The flat outer rim of the buttons needs to be inside the crank hole, this prevents the shifting rod that goes through the axle from getting bent or broken.
It also helps avoid accidental shifts, which are very dangerous when in high gear.
I’m starting to relax more and more on my rides in high gear. It’s still harder to do simple things like look over my shoulder at traffic. Down shifting at lights is a challenge, but sometimes I nail it right away. Up shifting is getting pretty good. I’m usually more tired after a ride on the Schlumpf, but hill climbing is a breeze since I use low gear. I don’t usually go faster than 10 mph out of fear of crashing. I can’t run that fast.
I’m seriously thinking of a geared 29, but my husband cries at the mention 
, so I guess it will be awhile. I’m supposed to visit a friend in Orange County in the next week or so. I’ll let you know if I’m coming down. Have you tried a smaller geared wheel? you are welcome to take mine for a spin to compare.
Hi Heather,
PM to let me know when you will be in town. We could go for a ride, although I do work days. We could see if others are interested in joining us, and I could loan you a unicycle if you do not have your favorite type available.
Scott
I tried 165s to start and it was way too hard to reach the buttons, and that’s with sz 13 flippers, so I moved the pedals to 135 and it was so much easier to shift, but that is way too short of a crank length for me, sooo I just ordered some 150 Venture 2, should have those for this weekend.
The shifting thing works, but 1.5 is a big step up, kinda leaves me wondering if 1.3 might be more usable, at least for off road. I like the 26" wheel, but my favorite wheel size for fast trails is a 29, which unfortunately would be way to tall geared up to 44".
I initially thought the same thing some years ago when prototyping the first KH/Schlumpf hub - 1.5 seemed like too big a jump and 1.3 felt like it might be better. But now after lots of time spent on it, the 1.5 ratio (on a 26) feels natural, and I think 1.3 would feel unnecessarily slow on easy sections. In an ideal world perhaps both versions could be made available but that won’t happen for the foreseeable future, given the small market.
So I do think it is worth working through the initial frustrations of the overly big feeling gear, at first, on a 26 offroad. Personally I find a geared 29 too big for my local riding areas, but that certainly depends on the terrain and the rider.
Kris
That’s probably true Kris, I’ll adjust some, but it really is quiet a jump esp if you compare it to internally geared bike hubs with gearing steps at 33% on a three speed and 13.6% on a Rohloff Speedhub 14 speed.
Considering the weight and size being what it is, how much additional “space” would be required to make the hub a 3 speed? That’s the dream right, to keep going up in gears 
I had decent luck changing gears last night, need to get a lot more consistant in making changes right when I want them, that’ll make true off road riding practical, so for now I’m sticking to double track.
I already miss my 29er, I find the 26" wheel a tad small and twitchy, which is why I’d take a 29er with a 33% step, cuz then I could have my cake and …
I’m glad I kept my 29er, it’s so light and quick!
I think the 1.5 ratio is spot on. For a 24/26er off road, if you’re using shorter cranks (137 for 24 or 150s for the 26) then you’re plenty fast on the single-track when riding in normal gear. And so the 1.5 ratio is just right when you’re riding on the easier double-track or other roads between trail sections. At least this has been my experience. Also helps to invest in a good handle bar set up i.e. KH touring bar, I’ve found that this really helps smooth out the “twichy” behavior. Plus more and more experience riding in high-gear will help. My 24 used to feel a lot more twitchy early on but now I can ride it in high-gear as smooth as my 36 ungeared using similar crank size. Practice, practice, practice!
1.5 is way too big a jump for one gear. But, it’s not a big enough range for the entire gearing system. We need more gears.
I don’t think it’s too big for the minority of us riders that ride a 24" GUni. Gearing up to a 36er-like ride is just about right IMHO. I can see a geared up 26er or larger might be too much, especially if your just riding on dirt. For the roads I’d imagine 1.5 isn’t tall enough!
True enough, would be nice to have more gears and not just higher gears, a lower, climbing gear would be awesome as well.
I’m saying that the gap between the fixed gear and the 1.5 gear is too big. A typical bike gearing system will have gaps of 10% or less between gears; 50% is way too big, in any context, especially MUni. There are tons of places where the high gear is too high and the low gear is too low.
Such is the life of fixed gear riding, we’re ALWAYS in the wrong gear! 
Oh and don’t forget the early geared bicycles, the 3-speeds had a normal gear, low gear and high gear so really not all too different than what we have now…
Many (most?) commuter bikes still do.
Actually, I posted a comment earlier about the step increases in typical geared bicycle hubs, the largest being 33% in a three speed hub. Tholub is correct, 50% is a huge jump and not really ideal. Sure, it’s workable, and for some uses not such a problem, but it makes for less than idea gearing off road esp if you want to use a larger wheel like a 29".
I ride a 29er as my primary muni, have done so since this time last year, prior to that it was a 26er. In the past year I have adapted to the larger wheel and for most of my riding it is ideal, only rarely does it feel too big; mostly on tigh technical trails and tight switchbacks.
But now that I’ve adjusted to riding a 29er, I find that the 26er is twitchy, has higher rolling resistance, both of which make for less stability when in high guni gear. If I could have my 29er geared up 33% (38.57") that would be darn close to the same gearing I have on my 26 guni, but with the added benefit of increase stability at high and low gears, plus I’d get a uni I like in low gear
But like Kris said, things ain’t likely to change unless demand goes way up (or something new enters the market).
When I road mountain bikes, my preferred ride was a 29er SS hardtail.
Interesting comments guys. As usual there is the ‘I ride this, therefore that is what is best’ kind of attitude, but that is completely understandable. If you ride anything long enough you will come to like it, or at least appreciate its strengths more than its weaknesses.
I don’t experience any of this ‘twitchy-ness’ you describe when riding my 24" gmuni in high gear. It might be because of my handle I use or the amount of experience I have on the thing. I found that the gearing gap was initially too large for effective use of the gearing system for my type of riding. Low gear was only good for really technical stuff and was too slow on moderate trails, and high gear was fast, but not as fast as I would like on fire trails and dual track. I solved this problem by switching my cranks to 125mms.
All of a sudden, a fast cadence was good enough to keep a good pace through fairly tough sections in 1:1 and then the high gear was an absolute gem for fire trails, and smooth single track. Climbing is fine as long as you can keep your momentum, and technical descents are completely doable with good use of a brake. Being 100% confident with your shifts is important too. I’ve got to a point where i can change gears every 1/2 pedal revolution (not that I ever need to do that on the trail but it is a great drill none-the-less). Reading the trail and shifting so you keep your momentum and end up in the right gear at the right time is a brand new skill set that has been a lot of fun developing.
Personally i’ve never used a 29er for muni. In lots of my favourite riding spots the extra trail height wold pose issues for canopy cover. However, if a 3 speed hub was ever to come out (with a climbing gear), i think you could build up a super enduro Muni (for multi day 100km+) off road races like the Crocodile trophy here in Oz. http://www.crocodile-trophy.com/
Until that happens I’ll stick with my geared up smaller wheels. My next upgrade is going to be moving to a lightweight 26" with 125s (or 137s if i find the 125s too short), with custom alu handlebar and tubeless setup. I’m hanging out to see if Kris has got a disc brake option up his sleeve, but I’ll want it all together and dialled in for Unicon next year!
mark
+1
It’s cuz you don’t ride 29ers 
All my unis have handlebars, helps with control and power.
I’d go for a three speed 1:0.66, 1:1, 1:1.33
If I could get my schlumpf changed to a 1:1.33, I’d rebuild the wheel as a 29er.
Is it possible to machine just a few parts to get a smaller step? Has anyone asked about it?
Heading for Asheville to escape the heat, looking forward to Fall.
@NurseBen: I don’t ride 29ers because most of the trails I ride don’t lend themselves to that monster size of a wheel (and personal preference I guess as is always the case). Another detractor is what napalm mentioned: canopy cover. I take the 36er out on the rougher trails on occasion and the limited factor is always the canopy! ha!
I’d also say that you don’t have near enough experience on the GUni to pass judgement, what you’ve been riding maybe a week on it? ::roll eyes:: I had much the same observations as you during my first month or two of riding the GUni, but now that I’ve been riding over two YEARS on my KH24 GUni I strongly feel the setup is pretty darn good, especially if get used to MUni on shorter cranks (I’m sold on the 137mm for my 24"). Good speed and climbing ability in 1:1 and smooth like butter in 1:1.5 on the gravel/paved roads or easier trails. If you can only have two gears I’d spring for the 1:1.5 to make it useful for long hauls between single track, but that’s just my opinion derived from the experiences on the type of riding I typically do. Your mileage may vary… 
edit I remember there being some discussion in the past of somehow having the ability to remove the inner hub workings and being able to swap out the gearing (somehow?) so that one could customized the high gear ratio: 1:1.2, 1:1.3, etc… Not sure what thread that was (may have been here?) Not sure what the conclusion was other than cost and a viable manufacturer for such a small, niche market.
No; the gear ratio is a function of the size of the planetary gears; you’d have to have completely different internal parts to have a different ratio.
that, and you’re short
Hmm, may be the case, but then if my opinion is premature, funny how Tholub and Jogi feel the same way
Look, I’ll be honest, I drank the koolaid, paid my door fee, and now I own a Schlumpf. I tried to back out and sell my “rights” when some of the truths came out (thanks Tholub), but finding a buyer for a $2000 uni wheel was not in the cards, so now I’m riding it and I am surely not going to smooth over my impressions.
I do not have any question as to my ability to successfully ride the hub and shift when needed. What remains are questions of durability and applications. I do not need more experience riding the hub to know that the gearing step of 50% is too much, as other “experienced riders concur”. I already ride a 36er, 29er, 26er, 24, 20, so clearly I know how each wheel size rides and their relatively advantages and disadvantages.
Nuff said.
Without questions, I would pay an additional $1000 ($3000) for a three speed hub to run on my 29er: .66, 1, 1.33
Oh, and here she is:
@NurseBen: I still think you’re premature in your judgement. A few riders who feel the same way do not make a quorum. But hey, from following this and other threads of yours it was apparent you’d already passed judgement BEFORE you even got your hub! Now it’s clear your just trying to rationalize your way out of having/owning it. Hey, no problem. You don’t like it, you don’t like it. But don’t pass judgement on those of us who like the way the hub is and use it quite effectively in the riding we do. I doubt this generation of the KH-Schlumpf hub was ever meant to be a do all, or please everybody type of technology… it is another big step towards that goal!
Oh and BTW, being short has no bearing on my not riding a 29. If I can ride a 36er with a full range of crank sizes I can definitely handle a 29er… It’s just not a good fit for the rough terrain I ride most of the time. Not only that, but some of us don’t have unlimited amount of $$$ to throw at trying new unicycles, parts, gear etc… I bought into the 24er craze long before there were good 26er (or other) options and so that’s what I’m riding until I no longer have tires to put on there… I was very fortunate to be able to get a KH/Schlumpf hub and have been very happy with it for the riding I do. Sorry if you haven’t had the same experience or epiphany I and a lot of other riders have had…
All the best…