For those of you that ride clipless muni, how often do you upd? Myself, I fall constantly and I’ll often keep trying to ride a difficult section of trail until I do so successfully. It’s that challenge of overcoming something difficult combined with a bit of risk that makes muni interesting to me. I had about an 18" drop that I attempted maybe 7 times before I got it right the other day, but I can’t imagine falling that many times from that distance with my feet clipped in.
I can certainly see where it would provide huge gains in climbing though. I can’t count the number of times I have fallen because my trailing foot came up and off the pedal. I also know that clipless pedals make hopping much easier on a bicycle. I’m not sure if they’d make much difference on a unicycle however.
A bunch of times
Never had any issue, though. The idea is to keep the clips not much tighten so that they can unclip easily.
To get back to the original topic: I could say the most game-changing equipment upgrade I’ve had is the Flik Flok hub. For the last 18 months - since I got my freewheel muni -, I was like: “Err… What uni should I take for today? Should I take both?”. Now, it’s as easy as “I’ll take my Flik Flok and ride fixed or freewheeling depending on the ground!”. And that’s amazing how fun my rides now are!
How much do you like using the flikflok hub in fixed mode for technical terrain?
I rode with Timo last weekend and he still brought both his fixed uni and the one with a flikflok hub, because he doesn’t really think the flikflok rides how he likes it outside of freewheel mode. Good enough for covering some distance, but too much play and risk of hitting the shift for rough terrain. Still better than not having the option to switch modes, but I don’t think he would ever consider not having a dedicated fixed uni any time soon.
(We filmed a bit and Timo did some mindblowing stuff freewheeling, so stay tuned for a video coming up soon.)
Assuming you are talking about the asymmetrical ones, the angled side is for your “main” hand. You can still have either hand or both, but the angled side makes it more comfortable to use the brake (and I think nicer for the wrist anyway).
Regarding those points, this is really similar to a Schlumpf hub. So if you’re at ease on technical stuff with a Schlumpf hub, you’ll be at ease on a Flik Flok hub.
Regarding my own experience: I ride with KH Spirit cranks, so my heels are pretty far from the buttons. I also always use clipless pedals, so there is less of a chance to hit the buttons. I don’t mind the play either. But I’m not as of a great rider as Timo and I don’t go in really technical stuff as he does. Besides, I now do much of my technical downhills in freewheel modes
I’d have to say my most game-changing piece of kit is my Ursli bar. I have the medium-sized one on my muni. It’s a really simple but solid piece of equipment. You can ride comfortably two-handed, or one-handed with either hand, since it’s symmetric. You can change the riding position in-ride; for instance, I tend to hold it from the side while sitting, but from the front while standing up. I also really like the fact that you can angle the brake lever perfectly for an easy reach.
Well the only UPD that caught me off guard was when the pedal insert to the crank came out and only one foot was on a pedal attached to crank, the other was attached but to my foot only. Confusing trying to re-clip to a non existing pedal.
That is interesting. There are just so many times where I can sense that things are beginning to go wrong and I end up bailing and it often seems like completing a UPD without injury is a bit of an achievement in itself. That you’re able to do that regularly with clipless pedals is impressive.
I know that when I rode mountain bikes with clipless pedals I crashed more often but the nature of a UPD on a unicycle is a bit different.
I’m not a very skilled or very social unicyclist but one area I’ve done pretty well in is trying out a variety of equipment. Here are my 2 cents on this topic (which repeats part of the what’s already been said before in this thread).
My game changers:
More comfortable saddles - If you’ve ever spent significant time on a non-modern saddle nothing further needs to be said.
A variety of wheel diameters - Larger wheels mean faster speeds and for every terrain there’s a good range of diameters that are suitable (and available).
Wider rims and tires - Wider rims and tires are the best suspension that we have and enable crossing difficult terrain and making huge leaps (or very small leaps in my case).
Stronger hubs and rims - I think we all are beneficiaries to pioneers like George Peck and Kris Holm in this regard.
Strong, lighter frames - I’m happy to pay extra and risk the occasional break to have durable aluminum frames (and the occasional titanium one like my old Triton).
Strong, lighter cranks - see #4.
Good saddle bumpers - So. Many. Upds.
Mostly indestructable unicycles - Most modern unicycles are fairly indescructable because of #3-7. I got mad playing unicycle basketball one time and heaved my unicycle from one end of the concrete court to the other, hitting the backboard which left a tire mark which was there for years. The unicycle was unfazed.
Continuous seatposts - I threw this in for anyone who’s ever had to ride John’s 24" Schwinn (or another one). It’s so pleasing to be able to adjust a seatpost by a few milimeters instead of discrete jumps.
Protective equipment - We’ve always had the skate and bike equipment available but unicycle-specific equipment has been great, particularly the KH gloves and leg armor.
Good pedals - The cheap pedals were the first thing that broke on my first Club unicycle. I foolishly replaced them with bear traps which led me to the leg armor mentioned in #10. I was all over Oddyssey Twisted PC for a long time and still have them across many of my unicycles but big platform pedals were a godsend.
Brakes in general - Under certain circumstances brakes are not just knee savers but allow faster riding over steeper terrain. I found them particularly useful to add to my first freewheel unicycle (caliper rim brakes I attached by drilling a hole in the steel frame).
Brake lever bracket and KH Starfighter - What use are brakes if you have no way to attach the lever?
Handles - A better way to attach brake levers (in my case reversed) and provide a convenient spot to lean on for long rides. It took me mounting a lever on a longer handle to move away from the initial, weird braking method I used riding freewheels for the first six years.
Frames set up for internal disc hubs - We may take these for granted now but when I started riding freewheels internal disc hubs were not widely available. KH frames had the disc tab on the “wrong” side and crank-mounted rotors are useless on a freewheel. After burning through multiple D’Brakes (and the collateral damage done to rotors and calipers) I sent multiple steel unicycle frames to someone to weld on disc tabs.
Freewheel hubs in general - Thanks to the penny farthing and drift trikes we had a number of (not very durable) freewheel hubs to choose from.
Freeheel disc hubs - A disc brake with a freewheel hub was a match made in heaven. This was probably my key game changer.
Hydraulic brakes - I stubbornly resisted hydraulic brakes for a long time because I was comfortable cutting my own cables. It wasn’t until I broke a couple cables that I tried (and realized the efficacy of) hydraulic brakes.
Sintered Brake Pads - One of my big problems riding a freewheel is over-braking and choosing sintered brake pads over organic makes a huge difference to me. I forgot about this and realized it after shooting my latest few videos. After switching back to sintered pads my speed immediately increased.
Advanced unicycle-specific freewheel hubs - I’ve only ridden my Mad4One Flick Flock hub a couple times but I’m immediately in love with its versatility. I’ve also started saving up for a new Schlumpf with the freewheel option.
My non game changers:
Magura brakes - I never got comfortable using this rim brake. I had one on my 36" and barely used it before I moved it to my 29" Schlumpf where I use it only for super steep terrain.
Geared hubs - As mentioned above I have a Schlumpf and have gone on a number of rides with it but never got super comfortable with it. If it had a disc brake I feel it would be a different story. Ironically, I also had a unicycle built around the JR Drift Trikes Game-Changer front end. Instead of going faster I found that I just pedaled slower.
In-wheel suspension - I tried making a peg unicycle from a LoopWheel at considerable expense and found that the suspension gain was not much better than simply having a wide tire.
Peg unicycles - These were fun but a novelty for me. I stopped riding them after I lost a good place to practice. If I had a private skate park I might have ridden them more.
Fat wheels - I went through a fat wheel phase before frames were widely available. I had a steel Surly frame with a 24" Large Marge freewheel and a couple of fat Flansberrium frames but ultimately I decided 3" was a sufficent width (with the exception of the 20x4" unicycle I ride at the beach).
Thank you @waaalrus for the wealth of information regarding your experiences with gear. I must say, if you are “not a skilled rider” with all of your experience then I have a long way to go before I can consider myself at all skilled. And while I think freewheel unicycle riding sounds incredible, to my mind it is like another level of dark magic that I am not ready for. But this list gives me a lot of food for thought, very much appreciated.
I had one more important one in my head as I thought about the previous post, but forgot to include it, probably because I have a love/hate relationship with it:
Social media - Beyond the benefits of tutorials and the like, social media sites like this forum itself, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Strava and others provide amazing opportunities to connect with other unicyclists. I owe posting videos to YouTube for an early round of OUT the game to a close, unicycle-based friendship going into its thirteenth year.
I have a semi-serious/semi-tongue-in-cheek addition to this conversation, as so many wonderful opinions have already been given.
I have to say, “Leg Armor” before I do anything else.
But earlier this year I acquired a wonderful Nimbus Road 29” w/ a 28” Schwalbe Big Apple tire on it (which is, interestingly enough, 29.25 inches in diameter). This photo collage is my best attempt to capture (in six photos) my progression of additions that I felt were game-changing after, of course, my aforementioned Kris Holm leg armor. I have three pair of leg armor. (Have you ever smelled soccer/football goalkeeper gloves that never get a chance to breathe/dry out? )
The light-speed additions at the end were:
A Coker Pi Bar
A Coker soft & cushy seat. (Gotta get the boys all properly in their seats, but once you do you can ride for a long time. It’s like riding on a marshmallow.)
P.S. I am hoping someone knows the story behind this uni. Specifically, the story behind the rim. When did UDC sell a blue rim shaped like the one I have? @rogeratunicycledotcom
I bought it from a couple whose son was away at college/university, and had decided to ask his parents to sell his Nimbus road uni (but they let me know his very used/much-loved Trials Uni was not for sale. )
The rim was used on early Nimbus II unicycles. That is quite an old unicycle now… I am trying to date it and think it may be about 2005 but cannot be too sure. There may be a 3 digit number on the hub, if there is that is the batch number, and I can tell you exactly.
Ah, I forgot about this one. Thanks for the reminder! Before flat saddles were commercially available we would boil or bake the saddle base to flatten it. I was a boiler but @Nurse_Ben’s technique far surpassed my results and I was lucky to get in on a batch of his, a saddle I still use for basketball.
I’ll also put myself down for at least two copies of this!
On topic, the most recent (although probably 6 years ago now) game changing thing to me was probably a disk brake and learning proper brake control, but the game changer as far as the control is concerned came from moving the brake to a more natural position.
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