I was looking at Touring Unicycles recently, and I plan on getting one in the near future.
What do you think is the best 29" uni considering the price
range of $200-$500?
What is the best for the money?
Re: Whats the best 29" Touring Cycle
BLUE SHIFT
oops.
A touring unicycle? Could mean anything. If you mean road and distance, without much off road, then you won’t need the extra strength components favoured by lemming-class unicyclists. ;0) I’d say spec. rather than specific make/model is what’s important. If you ride it any distance, you will almost certainly modify it anyway.
Look at the spec. you’ll need: reasonably light frame, reasonably light but robust wheel, decent pedals and a seat which suits you. A tyre which is big and soft enough for comfort, but smooth and hard enough for long rides on tarmac, or grippy enough for light trails.
My ‘pure road’ unicycle is a Nimbus which was remarkably good value from Unicycle.uk.com at not much over 100 quid. I’ve upgraded the seat to a Velo, and shortened the cranks to 110 mm. I’ve fitted an LED front light as low as possible just above the fork crown, and and red LED below the seat. I’ve also fitted a basic trip computer.
Total cost, around £130 for the uni, £25 for the seat, cranks would be under £10 bought separately, and the lights and computer addded about £25. I’ve not bothered to upgrade the pedals, favouring light and cheap for now. This has given me a uni capable of trundling along at 8-10 mph, spinning up to 14 - 15 mph, and with enough control to idle it safely, and go up and down reasonable hills.
Or you could buy a Coker, which has its own pros and cons, or use a MUni but with shorter cranks than you would have on a pure MUni.
Re: Whats the best 29" Touring Cycle
Mikefule wrote:
> My ‘pure road’ unicycle is a Nimbus which was remarkably good value from
> Unicycle.uk.com at not much over 100 quid.
Ooh dear, I’ve a feeling my missus might not be best pleased with you in the
new year for drawing my attention to that. I’m not allowed to buy any new
toys until I’ve paid for a new kitchen, but this looks like it might be
tempting once the kitchen’s fitted:
http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdisplayproduct.asp?catalogid=72
Maybe I can persuade wifey to buy it for my birthday. It’s not as if the
cost matters that much, when she’d be buying it on my credit card anyway
–
Danny Colyer (remove safety to reply) ( http://www.juggler.net/danny )
Recumbent cycle page: http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/
“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine
Re: Whats the best 29" Touring Cycle
Scott Stephens wrote:
> I was looking at Touring Unicycles recently, and I plan on getting one
> in the near future.
> What do you think is the best 29" uni considering the price
> range of $200-$500?
Probably the Pashley 29", but I weigh 240#. You might not need so much
sturdiness. Then again, if you do off-road on your touring cycle…
> What is the best for the money?
Probably the Yuni 29", if you don’t need Pashley’s toughness.
–
Success is goals.
–Lloyd Conant
To clarify, I think I’m right in saying the Yuni is the US name for the Nimbus?
I’ve not seen the Pashley 29, but the Pashley 26 MUni has lollipop bearings. They’ve been very robust, but it’s the devil’s own job to get the wheel off to change a tyre.
The Pashley MUni is Reynold’s tubing, but it does feel a bit heavy - a bit too strurdy, if you see what I mean. Nice uni though.
I was looking at the Pashley, and i noticed the lollipop bearings.
Any experience with these?
I was also looking at the Yuni and thought it was a really good deal for half thr price.
Does anybody know the weights of these 2 unis, and other commuters?
Re: Re: Whats the best 29" Touring Cycle
Considering that both of your quotes were copied from the same sentence, I think we can legally hold you to the ‘oops’. You’ll have a thousand orders in the morning. 
Re: Whats the best 29" Touring Cycle
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Mikefule wrote:
> To clarify, I think I’m right in saying the Yuni is the US name for
> the Nimbus?
Yep.
>
> I’ve not seen the Pashley 29, but the Pashley 26 MUni has lollipop
> bearings. They’ve been very robust, but it’s the devil’s own job to
> get the wheel off to change a tire.
I have a bike shop for that. 
>
> The Pashley MUni is Reynold’s tubing, but it does feel a bit heavy - a
> bit too sturdy, if you see what I mean. Nice uni though.
I know what you mean. I disagree because I’m a heavyweight lifter. The
weight doesn’t bother me and the strength is important to me. Like I said,
a smaller - and less clumsy! - person would probably be better off with the
Yuni.
–
Success is goals.
–Lloyd Conant
How is the Pashley 29" stronger than the Yuni 29"?
Re: Re: Whats the best 29" Touring Cycle
I wouldn’t get the pashley frame over the Yuni / Nimbus II frame for touring. Both are strong enough, however much of a hard man or heavy weight you are, if you break the frame, the wheel will almost certainly be killed in the same accident. If you can ride a coker without killing the frame, a nimbus II certainly a stronger frame so you won’t kill that.
The pashley is an absolute arse for touring in case you need to change the tube on the way. Last time I changed my pashley muni tyre it took about 45 minutes to get the lollipops off, I needed a big heavy spanner to undo the nuts and to get the bearing holders out took jumping on the pedals pulling up on the seat with the bolts taken out. To get it back in I had to rebend the frame. This means on any long ride you really have to rely on your puncture mending ability and not getting any big flats. This could be especially important for heavier people who are presumably more likely to blow out their inner tubes or puncture badly.
The yuni frame takes about 5-10 minutes to do a tyre change and only requires a small spanner that’s easy to carry with you.
Pashley is a nice frame because it looks quite smart, but other than that there don’t seem to be any advantages over the Yuni at all. The yuni has the very big tyre/tube change advantage and also has lots and lots of tyre clearance so you can fit any tyre you can find. I suspect the fatter offroad 29" tyres won’t fit in the pashley, as it looks very tight on the not very aggressive and not so wide nanoraptor tyre.
Joe
It takes about 10 minutes to change a flat on my 29" Pashley. You undo 4 10mm bolts that hold the lollipop bearing holders to the frame, slide the frame off the holders, and you then have ready access to the tire.
The Nanoraptor tire has adequate clearance; it’s never bothered me except once when a small stone got between the tire and the frame and started bouncing around. I’ve never had to mess with the bearings in the year that I’ve had it. Weight is about 15 lbs.
The one downside is the Pashley frame doesn’t exactly fit a Miyata seatpost. You’ll need spacers. So far my seatpost hasn’t moved. I have had a lot of problems with flats with the uni just sitting, but I mostly attribute that to the crap tubes I’ve been using.
I like mine, however I didn’t buy it for the value. I would guess that a Yuni frame might have better value but I have no direct experience with those.
Unibabyguy, Was that your Pashley that i rode in SA? I remember a 29" with cupholders, but i also remember thinking it was really light. Maybe its just me
Yes, that was mine. It had a bottle cage on the back.
Oh okay, maybe it’s just my pashley that’s a bit stiff to undo. The ‘slide the frame off the holders’ bit took ages on mine.
The nanoraptor tyre is fine as far as clearance goes, but if you wanted a more aggressive tyre it probably wouldn’t fit?
I’ve never had any problems with the spacers on the seatpost on my pashley either.
With the Yuni/Nimbus you can guarantee that the wheel will be out of the frame in a couple of minutes. The four bolts can never be too tight (or the bearing would have been crushed) and are unlikely to seize in the relatively thin holders. I have no concerns in seperating the wheel/frame if it means I can hide the Uni in the car when going on holiday.
Like Joe I have had a lot more hassle removing the wheel on a Pashley the four bolts needed a gentle tap to remove. I then found it required a fair amount of pulling on the seat with my feet on the wheel to release the lollipops, not difficult but I would rather not do this a long way from home.
Personally I would expect the relatively narrow and lightweight wheel on my Nimbus 28" to complain before the frame about my weight. After 8 months of road use I sure the wheel is going to last. I agree with Joe if you break the frame on a road Uni the wheel is not likely to escape unscathed in the same incident.
Re: Whats the best 29" Touring Cycle
In article <joemarshall.fxa7c@timelimit.unicyclist.com>,
joemarshall <joemarshall.fxa7c@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
)
)Oh okay, maybe it’s just my pashley that’s a bit stiff to undo. The
)‘slide the frame off the holders’ bit took ages on mine.
Getting it off wasn’t too hard on mine; getting it back on was a little
tricky, but not too bad.
)The nanoraptor tyre is fine as far as clearance goes, but if you wanted
)a more aggressive tyre it probably wouldn’t fit?
I don’t know of any 700c tires which are taller than the Nanoraptor;
certainly nothing which is taller would fit on the Pashley. But the
Nanoraptor doesn’t strain the bounds of width; you could easily run a
wider tire if it wasn’t any taller.
One thing I like about the Pashley is the rounded fork crown; it looks
better and is easier on the legs and knees in terms of knocking.
Obviously it’s not as good for trials tricks, but you’re not doing those
with your 29" tourer, I hope.
-Tom
Removing the wheel on my Pashley 26 takes brute force and a rubber mallet. the stalks of the lollipops are tapered and wedge into the ends of the forks. Even when it was new and unridden, I struggled to remove the wheel (my plan being to squirt WD 40 into the fork legs as a protection from rust).
To remove the bolts takes two spanners, one to hold the bolt and one to turn the nut (or vice versa). A sharp tap with a hammer or punch is then needed to loosen each bolt.
It may vary from machine to machine, but it can be a big job.
On a Nimbus/Yuni or most other types, you need one little 10 mm (or 11mm) spanner and no brute force.
At first, the Pashley frame is hard to separate from the holders and can be frustrating. Once you’ve done that, just grease up the part of the holders that go into the frame. Same for the bolts that go across to hold the frame on. The grease makes a big difference. I have found that the bolts/nuts disintegrate easily, but are super easy to replace at the local hardware store.
The Pashley lollipops seem to be a great, robust way to hold the bearings without the problems of over-torqueing, etc., based on my experience with my 26" Pashley MUni.
Peter Weigle’s Frame Saver is a more permanent way to protect your frame’s internals.