I’m toying with picking up an inexpensive trials uni to practice some “old man” trials. Read: No huge drops/stunts, since I have a job and family to report to, and I can’t be spending any (more) time in the ER. I’m mainly looking for a rugged small wheel that I can learn hops, small drops, mounts, and non-hazardous tricks on instead of trying to learn all that stuff on my Oracle 26.
The Impact is a bit more stretch for the budget, but is lighter weight and if the components are sufficiently better than the Torker, I might tilt that way. I lean toward buying products that are “more” than I need so I don’t have to deal with maintenance/durability. I’d rather pay more up front and not nickel and dime myself later.
So, from the experienced crowd: What factors would influence your decision between these two machines? Any clue on the likely durability of the Athmos (trials lite?) unicycle?
I am not a trial guy, but I am an older family guy, so I get what you’re working toward, so here’s my experience:
Trials is hard work and painful, so I never really found the love that the kids seems to find, essentially I had three different trials unis over the years, a Nimbus 20", a Torker DX, and a KH Trials.
Far and away, the KH was lighter and more fun to ride.
The Torker is a tank, we still have it, right now it’s in transit from Utah to TN.
The Nimbus was sort of an in between, so if the Impact compares favorably to the Nimbus then it’s a decent budget buy.
If you are serious about dropping $300 on a trials unis, I’d suggest you wait and buy a used KH.
Another thought; which I came around to after some thinking, was that a 20" trials is kinda small and really only good for tricks that don’t suit my old guy ways. I got a 24" Nimbus to play around with on drops and such, it’s about the same price, has way more utility, and it doesn’t feel quite so small.
Still, consider looking for a used uni, you can save money and get more bang for your buck.
p.s. The Impact is probably about the same weight as the Torker, steel frame, non drilled heavy wheel, similar tire, etc…
Maybe when I say “old man trials”, I should be more specific. I’m really a muni person at heart, coming from a mtb background. I’m seeing though that some skills in hopping, jumping (up and down), still stands, and that sort of thing would be really valuable as I head to more and more technical trails. Same for different mounts (running, reverse, etc…) to deal with hills and awkward spots on the trails) So, learning those skills on a smaller wheel seems easier and less painful than falling repeatedly off the bigger 26" wheel I now have.
I bought a $30 torker CX a while ago for my wife to start learning on, and I can see how much easier it is to learn things like “wrong” foot mounting and riding backwards on, but that uni has such a small tire and flimsy pedals that if I start trying to learn hops and small drops, I’m pretty sure I’ll crush it in a couple of days. Hence the thoughts about a trials uni for skill building.
I did briefly think about a 24" muni to fill the bill, but that’s so close to the 26 I already have, that it hardly seems justifiable.
So, maybe for what I want, the weight of the Torker or Impact won’t be an issue. Or, maybe your advice on waiting for a KH to show up is better. Hmm…
I’m interested inthe outcome too, for the same reasons.
I have found the 20" I play on at the gym once a week has made things a bit easier, backing and sif riding, still not very good at either I have two 24s and a 29 for comparison. (and no, I don’t try to do anything clever on the 29…)
Just wondering if we are looking at the right uni since big drops aren’t inprospect. Would a freestyle or street Isis uni be better as they seem to be a bit lighter?
When I was looking for a 20" for skills development I wondered the same thing. I thought a trials uni would be unnecessarily heavy and the knobby tire slow. I entertained the idea of building up custom 20" flatland type uni but ended up with a standard KH20 trials. It’s absolutely fine for my uses and turned out to be more versatile than the custom wheel would have been.
The tire isn’t too heavy or slow for practicing things like backwards or one-footed riding and anything smaller in volume wouldn’t be as much fun to hop on. Also I hope the KH20 will one day be used as a kid’s muni (have to get one of the kids to learn first).
+1
Going by the specks it seems to have many of the same parts as the more $ Impacts. The difference seems to be the pedals, frame, post, & saddle.
Since the frame & saddle are steel I bet it gets is weight savings frome thin tubing. The plastic pedals would also reduce weight. I doubt it’d affect weight but the saddle is prob not as comfy as the Niomi.
I think this uni would be fine for drops up to a couple of feet, but more than that I bet you’d risk breaking the frame. That would be fine for me so it’d be a good pick, unless you’re over 200 lbs.
Edit: just talked to UDC and basically told me the same thing.
Cool! Thanks for the additional info and sleuthing at UDC. That definitely shifts me in the direction of the Athmos. If I ever do something dumb enough to break that frame, at least I have quality components to put a new frame on. FWIW, the UDC-UK site says the saddle is exactly the same as the Naomi, except that it does not have a removeable/replaceable cover.
So, slightly lighter/less durable frame, seatpost and pedals and everything else the same as the “real” Impacts. That might be just what I’m looking for!
The Athmos has a steel 25.4 post and the Gravity/Regent aluminum 27.2 post
G/R have a drilled rim. So I bet the whole rim is different and not just drilled. They also have steel cranks vs. aluminum on the Ath
What I think would be a BIT weaker is the frame, cranks, pedals, and possibly the rim (sounds like most of it). I wouldn’t be worried about anything breaking w/ light trials.
What I think would contribute the most to breaking the frame is falling on it, landing awkwardly (esp drops/large hops seat in), and uni spins (esp to tire). Basically anything that would put a large twisting force to the crown, that’s how most frames seem to break IMO.
Edit: the tire’s also diff. I never seen it before so maybe it’s lighter, less stiff than the TryAll, which is already the lightest of the 3 most common trials tires.
I’m mainly looking for a rugged small wheel that I can learn hops, small drops, mounts, and non-hazardous tricks on instead of trying to learn all that stuff on my Oracle 26.
I have two 24s and a 29 for comparison. (and no, I don’t try to do anything clever on the 29…)