I always ride to work and stash it in the back room. Today a co-worker lost their key so I stashed it in the bushes outside and waited in a nearby resturant. When we finally got in 45 minutes later I totally forgot about the unicycle. End of work and end of owning a unicycle!
It was a 24" Schwin all-terrain unicycle with Kenda tires, 140mm cranks (taken from koo-koo-roo on ventura blvd. in Studio City/Los Angeles).
I want to get another uni as soon as possible but I’m wondering what I should get. Shopping around on Unicycle.com and I see quite a few choices. My price range is between $200-300. Any recommendations? I liked the 24" but I wonder if a 26" would be better for me.
Out of these what would you say?
Nimbus 24 inch$209.00
Nimbus 26-inch$219.00
Pashley 26-inch$263.00
United 24-inch Off-Road with Kovachi Wheel and Kris Holm Saddle$223.00
Yuni 24-inch MUni 24 x 3.0 downhill tire$299.00
Yuni 24 inch Off-Road with 2.6 knobby tire$299.00
The Pashley 26-inch has sort of caught my eye. Think it’s a good choice? Darned unicycle thieves!!!
People are low. Did you file a police report? At least with bikes, a significant number of stolen bikes actually get recovered, but the owners often don’t bother to claim them.
If you do any MUni at all, I would highly recommend getting a frame that can fit a 3" tire, even if you don’t outfit it with a 3" tire at first. That eliminates the Pashley and the United.
I have a 26" MUni. I like it quite a bit for rolling stuff; I think it rolls a little better than a 24". It doesn’t hop as well as a 24", so partly that depends on your style.
The Nimbus or Yuni 24" or 26" would be fine. You should also look at the Qu-Ax, which for a little more money includes a splined hub that will serve you better in the long run.
I like the Nimbus frame. (I have the Nimbus II 24", and I think the frame is the same as on the MUni.) The crown is great for stand-up tricks and coasting, but the wheel is big enough to ride fast and far. Stay away from the Pashley, because of it’s sloped crown, unless you have totally renounced freestyle or plan to get another uni with a flat crown soon.
Too bad about getting your uni stolen. Being unicycle-less is frustrating, especially if you don’t get the satisfaction of breaking it yourself and feeling “extreme.”
That really stinks. Sorry for your loss. I would have loved to see the idiot trying to ride away with it. Are you certain it isn’t a coworker palying a prank?
As for my advice: I advise against getting the Pashley. It uses a different style of bearing holder. It’s not as bad as “lollipop style” bearings, but it’s still not as good as main cap bearings.
The Nimbus and the YUni are almost the same thing. In fact, the Nimbus has a better hub and it’s a fair bit cheaper.
If you are trying to cover any distance on pavement, I would advise against getting an off road tire. They are a lot slower, don’t track as well on pavement, and they wear fast. If you use it off road a lot, go for it.
You may want to consider getting something cheap and light for riding to work and a dedicated MUni for when you feel hard core.
If you wait a while, Jagur may be selling his 28 inch Rowing Machine soon. I may also be selling my 26er to fund a Coker in the near future.
EDIT: another thing to look out for is getting a splined setup. They are a lot stronger, but they will greatly limit your choice of crank lengths.
For commuting, get a bigger wheel. For steep MUni I like a 24. But I hate riding the 24 when I’m trying to actually get somewhere. Its a tank.
I’ve got the Yuni 24 and 29. No complaints. The squared crown is easier for 1 footing. (If that matters)
I’ve lost a bike in a similar manner.
But never a uni. I take my unis inside whichever establishment. I’ve taken mine in Hotels, Restaurants, Hardware stores, Nursing home, Gyms, Schools…
I’ve never had someone make me leave it outside. Be very nice and even apologetic. People will let you lean it someplace out of the way. This even goes for a big ole Coker. The best place is right where some employee can see it.
I did have to leave Cokie outside a Starbucks and a Burger King in the past just because the places were too small. But I put it right where all of us inside the restaurant could see it thru the windows. Its such an odd thing that you automatically enlist 20-30 rent-a-cops to keep an eye on it.
Use the “easier to ask forgiveness that get permission” rule. Just take it in and park it out of the way. 1 out of 10 times somebody might make you move it. 90% of the time you win outright.
That unicycle is still yours! It could be possible to get it back! I got lucky, when two unicycles were stolen out of my car in 2000. The unicycles were unique enough, and the thief was dumb enough, that I not only retrieved them, I got to see him get arrested for possession of stolen property. There’s a thread about it somewhere; do a search on “unicycle thief” or “unicycle thieves”.
Your unicycle probably doesn’t stand out as much as my high-end MUnis did in 2000, but it still might be possible to track it down if it pops up in certain places. What worked for me was notifying all the local bike shops of a stolen unicycle of a certain, specific description.
Because what can a thief do with a unicycle? The market for even a stolen one must be much more limited. My thief ended up taking the splined DM to the bike shop that was the closest to my house, asking them to remove the cranks.
Good luck, and remember the “not nailed down” rule!
who ever stole it cant ride it around.youll see them so id say give it a little while your saving yer money and see if it turns up or if you see somone riding a unicycle.If you dont find it in say a week or sumthin then get a new one;)
I had a unicycle stolen from me a year or two ago. It was taken from the bar I worked in at the time. However I managed to get it back. I called the local paper and asked if they could help. They ended up doing a full page article (Macclesfield’s quite a dull place) and as a result my unicycle reappeared. Some guys brought it round who said they’d found it in the town centre so whoever pinched it must have gotten bored with it, or (hopefully) gotten big pedal bites trying to ride it and chucked it in a hedge. Also call the police and report it stolen if you haven’t already…If nothing else then for comedy value alone…
“hello officer, I’d like to report my unicycle as stolen”.
“Could you give a description of it?”
“er…well, it’s yellow and it’s got one wheel”…
So don’t give up hope yet…But also don’t pass up this great excuse to buy a new unicycle:)
i dont understand who would steal a unicycle like what are they gonna do with it ride it? try and sell it. to me it seems rather wierd that someone would steal a unicyle
gavin, a unicyclist who lives just outside Durban in KwaZulu Natal recently had his uni stolen from outside a shop
since he was known as ‘the unicycle guy’ in the smallish town, he had it sold back to him a couple of days later
I suspect it may have been these two kids that I saw hanging around. I reported it to the police… while I was there waiting there was a big-screen TV in the lobby with pictures of murders and other criminals flashing by, “Have you seen this man???” It seems unlikely I’ll get my unicycle back, I think the Los Angeles police have enough to deal with.
Total bummer about the stolen unicycle. That would drive me nuts, and I’m not even a good rider…
I have the 26 inch nimbus (it has the Yuni frame, so it is sort of a Numbus/yuni.) – I really love it–the three inch tire is really awsome, and its a smooth ride. I don’t do any extreme things with it (I can’t, due to my own limitations) but it appears to be fairly indestructable considering the hundreds of times I’ve dropped it. Ive taken it to the local unicycle club (NYUC) and some of the more experienced riders checked it out, and they always thought it was real cool.
If I were you, I’d get the Nimbus 26 inch (maybe put some aluminum nimbus X cranks on it)—and think of this: if you ever recover your schwinn, maybe you could connect the two, make a bike out of them!
Being unicycle-less is frustrating, especially if you don’t get the satisfaction of breaking it yourself and feeling “extreme.”
try and sell it. to me it seems rather wierd that someone would steal a unicyle
