So i wanna get back into hockey. I used to use a heavily modified quax cross with a new tyre, new cranks, new saddle, even a new frame… Its kinda falling apart. So what is a good hockey unicycle?
My thoughts so far:
I wanna go with 20"
Short cranks. But how short is good? Alu or steel?
Longneck frame or normal?
25 mm seatpost or 22mm? What difference does that make?
Is it even relevant what kinda wheel i got? Whats good here?
What is a good tyre to have? On my old unicycle i had several, some where really rather shitty in sharp turns.
I guess another factor to count in is the weight of it. How important is that?
There are so many options out there.
Whats the difference between lets say these three options, which are kinda far apart in pricing: 123
Are there other factors that i missed? On the german site einradversand.com (i am from germany) you can even configure your own unicycle which is actually cheaper than many of the preassembled variants. Too many options
Would you say it is even worth it to assemble your own or should i buy one of the existing ones? Feel free to link me to your favorite one!
Any input is appreciated! I dont really have a limit when it comes to money, i just wanna have a good one. If you think some are way better than others, please share
Depends on your skill and style. I’d start out with 100mm and see from there. What did you use on the old unicycle?
Really doesn’t matter. “Square taper or Isis?” might be a more relevant question. (I personally think either is fine for hockey)
Longneck is always cooler. I guess there could be tiny weight or stiffness differences, but mainly it just looks better…
Bigger is better, as it’s stiffer and lighter. But it makes pretty much 0 difference to the actual riding.
Lighter is obviously nicer. But it won’t matter that much…
If you have an exact idea of what parts YOU like, assembling your own is always nice. On unicycles, it’s usually not that much more expensive than buying prebuild. If you don’t have any specific parts you know you like, start out with a complete model and swap out from there.
I get wanting to buy a new toy for your hobby, but objectively, there is almost never enough things to be falling apart on a unicycle that repairing it is not worth it. I obviously don’t know what your modified Qu-ax cross looks like, but I find it hard to imagine a UDC club would be an upgrade from it.
Definetely consider the Mad4ones, in my opinion they currently make the best unicycles. (But the differences from brand to brand inside a certain price bracket are not that big usually).
I have 100mm on my old one. Its fine i guess. Ill see if i can try out shorter ones somewhere.
Whats square taper? I only know ISIS and q-axle. What do you think of q-axle? I have them on my 27,5" muni. They are fine i guess. any big advantages or disadvantages there?
lol I didnt want to hear that Ive made my mind to buy a new one
Also what about tyre width? its usually 1.75 or 2.1. What do you prefer here?
Old system of cranks, but still common on basic unicycles (like the UDC club you linked). It’s weaker than Isis or Q-axle, which is why it is not common on Munis and higher end unicycles. For hockey (with normal weight riders) it is generally strong enough and would have the slight advantage of cranks being cheap, so you could easily try different sizes.
I like Q-axle, but I think for a freestyle/hockey unicycle, I’d choose Isis or square taper for more crank choice. I think Q-axle will end up a few grams lighter, but nothing too significant… I don’t see any massive advantage or disadvantage in any crank system.
If you already used 100mm, and feel like you can go shorter, I see no reason to not go to 90mm on the next uni. Just be aware that while 25mm sounds like a small step, 75mm already feels pretty drastically different from 100mm cranks.
I haven’t been around the hockey crowd in a while, so I’m out of the loop what tires are considered good currently. (Maybe someone else here does?). I’d expect compound and profile to be more important than width.
I ride 75mm on my freestyle uni and I really like them. But for hockey, they’re too short for me. I’m not able to do these instant stops with them that I can do with 100mm.
I have never played hockey but it you do any hopping I would not choose any uni with a square taper hub/cranks. In my experience a square taper was fine for normal riding but when I started just hopping in place (no jumping) they started to show signs of failure.
I don’t think enough riders ride 90mm to warrant them. What you may gain in top speed you are likely to lose in control. Stick with 100mm’s. I’ve also seen some of the best German riders be extremely good on 114s they just spin faster I guess.
Most Germans ride white or coloured tyres because some halls don’t allow Black tyres.
Almost every coloured/white option is average compared to good (black) racing bmx tyres such as the Maxxis DTH or Vee rubber MK3/speedster. If you don’t corner hard or accelerate/decelerateuch you probably won’t notice a difference though. If you can use black tyres those ones are better.
Steel vs ALU frame is largely about good nice you want your unicycle to be. If you want it to be pimping then get a long neck aluminium frame.
Bearing in mind I’ve seen some of the best riders play on really “average” equipment and be phenomenal. The good equipment won’t make you as good as a top player, it may make you a tiny bit better than yourself riding something crappy. And you get to enjoy how it looks.
Yeah, im aware that i wont become a top player just because of equipment.
Hearing your inputs i actually settled on this one. I am hyped I am absolutely going to enjoy how that looks
Ill have a look into the tyres you mentioned although i wont be using them as i wouldnt be allowed on most tournaments with black tyres.
I only mention it because many on the forums get the shits when anyone talks about anything “performance”
“Just practice and stop focusing on little things”
“The rider makes the unicycle not the other way around”
All true. But if you have the money and you enjoy playing around with nice gear then do what you enjoy I bought power pedals for hockey that cost more than my unicycle because it interested me.
I bought power pedals for hockey that cost more than my unicycle because it interested me.