Hey,
I was looking at MUni’s to buy, and was thinking of the Torker Unistar DX 24". There are not very many reviews for it on unicycle.com, so I was not sure if it was a good MUni. Will it last me a while? Can anyone give me a review for it? Also, i see that it can’t take a 3" tire. Is that going to be something very significant, and mabye a reason not to get it?
JasonRe: Torker Unistar DX 24"
In article <1Cube1Wheel.18qq4n@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com>,
1Cube1Wheel <1Cube1Wheel@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote:
)
)Hey,
)I was looking at MUni’s to buy, and was thinking of the Torker
)Unistar DX 24". There are not very many reviews for it on unicycle.com,
)so I was not sure if it was a good MUni. Will it last me a while? Can
)anyone give me a review for it? Also, i see that it can’t take a 3"
)tire. Is that going to be something very significant, and mabye a
)reason not to get it?
If MUni is your intended purpose, you don’t want the Torker. It’s a fine
general-purpose cycle, but can’t take a tire wide enough for serious
trail use. At Moab, Paul Colley had to pull out his pocketknife and cut
off all the external knobs on the Specialized 24x2.5 tire he’d bought
in town, just to make it fit in the frame.
You’d be a lot better off getting the KH, Nimbus, or Yuni, if MUni is going
to be your primary use.
-Tom
IMHO
It is not a good idea to go the cheapest route with any unicycle but ESPECIALLY trials and MUni. These two endeavors in particular involve abuse of the equipment. Jumping, dropping, etc. That’ll put a lot of strain on cranks, welds, etc.
If you don’t spend the money for quality now, you’ll spend it later replacing the crappy investment you just busted.
Buy what you should, you spend:
$$$
Buy cheep and then replace with what you should’ve:
$$ + $$$ = $$$$$
And after all that cash outlay you’ll have a good MUni and a busted POS for $$$$$ with a value of $$$
It may not be necessary to go the most expensive either. My abilities fall somewhere in the middle. I’m harder on the equipment than some, but not near as destructive on it as others I see. A buddy got the same MUni as me and has destroyed it several times (very stiff landing technique on drops, I suspect). We have kids who ride the Torker and do OK. But they only weigh 90 pounds…
What is the terrain around you? How heavy are you? How is your technique?
I’m 185 pounds. Average ability.
I’ve got a $300 Yuni.
24 x 3.
170 cranks.
A smile.
Memphis Mud,
I’m about 160 and 5’ 8.5"
I don’t have a whole lot of experience yet, but I want a MUni that will last a while, and one where, if I ever do decide to go crazy, it will be able to handle it (more or less). Do you have any specific suggestions?
I bought the 20" UniStar to see if I liked trials. I found out that I like trials and the UniStar likes trials about 1/3 as much as I do. I very quickly exceeded its capabilities. I’m sure the same would be true for a 24" MUni. I do trials stuff regularly on my KH now that would trash the UniStar in 10 minutes.
At 160# you will be able to make a Suzue hub and some moderately good 170-175mm cranks work for quite awhile unless you have a really steep learning curve. The hub and wheel strength of the UniStar are adequate for this. You will want a rugged, wide tire for serious trails but just riding trails won’t require a Profile splined hub and crank sets. The UniStar wheel although strong is too narrow. The cranks on the UniStar are I think some cheap, short aluminum variety. They will be short lived.
I believe the UniStar comes with some plastic pseudo-pinned pedals…that is the pins are part of the plastic mold. Those will become quite useless on your first serious trail ride when many of them get scraped off by rocks and logs.
Bruce Dawson is in our riding group and uses a 24" UniStar for light trail riding. He could give you answers from experience. I would agree with all of those who have told you that you will need a wider frame.
I have this one. I have since put a KH seat on it. And better pedals.Yuni MUni
My experience is pretty limited, tho. This is the only MUni I’ve owned. Its still chugging along after 2 years. If you dump big money into this, you should get a lighter/stronger ride. These are welcomed attributes.
My Yuni does OK for me.
I do know that cheep unicycles break. It is inevitable. You don’t just glide around on a MUni. You hop and go off drops and such. Even if you only go off a drop of 12 inches, you’ll double the force exerted on the welds and components. (My math is not precice, but you get the idea.) Having that wide tire for shock absorption will make your equipment happier.
A local club member has gotten the Beginner Nimbus (Yuni-like) ($189 at Unicycle.com). He’s just getting going and hasn’t put it through too much yet, so …who knows?
I looked at unicycle.com, and there is a very nice $1200 MUni in the “intermediate” section. I bet it’ll hold up.
Here’s the one that everyone has, except for me, and they all say it’s really good:
http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=619
Quite cheap for a good MUni, too.