If you can ride holding the grab handle with one hand AND you can UPD without immediately throwing that one hand up in the air, then IMO you are ready for a handle. Otherwise, the handle could be a real nuisance.
Handles have been a real game-changer for me. I am a heavy rider, and I push and pull hard on the handle. After initially using the KH, I switched to the Nimbus Shadow and find it superior for my needs, very rigid. If you get a handle, I suggest you immediately cut it short.
The best size unicycle to start using a handle onā¦is up for discussion. Maybe a smaller wheel is less scary, and also, something closer to muni might involve more active pushing/pulling on the bar setup.
Very interesting, elpueblo, I am pretty sure a handle will go on the 32 in first. I can and do ride well gripping handle w one hand and my latest UPDs were at pretty high speeds w tired legs but I ran them out pretty well. I am starting to get comfortable riding two hands too on my 24ā which I ride the most. I need a lot more hours and miles on 32ā before the handle, maybe by end of summer. Need better rear dismount instincts/facility, better freemount, maybe a jump mount, and just more miles and terrain types on it first, etc. I was looking at KH and nimbus shadow tho and leaning shadow handle so your experience pushes me farther that way. I recently began to use the saddle handles too hard, esp on 32ā and it is diminishing returns ( not necāy) and I have annoyed my left wrist and so I am breaking myself of that currently.
Thanks for sharing your views.
Clarification: My UPDs ran off well at āhigh speedsā were from my 24 inch, I am still staying at lower speeds and a cautious type of riding for now on my 32", we are still getting acquainted.
Duff, thanks. I think I will want brakes at some point, but not sure when and on which. I know my 24" muni the best and so maybe that will be first? Youāve got me thinking. Not after the steeps though! I think I was told not to rely on them (brakes) before having decent skills and also you will crash on them too much before you are any good. I suppose I am a little pre-occupied with and distracted by my quiver of 4 cycles, just got the 20 in and cut it down days agoā¦it would have been simpler to just focus on the 24 inch for a long period, but I was too curious what the different crank and wheel sizes would feel like, lol. I am enjoying the stimulation of them a lot.
So, I basically have one unicycle now, and bits and pieces which I donāt think Iāll bother posting ā¦ all of the old pieces are based on cotterless cranks. I built this one using my sonās saddle from his original 20" unicycle he bought used. The pedals are from something we had already in the garage ā¦ maybe it was one of the other unicycle pieces? I bought the frame from Goudurix, and Alex sold it to me for pretty much half price. It is an aluminum/aluminium 27.5" frame with brazeons for magura brakes. The wheel I built using the 26" rim from Frankenuni which I had originally built around a cotterless hub. I bought the crankarms (QU-AX light 145mm), and the hub, a Nimbus discless 100mm ISIS hub from UDC UK, thanks Roger! Oh, yeah, the seatpost and clamps I bought also from Alex over at Goudurix.
Latest version of my 26" muni - I bought it a new wheel for my birthday. The uni started life as a first-generation Oracle, but now that the Oracle wheel is retired, the only original part is the seatpost clamp!
New wheel is a Light Bicycles carbon rim, 32 hole, drilled with a 4mm offset for a more symmetrical wheel; butted spokes; 36 hole QAxle hub (*), Qu-Ax ZeroQ cranks. Running the same Dirt Wizard 3" tire, but tubeless. Saved about 700g.
Rest of it is a Mad4One frame, KH adjustable post, semi-flattened KH freeride saddle, homemade handlebar (2 bar ends in series, attached to a gadget from former forum guy Nurse Ben), Impact Addict pedals, Shimano SLX brake.
(*) building the mismatched spoke count wheel wasnāt too hard, just a matter of buying and keeping track of multiple spoke lengths. I ended up with 252/254/257/259mm, 8 each. Other than the 4 unused holes in the hub, itās a normal wheel with no disadvantages. I followed the guide here.
That was actually the original plan, but Qu-Ax says that the aluminum axle is only for āfor long distance and light muni (no drops, jumps, Trial)ā - and they only make the steel axle in 36h. Unfortunately I had already ordered the 32h rimā¦
My 27.5" custom uni has evolved even more. First the Oracle frame got mounted with a dābrake adapter, cheap hydraulic Shimano brake and some 110/125 spirit cranks however I was often hitting the frame with the inside of my legs so I ordered a KH27.5 frame and fortunately itās narrower and I now very rarely touch the frame with my legs.
The saddle was swapped with the M4O Handle Saddle from my 24" and a slightly wider (and lighter) Continental Race King Race Sport (27.5*2.20) was mounted.
Unfortunately the brake lever housing was now touching my legs sometimes. So brake was swapped with a Magura MT4 that has a slimmer brake lever housing which resolved the issue (and improved the modulation).
Until now I have used cheap Wellgo plastic pedals (to protect my calves when UPDāing). But I finally decided to upgrade to something nicer and more grippy. The DMR V11. I was amazed how much more locked in it feels with āproperā pedals (Iām using Five Ten shoes). To me it kind of feels that Iāve regained the loss of control that was introduced by switching from a traditional uni saddle to the Handle Saddle when riding hands freeā¦
It weights 5.060g on my scale.
The only thing Iām not super happy about is the the M4O brake lever adapter. Itās ugly and I find that I have to reposition my hands to reach the lever as itās not in a natural position to how I hold the handle. I will try to see if a KH Starfighter can improve the ergonomics or try to mount the brake lever housing directly to the handle to get rid of the adapter.
Iāve got my brake lever directly attached to the handle saddle, with a starfighter and tilted about 20 degrees towards the center. This makes it easily accessible to both hands. With your brake attached to the handle it does put it in a position where it is more likely to contact your leg however. I remedied this by sliding the brake forward about an inch and now I donāt notice it brushing my leg. Iām not 100% sure Iām happy with the more forward hand placement this entails though. Iāll see what I think after a couple more weeks of riding it like it is.
It would be nice to mount it dead center like the adaptor does, except the adaptor places it too far away.
