I’ve ridden a profile hub with a eyeletted dx-32 rim for 3-4 years now (24" yuni frame with brake bosses welded on), and last summer I got a basic 2007 KH freeride muni to use on the west coast (flying unicycles across the country sucks.
Note, I certainly ride difficult trails,a nd do my share of drops, etc, but I don’t break all THAT much equipment. I’ve bent my share of pedal spindles, a few seatposts, a set of Onze cranks, and mildly tweaked a set of 170mm profiles. Oh yeah, and countless non-cf seatbases…
that said, my impressions were as follows:
-The kh frame is not as stiff as I had hoped it would be. On my yuni frame, it would flex so much I couldn’t ride up hills without the brake squealing on the rim and the tire rubbing. This got very old. When I moved to the KH, I assumed I’d be able to run <1/8" of clearance between the pads and the rim, but soon found they rubbed at clearance that “tight.” Still, the frame is plenty stiff, and certainly beats my Yuni, although I can’t imagine that aluminum frame will last as long as the Yuni frame. I have an old KH pro frame for when things go bad, so I don’t care.
-The seat was stiffer and more comfortable than I expected. I thought I would break the seatbase in a couple of rides, but in fact it took about 5-6 hard rides for the seat to get excessive flex and show signs that the steel stiffener plate had cracked. This is still unacceptably weak for me, but the KH seat isn’t aimed at riders doing 3’ rolling hops and 6-8’ rolling gaps on 16lb munis. If you do things like that, get a CF base. It’s lighter anyways. Note, i’ve also broken seats doing very steel uphill and DH riding. If you repeatedly yank really hard on your seat, or land drops onto the handle (horrible technique), you will break it.
-I hate the SIF qualities of the KH seat. I got used to it, but when I switched back to my cf derail seatbase, it was infinitely more comfortable and secure for all SIF moves.
-The snafu pedals are surprisingly durable. I picked one side of my pedalgrab pedal to be the designated “down” side for pedalgrabs, and even after 30-40 hard pedalgrabs to rough rock and stone, it hadn’t lost a pin or cracked.
-I expected a problem with the aluminum cranks and pedalgrabs, since I scratched my monty cranks to hell in one ride of pedalgrabs ages ago. Lo and behold, the KH cranks are still hardly scratched, and seem almost as abrasion resistant as the painted profile cranks.
-I hate the location and design of the brake mount on the rail adapter compared to my custom adapter, since it made it very difficult to grab the handle with one finger during technical descents. i hear that design is changing however.
-I had no problem with the wheelset in general. People who are concerned about drilled rims are being excessively hard on their equipment. I bottomed out my rim on a number of fast downhills, drops, and gaps, and never dented it or damaged the sidewalls. The rim never once came out of true once I tuned it after the first ride.
-I’ve ridden Gazzaloddi tires and an Intense DH 24x3 tire forever. These are the heaviest of the heavy DH tires, and show it in handling. Switching tot he Duro was amazing. I found my traction to be dramatically improved, turns easier and faster, and rolling to be more comfortable. In general the unicycle felt more responsive.
i’ve come to conclude the KH is by far the best muni on the market as a balance of comfort, durability, weight, and general performance. It won’t give a beginner or midelevel rider any trouble at all. Advanced riders may want to switch the seatbase to something more durable, and people who ride muni exclusively may want pedals with more grip. if you break seatposts, a thomson may be in line, but beyond these minor details, the KH is pretty close to perfect.
