I’m still new so please educate me on it by posting useful, helpful replies or link me to something that’s easy to understand, I’m not well versed in bike/unicycle “language” as some (some as in most) of you.
So far I have the oracle 26" and hopefully soon a 36er oracle.
I am currently interested in geared unicycles, but I don’t plan to get it until later on in the future that’s why I’m digging for information now. I’ve searched it up quite a bit and read a few of your thoughts on it and how it can be hard for new comers, but I’m not afraid…however…I am broke that’s why in the future. I’m especially interested in a 36er geared oracle.
Anyhow, the majority of the time I see it only been installed on a KH. I then read that it requires 100mm bearings to work with a schlumpf hub. But on unicycle.com, the 26er says :
It also has 100 mm bearings. Will it not work for the Nimbus Oracle 26er?
How come it seems like the geared hubs are concentrated more on the KH? Are there no gear hubs available that’ll fit the oracle?
If I were to want to go gear later and not want to buy a different unicycle, but use the oracle, what parts do I have to change and why?
Roger (atunicycledotcom) has or had a G26 oracle. I don’t know that it had any modifications to the frame to take the hub.
Obviously if you want to retain the brake you would have to replace the cranks with spirits and move the d’brake over to the right hand side of the frame. The spokes would need to be changed as the hub flanges are further out.
Due to the fact the hub cannot have spacers between itself and the cranks, fitting cranks requires skill, precise torque and loctite. This hassle may change in the future if current rumours are true.
A 36 oracle cannot take a schlumpf due to the fact that it has a 125mm bearing spacing.
Are there any geared hubs out there that can do that?
So with the oracle 36, there’s no way to go gear?
Seems a lot of the 36ers have 120ish bearing spacing. The KH is one of the few that doesn’t. How come the schlumpf was made for 100 bearings rather than the seemingly more common 125~?
The schlumpf is the only commercial geared hub available. Anything else involves DIY craziness. It is really designed to give a speed boost to smaller unis rather than make a 36er faster.
I would reccomend trying both a 36er and a GUni before you decide that you want the bits together. A geared wheel ‘handles funny’ feeling much heavier with sluggish cornering but without the rollover advantage of the bigger wheel.
I dont know whether the nimbus 36 offerings were designed without a geared hub in mind or whether something is in the works. From what i understand about the design of the schlumpf a 125mm wide version with a hub mounted disc would be distinctly possible without changing most of the parts.
The smaller Oracles (24, 26, 29) should be able to accept a schumpf without much drama, but as davejh says the 36" model uses 127mm bearing spacing so is not a reasonable option.
The reason you see so many KH-Schlumphs in KH frames is because the KH frames have been designed to work with the hubs since the ISIS model has come to market, older frames are easy to modify and plentiful, as well as traditionally being thought of as the best production frame available for a reasonable price.
In my opinion the new Oracle frames are nicer and would work wonderfully but they just haven’t been around for that long and more needs to be changed to schlumpfify the unicycle assuming it is bought complete (you loose that sexy disk hub, would need to switch cranks if you want to retain the brake, no option to run maguras, etc).
EDIT: Old Schlumpf hubs were a skinnier bearing spacing (94mm?) before they were re-desighend to work with a knurled “bearing” instead of a torque arm bolted to the frame. Personally I am quite glad they are now the very standard 100mm bearing spacing for both the FS (square taper) and KH (ISIS) models, besides Kris was involved with the development of the ISIS model (hence why his name is on it) and all his frames are 100mm spacing.
Ahhh I’m starting to understand the reasoning behind it now, thank you, very informative.
Yeah definitely. I’m planning to get really good at commuting with the 36er first before I think about geared 36. I just see the speed on them from videos and it looks like a blast, tired of those bikes beating me. I’m not planning to get it early because if I can’t handle the speed from a normal 36er, then a geared would probably get me killed. I’m aiming for a 36er because of how everyone’s saying how it rolls over bumps, is the fastest wheel (I’m not getting anything larger than a 36er…I’ve seen some of you with 40++"…that’s just crazy haha…)
It just seems like a geared 36er would benefit me more than other gears since I do very limited muni (I got the oracle for its strength to handle big jumps…those unicycle youtube videos are evil).
It’ll be awhile before I find someone with a geared unicycle to let me try it if they’ll let me that is.
Yeah I was wondering as well. How come they did 125mm and not the same as the KH with 100mm. Seems like one of the many selling points of the KH is also because that it’s compatible 36er for the hub.
I was also wondering as a side question why the 36 oracle have aluminum splindle while the KH36 and the smaller oracle sizes have the aluminum crmo splindle, aren’t they stronger?
The 36" oracle is probably 125(127?)mm spacing to allow a stronger wheel build. It may be fine but I would not trust an asymmetrical skinny hub with a wheel as large as a 36". You would have very little angle to the disk side spokes.
Geared 36ers are an incredibly small market. Nimbus can afford to send those customers to KH.
As far as the aluminum spindle goes it should be just as strong for constant stresses but not heavy impacts. 36ers generally aren’t used for rocks and drops like MUnis.
The Oracle frames do need modification to fit a Schlumpf hub. I’ve bought a few sets of bearing holders to make my own frames and the bearing holders are too wide.
You can see the bearing holder on the left is how it originaly is, the one on the right was grinded down to fit the Schlumpf.
For the new Schlumpf hub spec, there will be 2 versions, one at 100mm spacing same as today but compatible with disc on crank and another version with 125mm spacing and disc on hub for Nimbus Oracle frame, what I don’t know is if all Oracle frames will switch to 125mm or only the 36" as today. Roger might tell us about it and maybe about 125mm hub availability
You would have to do some modification to the frame, which I don’t think would be worth it unless you really just wanted it for the novelty of it all. Spending an extra 150 bucks on a new frame after you buy the hub is pretty trivial. I love my nightrider : ) I’d never modify her. First wheel, favorite wheel. Very attached.
Well thanks everyone for taking time, i aprecciate a lot any information, i see Schlumpf page claims to fit nimbus (future hub) however Oracle frames are Made of aluminum so i don’t see real problem fitting the hub. I hope is released soon.
that’s why in the future. I’m especially interested in a 36er geared oracle.
