I have a 24" unicycle with what I think is a good frame, seatpost, seat etc. It is a chrome steel framed Unicycle Dot Com. I don’t know the model. The wheel is the older square taper I am pretty sure that it is nowhere near as strong as the newer ISIS offerings.
I am in the learning phase, but plan to get a mountain Uni 24" once I get better at this. So, I was wondering if it makes sense to just replace the wheelset with something stronger that a 24 x 3 Duro tire would fit on, or just buy a whole new unicycle? I am pretty sure that tire will fit on this frame.
I haven’t seen any complete wheelsets on any of the retail sites advertised.
It sounds like you’ve got a 24" Trainer. This was my first uni too. I’m not sure the Duro will fit. There may not be enough clearence between the top of the tyre and the frame crown. I’ve lent that uni to someone otherwise I’d check for you. I have the Oracle 24 and 26 myself, and recommend one of those.
That basic description could be an old Yuni, a Nimbus, Nimbus II, Nimbus MUni, or at least a couple of different freestyle/trainer models. Depending on which version you have it may have enough space for a 24x3 tire.
Also, the bearing holders were made for 40mm bearings vs. the 42mm ISIS bearings. If it has pressed bearing holders you should be able to drop an ISIS wheel in without any trouble.
If it has machined 40mm holders they won’t fit standard ISiS bearings. In this case I would recommend a new uni, and to keep the current one as a street/freestyle rig for learning skills.
I replaced the saddle with a Nimbus Gel, and replaced the tire with a high PSI 24 x 2.1. I weigh around 300, and flattened the 24 x 1.75 Kenda it came with.
Looks like an early UDC unicycle, from before they were having their own designs manufactured in Taiwan. That’s a “generic” Taiwan frame, the basic design of which predates Unicycle.com. Perfectly sturdy, but based on your other threads over the last couple of days, not what you would want for a West coast Great White North Muni. It’s a great 24" uni for “conventional” riding, learning tricks, teaching your friends on, etc.
So putting on a beefy wheelset, tire, and cranks etc. on this frame isn’t going to cut it even if the 3.0 tire fits?
I notice that the 20" KH has a much better feel to it. I wonder if there is flex in the wheelset and cranks of this unit giving that impression. Local mtn bike shop guy said the rim on it was cheap low end and not very strong. He didn’t want to jump to any conclusions on the rest of it because he did not have any unicycle experience.
The unicycle in the photos you posted isn’t worth spending any more money on, but it is definitely good enough for what you are doing right now, and it will be excellent for teaching or lending to your friends. When you start to hop or ride off of curbs, you’ll need something sturdier, but that old KH should be fine.
I have emailed them a while ago and never got a response.
I don’t see any complete wheelsets on their site, but they and other places have the parts to build wheels. I do not have wheel building skills, (will learn it eventually), and don’t want to order the wrong parts or screw up the build.
I suppose that those who want a custom wheel know what parts to get and how to build it and not want an off the shelf option.
I also have a 20" wheel with a high psi bmx tire for this frame, and going with either wheel feels vastly inferior to the KH 20. I suspect there is some flex in the cranks and wheelset causing this due to weighing close to 300 lb. As it is, I don’t even want to ride it any more, only practice on the KH.
As beefing up the wheel does not seem to be worthwhile, will probably replace both that and the old beat up KH eventually with either a brand new QU AX or Nimbus, a Trials and 24" Muni. Going with Kris Holm brand is not entirely off the table, but the drilled rims and higher price are a couple of strikes against it.
Goudurix can be reached by phone, and, at least when I called there last year, the guy who answered was a unicyclist rather than an overworked receptionist or salesman. The wheelsets they list are out of stock right now, and wouldn’t be what you are looking for anyway, but I remember them having a Qu-ax trials wheelset for $50 a couple of years ago.
I learned wheelbuilding on this forum, but not by choice. The KH hub that I had to replace was how it happened, and the initial result was frequently snapped spokes, but when I re-did it, I got a wheel that never even needs truing! Finally getting it right was pretty satisfying, but generally, buying a new unicycle is much cheaper, easier and better than buying separate parts.
I wouldn’t bother trying to fit current parts on an old style uni. It will never quite work, better start to save and get a proper different uni and keep this one for new tricks, or to lend it to a learner, or just sell it towards the new one.
True, though for a while Bouin-bouin had worked out that it was cheaper to build a KH from scratch (at least here in Europe) than to buy it ready-to-ride. It’s no longer true since the Fusion One model I think.
