I currently ride a 24 inch nimbus muni, but am looking to get a 26 inch muni. My preference would be a kris holm 26, (or a conundrum) but it doesnt appear to be made anymore. I already have a 29 nimbus - which makes me think I would like a 26 more than a 27.5. It looks like all that is available are the nimbus, oracle, and hatchet. Which would you choose and why?
Hello and welcome to the forum
The only thing with 26” is tyre choice is thinning out and will no doubt get less as time goes by. Hatchets are so impractical but hilarious to ride coming from an owner that is is a fan of them.
As you have a 29” I’d probably go with a hatchet if you like the fun factor over the seriousness that puts riders off them.
Personally for general riding that I do I like 27.5” as tyre choice is great and it find it a nice size that gives balance between speed and being more nimble. I’m running a 2.4” wide tyre as wider starts getting heavier.
Im not too worried about my tire choices. I figure there will always be the one 3 inch choice and a few more if i want to go thinner. What do you mean by seriousness vs fun? Just the way it looks? I have never ridden a hatchet before. Does it ride the same way other munis ride? Do you catch your legs on the tire more?
That is not right. I make a wide range of 26 inch unicycles.
https://www.einradshop.ch/einrad-kaufen-schweiz/103-26-zoll
I would probably buy the CrMonster from me because it offers the option of mounting 3" tires as well as 4" tires.
I don’t agree with the statement but it happens over many sought after dreams.
People buy everything to fill the dream but it never happens because of the lack of skills, lack of desire to learn, and the lack of immediate fulfillment.
So the “shiny new whatever” only comes out when someone wants to impress, but it’s only a quick appearance as the owner isn’t comfortable using it.
Then it’s a matter of accepting how inadequate it is and going on to the next “shiny new whatever”.
You need to evaluate your riding style and acquire something that fits you.
Are you a smaller person? (height)
Do you like a trials aspect of riding (more technical lines) or do you like to cover ground (distance)?
Myself, I have a 26" Hatchet with a 4.8 tire on it and I run the psi at 11.
I think it’s wonderful to use on our winter fatbike trails.
I used to ride them with my KH29 and the 3 1/4" but unless the trail was rock hard and my line was perfect, I would upd constantly.
Now with the Hatchet, my upds are non-existent no matter what the conditions are.
I will say that the camber pull from such a large tire is incredible but very manageable with skills.
I’ll bet that this is why most Hatchets only come out for special occasions or get fitted with a smaller (more manageable) tire.
This is just my opinion.
So m00ms, what makes your Hatchet so impractical?
Do you sell these in tbe US? And is there any benefit to going wider than 3 inch tires? I dont ride in snow or sand. Just intermidiate mountainboke trails. Brown dirt, roots and rocks.
Is the hatchet worth it if im only riding intermediate mountain bike trails with packed dirt, rocks and roots. Is it specialized for a different terrain with the tire so wide?
Also, what do you guys think about breaks on a muni? I certainly dont feel the need at 24 inch, but with a larger wheel do you find them necessary?
Canoeheadted you have missread my comment as i love my hatchet and think there fantastic but if you look here on this site as others views on them they are a love them or hate them unicycle.
You have to be honest as compared to other unicycles they are big,heavy,clumsy , the camber issues that comes with them etc but these are all part of there charm and fun.
This is my opion of them too.
I can export it, but the postage costs are relatively high. It won’t be worth it. But I give a 10% discount if the customer assembles everything himself, then the postage costs are already neutralized to a large extent. The best Muni tire from my point of view is the Surly Dirt Wizard. You can do anything with it. I also run the Surly Nate tire 26x 3.80. It’s a lot of fun, especially now that there are still light TPU tubes. But it is less precise to steer, you swim a bit. When it gets very steep and technical I would prefer a Dirt Wizard 3.0. But you have to pay attention to the rim width. You cannot mount the DW on an 80mm Hatchet rim. I unicycled down a steep ski slope in the summer 2 and 3 years ago. There was a lot of loose debris in places, so the tires had reached their limit. I felt more confident with the Dirt Wizard, but further down flowy trails on soft forest floors I would have preferred the Nate 3.8.
dcheef, that’s up to you but I would guess no.
Size of rider, riding style, terrain, and size of wheel will help decide if a brake is warranted.
I’m 6’3" and barely us my brake on my KH29 with the 3 1/4" wheel. I ride all mountain/cross country.
I don’t really use the brake on my Hatchet.
I always use the brake on my KH36.
m00ms,
Thanks for the clarification but I still feel that you think it’s a novelty wheel not for any “serious” riding.
I do agree about the heavy and camber sensitive but not the big and clumsy.
To me, they are characteristics of this wheel.
If the characteristics of the wheel match the terrain and riding style of the rider then, as in my case, it’s a perfect fit to a certain scenario (mine being 5-6 months of snow)
My Hatchet gets the same amount of respect as my KH29 and KH36 as a serious ride.
I wouldn’t worry about tires there are thousands of 26 er mountain bikes on the roads and trails, and there will be for years to come. I have the 26er nimbus muni with the duro wildlife tire and ride this uni alot. I love it but it is a little on the heavy side. I would probably buy an oracle if I was in the market again as I have a 24 oracle that I love. Keep an eye out for a used KH, post here on trading post what you are looking for, I have done just that and scored my 24 oracle that way.
Canoeheadted,
I certainly treat my hatchet with same respect if not more than my other unicycles and I definitely do not see it as a novelty bike.
For the places, styles and types of rides I do the hatchet does not suit all rides.They do have a more narrow range of uses than other styles of unicycle but when used as designed they are absolutely fantastic.
Remember that although the hatchet has a 26" rim the tyre makes it quite a bit bigger… as you can see in this photo I have from a few years back:
From left to right – Oracle 32", Nimbus 26" Hatchet (custom), Oracle 29", KH26, Nimbus 24", KH20
I actually find myself using the brake pretty often on the Hatchet, but I live where it’s pretty steep. In my opinion, the Oracle 26" would probably be the better option for more rugged terrain, while the Hatchet is more novelty(the Hatchet does have it’s place though). The only real mountain unicycle I had for a while though was the Hatchet, and even though it was tough I was able to ride it over some pretty difficult terrain.
Another factor to consider with the Hatchet would be pedal bob. The fat tire is so big that I actually lost energy to pedal bob, and that prohibited the speed as well. On the other hand, it could also be considered a charm of the Hatchet.
Most mountain bikers run tires between 2.1 - 2.4" There will always be tires. But with plus size tires the concern is justified. There has never been much choice in 3" tires. Nokian Gazzaloddi is long gone, Surly Knard 26x 3.0 (used to be standard on Kris Holm unicycles) is also gone. WTB Ranger 26x 3.0 is also no longer available. As long as there is the Duro 26x 3.0, the Surly Dirt Wizard 26x 3.0 and these No Name 26x 3.0 tires everything is still ok. But it may well be that they are no longer produced due to the small quantities. What then remains is Fatty from 4" or tires up to 2.4"
In general, the development in the bike sector worries me. Something always has to be changed. In the past there were only narrow tires and 2.1" was already “fat”, then the limit was 2.4", then everything was exaggerated with the fat bike tires, later the 3" tires (plus size) were praised as the best possible tire sizes and they are rowing again Manufacturers are back and find 2.6" to be the optimum. Most tire manufacturers no longer have 3" tires in the 2023 tire catalogues. At 27.5" it stops at 2.8" and at 29" at 2.6". So you can prepare yourself psychologically that this will also be the case with unicycles due to a lack of tires will be.
You would know better than I would. I know this market is very small and hardly worth making unicycle specific tires and If what your saying is the way the industry is going it looks like muni riders will need to get used to a narrower tire in all rim sizes. .
It looks like the 3 inch duro wildlife is still available at least for now and I am perfectly happy with the 2.25 wide schwable hurricane on my 29er road uni.
Yes, for street unicycles or gravel, 2.25 tires are very good. They are also usually easier to steer than the often stubborn 3" tires and have fewer or no problems with sideways falls on the road
Just did a ride today on my 29er with a Continental Race king 2.0, not fun
Probably gonna go with a 2.6 just to keep rolling resistance down.
I use a Nimbus 29 road uni, steel frame, with a custom bar setup, tool roll, and water bottle holder attached and that thing is a heavy beast. I have a Surly Extraterrestrial on it and that works well enough for muni, road, and gravel. I tried a hatchet once and thought it was featherlight, especially since I had just hopped off my beast. The Hatchet was a 29 but I think it’s the same frame as a 26 just larger rim and smaller tire. So depending on your past experience the Hatchet could be considered lightweight. Also it doesn’t seem to notice any bumps or roots whatsoever(except the one that made me fall whilst trying to unclip but that’s a story for another time).