can anyone tell me how strong the sun 28er really is? would it handle x-country riding (saying you put a new tire on it)?
It’s not beefy, but it’s not flimsy, from what I hear. If I were to be doing x-country riding I’d definitely look into the nimbus 29 though. better stock seat, rim, hub, cranks, pedals and tire. I think that’s everything save the frame.
Hey all, glad you enjoyed my CrazyCranks…
Anyway I use a KH seat. I think it is the best, but I admit to not having trying anything else other than the miserable Sun seat. Listen to the folks here, KH gets high marks, and it is a really fantastic upgrade to the Sun. You’ll be amazed.
The stock pedals suck too. I use “primal” pedals, from unicycle.com. Huge platform pedals - makes mounting a piece of cake. Just slap you foot anywhere and off you go! Adjusting foot position while riding is difficult, because these suckers have huge pins. But the pins are good!
Tire. Yep, “700c” is a much better name than “28”.
Wheel. Strong enough for my 180 lbs. I’m not particularly gentle with it, having done a few major UPDs. But I also don’t do any trials-like stuff. No hopping. But I certainly stress it out alot with turning and mounting.
The stock tire is fine for three-season use. But for ice and snow (really light snow is all it can handle), I put on a 700cx35 studded tire, from nashbar.com ($25). The stock tire is like 700x45, so this one is quite a bit narrower. It was difficult to stuff the tube into the 700x35 tire, but it fit! It is just like only 1/4" wider than the rim!
I went for spin out and down the icy sidewalk. It was partially covered with a thin layer of ice and snow. My first impression is how stiff this tire is. I inflated it quite a bit, as I was nervous about it and the rim, with my 180 pounds riding on top.
My second impression is the noise. How glorious. When on bare sidewalk, it was just like a car’s studded tire!
Anyway I ride down the sidewalk and reach the corner. Hmm I spy a clump of ice right on the appex of the corner. I ride over it while turning, and unicycle follows without any slippage. Cool. I keep riding and then cut over into the road.
Wow those studs really are loud! Funny to hear how the sound varies with my pedaling. How strange sounding.
I reach the hockey rink. I ride up, and have to dismount and walk onto the ice, because of loose snow.
I manage to free mount. Incredible. There is no side-to-side slippage while free mounting (I tend to use a combo-side-back mount), the studs really grip.
And I’m off. I could turn and stop and go and go so pumped that I did several laps. And then some figure 8’s.
Then I got beat and went home.
Yeah.
Also I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about what I did the day after my hockey rink adventure…
In the morning I swapped my KH seat and fat pedals over to my 24" Sun, which has a Kenda 24x1.95 MTB tire on it. Then I managed to ride 3 miles down and back the local bike path, on packed snow and ice. That was awesome.
Then later, after some lunch, I rode my studded-tire MTB over to the hockey rink and check it out, for the first time.
WOW. I could actually turn and go on the bare ice. It was a riot to tear down the length and then turn, and have the bike follow, and then pedal like mad and spin out, and have the studs eventually grip and rocket you out.
And for those who care, no, it didn’t tear the ice up. Just a few scratches. Heh.
Fun.