Wheel size if you only could have just one?

29 with multi-holes cranks

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For me personally, a 36”er.
But I needed the 29”, I own as a “stepping stone” from the “20” no name learner unicycle I started with.

I only really commute and road ride weekends.
If I had more opportunity with nearby mountain trails I might say 29” but I wouldn’t feel comfortable commuting at all.
I just don’t know how guys get so fast on 29” unicycles (as fast as my 36” speeds). Anyway I prefer the rolling momentum of the larger wheel.

And I have had my worst injuries from my 29”.
Just minor stuff like gashed calves, sprained ankle, road rash.
I do enjoy tree root hopping on the 29”er.
And I could idle it at lights when I tried commuting with it once.

Worst injury, so far, (knock on wood) for KH36” is sore right heel when thrown off forward at speed and landed running.

Depending on the money, I’d have to spend, it would be a 36er or a geared 29er. The second one being way more expensive than the first one. Both would let you go at 25 km/h after some training and they can be pretty versatile with multi-hole cranks.

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My case against 36 and for 29 or 27.5.

36 is:
Harder to mount.
Harder to ride.
Harder to get tires and tubes for.
Harder to transport .
And you need to be tall enough to ride one.
I will give if you can master it you can cover some ground, better than any other size.

27.5 is:
It seems to be where the bike industry is going so you will have more tire choices in the future.
People that have this size seem to love them.
Seems to be the perfect muni size

29er is:
Easy to learn to mount.
Very controllable size for riding.
Good for road, xc and muni.
Can handle a long day trip.
Perfect size for commuting / urban stop and go riding.
Good on hills with the right size cranks
Plenty of good choices in tires.
Can reach decent speeds in some cases experienced riders can roll with the 36er crowd.

Love my 29ers. I logged loads of miles on my cheap 2nd hand udc trainer with cotterless cranks. Set it up with a KH street saddle and touring bar, I put on some 125 cranks and a 2.5 schwable hurricane tire and a bmx pull brake and hit the road. This is a dependable, durable, versatile and affordable uni. I have since upgraded to a nimbus 29 road uni but still ride my trusty udc.

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Most of your “against” points are solved after some adequate training :grin:
Regarding the tube, as we now know that we can use stretched 29er in our 36er, I don’t think it’s an issue any more.
But I concede you that it’s harder to get tires or to transport a 36er than a smaller uni. BTW, I don’t think size really matters - expect if you’re under 1.50m. NightFox is there for you if you’re not tall enough to ride a traditional 36er :slight_smile:

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I asked this very question a while back about Muni sizes. The Forum has this not well known feature where you can create a poll and see the results that’s what I did here:

Because of the polling results I decided to get a 27.5 Oracle and I think it was the right choice for me. Of course I was asking about muni-specifically, I think I would have opted for a 29 if I was going to be doing primarily Road riding.

It might be interesting to create another poll specifically for Road riding sizes to see what people’s votes turn out to be for that style…

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One other thing I thought I would mention…
When my Oracle 27.5 Muni showed up, I was quite surprised how big and gnarly the tire was, the pictures on the website don’t quite do it justice. I was expecting something like a typical MTB Tire but this thing was quite a bit bigger.
In fact, my son happens to have a 29 in mountain bike with a 29 x 2.3 Tire, and I was surprised to see that my 27.5 x 3.25 tire was actually about 1/4 of an inch taller than the 29 inch mountain bike tire!
I realized this is pretty convenient if I ever decide to get a 29-in road uni sometime in the future the transition from the muni to it should be very easy because I basically have a 29 inch now

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I’m 5 ft 7 inches tall and have a 36 coker with 125 cranks and the seat post cut and down the whole way. I can ride it but I can not mount it at this point. The 125s are as long as I can go and still pedal legs extended. I ride a 32 titan that I can mount and ride quite nicely. I just do not feel 36ers are for every one where a 29er is more practical and plays to a larger audience and more styles of riding. You’ll note that I said they are harder all the way around not unrideable. If I get my 36 riding down I may feel differently in the future. Time and practice will tell. For now my pick for one size I would own is 29er.

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27.5 for the trails around me.

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36er hands down all day every day. I love the 36inch wheel it’s so much fun you can go far go fast and go off road it makes for a fun fantastic adventurous ride for me I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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What Chris said.

Adding the road riding and you can go slow too… ya it’s the ride of choice for me.
It’s cool going back to the plus sized 29" and it feels like a bitty wheel that’s so easy to personhandle.

But of course, you have to go through several of the sizes in the learning curve to settle on one.

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If I could only have one it would probably be a 29". But I’ve never ridden a 29", so maybe I wouldn’t actually like it :person_shrugging: .

(Instead I have both a 36" and a 650b, but every now and then I do consider paring down to just a single 29".)

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Right now, it would probably be 27.5", it’s my do it all Muni and I love it. In the past, it would have been a 20"x2.5" for Flat/street/freestyle.

I’m always toying with the idea of downsizing to just having those two. Right now I have a 19" and a 20" freestyle and I honestly don’t like having to choose between those, or adapting when I switch. Probably sacrilege to say this on this forum, but N-1 might actually be a nice solution for me currently…

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When I was looking for a uni I was trying to decide between 27.5 and 29. They are actually so close in tire circumference that it doesn’t really matter which one you choose. A “29” er is actually a 28. 29ers in the mountain bike world we’re being surpassed by 27.5 but that is changing again as ebikes arrive on the scene, there is a resurgence of 29ers. I think there will be plenty of choices for tires for a long time.

Anyway I would choose 29 if I could only have one.

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Lots of awesome feedback! Thank you. I am still learning but will soon hit the “buy” button for a 29 nimbus in January hopefully. 29 seems to fit with what i am after. Likely 70 percent paved river trails and 30 percent trail riding.

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I remember this question being asked ten years ago, and the whole idea was somewhat frustrating for me :rofl: :rofl:

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Cheating slightly by suggesting one frame with two wheels.

Probably a 26 with two wheel wheels for road and trail. 26 is kind of the biggest of the small wheels or the smallest of the big wheels. It is fine on the footpath (sidewalk) among people.

Or maybe a 29 with a 29 road wheel and a fat 27.5 wheel for off road. The 26 wheels would fit that frame as well. And 24 and 20 wheels too.

Having one frame and six or more wheel is still technically one unicycle.

I can’t decide between the 29" and 36". One wheel ONLY (no pun indented) I would say 29", but most of the time I ride the 36", the big wheel it just more fun.

I think we should have a proper Poll on this. No cheating or bending of the rules :wink:

I’m not an experienced unicyclist, but 27.5" is my favorite size. Not too big, not too small, fine for city and off-road rides.

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I have 24 ,29, 36 and think 29 would be my choice for having just one .

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