Please don’t repaint and keep the original Imholz branding! Imholz is a former Swiss brand from St. Gallen, that made pretty nice racing and artistic bicycles but also normal road bikes. Not sure until when they were active, Maybe @www.einradshop.ch knows?
Walther still produces these kinds of unicyles, which are used in artistic cycling and thus, share components and specifications with classic artistic cycles. But nowadays they use cotterless cranks and simple Qu-Ax seats. Einrad Modell WALTHER | Fahrrad Walther
Yep, will have to save that green for a different uni!
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I won‘t, I promise.
I once almost bought a battered Imholz with the intention of having a proper paint job done. In the case of that uni, repainting it would have been appropriate, in my opinion. But the seller asked too much and wasn‘t willing to negotiate, so I skipped that one.
I knew that he was/is a major figure of the swiss unicycle community, and he lives in the same corner of Switzerland as Imholz was located (at least that‘s how people of my region see it 
). I concluded that he might know a thing or two about Imholz, so I contacted him via e-mail.
He is well acquainted with them, had several race unis custom built. They must‘ve stayed in business until around 2000 when Anton Lang took over and continued to manufacture the same kind of unicycles.
I used to scramble about those, made by Imholz, when I was young. 
Oooh, that uni is sweet! 
Particularly the crown and the chromed ends of the fork legs (or are those lollies? I can‘t quite identify with this low res image). And the hub is so retro! And so nice 
I think I should get rid of the fridge in order to make some space for a nice Walther uni 
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Yes, the Imholz unicycles were probably the best unicycles in Switzerland in the 80s and 90s. Very good for unicycle racing. Thanks to the closed bearing shell, these wheels rolled extremely well, much better than today’s models with the clamping system on the bearings. They later had competition from the Pichler unicycles from Karlsruhe, which were much bulkier and did not allow such a narrow leg position because of the square fork. Pichler unicycles were much more stable. I set all of my unicycle records with Imholz unicycles. The model pictured here is quite old and still has a wedge crank.
As already mentioned, this brand originally comes from St. Gallen. It was ultimately run by Anton Lang until around 2000. I recently met him by chance. He can still remember me and my unicycle records well. There was also a second company in Switzerland that produced such unicycles for the artistic cycling sector: Tschopp, based in Schlieren (Zurich). The bike shop appears to still exist. Tschopp unicycles looked pretty much identical. The story was that Mr. Tschopp Senior completed an apprenticeship at Imholz or worked there. He later founded his own company and also took over the technology of unicycle production. Back in the 90s, I worked with Tschopp to develop super-fast unicycles with super-narrow hubs (I estimate a maximum of 50mm). These unicycles were so fast (or the riders) that other riders were frustrated and stopped racing unicycles because they didn’t want to take part in this arms race.
Back to Imholz: A piece of Swiss unicycle history.
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In the classic car world there was a shift from ground up restorations where every nut and bolt was polished well past factory specs to more of a preservationist approach. Now it is very common to see “survivor” cars where only the essentials are done to make the the car mechanically sound and safe. I see these cars at shows all the time and they generally get alot of attention. As for Unicycles I’m just not sure what the market is for vintage rides or how many people in this hobby have an interest in vintage unicycle preservation or customization.
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You’re right here - i think most riders have had some exposure to heavy, uncomfortable and cheap old loaner unis vs the current widely available new unis from UDC, QuAx and KH and think that old = bad.
I had no idea that things like this existed - that lollipop bearings could potentially be better than clamped or that there was a Swiss arms race to make the fastest unis!
Unis are there to be ridden and I am definitely more interested in hearing more about equipment development history after @www.einradshop.ch 's post. Space (and my current weight) is always going to be my concern for collecting more but if one of these fell out of a facebook ad, i’d give it a second (or third) look now!
Survivors vs. full restoration. In my opinion we shouldn’t generalise what’s better. But I will do it anyway ;-).
A survivor has something unique to it: its original state. Once that’s taken away by restoring it, it’s gone forever. That’s why I tend to prefer the approach of doing only what is needed to run a vehicle (or whatever) safe and in technically working order. There’s also a trend to age restored vehicles artificially. I think this is a cool approach for (new) model trains and such, but a real car? Let’s just say that I’d rather spend my money on other things than a fake vintage look. Plus, it really has to be done very good. Looking at a car with perfect paint next to places where someone deliberately sanded it off before applying a clear coat (you don’t wanna see your “vintage” car rot, right?) is just not a pleasure to my eyes.
Bottom line: depending on the state and appeal of a vintage uni I’d have no problem doing a full restoration, including some flashy paint job, or I’d rather keep it mostly original.
That said, I’m not a collector in the strict sense*, so I wouldn’t keep an old seat (even if it was still useable, which mine isn’t) just because it belonged to the uni, when it’s so darn uncomfortable that it keeps me from riding the uni.
*I just happen to accumulate unis rather than collecting them deliberately (hey, that could be my signature line 
)
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I’ve been practicing 3D modeling for a week or two now, and I’ve finally reached a point where I can model a unicycle frame 
I’ve still got a long ways to go in terms of being efficient with the modeling and using the tools correctly[1]. But this made for a rewarding project and a break from cranking out practice models
I kinda “cheesed” joining the frame to the bearing caps :-/ There’s some goofy interference that I didn’t have the patience to resolve as I just wanted to have it “look” about right ↩︎
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That looks very nice. May I ask which software you used?
The side walls of the bearing cup / clamp look a bit thin to me. Also, what is the reasoning behind the square elevation on the bearing cup? Is it a reinforcement for Schlumpf compatibility?
I’m using Autodesk Fusion 360 since it’s free. I could probably go for a more enhanced paid version since I’m in school and could go with a student plan, but I can’t be bothered yet to set it up 
I was using this as a reference, so I figured I’d include those rectangular bits
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Thanks for your answer. 
EDIT: I guess the rectangular bits (actually, they aren‘t really rectangular upon closer inspection) are there to provide better alignment with the flattened tubes that the bearing cups are welded to.
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not sure about material strength but i wonder if metal 3d printing services makes modelling really useful for making custom unis?
For example, instead of the square elevation, you topped them with a tube to fit a carbon frame leg etc…
Sounds nice. I‘m starting to expect to see a very nice unicycle frame built by you 
3d printed titanium parts are used by Tritao, by the way, but they weld them to titanium tubes instead of epoxying them to CF tubes.
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An idea lead me to look for fabric unfortunately the only thing I had on hand was a few pairs of old jeans that are too small now. I’m patching the hole with the pocket then adding a second layer, then add a few loops of steel wire and sew it in for a bead. Anyway, enjoy another unnecessarily Jean clad item
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You will certainly have a really unique tire (for good reasons!). I congratulate you on the idea and willingness to go for it. Make sure to suit up the frame in Jeans as well, and make a Jeans cover for the saddle! Oh, and don’t forget snug and cute little spoke covers as well
Isn’t this hugely impractical to get on and off the rim, which you must factor in, due to the fact that you will bust your tire?
So the fabric and the seams actually factually holds against a ridable pressure in the tube? And wouldn’t the fabric slip a lot, and eventually slip out of the rim? You would be better off with the fabric outside an actual tire, which I guess you don’t have, since you are willing to actually try this crazy thing. 
I guess you quietly rejoice when you find that a pair of jeans don‘t suit you anymore or have ripped etc.
Cool stuff!
A while ago I had the turducken idea for full suspension (tire inside a tire) but that was impractical due to size and weight to compression ratio, I found 6.5" and 7.5" pneumatic tires for rollerblades but they don’t fit inside a 12" rim, either too big or too small so I decided to try and make a cloth sleeve rather than an actual tire to see if I could get more compression in a smaller space with lighter materials, the jeans just happen to be on hand, I’m going to put a metal wire bead and test both aluminum and steel to see which blows first, if this works then I buy the smaller rollerblade rim and tube, put a uni hub in it then put it inside a 12", then drill spoke holes in the rim as if it were a hub the lace that to a larger wheel to see if I get any suspension
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This is the unicycle I’m currently riding. It’s a 29" and it came with 152mm cranks, but I’ve recently upgraded it to dual-hole 150/125mm cranks (from SHW in Sweden). It feels good to have the option to switch between 150/125.
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Just wondering, does anybody know where to get a bolt for a pivotal seat post? I’m having a hard time finding one online anywhere. Bunch of listings for titanium bolts that are out of stock, and virtually no listings for steel bolts other than from UDC UK (which is also out of stock). 
I’ll be contacting my LBS tomorrow to see if they have any, and if not I’ll probably stop at a hardware store and see if they have anything that works “good enough”
Update on previous post: Just went to the hardware store and found a bolt… Probably should’ve looked there first, duh
So my Club 26" almost decided it wanted to be a 125mm crank-only unicycle 
Although to be fair I didn’t appropriately winter-prep it
It’s been my campus commuter over the winter so its seen a fair amount of moisture and road salt. Couple that with an aluminum post in a steel frame and I had myself a nicely seized post in my frame
I tried freeing up the post for a solid half hour with a fair amount of penetrating fluid, twisting, and a bit of hammering (which scuffed up the paint somewhat on the inside portion of the frame legs, but the paint has seen better days anyways so its not a big deal).
Eventually I enlisted the help of somebody stronger than me and they managed to crack the seat post loose. Made quite the sound. Lesson learned… It’ll go back together with anti-seize in the right places 