For completeness I posted a brief ride report of today's ride over
familiar ground on the KH24. Over the last two to three weeks, I have
ridden the same territory on five very different unicycles, and thought
the experience might feed into the continuous "What uni?" "What crank
length?" debates that keep this forum alive.
The unis I've used are:
- The Coker. Standard steel rim. 150 mm cranks. Pinned pedals.
Viscount seat.
- The Road Razor. Nimbus 1, with skinny 28 mm smooth tyre, 125 mm
cranks, and Miyata seat.
- The Bacon Slicer. Nimbus 1 frame. Super skinny custom wheel, with
ultra light weight tube and 23 mm road race tyre. 102 mm cranks.
Miyata seat.
- The Holy Roller. Pashley 26" MUni, with 125 mm cranks, and Holy
Roller 26 x 2.4" tyre. UDC gel seat.
- HK24 MUni (US = Freeride?) with 24 x 3" tyre and 165 mm cranks and
KH Fusion seat.
The terrain may be familiar to many of you from my interminable ride
reports. However, it is made up of:
- Flat smooth tarmac.
- Artificial landscaped banks with steep slopes and short mown
grass.
- More natural hills with rough tracks and long tussocky grass.
- Baked mud single track.
- Tracks strewn with loose ballast.
*The Coker. * The only one to make it up one particular short steep
hill with a slightly uneven surface. It's good for rushing obstacles
where other unis need to be worked up slowly. Max speed highest of
all. Rolls over almost everything. Only weaknesses are it's hard to
restart if it gets bogged down in difficult terrain; it's a bit
unwieldy in tight corners; I can't take it under low trees (head
strike!); it requires caution on steep descents. High average and max
speeds and an easy ride make this the machine of choice for a generally
enjoyable long ride.
*The Road Razor. * A close second. The steering is beautifully
precise. The gear ratio is low enough for almost any hill. Has to
slow down for very rough or loose ground. Takes more concentration
than the Coker. An elegant and rewarding ride in the dry. It would
lose out entirely after rain had made the ground slippery. The tyre
has no grip at all.
*The Bacon Slicer. * Mad as a box of frogs. On the tarmac it's so easy
as to be almost boring. The tyre is so hard that the seat is
noticeably less comfortable than on the Road Razor. Off road, the
light wheel copes surprisingly well, but you need to stand out of the
saddle a lot on broken ground and it is very vulnerable to pinch flats.
The max speed on this was less than the Coker, but comparable to the
Road Razor. The average speed was lower because of the extra margin
for error made necessary by the short cranks. The Bacon Slicer gave me
a cardiovascular and cognitive work out equivalent to more than twice
the distance on a Coker, and left me feeling I'd achieved something
even if I hadn't necessarily enjoyed every metre of the way.
*The Holy Roller.* Fantastic fun on this terrain. I finished the ride
on a real high. It's like a transistorised Coker, and only loses out
on the ability to rush short steep hills. On the other hand, you don't
get so many "head strikes" on low branches, and it's more manoeuvrable.
26 x 2.4" Holy Roller tyre and 125 cranks is highly recommended for
mixed terrain. (On the other hand, it was a pain to ride in Sherwood
Forest. It needs to keep flowing over the ground and is not good at
stop start on rutted paths.)
*KH24. * On this terrain, the least enjoyable ride of all. It's a
tractor where the Holy Roller is an SUV. The seat is the least
comfortable, although my judgement could be influenced by a few hours
of hockey yesterday. The combination of fat tyre, small wheel and long
cranks means that the uni feels ponderous except when it is doing
exactly what it as made for: going up and down steep rough stuff or
over difficult terrain. I finished each climb or descent thinking that
the unicycle had done it, rather than thinking I'd achieved it. It
feels like a well-designed tool, but lacks personality. However, it
was great fun to ride on more extreme terrain on Dartmoor recently. It
needs the extreme terrain to justify its existence.
--
Mikefule
"No one likes circus skills, juggling is dire, and clowns are on
registers at most police stations."
(The late and sadly-missed Linda Smith)
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