I’m getting back into unicycling after a decade, and my wife bought me a lemon from Amazon which I have enjoyed but has steadily fallen apart. I want to upgrade it, but I’m trying to figure out the best path for my budget.
I think I’d like to arrive at something like the 29" Nimbus on Unicycle.com.
I purchased cranks and new pedals already because they were the first to fail, but my seat just broke, so it’s time to pull the trigger. Unfortunately Unicycle.com doesn’t allow for returns on cranks, so I’m already out $50 if I don’t use them.
My current plan is to purchase a 29" frame, seat post and seat, and use my current 24" wheel until next month when I have more money.
Questions:
Would that work?
Will the $10 club seat post work with a KH seat, or do I need the more expensive alloy one due to sizing or whatnot?
Would it be significantly cheaper to simply spring for the whole Nimbus 29"? $360 is a tougher sell to the wife than a series of incremental upgrades.
The club seat post will work with the KH saddle as long as it is not the zero. It will just be heavier than the alloy ones.
Pedals are always interchangable.
While the $360 is a big upfront cost, progressively putting together an equivelant uni is often more expensive. On the other hand part picking gives you more decisions on what goes on the uni so you don’t have to stick with the original supplied parts if you want different ones and can save money by not duplicating parts.
The main sticking point with using your 24" wheel in a 29" frame will be the bearing housings. If you are using square taper cranks, your uni will have 40mm bearings. Modern unis use ISIS cranks and 42mm bearings. Using the wrong bearing housings can damage the bearings although they can be shimmed to the right size with something like a beer can.
The nimbus 29 is a very good unicycle for general road riding and does not take much modification (cranks and tyre) to be perfectly suited for cross country off road riding.
If money is a constraint I would advise against buying new parts to piece together a unicycle. It inevitably ends up being more expensive unless you have a large number of spare parts to draw from.
I would look around on the trading post and see what people have for sale and maybe put up a wanted add as well. If you see something on craigslist/kijiji/eBay and don’t know if it is a good deal don’t be afraid to ask here.
Thanks! The issue is more that I have a monthly “toy” budget, and my seat broke, so I need something asap or I won’t be able to uni for the next month.
I ended up ordering the frame, seat post and the nice KH seat, now I just need a wheel, but I’ll shim my current wheel for now and post a WTB ad on the trading post next month.
If the cranks attach to the hub via a square interface, they are cotterless and use 40mm bearings. If they use a more gear like interface, that is ISIS and uses 42mm bearings. If you are planning lots of off road, an ISIS hub and cranks will save you many headaches and broken parts as they are stronger.
The two types or hub/crank are not compatible and there are actually at least another 2 standards in other brands (not sold via UDC US).
For road use and learning a 29er works really well with 125s. For XC/muni, 125s can be a little short and 150s may be a better option.
If you plan on riding up and down lots of steep hills, 150s are far easier to climb and brake with.
The trade off with 150s is that while you gain more control and ability to force yourself over obstacles, with shorter cranks and practice you can ride faster and float over the same obstacles for less effort.
And I have a set of 125mm new cranks from