I’ve been in the market for a 29" unicycle for a while now, but just never had enough extra pocket change to make the big purchase (college student). So I just saw that Unicycle.com is having a 12 Days of Christmas Sale and the Qu-Ax Cross 29" is on sale for $210. This is a great opportunity for me.
But I noticed that this unicycle has been on sale for quite a while (always priced around the $250 mark) and it has never been out of stock. So, I started to get suspicious. Is there a reason this unicycles is so cheap? Why is it unpopular? Maybe someone with more knowledge than me can help me out here.
The description on Unicycle.com says, “You are NOT making big jumps and drops or hard rides? Choose the Qu-Ax Cross unicycle series.” Just how fragile are we talking about here? I mean, I’m definitely not in any shape (too heavy) to ride down a cliff or anything, but I would like to bunny hop, ride down curbs, do light off-road riding, and commute. Are these activities going to damage the unicycle? All the components seem solid: steel frame, double-walled rim, 48 spokes, ISIS hub, but I always come back to the low price and the unpopularity. Can someone with experience with this unicycle clear things up a bit? Thanks in advance.
For some reason Qu-Ax has never really gained popularity in North America. For the money I don’t think you will find a better unicycle. The ony things I would change if I were to get it is the saddle and seatpost clamp. The cranks are not as strong as you would find on a KH or Nimbus but should be just fine for most kinds of riding you are likely to do on a 29.
If you are looking for a 29er on a budget I would say go for it.
In the last six months, the Qu-ax 29 has never been priced at $250. It had a “special price” of $320 for a while, then went back up to $350. I had my eye on it for several months, that’s why I know. Finally, I decided to instead upgrade to a better 20" than the Savage I started out on, so I ordered the Limited Edition Impact Reagent with the KH20FL wheelset. It was $350, which seemed like a bargain given how expensive most KH stuff is, even if it is a wheelset that’s been discontinued for some reason. Three days later, the UDC website said the uni I had just bought is now $100 off!
Oh well, I never did end up buying or riding a Qu-ax 29," but my point is that UDC does appear to be offering some massive discounts right now, and just because I missed out on them doesn’t mean you should! I’ve heard good things about Qu-ax, but regardless, any 29" with an ISIS hub for $210 including shipping sounds to me like a very good deal.
Does anyone have any information on the brakes situation? I think I saw somewhere that there was a hole right on the fork of the frame where the frame branches out. Does this mean that the uni takes a V-brake? Maggies? Disk brake?
I ride the Qu-Ax Cross 24" which has no brake mount. And as far as I know, the 29" also has no brake mounts, like all other Cross models of Qu-Ax. Bot some picturres on the web show Magura mounts for this fork. So I’m not really sure. Maybe you just ask at UDC? If there is no brake mount, you could still use KH dual spirit cranks with nimbus d’brake.
I bought a 29 Cross in 2010 with breakmounts for Magura. The tyre that came with it didn’t fit the frame, so I had to do a little bit of grinding beneath the crown. UDC Sweden sent me an older frame (no charge) with more space between the tyre and the frame, but that one didn’t have breakmounts.
After using it a whole winter, the seatpost got totally stuck in the frame, so I put on the frame without breakmounts.
I eventually got a KH 29, but the Qu-Ax is good quality and well worth the money. I still ride it from time to time.
Is this the same as what used to be the Qu-Ax Crossfire? They’re not on the UK site anymore, and have been replaced by a newer model that’s just called Qu-Ax ‘Muni’ (As the Crossfire is discontinued, as I found when I bought mine!)
If it is the same, then, I grabbed one a couple months ago (The ‘Crossfire’ as opposed to the new version, but from what I can see they’re basically the same). There’s Magura mounts, so if you want those you’re set, however there’s nowhere to put a V/Caliper unless you get an adapter for the Magura holes. The tyre works for me, I ride a fair few terrain types but if you’re wanting some hardcore MUni action then consider a new tyre with some real tread on it, as the Kenda isn’t much more extreme than a road tyre with some added extras, though it cleans itself off pretty quick which is cool Lots of people told me when I got the uni that the cranks aren’t anything special and to keep my eye on them, but they’ve stood up to the none-extreme riding I do (And the very occasional extreme riding :D) My only complaint would be the crank length - For me they’re too long, but obviously that’s your call.
When I was looking to buy, both it and the ‘29" Nimbus MUni’ were on sale and were about the same price, and I hear Nimbus’ are bombproof, so maybe that’s an option if you want something more solid, but I swayed more towards the Qu-Ax because the nimbus was sold out, and I liked the colour scheme
As I know, Qu-Ax allways had two product lines on offroad unicycles: Muni and Cross. Munis were made for downhill and all the other hard stuff, Cross were made for CrossCountry and mountain unicycling for not so heavy riders.
The main differences allways were:
Muni: yellow hub (hardenend, very strong) and Magura mounts
Cross: red hub (also strong but not as strong as the yellow one), no brake mounts
Muni were the hardcore/ high-end munis and Cross were the ligt/ economy models. After introducing the QX-series as their new high-end product line they began to mix up ans phase out the Cross. Now they are all called Muni, but the 20" and 29" have the red hub and 19", 24" and 26" have the yellow hub. If it has brakes seems to depend on when it was produced. A friend of mine just bougth the 20" Muni, which has brake mounts on photos but had non when it arrived. So just ask your dealer which version they have in stock.
Lots of people told me when I got the uni that the cranks aren’t anything special and to keep my eye on them, but they’ve stood up to the none-extreme riding I do (And the very occasional extreme riding :D) My only complaint would be the crank length - For me they’re too long, but obviously that’s your call.