm of snow. However I’m always disappointed that it isn’t worth riding with studded tyres around here. They always clear the roads and use a huge amount of salt to melt every little bit that might be left. I’m always a bit envious when I see pictures of the white roads in Nordic countries where temperatures are low enough for salt to be useless.
On the positive side: there was enough snow for back country skiing..
Indeed. Looks kinda weird, in my opinion. What‘s also weird is that I have the narrower tyre(s) (2“ and smaller) on this frame while the somewhat wider 2.2“ tyre sits in the Flansberrium frame with just 1-2mm clearance…
Yeah, you’re located in central Switzerland, if I’m not mistaken. Saw in the forecast that there should be more snow in that region. I envy you.
As a child I also used to be disappointed. Now, as an adult, that has not changed a lot
. But I can now see the point, particularly with regard to elderly people.
As far as studded tyres are concerned, I think they make a lot of sense over here. During the day the temperatures are often high enough for the snow to start melting whereas the resulting water freezes again during the cold night. In the next morning there are icy patches, and if there‘s some fresh snow you can‘t even see them. That‘s when a studded tyre is most useful, in my opinion. No bad surprises…
Same here!
Good fo you. Unicycling is my only winter sport, so I‘m hoping for more snow on the (field) roads. And I hope for a ride on a frozen lake this winter! The studs will come in handy, there! ![]()
Still waiting for some snow here in Minnesota
December is getting awfully close, yet temps are still hovering at a (somewhat) comfortable 50°F (11°C). According to the forecast we’ll dip into some freezing temps next week, so maybe it’s coming soon…
Yes, I think we got the biggest amount of Snow around here. Today was again a cold, wintery day. But it looks like rain and warmer temperatures will be back tomorrow.
In colder parts of the world the elderly just wear chaind and spikes on their shoes - but I guess for this to be doable you need way lower temperatures. If you cleared the snow around here without putting salt on the road, the water on the street from the melting snow would just freeze and make the roads and sidewalks into a ice skating track.
I tried studded tyres on one of my bicycles but somehow eneded up only using them once or twice per winter, so eventually I decided not to put them back on. Maybe I should try them on the uni, though.
I mostly backcountry ski (and ski mountaineer) and crosscountry ski (as I did today) in Winter - but of course in addition to unicycling. ![]()
Around here the only lake which sometimes freezes enough for people to be allowed on the ice is the Sihlsee. With the Lauerzersee we do have one of the most shallow lakes in Switzerland, however only the top few centimeters usually freeze.
The last few years we often got some snow in November which soon melted again and then nothing until January. So it could still be the same this year.
In my opinion, you have nothing to lose by using them on a road uni or a muni, but you gain confidence in unclear conditions. Today I took the muni with its 26x4.8 studded tyre, just because. Could have taken the 29er with its way less aggressively studded, and more tarmac oriented tyre, but I was just in the mood to ride muni…
Yup, temperatures always oscillating around the melting point make for less predictable conditions than plain cold temperatures.
I have been posting a lot of nice pics with the sunset this year, but now we’ve come to a time where it is dark when I get home from work. Yesterday I had an itch to ride a few kms with the 29”. The phone makes it look much lighter than it was. Also it was very moist and foggy
Out testing new brake lever blade, turned my back for one second and my hatchet managed to get up here! On a serious note, the Hatchets really are great at going anyway and anywhere you want them to, the tire just soaks it all up like its nothing
Never leave your uni unattended!
What tyre is mounted (could be a Maxxis
, but which, and in what dimensions)? And how wide is the rim?
PS: I can so relate to that situation - my 20er managed to hang around on the washing line.
It is indeed a maxxis (well spotted
), but more specifically the Minion FBR in 26x4.8”, and is on an 80mm rim. ![]()
That’s crazy ![]()
Thanks. How is it to ride? - except for absorbing everything. Does it corner reasonably well? How about autostear? I guess lack of grip isn‘t a problem.
Oh, and do you know how wide it is? My Schwalbe Al Mighty should be 12cm wide, but ends up being only 11cm - probably due to the 60mm wide rim.
IMHO, it rides great for me, with the obvious fact of it just absorbing anything it rides over (for example ive tested this with a house brick and it will just go straight over it without thinking about it). It corners just as well as my friends 27.5x3.25, just takes a bit extra force to get the turn initiated. I find it helps when initiating the turn to use the handle to pull it round, rather than just using the pedals. In terms of autosteering, I generally don’t have much of a problem, I have only ever really experienced it on excessively cambered paths, where the unicyle tries to steer itself down the slope, however I found this can be solved (sort of) by adjusting your positioning on the saddle. What I mean by this for example is that if it is autosteering off to the left side, if I move my body over so I am sat with pretty much only my left buttock on the saddle and leaning to the right then it helps to keep it tracking straight. Although this only affected me for the first few rides when getting used to it, I also found if you are riding straight and want to ride on something to the side of you and there is a bump and you don’t fully commit to the manever it can push you away back to side, you need to make sure you give enough force on the outer pedal when you are turning to push up the bump and hit it at the right angle. This takes a little practice but if you’ve ever ridden a fatty you probably know what I mean. In terms of grip level, l have only ever had the tyre slip when going down a very steep slope with a wet root on it, and I hear the tyre make a small bbrrr sound but as soon as back on dirt it immediately grips up without having to release the brake. I’ve even tried to cause the tyre to brake loose by braking as hard as physically possible (the braking system is a 203mm rotor with a 4 pot caliper so plenty of braking power) but if I am sat on the unicycle the tyre is stuck like sh*t to a blanket to the ground, even through wet leaves and mud and loose gravel. A lot of the grip factor will be decided by the tyre pressure, with a lower pressure providing more grip and if you have the tyre pumped right up you will have less grip. But I mean what’s the point in a fatty if your’e not running stupidly low pressures
. I’m not sure on the actually thickness on the tyre as I’ve never measured it, but based on looks I think it is close to the advertised 4.8”.
Now that’s a thorough assessment of the tyre. Thank you!
Absolutely! Except for riding on tarmac after the fun on the trail. The Kenda Juggernaut with its mild tread sticks so hard to the ground, it’s nearly impossible to ride (particularly if you are exhausted). But the more knobbly tyres are better in this regard.
Have the same on my tyre as well, but it makes up for it when I can just plow through deep mud and large sticks after my mate has had to dismount ![]()
The reason I hardly ride my hatchet is because it comes with a lot of friction. It is not as agile as a narrower tire. The KH26 and Nimbus 29" are my go-to uni’s. I only use the Hatchet maybe once or twice a year, because it looks cool.
And yes I know, it is not meant for hardened roads but for off-roading, but also off-road, I find it requires a lot of energy.





