Racing unicycles

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Can someone help clarify the equipment for different race categories/records for me please?

The IUF records page list shows that the marathon standard record was set on a 29" with 75mm cranks. I thought standard was a 24" (or 618mm) with 125mm cranks?

In races are there different categories depending on the uni used? Does standard just mean ungeared rather than relating to wheel or crank sizes?

Then again the same record page doesn’t show sizes for track records, are they all set on 24"/125mm?

I am considering attending unicon next year and wondering what I should aim for in terms of speed on a given unicycle so as to not embarrass myself being left way behind :rofl:

2

Everything should be in the official rulebook:

It doesn’t seem to appear directly on the IUF website. Quite strange!

Anyway, here are the answer to your questions:

Standard is a confusing term. Depending on the competition, it doesn’t mean the same thing. It is better to talk about classes - e.g. 24 class or 29 class.

For Unicon, if a 10 km race is organized, it must have two categories: 24 Class (including
20 Class for riders under 11 years old) and Unlimited Class. For conventions other than
Unicon, this is recommended.
For Unicon, if a 42.195 km race and/or a 100 km race is organized, it must have two
categories: 29 Class and Unlimited Class. For other conventions than Unicon, this is
recommended.
Using 24 Class and smaller wheels is not allowed in races longer than 20km without
express permission of the racing director. The following chart defines the unicycle size
limitations.

Unicycle Class Diameter Range Min Crank Length Transmission
16 Class 0 to 418mm 89mm regular
20 Class more than 418mm to 518mm 100mm regular
24 Class more than 518mm to 618mm 125mm regular
29 Class more than 618mm to 778mm No limit regular
Unlimited Class No limit No limit unlimited

Track races should be raced on unicycles in the 20 or the 24 class. Please note these unis should be ungeared and fixed - i.e., a freewheel is always in the Unlimited class.

3

Thanks, I’m glad it wasn’t just me missing the rulebook on the website!

It also explains why it’s just the marathon standard record that says it was set on a 29!

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4

It’s here: https://unicycling.org/publications/

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5

Seems I just didn’t look hard enough :joy: thanks!

6

In terms of the actual unicycle, if I were thinking of racing the 24" class. Is there much difference between a 24x2 compared to, for example, the mad4one uni with the 26x1 tyre? I’ve never ridden a tyre that narrow!

There are other differences of course, the m4o uses a narrower hub for instance. Does it feel much different to ride?

7

Oh boy don’t ask such questions, a racer 24" is not one I have yet and I just bought a 24" muni. I have no more space for all those unicycles.

Though when looking at this race for instance, it doesn’t matter so much what tire you have:

The fatter tire won in this case. It just depends on how trained and in control the rider is in order to win. I have the 24x2 tire on my road 24" uni. It is already quite a difference in friction compared to the municycles. I could imagine that a 26x1 has even less friction.

8

That’s pretty much what I thought, as with most things unicycle. The rider matters more than the equipment! But I’m curious. I also kinda think the narrow tyre might be more twitchy and less stable, making it harder to control but faster and more reactive if you have the skill to keep it under control. I’ve ordered a nice slick 2" tyre for my oracle 24 though, so I’ll see how that feels first!

9

If you are going to compete in track events, you have to race in the 24" class.
You may choose between the 24" class and Unlimited class for the 10k race only.

Yes, the difference is significant. Let’s break it down:

Actual Wheel Size

A typical 24x2" wheel has a diameter of 600–605 mm. The Mad4One (and similar track unicycles) 26x1" wheel has a diameter of almost exactly 618 mm. That translates to about a 5–6 cm (2"+) difference in distance per wheel revolution.

For perspective:
In an IUF Slalom race, a skilled rider on a Nimbus 24" rim with a Kenda 1.95" tire takes 44 wheel revolutions. The same rider on a Mad4One Race ISIS 26" (24" IUF) with a Schwalbe RightRun 26x1" tire takes only 42 revolutions. IUF Slalom is about 80m long.
These are not theoretical calculations — I actually counted them.

Switching from a 24x2 to a 26x1 gave my athlete an average improvement of 1 second.
Did it help him win an Expert Unicon medal? No, but it got him into the top 20.

You can do the math to estimate the difference in wheel revolutions over an 800m race or even a 10k event.

Tire Width

Narrow tires are more difficult to control — especially when staying within a lane.
We often debate whether to use a 24x2 or a 26x1 for more technical races, such as the one-footed event.

Narrow Hub and Slim Cranks

There are mechanical advantages to having a small Q-factor on the track.
Mad4One is pretty picky about this, and you should go with them if you want to get that advantage.

That said, the narrow hub doesn’t make as much of a difference as the 618 mm vs. 600 mm wheel diameter — and you need the skill to really benefit from it.

Should you buy a 26x1?

I don’t know. If you’re competing for a medal, you probably should.
But keep in mind: you might need to bring both your 24x2 and 26x1 to Unicon.
Do you have that option?

My Mad4One Race only gets assembled for 1–2 months each year, shortly before competitions. I do travel with two 24" class unicycles, and no larger-size wheels, thus limiting road distance options.

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10

This is not a Unicon race. AJ, the winner of this race, would not have made it to the top 20 in Bemidji last year. Moreover, 17 female riders finished with better times there. At lower levels of competition, factors like wheel size, hub width, and other optimizations don’t have as much impact. They only start to make a real difference at the highest levels of racing.

OP talked about Unicon, as far as I understand.

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11

Yes, they are. Not sure about WW, though, but it doesn’t really matter.

What distance are you targeting?
Here are the top 20 male qualification 100m rides from Bemidji:

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And here are the 100m finals:

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12

I think I would be more likely to aim at the 10km than track. I think my physique is more suited to endurance than sprinting! Although I guess training sprints is useful for improving speed over longer distances too.

Your math makes for interesting reading, thank you! 2 revs less in 100m would mean 200 revs less in the 10km, that could be over a minute of difference! And even if I don’t race, the thought of it is as good a reason as any to add another uni to the collection :rofl:

I need to start timing myself properly and see where I’m really at in comparison to other riders!

Thank you.

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13

The answer by “one” was pretty good. But I would answer like this: the 26x1 track race wheel is optimized for the 618mm maximum size and allows for really high pressure of 8-9 bar like a road race bicycle tire.

But a 24 with the appropriately chosen tire can also have the optimal outer size (actually there’s a discussion currently in the rulebook rule committee because one of the few white 24" tires is too big for track).

As was said: the 24 tire of the same outer diameter will be wider and have lower tire pressure. This means a tick more rolling resistance on smooth surfaces but also better traction especially on road or uneven ssurfaces. And wheel walk is for most people more controlled on a 24 as doing wheel walk in the really narrow tire is more challenging (not that some of the best riders cannot do it well).

As an aside, just today i got home from 2 days of the Bavarian Track Race (southern Germany). I rode a 24" Nimbus E-Sport (as wheel walk is more important to me than 100/400/800m as I’m slow). Over half the unicyclists had 26x1, and I can’t think of a top rider who doesn’t.

P.S. I’m personally not good at track as I like short cranks that are not allowed: but long jump and high jump were great! I jumped my personal best in long jump (OK, only 135cm so not anything special as the top riders jumped 240-300cm, but I’m also old).

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14

The 10k is quite different from track racing, and you should think twice before buying a track unicycle for a road race.

I would say the total difference is somewhere between 200 and 300 wheel revolutions (depending on the exact uni setup), but you got the idea. This difference doesn’t necessarily translate into a speed increase, though.

When racing 100m-400m on a track, your cadence averages over 200, but only for about a minute. This is where a ~2.5% optimization (offered by the 26x1 tire) becomes critical for the top riders.

For a 10k standard race with an average cadence of 175-180, you would probably earn a medal. A track uni would allow you to slow your cadence by about 5, but you would have to deal with the added difficulty of controlling a narrow tire on a bumpy road for over 5k wheel revolutions. Not to mention the complete lack of suspension in a track uni setup.

This is where you’ll need to make your own decision. To me, it looks like riders can overcome a minor wheel size disadvantage on long rides. You can also fit a 2.125" (or even larger) tire (you’ll need to measure, as the result depends on tire brand, pattern, and pressure) on a 24" rim to eliminate the size difference.

No! I have a strong opinion that a track uni is a waste of money and space (including baggage) if you are not competing for a medal!

Here are the top 30 male results from Unicon 21 in Bemidji:

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I spoke with four of these riders about their unicycles.
Fabian rides a Mad4One Race 26 and regularly does 10k practice rides. You can follow him on Strava.
I will not name other racers due to privacy reasons.
One rider said that the Mad4One Race 26 was his worst uni purchase ever.
Another rider does 10k on a regular 24" wheel and rides track on a 26x1.
One rider does not compete for a podium and simply rides whatever unicycle he brings to the competition.

15

I second @MUCFreerider’s response, and their choice of words.
Specifically, the Mad4One Race ISIS 26” unicycle frame is over-optimized for a 618mm diameter and a 1" tire width. I cannot fit a smaller 24x1.95 Nimbus E-Sport wheel into the Mad4One Race frame — it does not fit; the tire is too wide for the frame. This frame is essentially useless for anything but racing. Confusingly, Marco markets this frame for basketball and hockey as well, but that is a different subject.

I checked my Bemidji videos. Here are the wheels used for the 10k Standard there (I may be wrong about identifying some frames, but I am confident about the wheel sizes):

1 	29:10.030 	Luis Albers 	 	 	26” Track with handlebars
2 	29:21.700 	Ken Looi
3 	29:45.350 	Fabián Reyes Toledo 	26” Track (Mad4One Race ISIS 26”)
4 	30:20.950 	Nicolas Chopiné
5 	31:39.190 	Oliver Robinson 	 	26” Track with handlebars (Mad4One Starter Race 26”)
6 	31:44.060 	Rishi Garvey Shah 	 	24” Basic UDC Club
7 	31:47.040 	Johnny Jensen
8 	33:10.250 	Domenik Altmann 	 	26” Track (Nimbus E-Sport)
9 	33:10.910 	Mathieu GOLLIET 	 	24” QuAx (2”+ tire)
10 	33:36.310 	Stefan Meier 	 	 	24” Nimbus E-Sport
11 	33:41.300 	Candido Santiago 	 	24” Nimbus E-Sport
12 	33:45.450 	HSIANG-TAI KUNG
13 	35:00.960 	Everett Robinson 	 	24” Basic UDC Club
14 	35:39.340 	Jacob Hinshaw 	 	 	24” Basic square-tapered beginner’s uni
15 	35:41.170 	Florent GOLLIET 	 	24” QuAx
16 	35:50.960 	George Carra
17 	36:41.190 	James (Jim) Sowers 	 	24” KH-24
18 	37:08.750 	Tynan Rollo 	 	 	26” Track (Nimbus E-Sport 26 Race white frame)
19 	37:12.330 	Corentin Macherel 	 	24” QuAx with apparently 2”+ tire and wide rim
20 	37:37.530 	Felix Eigemann 	 	 	26” Track (some sort of track uni, maybe Nimbus Black Witch)
21 	37:48.010 	Sébastien QUÉTARD 	 	26” Track (Nimbus E-Sport)
22 	38:42.710 	Jang Tian Shieh 	 	24” (some MUni frame)
23 	39:00.220 	Sebastien GOLLIET 	 	24” QuAx (2”+ tire)
24 	39:01.200 	Henry Bach 	 	 	 	26” Track (Mad4One Race ISIS 26”)
25 	39:07.350 	TATSUYA FUKUNAGA 	 	24”
26 	39:13.140 	Benoit LECLAND 	 	 	24” QuAx (2”+ tire)
27 	39:19.760 	Konstantin Antonov 	 	24” Nimbus E-Sport
28 	39:37.630 	Joshua Ehrlich 	 	 	24” QuAx (2”+ tire)
29 	40:45.550 	Michel Arets 	 	 	26” Track (some square-tapered chrome uni)
30 	41:17.890 	Ryan Wood 	 	 	 	26” Track (not 100% sure)
16

That’s useful information, thanks! For now I have ordered a smooth 24x2" tyre which will fit my oracle 24 and I will put some 127mm cranks on (it currently has 137mm) and see how it goes. I rarely ride muni on the 24" anyway since getting my 27.5" oracle so I may as well set it up differently. Although I guess if I were travelling the 24 with a couple of different tyres and spare cranks could be quite versatile for minimal baggage. I’m only guessing though, since I have never travelled with a uni or competed!

For training purposes, what do people do for timing? For longer distances (such as the 10km) Strava is fine, but I assume it is not accurate enough for shorter track type efforts. Do you just use a stopwatch or something else?

17

Sounds like a plan!

Let me know if you need the female results. I realized that I might have been mistaken in identifying your gender. Please also note that the next Unicon is planned to be in Europe, and I expect it to be much faster. Here are the (male) results from Grenoble (Unicon 20 in 2022):

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I sometimes use the free plan at https://raceclocker.com/.
You can create your own time trial “race” with up to 10 riders and name them, for example:
@OorWullie 1
@OorWullie 2
@OorWullie 3
and so on. You can re-use the race for your 10 rides and compare your results over time.

You can also set up a lap race if you practice on a track or loop.

18

I am male, and always have been! Thanks for checking though.

Why would it be faster in Europe than in America? I see in those tables that the Grenoble one was 31 seconds faster than Bemidji.

I’m in Scotland, and Austria is a lot easier to get to than America. Basically I would like to go just to be there, but it seems like participation is encouraged at unicon too. And having a goal is good for motivation! While I know it’s a long way off, I’m thinking about what events I might be able to participate in without holding everyone else up :rofl:

19

The 10k is dominated by European riders. While the top 3 times are comparable, as some of the top riders attend any event (Luis Albers, for example, raced the same time at both events), it seems to me that more fast riders travel to European events. Check the 30th place time for comparison, or the top 10 — depending on what you need to “not embarrass yourself by being left way behind :rofl:”

If you travel to Austria, do yourself a favour and sign up for as many events as you can.
Not just track and road, but also Hockey B/C and Basketball B are a must too!

20

Yeah OorWullie does sound a bit feminine. J/k
But what does ur username mean?