Post a picture of your unicycle(s)

I was thinking of getting one for my 36er. The long handle looks like it would work well both for distance and muni and the half saddle looks like it puts less pressure on the crotch and more on the sit bones.

The main downside for me is that you can’t adjust the angle of the saddle and handlebar independently. My setup is fine for muni but it’s too upright for my tastes when riding on the road. But if I lowered the handlebar then the saddle might be at an uncomfortable angle.

Not sure, I really should experiment more with it.

20” I’m learning on and the new 27.5 also learning on.

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36" have Fun
24" Muni
20"Freestyle is not the best
19" Trial

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I was surprised that I didn’t already have a family portrait, so I assembled everybody.

36" - old Nimbus Nightrider. I’m the third owner.; its first owner used it for Ride the Lobster!
29" - Steel frame Nimbus Nomad, with v-brakes; my goto muni for a few years but now a casual road ride.
27.5" - QU-AX QX series, mostly stock except for the saddle and “droopy dick” grab handle. My XC ride.
26" - a mish mash of parts. M41 frame, Oracle wheel, KH stuff. My muni wheel.
24" - Torker DX - I learned to ride on this. Now I use it for dog walking and, pre-covid, for crowded paths.
19" - Impact Reagent - my trials and urban wheel. Not used so much because my back hates it.
19" redux - Triton frame with random parts - my goto small wheel for learning new stuff or just goofing around.

They’re all good friends of mine, with a lot of history. Learning to ride, memorable rides, customizing them to be just how I want them, repurposing them as somebody new joined the family.

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I would be interested in knowing that.

awesome picture and love the breakdown of where they come from and how they are used!

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I added one today – it’s the 29". All Nimbus, all UDC. The lack of variety is because I started riding just 2 years ago, and I’ve had no luck with second hand (90% 20" amazon special or vintage). Qu-ax and Mad4one look nice, but shipping from the continent is from the Before Times.

From the left we have:

  • 20" Nimbus, replaced my 1st uni which was an orange Club.
  • 26" Nimbus Muni, but I changed the cranks for 138mm and the knobbly tire for a Schwalbe Crazy Bob, so I’ve been using it more like a road uni. This one has all the mileage. It can go back to being a muni now that I have:
  • 29" Nimbus road, which I’ve been meaning to get for a while, but I pulled the trigger when I saw all the other road unis go out of stock on the UDC website.
  • 36" Nimbus Oracle, which I still find a bit much, but I’m gradually growing into it. It has 150mm cranks, but it’s going to get some new VCX+ 3 hole cranks shortly.

My whole uni fleet, all bought new, is still cheaper than my road bike, which is mid-range.

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I got my Quax from right here in the states. Renegade Juggling has them. Delivery was very fast, but there was no option to upgrade or substitute parts.

Before I started unicycling I always wanted to get a new bike but I already had tons of bikes, so I coulnd’t justify getting another one without selling one of the ones I had. Now with unis I can buy several for the price of a bike, so it’s a lot more tempting and harder to resist… (I keep checking out that Mad4One road 29er about every other day… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:)

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If you’re trying to persuade yourself to buy it, here’s a line of argument you can use:

“You know you’re going to buy it eventually, you may as well go ahead and get it”.

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That’s more or less how I justified getting a KH36 last autumn. I also helped that Einradshop.ch only had two of them on stock and one was already sold when I asked about their availability.

Another line that works well right now is “I just sold my motorbike, not I can buy of unicycles for what I sold it for…”

However, first I’ll first wait for my new bicycle that I ordered, using similar justifications… :smirk:

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If you still find that 36" a little much, then I agree the 29" might indeed be just the ticket in the interim. You mentioned elsewhere that the 29" has 125mm cranks, so the gearing on it is almost exactly the same as your 36" (using Sheldon Brown’s ‘Gain Ratio’ method):

(26x12.7)/138 = 2.39
(29x12.7)/125 = 2.94
(36x12.7)/150 = 3.05

Obviously a smaller wheel moves differently and it if you have never run cranks that length they may take a little getting used to but it has the potential for similar speeds for the road.

My favorite of the lot:

Custom painted KH24. Spirit hub, venture cranks, Naomi saddle. I built this for myself as a graduation gift for myself when I finished my associates degree. It was my campus cruiser when I was at university- it’s a super fun uni, very versatile. Small enough to do screw around on, but big enough to actually go places.


My mountain Uni:

Nimbus frame, spirit hub, Alex rim, nimbus saddle. I welded on a disc brake tab and had it set up as a freewheel unicycle for a little while. Haven’t put the disc brake back on- but I have a set of Sinz cranks that I need to try out.

My 20”:

Torker LX, Naomi saddle, Maxxis Holy Roller tire. I’m light enough (140ish lbs) that I can do some trials stuff on this. I’ve had it for nearly 8 years and it’s starting to fall apart. Just bought a replacement for it that can actually withstand some abuse, can’t wait!

And then- this thing:

Not actually a unicycle, but it uses fork legs from a 24” Torker I bought at at a thrift store for $5.99. The wheel uses a nimbus drift trike hub (it was the freewheel wheel that I ran on my nimbus). Rear wheel is off of a recumbent trike.

Decided I wanted a “penny farthing” and started welding stuff together. It’s not finished yet- need to fix the saddle/seat tube setup and paint the frame, and add brake cables.

Definitely one of the dumbest things I’ve ever built- but it’s sure fun!

That’s the current collection! Used to have a triton 26” fat unicycle. Sold it because I didn’t like riding it. Also had a Sun 20” fat unicycle. Rode it on the beach and had a lot of fun but sold it because I stopped riding it. And had one of the 5’ giraffe unicycles but I sold it because I’m terrified of heights and have no idea what drove me to buy it in the first place. I want to build a ‘short’ giraffe to replace it though.

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As someone who rides a penny farthing, I am all for this obviously. :grin:

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Top photo: My URC 26" MUni, bought May 2020. I LOVE it!
Bottom photo: I have my first uni too, the Sun 24" MUni, bought in April 2019.


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This is something I wonder about, because obviously the dimensions and weight of your limbs will have some affect on the size of cranks you can efficiently pedal with. A small child would not be able to efficiently pedal 180mm cranks and someone like Shaquille O’Neal would likely struggle with 75mm cranks. I think the fact that after decades of competition and trial and error bicyclists have mostly settled on cranks about 175mm long indicates that that is probably a pretty optimal length for the average male.

On the other hand, it seems to me that shorter cranks may be inherently more efficient due to the fact that they will be closer to a full leg extension more of the time. Of course on an upright bike one is more likely to be standing up and that will change the dynamics of things too.

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Playing with crank length can make a real difference (once you get used to it) but there are limits obviously. It is not the same as shifting a gear on a bike. Longer or shorter cranks changes the dynamics of more than just the gearing (control, range of muscles used, etc.). Taken to the extreme, things are not efficient at all.

That said getting similar speed on a 29er with 125mm cranks to a 36er with 150s would be reasonable (for me).

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I think I will get used to the 36", in time. I have days when I can static mount it 4 times out of 5, and days when it’s 1 in 20, and I get anxious about traffic and hills and height off the ground. Most days I choose having fun on the 26". Riding the new 29" today I got used to the short (for me) cranks quicker than I thought I would. I take these changes very gradually!