I thought it is a shame that most of the talk of schlumpf hubs occurs in the ‘brand new broken schlumpf’ thread. So with the teething problems of the first generation hubs being rectified (in a very noble manner by florian i must add), and more and more people enjoying this pretty amazing new piece of equipment i thought it would be time to start a new thread for people to talk and share ideas about their Hubs, the unicycles they are in, shifting techniques etc.
I’ll start off, I have my Hub in a KH24" with 150/125 moment cranks (although i have yet to give the 125s a proper go). Slop is hardly noticeable in the hub, and the added weight didn’t stop me from climbing my normal route to the summit of Mt Majura (300m of climbing). Once i get my magura brake line fixed i am looking forward to hitting some of the steep sections in high gear- at the moment there is just too much torque hitting my legs and the 1:1 ratio is compulsory.
I can shift within 1 or two pedal strokes of wanting to (but there is some preparation needed to make that happen). My feet are not huge so for me to shift i have to squidge my foot over on the pedal so that it is closer to the button- but also so that the pedal is more under the ball of my foot. At the moment riding on the balls of my feet for long stretches is not the most comfortable (especially if it is getting technical) so noting the terrain further ahead than i usually do is needed. Once i can see there is a spot i will need to downshift i can position my foot and then when i get to it shift on the first or second pedal revolution.
Also noticed (i only just received my hub back from Switzerland) that the cranks have not moved a bit since i initially installed them (despite removing the buttons twice and checking on my 15km ride this evening). They are seated well and there is a god amount of clearance between the crank and the frame.
Ok thats about enough from me- but lets hear from you! How is the schlumpf experience treating you?
The geared 36 is the perfect road machine. The geared 24 or 26 is the perfect off road machine. I really like my hubs, and I fully support Florian. He has done a great job.
I do love my geared 36. Lets not forget that the geared 29 is also an amazing road machine with the capability of light muni and XC and traveling.
Basically the schlumpf hub in a 24/26/29/36 will make your riding way more interesting and open a new world of possibilities to you.
I have had no issues with my hub. I did send it back after ride the lobster because it was recalled (even though I had no problems with mine), Florian beefed up the bearings a little and the planet carrier, and I have still had no issues with it. Since then, the bearings have become even bigger and stronger and it has a longer axle width to allow cranks other than the Moments. I do not have these two upgrades on my hub, but mine is still going strong.
Those who say money can’t buy you happiness don’t own a Schlumpf.
It has opened a whole new world for me. I am exploring paces I never would have gone without it.
My hub has worked flawlessly for ~2800 km and counting. I feel fortunate to live in the era of unicycling when the Schlumpf hub exists.
When most of the money is in the pockets of a few people then money can’t buy most people happiness. The few people with the money who can afford thousands of Schlumpf hubs will not be anywhere near as happy with them as the people who cannot afford them.
People should stop using oil in cars to ensure a steady supply of oil for the future of geared unicycle hubs, and it would also make road commuting more attractive to cyclists.
By now I rode 750 km on my 29", I guess 90% in high gear. It is still quite exhausting, and the risk of an UPD while riding fast keeps my adrenalin at higher levels than normal.
Even after doing a mile or two on the schumpf I am not as comfortable on it as I am on my short cranked 36". This being said, I LOVE it. It is a major toy and I really enjoy riding it… the feeling you get when you get in the groove with it is amazing. Thank you Florian.
I’ve commuted for about a year now on a geared 29er, mostly 20km a day. I’ve also just tried a geared 36er which was a very different experience.
When I switched from an ungeared 36" to a 29er schlumpf I noticed about a 12% increase in speed for my standard commute.
I also fell off lots. I have been riding for well over a decade so it was an odd experience to go from virtually never coming off to routinely UPDing half a dozen times on a 10km ride. It took virtually no time to learn to shift but it took quite a while before I could nail the shifts 99% of the time. I discovered part of the problem was that if you hit a certain cadence absolutely spot on, then it is possible to shift and freewheel for half a rev or more (which often results in a dismount). After several months of schlumpfing I got more familiar with cadences to avoid, shifting became second nature and I was back to only the very occasional dismount. Initially riding a geared 29er required more thought but after a while it felt almost as natural as riding an ungeared uni.
I’ve also done longer rides (eg 80km road and 6 hour offroad events). On longer road rides having a lower gear is really handy on steep hills when you are tiring. The high gear is not really practical on offroad use unless you have smooth single track without much up or down (which by the way is an absolute blast to ride in high gear, especially with bermed corners). Having a high gear on offroad rides is fantastic when you are using a fire road to get to a decent piece of single track. Blast along the road in high gear and then shift down for offroad riding.
Recently I tried out a geared 36er and the transition was not as easy as I expected. Whereas I feel extremely comfortable on the 29er the 36er required a fair amount of effort to stay on and the “balance envelope” seemed a lot smaller than what I’m used to. Part of the problem could be I’m used to KH moments rather than schlumpf cranks, so shifting was a little harder. Also 140mm is pretty short for a first shot at riding geared 36ers. I think 150mm would be better to being with. I jumped on the 29er and could shift straight away. On the 36er it took many multiple attempts before I managed to stay on through a change of gears.
On my new 30km daily commute the geared 36er didn’t shave any time off, compared with the 29er. That surprised me because there were certainly sections that felt like I was riding faster. These were balanced by having to slow down for changes and not being able to climb hills as fast. Perhaps because I’m not used to it enough yet. I might rebuild my hub into a 36 wheel of my own and see if I can make some improvements in my time. The 36er felt so different from anything else I’ve ridden that I’m uncertain whether I would ever feel truly relaxed on it. The speed increase would have to be reasonably significant before I would take it over a geared 29er. On the flat or downhill you can certainly go faster on the bigger wheel but I don’t live in a particularly flat city
I bought a kh/schlumpf 36 with the intention of doing lots of long distance touring on it. I had the weak bearing failure issue before really getting into testing the thing, but have just gotten it back recently.
I use 137mm cranks, and for most things they’re pretty nice, though there is a point where conditions kind of suck and I don’t have enough power in either gear. I’ve also found that with a full touring load (heavy backpack), the balance envelope feels smaller again in high gear, and it is quite finicky until you get used to it.
After putting some distance my brain is starting to adapt and it’s feeling really good. spinning away with a tailwind pushing you along is an amazing feeling, this thing just cruises forever without feeling like I’m going to wear out my knees, and it’s great.
edit: also - I’ve got a lot of distance in on an ungeared 36. The ungeared really is comfortable, as roger has mentioned. A 36 with 110mm cranks feels very much at home to me now, having crossed mountain ranges on it, my muscles are set up for that crank length and the demands of that setup, and the lack of slop really gives you a solid feeling of connection with the cycle. That said however, I’m sure once I get 2-3000km on a schlumpf I’ll be feeling similarly. I also really enjoy being able to idle and have loads of control with the longer cranks.
I’m also in the KH24 Schlumpf camp. This has really become my “do all” offroad unicycle. I’m finally getting the hang of shifting when I want, where I want most of the time. I think the biggest thing that helped me was switching shoes! I had been quite content riding my ungeared KH24 with a pair of Montrail CTC shoes (approach shoes). While I could shift, it wasn’t very instant but would take several crank revolutions. By some fluke I decided to ride in a pair of my SIXSIXONE shoes and found that I could shift almost instantaneously! This caused quite a bit of UPDs as you can imagine as I wasn’t accustomed to so such fast shifts (both up and down). So I think having a big more firm heel really makes a big difference. My running shoes just have too soft a heel when it comes to shifting… Thank you Florian for such a wonderful gift! Having an extra gear has totally opened up the types of terrain I like to ride now. Single track is still the best, but now flying down a gravel road can be just as exciting!
I had a most excellent guni (KH29g) ride for my birthday today. A bunch of XC trails, and then miles of paved, curvy, hilly (lots of shifting) cart paths on the closed golf course. And in the middle of it all, we had our first snow of the season. That turned a great rolling ride into a magically wondrous ride. I’m a happy boy!
recently installed some kh 137/167 dual hole cranks on my geared 36, and it’s amazing the difference in feel between the two. I can pretty much chill out in high gear at 167 up or downhill and cruise all the same. 137s are really nice for big hills or really flat stuff still, but it’s great to have the option. Plus I can toss the wheel around in low gear almost like my freestyle - once work calms down a bit I’m totally hitting up some light muni on this thing…
I really liked the feel of the 165mm cranks on the geared 36, but I found shifting extremely difficult. I think for a long ride (>50 miles) the 165mm cranks would be more ideal because they don’t require as much muscle to push the wheel.
