I’m looking for feedback from you intermediate and expert unicyclists on the board…
I’m still a relative Newbie to unicycling. My first uni, the one I learned to ride on, was a crappy $50 one which began to break apart after six weeks. During my learning phase, I admired and envied the wide wheels and rugged durability of other unicycles I saw. I knew these ‘cycles were intended for Trials and Muni riding, but I had also seen instructors on YouTube and people in our local unicycling club using them on pavement, for everyday street riding. So, since it had come time to buy a new uni, and since I envied those fat (phat!) wheels, I ordered the Torker Unistar DX, with a 24” wheel. It should arrive this evening. But now I’m second-guessing myself.
Is this a reasonable purchase to have made, when I have NO intention of doing Trials or Muni riding, but only plan on riding this DX around my neighborhood and in parks, maybe run some errands on it, and nothing more hardcore than that? Can you use a Trials/Muni unicycle for everyday street riding, and if not, why not? After my experience with the cheapo model breaking apart, I was looking to buy something rugged and durable which would last…. but do you think I went too far?
Your choice is reasonable. It is a very rugged uni. A trial or muni is OK for just riding around and learning. Yes, maybe it is stronger then you need, who cares.
If you want more speed later, you can always change to a road tire and short cranks and you will have a very strong road uni.
With the right crank size a 24 muni can be fun. But you should learn hopping and rolling hops, because it’s fun to hop off of things, like curbs without stopping. If you have absolutely no intention of ever doing that and if you keep your cranks at 150mm range (not sure what comes with it stock), then it’s not really an appropriate unicycle for street riding. You may as well get a freestyle 24 or a road 26 or 29.
I use my 24 muni for playing around with distances up to about a mile. Then it’s the 36. I run 137mm cranks on my 24, but if you were just on the road, you could run shorter.
At 15.2 lbs/ 6.9 kg it is a very heavy uni. It certainly won’t break with the work you intend for it.
Fat tyres are the suspension that allows you to bounce and drop in trials but they sap a lot more energy from the roll. Of course you can ride it on the street too but a thin road tyre is much better for cruising.
However thin tyres are next to useless on the grass. You will be able to ride your DX pretty much anywhere in the park but you will be working harder than you would have otherwise needed on hard surfaces.
Besides you might find yourself tempted to try a little drop here and there and who knows, you might find you like it.
Very few unicyclists only own one uni. You will get your road one next.
Thanks for the input thus far. I intend on keeping it. (It may have already arrived at my house; I’m at work and haven’t checked the UPS tracking number in, like, 20 minutes! )
I expect I’ll probably hop up and drop off curbs periodically, and riding along the downtown city sidewalks near my office you’d be surprised at the rough textures I’ll be rolling over. It could come in handy.
I understand the cranks are probably too long for going great distances, but hey, at least I went with a 24" wheel and not a 20"!
And yes, few people have just one unicycle. You’re right: next up may be a good road 'cycle. Maybe a 36"!
They listed it as being just 12 pounds on Amazon, and the whole package - unicycle, box, packing material - as 13 pounds. I’ll see.
I saw it as 15.2 lbs here but it did sound like a lot. I know the DX has a reputation for being built like a tank.
One drawback of a heavy tyre is the slow acceleration due to the inertia. It is harder to take off, especiallyuphill and harder to pedal out of a pending overturn when you hit a bump.
I put a Maxxis DTH on my 24 inch road uni. It only weighs 375 grams which is less than half the weight of the Kenda it came with. It made a huge difference.
Yikes! I assembled it and rode for an hour. This is too much unicycle for me! Tank is right.
I appreciate the very sturdy construction, but now I’m thinking that would be common to all Torker models, not just their Muni. My search for something sturdy, following my experience with a breakable piece of poop, caused me to go overboard. I should’ve just got an LX, or the Nimbus Freestyle I’d been eyeing.
Anyone interested in a brand new 24" Torker Unistar DX, barely ridden? Now taking offers, trades.
That’s on the agenda today: checking the warranty for returns policy. Without a manufacturer’s defect, and with it assembled and slightly used, I might be SOL. Maybe not. I’ll be checking.
I don’t know if I would throw in the towel just yet. I haven’t looked at the specs on the current DX, but i feel safe in saying that the tire it comes with is not good for pavement. Tires that are good for MUni, are generally dogs on the road. It could very well be that the uni you have is good for what you want to do, and that it just has the wrong tire. I know it’s more money to spend right away. It is probably the single thing that you could change to make the most difference in the ride. That and maybe a shorter set of cranks (but that can come later).
Anton005 posted yesterday that he has a Felt Berm Master tire that he’d sell for $10+shipping. That could be the cheapest way to get a tire more appropriate for your riding. It’s still a 3" tire, but it rolls really well on pavement, and it still gives the bounce you’ll want when you start hopping, and jumping. Personally, I think it’s the perfect beginner MUni tire since it handles any terrain pretty well. Since it is a 3" tire it has the diameter of a standard 26er, but better cushion for hops, drops, and jumps (all of which will make urban riding more fun).
I appreciate that you took the time to try to help me, but in my situation why would I want to replace a 3" Muni tire with another 3" Muni tire? I don’t need or want “the perfect beginner Muni tire” when I won’t ever be Muni riding. I’ll be riding on pavement 98% of the time, where you say Muni tires are “dogs.”
Except that the Bern tyre is not exactly a muni tyre. Originally, it’s a retro cruiser tyre. But it’s much lighter than a muni tyre, and it handles pavement really well. And you still get to have the bounce.
A bit of searching on this forum and you’ll find reviews of it.
For $10, it’s worth a shot if the shop won’t take it back at 0 cost.
I get that it seems like a lot of money. Your 300 bucks isn’t wasted, the strength and quality of frame and other parts makes a difference in overall uni performance. The cost of a 24 inch road/freestyle tire is only around $20-$30, possibly cheaper if you can find one on sale. You can’t even go out for a decent meal and not pay that much… The tire will last you years
Also the DX will keep a much higher resale value, in two or three years you could sell it for twice or more what an LX would sell for.
PS: I wouldn’t suggest the tire I have, it still is pretty heavy and wouldn’t get you the feel your looking for.
Yeah the Berm Master is still a 3" tire, but as was said it isn’t technically a MUni tire. Anyway, the CST Cyclops 24x2.4 gets good reviews as a Hookworm replacement, and it is for the kind of riding you are planning. Not expensive either
I would also add, that for $300 you got a great uni, and that the right tire will make it what you want. The LX is a nice lightweight freestyle uni. I still recall a bunch of people with bent cranks from curb drops, and small hops. I think the DX is still a better deal, plus it has a standard seat/post interface and a nicer saddle to start. For all of the upgrades on the DX it is worth a little money on a better tire.
Good posts, re: the tire change idea. Thanks, guys. Something to think about.
I’ll essentially end up with Torker-brand strength and durability in the frame/parts, but without the beastly DX tire. In a sense, almost like getting the LX after all. Better!
The generosity and comradery of the uncyclist community is unparalleled.
When I bought my 24 inch Torker LX on Gumtree, the seller mailed the uni before I had even paid.
Then I went looking for a better seat. On eBay I found a brand new Nimbus gel seat and in the same deal, a brand new 28.something seat post which was exactly I needed for my KH trials uni.
After a short conversation the seller also offered to give me a new tyre. When the package arrived it included a bonus dual bolt seat post clamp. It was perfect for my now all black 24 inch Torker/Nimbus hybrid.
There were also other trinkets, all of which I used.
I then ordered a new 25.4 seat post from UDC.au They proprietor rang me to sort out out the order and advise other details.
Being a unicylcist is like being part of a family.
As a city person, I also had no interest in muni at first. Now I hop curbs, take lots of drops and want to ride up the stairs and so on, which is really not that different from muni: it helps to have a sturdy ride, and with a fat tire. I still don’t need or want tread, but otherwise muni is far closer to my riding style than I would have thought, so don’t worry about having a beefy unicycle, you will grow into it very quickly.
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