I’ve been doing a fair bit of reading and have also found the Kris Holm website and somewhere I read that a 24in unicycle was the best size for an adult to learn on.
Do you agree with that piece of advice?
I found this 24in’er for a reasonable $180 would you agree it’s good value?
Now my last question is weight. Mine not the unicycle. I’m 120kg and obviously only having 1 wheel it would have to be a fairly strong wheel to carry me and deal with bumps, my bad riding while I’m learning and my weight. Is there anything I should look out for especially? Or will the uni I already linked to be suitable?
yea man i dont see why not cant see anything going wrong there. when you get better just buy a better unicycle.
i would say even though most of the guys on here would say not too, have a look on ebay there are some real bargins my first uni was a fiver off there and its still going strong my first adventure into the hills was on a ebay 24" and its still going as well but then i am a skinny git good luck man
Does Kris write that? I beg to differ. People of all ages learn faster on a 20" unicycle than on a 24". Here’s proof. However, the difference is not dramatic, and so which unicycle to buy also depends on what you want to do with it. If you are thinking about offroad riding, as an example, a 24" uni is better suited. OTOH, proper offroad tyres are detrimental to learning to ride.
I have no recommendations as to specific unicycles, but others will chime in.
I bought both and found myself progressing on the 24" MUCH better. I know at least 3 people who would say the same thing. The 20" uni just felt too squirley.
I believe it was mentioned in an instructional video clip I watched on youtube. Gyroscopic stability is increased as you go up in size that’s why performers use 16in wheels and commuters use 700c.
I learnt on a cheep 20" but think I would have done better on a 24 or 26, It really has to do with learning style and you don’t know what will work better for you until you try. Klaas is probably right though (and he has the numbers to back it up) that most people will learn faster on a smaller wheel.
I have on proof but I have a feeling if you are not afraid of falling, don’t mind going faster and aren’t hesitant in your actions learning on a 24 might be better than a 20.
As for unicycle choice I would go with a Club 24 over the Axis. With the club you get a better seat, better frame and get to choose your frame colour. The wheel looks the same for all the important bits. I would also get a set of 150mm cranks to learn with. 127 is great for cruising around but might be a bit short for learning to ride.
Even though gyroscopic stability plays a role in unicycling (albeit not a large role in maintaining balance), I think that reasoning is flawed. I think performers use small wheels because the audience usually stays in one place, and a small wheel is more agile, so it lends itself more to showing skills/tricks in a small place. Commuters use big wheels because they are faster, as they cover more ground per revolution.
I agree to that. Part of the reason that people learn on average faster on a 20" uni may be that the cranklength-to-wheelsize radius is generally larger - unfortunately I have no data on that. You could compensate with longer cranks. 150 mm seems like a good size to learn on a 24" wheel.
You’re kind of right. I can think of several additional parameters that can have an effect. When I did my data collection (mainly in 2002), I kept the set of questions simple on purpose - I thought that people would be discouraged when there were too many questions. When I have lots of time I may rework my Excel data inquiry sheet into a web-based form and invite people to submit their data (again). Not anytime soon though.
I had to read the last bit twice as it wasn’t clear the first time. The Axis already has 152mm cranks the Club 24 has 127mm’s but now I’ve checked the specs and re read what you wrote it makes sense. Get the Club 24 and get longer cranks for it which also means I can swap to the shorter ones once my experience improves.
Regarding Klaas and the more people learning on a smaller wheel thing. Could it be simply a case of most people would opt for a smaller wheel thinking it’s closer to the ground so would be less likely they would get hurt if they fell? Also the majority of people wouldn’t think to access these forums before buying a unicycle so they may not even realise when they buy their first one that other wheel sizes exist especially if their LBS only has 1 size in stock.
True, but I haven’t asked what wheelsize people knew of, or preferred to learn on, just what they actually learned on. It may be true that some people who learned on a smaller wheel made this choice based on the perceived smaller chance of getting hurt. But I didn’t research motives, just actual (reported) learning times, and they were on average significantly shorter on smaller wheels.
my first adventure into the hills was on a ebay 24" and its still going as well but then i am a skinny git good luck man