The question on wheel size you already answered by yourself. Reason is the MTB standard with it high No. of different 27,5 plus tires. So KH and Quax discontinued 26 inch. Nimbus and m4o still offer 26. There is nothing wrong with this size, plenty of std size tires and even plus size tires are increasing. If you are purely into commuting a longer distance in a crowded city, I would probably go for a 29. However if its mainly Muni, why not the 26 if the deal is good.
As for the saddles: I can not comment on the KH one. However use the Nimbus stadium on my Muni and 36. It has low curve and is quite firm. I use it with the nose raised up and sit with my sitbones on the flat back part. That works fine for my ar… I also use the Nimbus flat (the new one with the same base as the Stadium) on my freestyle uni. That saddle is even harder than the Stadium and I would not use it for distance or Muni. But again, this is just my backside
As others commented: First try to optimize saddle position with the saddle you have, before spending money on a new one.
Best idea: don’t overspend (time and money) at the moment. Just ride and get to know the uni better, to know how you deal with it and how you progress. It’s too easy to get distracted into making/buying different equipment where the only thing that matters is practice practice practice.
Agree with kunstrasen, for what you describe, a 29" with a 3.0" tire (Surly Knard or alike) and not too short cranks (137mm) would be best for that kind of commute/city muni.
You may need to wear cycling shorts for a while. Also, it’s typical for novice riders to expend a lot of energy while riding. You might be sweating after your commute. But, as you learn to adjust yourself on the seat (+1 for bar ends) and become more efficient, I imagine you’ll achieve your simplicity vibe.
Now that you can ride a mile without dismount, maybe you can temporarily stop focusing on distance, take shorter rides with controlled mounts and dismounts, practice skills. Just to let the chafing heal a little bit…
26” is good because there is a huge selection of tires, but I agree with the others who have recommended a 29” wheel for the commute that Scoox describes.
I have never owned biker shorts, and have only gotten chafing on my inner thighs when I had an absolutely horrific Savage seat with metal bumpers on it that were scratched and bent outwards from falls on concrete, though actually the vinyl parts of that seat often inflicted more pain than the scratched metal. The seats on both my current unis, as I mentioned, are some sort of KH/Nimbus thing from about 4-5 years ago, and they are good, but I just wanted to add here that even my cheap starter uni was comfortable enough once I put a Viscount seat on it. I don’t know if this brand is available anymore, and it was just a simple seat, not much good for hopping because of the tiny saddle horn, but more than once I used it to go for rides of several miles on a 20” wheel, and I never had any chafing problems.
My point is just that a state-of-the-art saddle is not necessarily the only thing that will work. Some saddles are totally unacceptable and should not be used at all, but beyond that, there is a pretty big variety that are OK. I sometimes go for rides of several miles on a Schwinn 24. It’s slightly less comfortable than my Nimbus/KH seats, and doesn’t feel as sturdy when I hop, but it is 100% ridable.
Just want to add weight to the suggestion of a 29” wheel. Less tiring, faster and still very maneuverable. Personally I won’t go with something smaller for what you aim to use it for.
I’d also go with cranks that are on the shorter side. Easier to maintain a high cadence. I have 125mm on mine and feel that I still have good control and can get up steep hills when I need to. 137mm might work better for you though, if there are lots of people/obstacles, as you would have more control.
It’s way more easy than that! Remove staples, remove cover, remove foam (it could be glued or sort of, but use a knife and there won’t be any problem that a cover wouldn’t hide when you’ll glue it again), boil the base, mould it the way you want, put a carboard on the foam and cut the same shape, take a foam that you like (was difficult to cut a kh and obtain a perfect work!) that is firm and easy to mod and cut the shape you desire (add a deep cutaway!). Than glue or used double sided sticky tape to fix the foam on the base. Apply cover. Apply staples stretching the cover a bit. It’s more difficult to write than to do. You just need to try to understand how it is easy!
Hey guys, thanks for all the great advice, I really appreciate it.
Two days ago I tried adding 2mm worth of shims to bring the front of the saddle up and the rear down a bit. I’m not sure whether this has helped, because it has resulted in the front coming up and back a bit (simple geometry), which means it’s now a little closer to the jewels, and since there’s still a bit of sliding forward, it hasn’t really helped. However, this has revealed a couple of things:
1. I think the problem is not the angle so much as the saddle curvature. A flatter saddle is naturally roomier regardless of tilt. A perfectly flat saddle would provide infinite room. Boiling the saddle is the next thing I might try.
2. I’ve ordered a pair of cycling shorts which should arrive today. I realised some of the discomfort was caused by the skin not gliding smoothly over the saddle, which is one of the problems cycling shorts are supposed to solve. It’s not so much the padding in the shorts that helps, but the low friction. When wearing regular cotton shorts, which can get very moist, the skin is unable to move freely relative to the saddle, which results in chafing. Will report later.
Unfortunately it’ll be raining cats and dogs till tomorrow so I will only be able to test in the corridor.
PS: I also tried making a kind of like a wedge out of a piece of EVA foam, which I sanded down to fit my saddle, but it’s too dense and didn’t really help at all.
If your goal is trips of up to 10 miles, doing that on a 20” will be uncomfortable no matter what you do with the seat! You already ride well enough that if you had a 29” unicycle, you could start using it for those trips right now, and chances are it would come with a comfortable seat. The Nimbus 29" road unicycle seems to be sort of the standard road uni these days. The only thing I don’t like about mine is that the fork has a rounded crown, but that’s only a problem because of my interest in one-footed and gliding skills. For regular riding on city streets, the Nimbus 29 is perfect. I have used it for many 20-mile trips in cotton shorts and didn’t have any problem with chafing.
Just something to keep in mind if you get tired of tinkering with seat foam and have the money and the space for another unicycle. No matter what, though, it’s good to have a decent 20” for learning new skills, so you will probably want to fix or replace that seat. I actually ride my 20" more often than my 29" because it is more interesting, and also because commuting by unicycle has not been an option for me thus far, due to various combinations of distance, traffic conditions, logistics and concerns about what the bosses might do if they found out.
A long time ago, unicycles didn’t have grab handles. The purpose of the seat was to maintain a good connection with the rider, and the designers accomplished that by making the saddle really curvy. Now that riding styles have changed, the saddle designers are slowly catching up. I think the saddles for sale nowadays are, on average, less scooped than the ones sold in the past. My Nimbus Equinox is 4 years old. It came with a Nimbus “Street” saddle, which I don’t think is even sold any more. It is much more scooped than any of my other saddles. Anyhow, I recently changed the saddle to an Impact Naomi, which has a flatter profile.
I am not sure why Nimbus named its Stadium saddle thusly, but I think it’s because it rises around the side and back edges (like a stadium), and it is recessed (or it has softer, more compliant material) in the center. I have been pretty comfortable going on long rides with the Stadium. I think my weight is mostly distributed across a horseshoe shaped area around the back rim of the Stadium. This spreads out the distribution of weight, while still using a relatively small amount of surface area. And because the rim of the Stadium is raised, there’s less smashing of the stuff in the middle (refer to the frowning cartoon images in your last post). If I had to redesign the stadium, I’d exaggerate its chacteristics, by raising/hardening/fortifying the outer rim … and making the center even more recessed/softer.
I’ve seen some interesting threads about saddle mods. If you haven’t done so already, definitely search for them. Good luck!
The Stadium saddle is named that because it has a stadium shaped cutout in the middle. A stadium is a two-dimensional geometric shape constructed of a rectangle with semicircles at a pair of opposite sides. Alternative names include discorectangle and obround.
The Stadium saddle seems kind of square to me. I would like to see saddles made that were easier for owners to modify themselves. They can be opened up but staples and a glued on covers are a pain. It is clear that one size does not fit all riders and many could use a little tweaking to make the best fit.
Jim
Thanks for all the replies. Received two pairs of cycling shorts, L and XL for testing. Couldn’t make up my mind as to which one would be better so I decided to keep them both and test, as they weren’t too expensive. They definitely increased comfort—today I was able to ride for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Whilst there was still some discomfort down there, it was considerably better.
My practise session today involved riding around a 800m, basically going around my block which is surrounded by a nice and wide pedestrian area. This involved wide turning which, with a bit of practice, got to the point where I could consistently make a 5m radius turn. Sharp turns still feel very sketchy, although I was able to steer around people without hurting anyone.
Riding efficiency has improved a bit, it feels less tiring now. Placing my weight on the saddle instantly allows for a more relaxed ride, thanks to the cycling shorts.
The whole thing is ridiculously addictive. After the ride I was sweating like a dog and took a shower. Then decided I was thirsty and fancied a nice watermelon so I rode my uni to the fruit shop. The shop staff were all very interested in the unicycle and asked me if I could ride it back whilst carrying the watermelon, to which I said ‘probably not’, but then I proved myself wrong: rode back with the watermelon in my right hand (in a carrier bag) with only one UPD!
UDC China told me this morning that the KH27.5 will be on sale next week, same price as the KH26 at the moment. That is a very good deal. It’s the old model with HS33 brake mounts, I assume everything else is the same as the latest model (correct me if I’m wrong). But based on your replies the KH29 would fit my needs better. I know a one-size-fits-all unicycle doesn’t exist, but neither do I want to own one of every possible wheel size because my flat is very small. 20, 27.5 (or 29), and eventually 36 should cover most riding scenarios for me. The dilemma now is 27.5 or 29. I’ll ask if the 29er is also going to be on sale, in which case I’m just going to go mad.
They need to be fairly snug to hold everything in place. Shorts are fine for ordinary riding but I only really sorted it when I got bibshorts. The over the shoulder construction reliably keeps it all up out of the way. I wear cotton shorts over the lycra and use braces on them too. It is not good when you are pushing hard out of the saddle on a hill and you cannot sit down again.
Focus on leaning the uni. Your body will counterlean to stay over the contact point. Avoid slowing or it can be hard to pull put of the turn. Drive into the turn. There are some points in the rotation where going into a turn works best. It is about working with the way the wheel has a tendency to wobble at certain points in the rotation when pushing hard.
Later you will lean your body into the turn as well. Ultimately there is a controlled “high side” where you get back up by turning harder.
That is a good sign. It feels like magic for quite a while. As the riding magic wears off you will be distracted doing things that you never expected to be in your capability. Then one day you will realise you have not touched a bike in months and n+1 unis syndrome sets in. (n is the number of unis you have and n+1 is how many you need.)
Enjoy this while you can. I actually miss the intensity now. Even though I ride big wheels up steep hills it doesn’t produce that level of exertion any more partly through efficiency and partly fitness. I think it is part of why so many of us turn to muni at some point.
In the phase you are in now, it really surprising how quickly what seems impossible becomes routine. I remember a patchwork section of concrete I named “Impossible Driveway”. I encountered it when my rides first reached over two kilometres from my house. Three rides later and I just rode across, rarely failing after that. I was actually quite sad when they reconstructed it a couple of years later.
BTW I’ve ended up ordering myself a KH 27.5, the deal was very good. After doing a bit of math this wheel size probably will be more manoeuvrable whilst still allowing me to travel at light jogging speed which is decent.
I’m infinitely glad I got the cheap 20er because I’m going to use it to encourage my friends to get into unicycling, by letting them try it. I’ve found most people are reluctant to spend money on what they consider to be a pointless toy but a great number of them are willing to have a go on my uni because there is nothing to risk other than a bit of time and a scuffs or two. A quick-release seatpost clamp could be a useful investment here.
Regarding the sweating, I look forward to not sweating—that’s when unicycling becomes a practical means of transport for me.
Yeah, selling my learner uni was definitely a mistake. Once I had replaced the seat and some other parts, it was quite ridable, and there is almost always someone I want to lend a unicycle to.
The only KH 27.5 I ever rode was some sort of muni monstrosity. It had a disk brake, some little handlebars, a tire that was at least 3" and cranks that were maybe 165 mm. Commuting on that thing would have been possible but not ideal, though it would have been very nice if your commute included a stairway.
I’m not sure it’ll ever happen. It’s the nature of the machine, you spin fast enough to put your body in cool down mode. Most uni-commuters on this forum do it because they have a shower at work. It’s like roller skating, no matter how good you are, you’ll be sweating. You can end up sweating less, but it’s nothing like a bike where you can actually commute at a decent pace with hardly any sweat.
I think that depends on your idea of a decent pace. I’ve been commuting daily on my 36er for a good number of years now and I’ve rarely had/required a shower when arriving at work. I tend to average around 11mph.
I agree - it also depends on how far you’re going. Not that I’ve ever done a proper commute on a uni, but I did go into my kids’ school to work after riding a mile on my uni, and that certainly changed from having an issue with being sweaty to it being a non-issue. I also regularly use my uni for transport for much longer distances than that without any problems. IME it genuinely does reach a point where it requires no more effort than walking (but you’re going a lot faster). Though I can also roller skate at a similar speed without putting much effort in
I like your illustrations with the sad and happy balls. I’m not going to ask what that big yellow thing is…
I was sweating like that today too, on a very early ride! Supposed to get up to 105/40.5. With much effort will come much sweat, which definitely means you sweat more as a beginner. As things get easier, you can accomplish the same riding with less effort. But if the heat and humidity go up, especially if the ride involves lots of uphill, it can be hard to avoid sweating.
Unless you’re a dog. Dogs don’t have pores in their skin; that’s what the oversized tongue and all that panting is about.
