I run a Sun Ringle MTX33 which is a nice medium width rim and pretty light, it would suite 2" road tyre nicely
I have a oracle hub on mine as well
Fiesty: I see you have a mountain bike tire on there. What width is that tire? Why did you go with the narrower rim? Do you swap out a road tire?
As far as getting the wheel built, I guess I would need to order all parts from UDC and the rim from elsewhere and have it built at an LBS?
How does this rim compare against the velocity?
I’m glad you picked up on this thread. I read your posts in the other thread and I thought about posting there too but I figured you’d probably see this one when I bumped it.
Like davidp said, most any MTB rim would probably be suitable. In the size range I mentioned you have the Dyad (24mm), Sun Ryno Lite (27.4mm) and Rhyno Lite XL (29.2mm), Sun MTX 31 or the 33 that Feisty uses, on up to a Salsa Gordo (35mm). There are many other rims available that would work. Even in this size range a wider rim will give you more tire spread. I read on another forum that a 2.0 Marathon Supreme measured 44mm wide on a Dyad and 48mm wide on a Gordo. I measured 46mm wide, with the same model tire, on a Rhyno Lite. I would expect the same results with the BA 2.0 and the same general benefit from a wider rim; comparable stability at slightly lower pressures.
UDC still carries the KH XC rim that I previously linked. At 38mm wide (probably 31 to 33mm inside width) it is still a little bigger than ETRTO guidelines. But it is still closer than the 42mm rim, and much closer than the 47mm rim. It probably does ok with a 2 inch tire at 45-55 psi as opposed to the 70psi blow offs mentioned previously. I found another thread from 2009 about a BA 2.0 tire blowing off a KH rim. He mentions, at the end of the thread, that Schwalbe replaced his BA 2.0 with a 2.35 and told him that the rim was too big for a two inch tire. It doesn’t say which KH rim he was using so I sent the OP of that thead a PM asking about it. I am very curious to find out if it was the 38mm XC rim though I suspect it was the Freeride.
The 2009 thread I mentioned also brings up the fact, and I have read this elsewhere, that blowing a tire off the rim may damage the tire. This can make it more prone to blowing off, even at lower pressures than the original failure. If the tire always starts slipping in the same place it may be correctable with a little rim cement. I might also be corrected by moving the tire to a narrower rim.
As far as having UDC build your wheel… Call and talk to someone in the service department. Ask if you could drop ship a rim directly to them and then buy the remaining parts and the build from them. I am pretty sure they do custom work, Nurse Ben’s 32" wheel was built by UDC on a rim that he provided.
I built a new 700c wheel for my kh 29er, and it has become one of my very favorite unicycles! I use it for steep road climbing only, and it weighs in at a scant 11.5 pounds! I used the Velocity Dyad rim and resist nomad tire. It’s the perfect combination.
I run a resist nomad (700x45) on a kh xc 38mm rim. It works great. I don’t run really high pressure, only 45-50 psi. I have hundreds of miles with no problems so far. It does crown a bit but nothing unmanagable. I haven’t tried any of the schwalbe tires so I have little to compare it with other than a kenda small block 8 I used to ride on the road. The nomad seems to be a great uni tire, I’m surprised it doesn’t get more mention. Resist is an awful name for a tire company though.
I just ordered the Schwalbe “Big Ben” from Rivendell - click the link to read their description and review:
http://www.rivbike.com/product-p/tben.htm
I’ll post a review!
Great info- thanks for posting it!
Well I’ve replaced the tube and super-carefully mounted the tire and inflated, this time only to 55psi (max rating 70 on the BA 29x2.0). Rode 8 miles yesterday without any problems but I have to say I am a little paranoid that it’s going to blow at an inopportune time (not sure what an opportune time would be), and also paranoid about rim damage and self damage that might happen. I guess I might try the 29x2.15 if I have another blowout, but keeping my fingers crossed.
There really are not many wide road tires at the 29" size!
So I heard back from the OP of that 2009 thread, wdunicyclist. He said that he was running the 38mm wide KH XC rim (D’Oh!) and he had the tire at 65psi. He also suggested the DT Swiss TK540, a heavy touring/e-bike rim, as a good choice for a 700c commuter.
Looking forward to your review. Are you getting the 50mm or the 55mm and what rim do you have?
Thanks for all of the great info here and in subsequent posts. I’ve been doing okay so far (10 miles anyway) with the BA 29x2.0 on my 42mm Oracle rim with it inflated to 55psi. Another blow-off the rim and I will try the 2.15" width which would be cheaper than building a new rim. I guess the fundamental issue is a good wide street slick 29" tire is not a tire that there is a big market for.
Maxxis Torch 29 X 2.10
I recently put a road tyre on my KH29 which I had bought second hand with an off road tyre. The rim is 38 mm wide (outside). The tyre I chose is not mentioned in the same page as unicycle anywhere on the Internet let alone this site.
I have now covered about 50 km on the Maxxis Torch 29 X 2.10. The version I bought has a wire bead and weighs 770 grams but I can’t find that exact model on the Maxxis site.
I don’t know how well it would go on a wider rim but I love it on mine.
It is a very easy tyre to fit. No force required to get the bead over the rim. Indeed it tended to fall off the rim until there was bit of pressure in it.
Riding away, the immediate impression is its incredibly low rolling resistance probably mainly due to a hard straight centre section of tread about 14 mm wide. I know that many uni riders are suspicious of tyres with longitudinal changes of tread but there is no problem at all with the Torch. The transition onto the side treads in a lean is completely smooth.
The quality of the ride is also quickly evident. I started with it at 50 psi and have dropped to about 45 psi. (I am about 85kg.) It responds very precisely and predictably to direction changes with no sign of squish.
The grip on hard surfaces is excellent and held on through anything I could manage to ride, though I have yet to try it in the wet. I was also surprised by how stable it remains while traversing road discontinuities at acute angles. Many tyres will noticeably jump in such circumstances.
Most of my riding experience has been on a KH 26 with a 48 mm wide (outside) rim sporting a Maxxis DTH 26 x 2.15 tyre. The 29 with the Torch is even less prone to road crown than that uni. Perhaps it is the narrower rim?
While taking it on the first test ride, looking for some different surfaces and not really paying attention to where I was, I suddenly found myself on Barnby Street, Murwillumbah, crossing the top of William Street which meets it at a 24 percent grade. Had I anticipated it, I would certainly have stayed near the middle of the road well away from the slope. Hard to say the actual camber angle on the line I took but it is definitely generous as it transitions immediately to the 24 percent slope. Realising that if I panicked, I could easily end up heading down the steep hill and falling to the low side I kept my focus and crossed. It is a test I probably wouldn’t choose to repeat but I am very impressed by this tyre’s performance on camber.
If you like riding your 29 fast on the road with lightweight tyres then give the Maxxis Torch a try. I doubt you will find a faster tyre both from its low rolling resistance and excellent ride.
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Found out the hard way that the Maxxis Torch has no grip through fine waterlogged silt on concrete. To be fair I think any tyre would have slipped out under the circumstance.
Riding in cruise mode, not paying attention. At night, in the shadow of the bridge, should have had the high beam on a higher setting and definitely should not have been doing 12 kph when I hit the flick in the path. Forgot about the rain the previous night.
Straight down onto my hip. The bruise was big and very colourful. Really glad of my thick hip pads.
I have put the pressure up to 55 psi because I realised it was buckling a bit under heavy torque and I was losing some control and feel.
Rolling even faster and the ride is still great.
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Where do you get hip pads and what do they look like. That would be much better for me than shin guards, which I don’t wear. I only do a helmet and wrist guards. The wrist guards have saved me many times. The helmet never.
I cut 20 cm (8") squares of 25 mm (1") thickness high density closed cell foam and put them in calico coin bags. They go inside my outer shorts which I wear over my bike shorts. I fold the top of the bag over the waistband and my shirt goes over the outside.
The closed cell foam doesn’t absorb water so they can go straight in the washing machine still in the coin bags.
I cut the pieces of foam from a roll I bought at the tip shop for $5. They retain a bit of the curvature from the roll so conform to the curve of my leg perfectly.
I made them after falling from my 24 and having a sore hip for over two months.
After this last incident I am going to make a a new set that extend further down the leg. Most of the bruising was below the pad but it prevented what would have definitely been major damage to my hip.
If I’m doing a muni ride which I know will test my technical ability I wear a pair of snowboard under shorts I got on Amazon. They have padding on the hips and tail bone. I once fell off the back of my mtb looping out on a wheelie and bruised my tail bone so it’s reassuring to have that little bit of foam at the bottom of my spine! Fox do an mtb version of the same thing.
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I know people who wear these, and like them. (You wear them under your regular riding pants.)
Thanks for posting that. They look interesting but only 8mm padding. I still hurt enough after my fall with 25 mm. Also they don’t appear to go far down the thigh. Mine went further than that and were still not enough.
Certainly has given me some great ideas for my next home made protection.
Motorcycle racers have inflatable air bags built into their leathers. Would be nice but I imagine that doesn’t come cheap. They sweat pretty heavily in their gear because, even though they are not pedaling, it is incredibly physical to jump all over the bike hundreds of times in a race like they do.
Otherwise, you have the G-Form version:
http://g-form.com/en/pro-x-compression-shorts-374.html
I don’t know how thick it is but it will absorb most of the impact for sure !
Special thanks to UniDreamerFR for unearthing this thread on the French forum.
It’s true that I had never heard about this tire before, and it seems pretty great for urban/road riding. Strange that no one except OneTrackMind mentioned it, no one out there rides with this tire?
OTM, are you still happy with it? It’s still in your signature, so I assume you’re still using it.
There seem to be too version available for sale. One is a 60tpi and the other a 120tpi. The 120 tpi is called Silk-something and apparently, it has an extra anti-puncture layer and is made of tri-density rubber as opposed to regular rubber - which would explain why it’s 10€ more expensive.
Which one would be the best for a uni? I’m not familiar with how tpi influences a tire, especially one that is rated 50psi.
Same with the Maxxis Drop The Hammer (DTH) that I use on the 24 and 26 inch unis. Nobody else seems to have mentioned them on unis. The 24 x 1.75 version makes for a fantastically responsive uni.
I have done around 1000 km on the Torch and I am still very happy with it. I did eventually manage to make it slide out when taking on a small step at the toe of kerb ramp at a ridiculously acute angle but it is a remarkably stable and tolerant tyre.
I am pretty sure mine is 60 tpi version. I am running it at 55 psi and I thought it was rated at 65 psi. The pressure needs to be high to stop it buckling under heavy loads when climbing steep hills because the sidewall is so flexible.
The 120 tpi Silkworm technology is used on the DTH and I would probably pay the extra to try it if I could get it in a 29 inch Torch in Australia. I have had one puncture in the Torch. Whatever it was it was quite large and made a hole then came back out.
I think the higher tpi would be more flexible which I believe is important in minimising the camber thrust. The DTH 24 with 120 tpi is quite remarkable with very little effect from camber but then it is a smaller diameter narrow tyre so I don’t know how much the difference the finer fabric really makes.
I don’t think either the torch or the DTH would do anything like the mileage of the more robust tyres most riders use but the performance is great.
Have you got some pics of you 29er with this tire?
It’s very strange that you are the only unicyclist in this forum using it and talking about it, a Maxxis light 29er tire that seams almost as promising as a suprem marathon but not being a Schwalbe road tire (so, in theory less prone to tire explosion at high PSI on one of the 3 usual unicycle rims :kh freeride, kh xc, Nimbus Dominator2)
By the way, few days ago I tried to put my Schwalbe super moto on my G29 that has the 47mm freeride rim, inflated it (nervously) at 44 PSI, and 30 min later it exploded in an enormous “BANG” letting me with tinnitus for days.
This never happened on my 42mm Nimbus Dominator2 rim.
So I’m a bit paranoid now putting anything else than my Knard (30-35 PSI max recommended) at high PSI on this 47mm rim, but I’d be really interested to test this Torch, I’m just not sure enough that it would fit the Freeride rim without any explosion risk, let appart the fact that kh rim strip doesn’t seam very adapted to high PSI (like 65PSI), especially with the enormous holes that are behind it, you see what I mean? it’s nearly like you can see the tube through the rim… 
Has anyone ever put a Maxxis 2.0-2.2 tire on a 29" 47mm kh freeride RIM, inflated at 65 PSI without any issue?